When I first walked into the restaurant I was very impressed with the look of the restaurant. It was as though we stepped off George street into a trendy Manhattan bar. A large restaurant with candles on all the tables & a huge Asian statue. The tall bamboo trees growing out of water with fish swimming around were also quite impressive. The place was empty at 5:30 on a Friday night and we were expecting a speedy meal. The service was less than awful. We placed our order & I could feel my stomach eating itself waiting for our chicken dumpling appetizer. When it finally did come up there were only 4 dumplings on the plate that we inhaled. The dumplings were delicous but I figured the portion size was a foreshadowing for our meal. What felt like an hour later we received our meals. My rainbow roll still wasn’t ready even though it had been ordered almost a half hour before. My coconut soup was absolutely delicious and I finished it to the last drop. The lighting in the restaurant was way too dark for my taste as I dumped almost a spoonful of pepper into my soup! Glad I like pepper! Steve ordered the baby back rings and they were awesome. The meat was falling off the bones & the tamarind sauce was to die for. I am not a rib fan and these were worth returning here and sitting through the awful service. I finally got my rainbow roll and the sushi was fresh and very tasty. The drinks were beyond expensive so a drink a piece about put us into debt. All in all a nice meal in a nice setting but definitely an experimentive try it once type of meal. Not worth returning too unless you just want to sit at the sushi bar and order up sushi favorites.

After a rough drive into the city my friends and I settled into the Heartland Brewery & Chop House hoping for some good food. We were seated immediately much to our surprise & ordered nachos. Figuring we were in a brewery I thought that would be a safe bet. They didn’t even bother to melt the cheese & there was an unidentifiable meat in the chili. For my meal I ordered the side salad which was pretty decent with a dressing that had a peppery kick to it. I ordered ginger wontons off the appetizer list and they were so deep fried and tasteless I had a hard time getting them down. Keep walking past this place if you are ever in the theatre district!

Old Man Raffertys has been a hot spot for me and my friends over the past few years and lately it just feels that the quality of the food just isn’t the same. I don’t know if the owners have changed or if the chef changed but much to my dismay something has changed! Tonight I went there for a Technician appreciation dinner with my colleagues. My two glasses of Pinot Grigio were nice and cold and went down smooth. I had a choice of 3 appetizers: bruschetta Nachos and calamari. I went for the calamari and was very disappointed. It had a very gritty texture to it as though I was eating ringlets of dirt. The 3 array of sauces…a southwestern type dipping sauce…the classic marinara…and a thai sauce add an eclectic mix to this dish but the calamari was terrible. The nachos had cheese and tomatoes on them and looked quite plain. The bruschetta looked tasty. For my meal I had a choice of raviolis, stuffed chicken, and salmon. I chose the salmon and I feel I chose wisely. The salmon came out on a bed of asparagus and roasted fingerling potatoes and all 3 were cooked to perfection and very tasty. Lastly I had the choice of dessert: cheesecake chocolate mousse and apple crumbcake. I also chose wisely here chocolate mousse: it was incredible! So all in all the meal was decent but Old Man Raffertys just isn’t the same.

I went to Mariners Cove this morning to meet my family for breakfast in Brielle. I was running a little late but usually there is a wait at Mariners Cove so I wasn’t too concerned. My family was sitting already so I took a seat and immediately the waitress was up on us asking if we were ready to order. The cool thing about Mariner’s Cove is the menu which has literally a hundred different omelets on it. An overwhelming menu like this takes time to look through and it was clear this waitress was not waiting! So while my father ordered the Italian Stallion omelet and my step-mother ordered an eggplant rollatini omelet I was so stressed over the extensive menu that I just ordered 2 over easy eggs with home fries and bacon. Boring but you can never go wrong the basics! Or so I thought. When our more than unpleasant waitress came back she very rudely yells out Excuse Me Excuse Me!!! Like I was in her way when she was putting out our food. I’m ducking and dodging all awkwardly apparently in the way of the omelets! My eggs were okay but the home fries were undercooked. The bacon was so awful that I had to remove it from my plate for my father to pick on. My father will eat anything apparently. While my meal was less than impressive I tasted my father’s country style “Italian Stallion” omelet and it was quite tasty. So the rule of thumb at Mariners Cove: order something a little crazy for breakfast on their extensive menu but steer clear from the basics because they basics they don’t do well….

Last weekend my boyfriend and I went out with his parents to The Engleside Inn in Beach Haven. His parents had been there numerous times and always enjoyed it so I had high expectations for my meal. Seafood is my favorite but as I found out on this evening finding quality seafood, especially down the shore, is not an easy task. The inside of the restaurant was quite dated and they walked us through the entire place to sit us towards the back. Our waitress was extremely sweet and very personable but slow as hell. She kept telling us the kitchen was slow but every entree that came out was so delayed we were practically staring down other trays as they passed us by. I ordered a key-lime pie martini to try something different and it was basically a pina colada poured into a martini glass. My boyfriend and I ordered the lobster bisque ( a favorite of ours) and after waiting forever it came out . She apologized and said we got the bottom of the pot. Gee thanks! The sherry came along side it which was disappointing because its nice when its already mixed in and ready to go! The soup needed to be mixed because it settled on top and at best it received a C in my book. Country Kettle up the road blows it away! The salad was typical but tasty with a nice balsamic dressing. I ordered the Alaskan King Crab Legs because when I go seafood I like to go all out. The portion size was very large but I was extremely disappointed. My crab legs were not very warm on their arrival to my table and I have certainly tasted better King Crab in my life. The Engleside Inn must have been defrosting these pups in the back before they made it to my table. All in all the entire experience to Engleside Inn did not meet my food or service expectations and I would not return there in the future.