A&S Pizza

A & S Pizza
(732) 828-8981
940 Easton Ave, Somerset, NJ 08873

We were, once again, jonesing for pizza on a Sunday night. We compromised with a Sicilian pie (hubs wanted pan pizza from Pizza Hut, I preferred not) and decided to try somewhere new. The pizza was fine, prices were ok, but my complaint is the service.

I called the order in around 5:45, and was told 15 minutes. I waited about 5 minutes before leaving the house. I took me about 10-15 minutes to get there from the house. I went in to pick up the pizza and was told it wasn't quite ready, a few more minutes. So I sat down. At some point in my wait, I saw that the clock said 6:15. My pizza didn't come out until 6:30. That means it was AT LEAST 15 minutes from the time I got there, and at LEAST half an hour from the time I called in my order.

Sooo, it really didn't matter to us how good the pizza was, the wait means never again for us.

Panico's Pizza

94 Church St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

A friend and I were out and about in New Brunswick on Friday. We walked by Panico's and it smelled so good, so I came home and told BAJ that I really wanted to try them some day. Fate intervened on Sunday when Food Network showed The Secret History of Pizza, which sparked off a pizza craving, particularly for Wood Fired Pizza (which happens to be my favorite).

So we agreed to order from Panico's. We checked out their website and ordered a large bruschetta pizza. We placed our order online. The instructions given were to call if we hadn't gotten a confirmation call within 10 minutes. We didn't, so I called them.

They had received the order, but never made the call. I asked how long until it would be ready, and was told 10-15 minutes. Apparently that meant from the time they started making the pie (which was 10 minutes before I made the call), so by the time the pizza got home it was barely lukewarm (we live about 10 minutes away).

The first thing the hubs said when he returned with the pie was that "Unless this is amazing, we're not going back there." He said that the customer service was kind of crappy--this is in ADDITION to the confusion about the online order.

Anyway, the pie WAS amazing. The crust was so darn good, and then the wood fire flavor was just great too. The flavors on this pie were excellent, with fresh mozzarella, lots of garlic, and red onion in addition to chopped tomato. I felt that the prices were a little bit on the high side ($17 for a large pie, after tax), but the fresh ingredients help to justify that. After trying the pie, hubs said he WOULD like to try them again, maybe as an eat in.

Lesson learned? Never use online ordering!

Luca's Ristorante

2019 Rt-27, Somerset, NJ
http://www.lucasristorante.com


I was anxious to try Luca's after reading so many rave reviews on urban spoon. My husband and I went there last night. I was very pleased by the ambiance of the restaurant. You really don't feel like you're in a strip mall restaurant at all.
We ordered a bruschetta caprese appetizer, and were very pleased by it... it was really fresh and tasty. The bread basket was really good too--we had 2 rolls, 2 sesame seed rolls, and something with garlic and melted cheese.
Our entrees were the disappointment of our meal. I was debating between the fresh pasta and a seafood pasta entree. I chose the seafood pasta (shrimp amalfi), and I probably should have gone for the fresh pasta. It really had no flavor, despite having broccoli, shrimp, mushrooms, and other things. My husband chose a chicken dish (chicken pulcinella). I thought the chicken itself was cooked perfectly--so tender. His comment was that all the parts (balsamic reduction, gorgonzola cheese, ham, chicken) were excellent, but together not so good. He felt that the gorgonzola really overwhelmed the other flavors. We chose not to get dessert, but a neighboring table got both tiramisu and gelato and were raving about it.

Anyway, we felt in all that the restaurant was fine, but not something we're going to make the drive for in the future.

Veronica Diner

84 Veronica Ave
Somerset, NJ

I came across this diner while researching restaurants for our son's Christening party. We didn't choose them, but they stuck in my mind anyway. Today, I decided to try them out.
When we pulled up, I was a little...dubious about the choice. It was a snowy morning, so their lot was pretty empty, plus it was at the end of a strip mall. You know that this can go either way. We decided to go in anyway.
The place is pretty small. We had great service, and the food was really reasonable. They have an early bird special (I got 2 eggs, a short stack of pancakes, bacon, coffee, and a small juice for about $6), so our total bill for the two of us came to around $15.
The food was pretty typical diner breakfast. It was a little bit further than I'd probably drive with so many diners around our house, but it was decent food. The hubs wasn't so thrilled with his (buttermilk pancakes), but mine was good. We both commented, however, that the bacon was REALLY good.

A&G Fine Foods

400 Lincoln Blvd, Middlesex - (732) 563-4001
www.agfinefoods.com

The hubs and I decided to try this place after hearing that they are fantastic. It was a nice little Italian foods place, and I'd really love to try their prepared meals, which looked fantastic. We both had our sandwiches on club rolls, which didn't really impress me, although BAJ liked it a lot. He had the Middlesex Special, which we both thought "ok," but we both really liked my #9. The meats were all really fresh and tasty, and on the whole the sandwich was very good. I'd like to try their hero roll since I was a little disappointed in the club roll. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was looking for. BAJ even mentioned them today as we were thinking about our lunch options, so we will definitely return here soon.

The Melting Pot

190 W Main St
Somerville, NJ 08876

Instead of Christmas gifts this year, my husband and I went to a nicer than normal dinner. We chose the Melting Pot this year after I received an email that they were having a special for Christmas Eve. For $40 per person, we had a cheese course (with veggies, apples and bread--we chose Spinach Artichoke), a salad course (I had the California Salad, and my husband had Caesar), the Seafood Trio (this was our only non choice with the Christmas Eve special--it included scallops, shrimp, tilapia, and salmon), and finally the dessert course (we chose Chocolate Smores). We figured this was an incredible deal, and it was all delicious.

We arrived at the first reservation we could get--4pm--so as to accommodate our toddler, and the service was great. They were very accommodating of us and our needs around our child; this sort of surprised me given their more upscale setting, but I was beyond pleased to experience it.

We very much enjoyed our time at the Melting Pot and we also were really happy to get such a great deal. Sign up for their Club Fondue to find out about these events!

Fratelli's Pizza

201 Stelton Rd
Piscataway, NJ 08854

It's possible that the quest is over. The purpose of this blog was to track all the bagel and pizza restaurants we've tried in our quest to find the best in the area. Fratelli's might just be it. They aren't the closest to our home (That's Romano's, which is a 2 minute drive), but it's really very good. We tried them after reading rave reviews online, and we were very pleased with our meal. We've tried a half mushroom half pepperoni and their vegetable special, and they were both very good. Their prices are pretty comparable with the other pizza places in the area, although I can't remember exact numbers.

We'll certainly continue our search, but are very happy with Fratelli's!

Rattlesnake Ranch Cafe

559 E Main St
Denville, NJ 07834

We originally had plans to go to Chevy's in Denville, meeting friends who live in the area. Some of our party couldn't make it, so they suggested we instead go to the Rattlesnake Cafe. They said the menu was larger and the food better than Chevy's. They sure were right. The food was so much different than one would find in a chain Mexican restaurant. My husband had Crawfish gumbo to start; it was really good, but he said it got much too hot as he got further into the cup. He's not really one for spicy food... our friends told us that many of the online reviews complain of too much spice in the food here, so if you don't like spice, make sure to let your server know! As our entrees, he had Chipotle Pork and Mushroom Enchiladas, and liked them very much. I had the Red River Relleno Combo. I was skeptical and a little afraid it would be too hot, but it was really really good! They were HUGE, which was surprising. I don't have a really large stomach, but ate about half my dinner. I figured they wouldn't reheat so well, and didn't take them home but I sure wish they would have! I heard that they have Fried Ice Cream, which I love, and I was sort of sad I had stuffed myself so much that I didn't have room!

Another one to try

Joey's Grill

552 W Union Ave (@ Rte 287)

Bound Brook, NJ 0880

and it earns Upromise points!!

Bridgewater Diner

1244 Us-22, Bridgewater, NJ 08807

I've wanted to visit the Bridgewater Diner for a long time, so we decided to give it a whirl a few weekends ago. We went for breakfast, and the meal was pretty standard diner breakfast. The prices were fairly reasonable, and the food was good. It was served REALLY quickly, which brings high marks for those of us with small children.

A lot of the diners I've mentioned as pretty standard for diners means we haven't been back, but I do want to try the Bridgewater Diner for a different meal to see how they would be there.

Pizza places to try

Sooo, our search continues. I found a new place for tonight, and wanted to add a few to our "to try" list. Here's what I found that looked interesting, based on the yahoo reviews and those on urbanspoon.com.

• Rome Pizza--Dunellen
• I can't find any of the other places now! HA!
  

Big Wally's Subs

3322 Washington Rd
Parlin, NJ 08859

We were out driving one day and stumbled upon Big Wally's. We took our sandwiches to JFK Park and had a great time. They were so good, we now make the 30-45 minute drive down because it's definitely worth it. They have great specials, which is always a plus for me since I like to try new things, but they also have great typical hoagie sandwiches. Their subs are big and soo delish.

Girasole

502 W Union Ave, Bound Brook, NJ 08805

I had heard a lot of buzz about Girasole and had been wanting to go for a really long time. We finally had the opportunity yesterday to go for lunch, and we are so thrilled we did.

First they brought out some of the best bruschetta I've ever had. My husband had the Mushroom Bisque soup special, and it was incredible. I sort of expected him to lick the bowl. We both received salads next, and the vinaigrette they use is delicious. It was a nice, leafy green salad--hooray for no iceberg!

We also were given a delicious, soft, fresh bread, which was served with oil and fresh garlic. This was really interesting, since we are so used to getting oil with spices or roasted garlic at Italian restaurants.

We each chose off the regular lunch menu for our entrees. They were both very tasty and we decided that the portions were a perfect size for a dinner entree and exceptionally large for lunch. I took some of mine home, and hope to have it for lunch today.

We were so full after our lunch that we ended up skipping dinner. Although my husband thought it was an expensive lunch, I figure that the cost of lunch combined with no cooking dinner surely balances out the cost.

We will return to Girasole SOON and OFTEN!

La Scala Fine Italian

117 N Gaston Ave
Somerville, NJ 08876

We just came home from a phenomenal dinner at La Scala in Somerville. We started with a Caprese Salad appetizer. It had fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, red onion, basil, and a balsamic reduction. It was the perfect size for our party of four, and was simply outstanding. We very much enjoyed our warm rolls, which were served with an olive oil mixture as well as caponata.

We each enjoyed our meals a great deal, and were sharing from them because we were so happy. Each entree was served with a decent sized house salad (or soup; we all chose salad). One of us chose the tre fungi ravioli, the plate of which was practically licked clean. Another chose the Chicken Marsala--he enjoyed it, remarking that the chicken was so tender, although he was a little disappointed by the marsala sauce. Another had the Chicken Francese, and was quite pleased. Finally, I had the Chicken La Scala, which is served with a sherry wine sauce, pears, and cranberries. It was outstanding. In all, the portion sizes were remarkable (my entree had two thin pounded chicken breasts, as well as green beans and mashed potatoes), and the prices were reasonable. All this food and the bill came to around $80.

The atmosphere was quite nice, and our service was outstanding.

The restaurant is BYOB. I was able to make my reservation online, which was then confirmed via telephone.

My husband and I commented that we will surely return to La Scala.

Hoagie Hut

357 Union Ave, Bridgewater, NJ

We went to this deli yesterday for some yummy sandwiches after reading some great reviews on Yahoo! local. The hubs and I split a hoagie on a whole wheat roll. I'm not sure what it was about the sandwich, but neither of us was blown away by it. It might have been that the roll wasn't that great, but I was sort of disappointed in the hoagie as a whole. We declared that if we were in the area, we'd go back, but wouldn't make a special trip.

Park Deli

(732) 545-6585
80 Raritan Ave
Highland Park, NJ


Looking for lunch the other day, we happened to discover this place via yahoo local, and gave it a try. From the outside, this is probably a place I would have bypassed, but I'm glad we went in and gave it a try.

I love a place with a large selection of sandwiches made up... I'm not creative, and without such a suggestion, I go to my old standby of Italian hoagie.

They have lots of options here, which is wonderful, and these selections are certainly a Russian dressing lover's dream-- I think every one has Russian on it.

I like that they use Boar's Head too.

My sandwich, the Roller Coaster Hero, was pretty good. I forget what BAJ got, but it was good too (Of course, I had to try it). He raved about them over on yahoo local, but I think he liked it a little more than I did.

Cricket Deli

408 Elizabeth Ave
Somerset,NJ 08873

We usually rely heavily on reviews when selecting our meals out. Instead of following our usual pattern, though, we chose this deli shop while driving around.

They have a decent specials menu and their prices were fair. Neither of us, though, was really blown away by our sandwiches. BAJ got a reuben esque sandwich, and it was "ok," and the same went for my Italian hoagie. We also picked up a pasta salad, which I felt was kind of bland and BAJ didn't even try based on my review. Baby SBF was the only one who really seemed to enjoy the salad.

So, in short, we probably won't be going back here again.

Midtown Gourmet

111 S Main St, Manville, NJ 08835

We decided to try this spot for lunch after reading the reviews on yahoo local. I had the California cheeseburger deluxe and hubby had the Pastrami Reuben Deluxe. Our entire bill came to $12 plus tip! Service was great, and hubby is still talking about how "Goo-ood" his sandwich was.

It reminded me a lot of Cheers because everyone seemed to know each others' names! :)

Court House Sub Shop

16 E Main St, Somerville, NJ 08876

We decided to try this after reading the previous reviews here. Neither of us had a sub, and maybe that's where we went wrong. We both had the club sandwich, and they were both "fine" for us--nothing to really write home about.

If we happen to be in the area and looking for a sub, we might go back here... but we're not making the trip to go.

Fresh Food Kitchen

223 W End Ave, Raritan, NJ 08869

This place had very good smoothies, and a wide variety of sandwiches, but we felt that their prices were rather high for what we got. Everything was tasty, but we won't be going back.