Green Knoll Grille

645 Us Hwy 202/206
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
www.greenknollgrille.com

The Green Knoll Grille was a place that had caught my eye on the way to another place.  I'd heard of it from browsing various online dining reviews, but didn't formally have it on my list.  But when we drove by, "happy hour spot" came to mind and I'm always looking for ways to at least mentally relive my youth.

After two visits, the Green Knoll Grille is one of my favorite places in the area to take my family.  We've been in the summer when the outdoor patio was hopping and in the fall when everything outside was closed up, but the little playground area is a parent's dream.  My kids had a great time climbing while we waited for our food to arrive (so much better for the two year old than even crayons!) and I was happy to people watch folks at the outdoor bar area and soak up some sun.  We enjoyed this area on our fall visit too, because the play area was still open even though the bar area was not.

The food is pretty sports bar typical; burgers, fries, dominate, though there are some entrees that are good too.  We particularly like choosing our kids' dinners and an appetizer from the $3.99 happy hour menu, but we tend to eat dinner at 5 when such specials are available.

We have always had FUN and a good meal at the Green Knoll Grille!

Scampi's Seafood Restaurant

198 W Main St
Somerville, NJ 08876
http://www.scampisseafood.com/

Scampi's has been on my mental list for a very long time, so I jumped when a Living Social deal there appeared.  We ended up going with another couple and were very thankful for the deal because after everything we ordered, it was a very expensive meal!

My husband and I were hesitant to try here because so much of our dining is with our kids in tow, and I wasn't super certain that our kids (particularly the two year old) would do well here.  With that said, there was another table that had two couples and six kids between them and they seemed to do just fine.  With that said, it's more on the upscale side and while kids would surely be welcomed, it's probably only a place you'd take them in the very early evening so as to not disturb someone's romantic dinner.  The restaurant has two areas, a dimly lit bar area with some tables (we walked through and I didn't really make much note of the area) and a more typical dining area that has better lighting; the whole place was very classy and felt sophisticated.

Our food was really good.  As someone who loves variety, especially at a seafood restaurant, I went for the Fisherman's combo, which allowed me my beloved crab cakes as well as shrimp, tilapia, and scallops.  It was very good and very fresh, if on the pricey side (though what else can one expect when one is going for good seafood).  Our friends ordered an oyster plate appetizer and they enjoyed it very much, and everyone enjoyed their dinners.

We had a really great, if expensive, time at Scampi's.

Teppanyaki

275 Route 18 South,
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
http://www.teppybuffetnj18.com/

On New Year's Day, we were out on a family adventure to the aquarium.  Fish plus fun equaled sushi in my mind, so we did some quick googling and headed to a recommended sushi place.  On our way there, we saw the new buffet had opened and decided to give it a go.

Luckily, we arrived around 5 because the lobby was full of diners waiting to sit when we left!  On New Year's Day, they had an incredible special for the buffet and the price couldn't have been beat if I had made dinner at home.  It's not clear at this moment what their regular prices are, though.

The buffet was pretty good.  There's a wide range of Asian dishes to choose (as well as chicken fingers, fries, etc too) as well as Asian barbecue with a duck carving station, a hibachi station, and a sushi bar.  Since I wanted sushi, that's where I focused my attention.  They had some really interesting sushi rolls and the variety changed over the course of the time we were there too.  It wasn't the freshest sushi I've ever had, but for the super cheap price we paid, I was satisfied and my husband agreed.

We really enjoyed our meal at this buffet.

Cafe Paris

441 Main St
Metuchen, NJ 08840
(732) 603-9200

After a recent doctor's appointment, I was starving on my sick day, so wanted to pick up something easy for lunch.  I looked on the internet for places that serve soup, trying to stay away from the old standby of Panera, and Cafe Paris came up as highly rated.  Folks mostly commented on their crepes, so I was super excited to try one.

After a quick glance at the menu, I didn't see any crepes (I later saw that they only have dessert crepes, and they seemed on the pricey side to me, but I digress), so I ordered a lunch special of soup and sandwich.  I received a chicken breast sandwich on delicious bread with a roasted yellow pepper, tomato, lettuce, and mozzarella cheese that was pressed and the silkiest butternut squash soup I've ever had.

Since I ordered takeout (and was the only customer in the place on a random Tuesday), the service was super fast.  The atmosphere is very cafe cute, and I told my husband we need to go there together sometime.

Mama Rosina's

350 E Main St
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
(732) 805-3377 
http://mamarosinas.info/

You know how it is during the holiday season, so when we had a Living Social deal and a hectic evening, we moseyed over to Mama Rosina's.  I was highly anticipating the meal, largely because I had read that it was in the former Bound Brook train station and knew this would be a real treat for my family.

As far as atmosphere, this was in fact a real treat.  The trains flew by and my sons bounced off their chairs to run to the window.  It's such a cool space, with the bar situated in the former ticket booth and it appears they have maintained some of the original windows for that space.

The service was really great too; I now judge service mostly on how accommodating they are of my children and at Mama Rosina's, they were incredible toward my kids (aside from the built in train entertainment).

The problem, of course, was that the food just wasn't that good.  I had the Pollo Rosina, described on their website as "Breast of Chicken Sautéed with Mushrooms, Artichokes, Sun Dried Tomatoes in a Pink Cream Sauce, Topped with Mozzarella."

Sorry for the horrible dark photo

The chicken was terribly overcooked, which made the rest of the meal really unpalatable.  The sauce was ok, though I definitely picked up the flavor of canned tomatoes, but after picking out the chicken, I was really disappointed and ended up not even taking my leftovers home.

My husband's dinner got a rating of "fine," which is a sure sign of good enough to eat and enjoy but not good enough to come back.  I actually would probably give it even lower marks, which is terribly disappointing to me.  I had super high hopes of LOVING this place, which is close to home and could have been a real regular place for us.

The New West Brook Tavern

525 Talmadge Ave
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
http://thenewwestbrook.com/

On Saturday, running errands conflicted with our eating at home plan, so we decided to go out and try a new to us restaurant.  A friend had mentioned this, and it sounded like a good and easy place to go after my look at their website previously.

It's pretty low key and the restaurant is on the smaller side with about 15 tables.  They have bands that play, and I can only imagine they remove tables to make the space for them.

Our server was great, giving us lots of attention and kindness to our two boys.

As far as the food, it's solid and portions are large.  The "kids" hot dog was enormous and came with an awesome looking roll, plus at $4.95 (with drink and ice cream), the price really can't be beat.  I had eggplant parm, which was really large as well and fairly priced.  It came with salad and was your typical restaurant eggplant parm dish.  When I looked at the menu, I noticed a sandwich that was like it was invented by my husband, having all the ingredients (and in a sandwich, no less) that he loves.  Not surprisingly, he really enjoyed it.  As far as the bar, they have a pretty standard selection of drafts, with probably 8-10 choices.

In short, this is a really solid neighborhood bar and restaurant with reasonable prices, great service, and good food.