Biagio's Harbor Cafe

509 Us Highway 9
Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734

We decided to take my parents out to dinner, and they chose Biagio's. This was our second trip there, and it has been very good both times. The first time, we went on a Sunday, and my mom commented that her food wasn't as good that time as it was this time (she ordered the same item).

Prices were fairly reasonable; it came to around $20 for each of us (after soft drinks). They are a BYOB. I ordered the special of Eggplant Rollatine... for an extra dollar, it added soup AND salad (as opposed to just one of those) as well as dessert. The soup I chose (cream of spinach) was excellent, and my meal was as well. I chose the cannoli desert, which I ended up taking home. This was two small cannolis, but they were still tasty.

Everyone enjoyed his meal at our table, and we were pleased with the service. Our waitress wasn't fabulous, but the owner was bussing tables, running checks, joking with the customers, which helped speed that process.

Daylight Donuts

149 Pierce Street, Suite 8
Franklin Township, NJ 08873

BAJ found this one day by driving by, and figured he'd give it a try one day. He came home RAVING about their donuts. The next time I had a chance, I figured I'd give it a try too. I asked the two owners which donuts are their favorites... one of them suggested this amazing sounding concoction of a chocolate covered donut with raspberry filling. He didn't have them ready, so I figured I'll come back and try it another time (since I was heading out to work), but he did offer to make it for me right there. I tried my donut (don't remember which choice I made) and it was OUTSTANDING. So fresh and tasty! I came home and told BAJ about the donut the man described to me, and we were BOTH drooling over this, so that weekend, went back and had the man make them for us. It was FABULOUS, but messy. Definitely not something for the drive into work.

We LOVE Daylight Donuts, and are so glad we gave it a try. The owners are so very nice; they not only offered to make me that donut special, but they also offered my toddler son a donut.

Desert Moon Cafe

Franklin Commons
456 Elizabeth Avenue
Somerset, New Jersey
Phone: 732-805-0810
Fax: 732-805-0820

After my very first Zumba class, I was in the mood for Mexican food. We had seen this place, and wanted to try it, so that was the time to try. It earned lots of bonus points for being close to us (closer than Chipotle or On the Border or Baja Fresh), but we thought it wasn't as good as those other options and that the value wasn't as good as the two take out places on that list. I felt that the portions weren't as large as Chipotle and the options are better there and Baja Fresh. Baja Fresh's food is much fresher and tastier and they have way more options.

In short, we will probably go back should we have a serious desire for Mexican, but we would probably be more willing to make the drive to one of the other Mexican take out places around.

China Magic

25 Plainfield Ave, Piscataway, NJ‎ - (732) 885-8887‎

The other night, I was kind of in the mood for Chinese food. We never tried the place right around the corner, so went for it. We were very pleasantly surprised... it was really good! We compared prices to the other restaurant in Piscataway we had visited, and for every item we ordered, China Magic was more expensive--by no more than 50 cents, but still, something to consider.

For us, though, it's worth the extra cost to have GOOD Chinese food right practically within walking distance!

Harvest Moon

392 George St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

I LOVE beer. And someplace that offers me beer that I can't necessarily get anywhere else earns really high marks. I've been to Harvest Moon before, and have generally been pleased with the beer and the ambiance, but disappointed in the food, feeling that there really weren't many options and that I was just settling.

Tonight, however, was quite the opposite. Since we had our toddler with us, as well as a friend with whom we wanted to chat, we asked to sit in the dining room instead of the downstairs bar. As far as ambiance, it was ok... our service was pretty good. We ordered a beer sampler, which gave us about a large shot of each beer offering. There wasn't one on there that any of the three of us was interested in having as a pint. I found one I would have ordered, but still felt as though I was settling.

The food, however, was REALLY good. Our friend got a burrito, and not only was it REALLY large, but she said it was wonderful. BAJ ordered a pizza, which he said was good, but it didn't seem to be enough for him. I got a chicken wrap, which was delicious and I brought home leftovers as well.

When we got home, BAJ said that he just doesn't like their beer, and I have to concur. If I were to hear they are bringing back Crazy Girl Golden, I might change my mind, but otherwise, I probably won't be going back to the Moon.

The Frog and the Peach

29 Dennis St
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
www.frogandpeach.com

We have gone high class... err, we have gone to a high class restaurant. Feeling the need to eat and desire to splurge, we decided to go to The Frog and the Peach for their Prix Fixe lunch. For $25, a soup or salad, an entree, and a glass of wine or dessert at one of the best restaurants around sounded like a great deal. And a great deal it was... sort of. The food was exquisite; I had the salad, Pan Seared Organic Chicken Breast, and a glass of the house wine. BAJ went for the soup (broccoli cheddar), Beer Battered Jersey Dayboat Catch, and Creme Brulee. Everything was outstanding. The problem was that although $25 each for all this food, Everything it was way more food than we would have eaten, especially for lunch.

We were given the choice of eating in the "Garden room" or in the main dining room. Not knowing the difference, we said it didn't matter. Since they were not busy, they invited us to take a look at the garden room, and we were glad we did. It's got a nice vibe with plants and sunshine, and overlooks the outdoors. If you don't know any better either, go for the garden room!

The Frog and the Peach. Well worth the price, well deserving of the buzz.

Randazzo Pastry Shop

611 Us Hwy 202
Raritan, NJ 08869

We drove by last weekend and noticed that there always seemed to be a lot of cars in their parking lot, so today we figured we'd stop in since we were in the area. The first thing that caught my eye, even before we entered was their pastry display. Wow, those cakes are gorgeous. We went to the line and each ordered sandwiches. The Boys were both in love with the pastries, although The Boy seemed more interested in where they went when they disappeared (as trays were taken out for serving). The Man ordered a HUGE cookie, which has not yet been tasted.

Both of our sandwiches were good and REALLY big. BAJ ate all of his, but I couldn't even take down the whole half. This, by the way, was the half sandwich.

Prices seemed reasonable, and certainly for the amount of food you get in a sandwich. We will definitely be going back to Randazzo's.

URBANSPOON ROCKS!

You should check it out. And wow, check me out on the North Jersey... I'm the number 1 blog on there!! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I use it frequently and it doesn't look like too many other bloggers do. ;)

Old Bay Restaurant

61-63 Church Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 732-246-3111

I was browsing on restaurant.com, and it made me really want to go out for dinner last night. The most appealing choice was Old Bay. I've been here a few times for drinks, and the hubs and I had a really rushed dinner there one night before catching a train. That time, our meal was excellent, and it was this time too.

We started with some drinks... he had a mixed drink, which I believe was called a Swamp Water. The waitress warned us that it was something people either loved or hated, and we could certainly see why. To us, it tasted a lot like a Soco and lime (reasonable, considering the ingredients), and we liked it enough but wouldn't order it again. I tried one of their draft beers--something I'd never had before and enjoyed it well. I was surprised, though, because I really only went for the beer upon seeing the $3 pints... I did miss the "only after 10pm" part. Oops.

We went for the appetizer of three cheese bread, and it was really good. Pretty typical of cheese bread, but then it had a nice bruschetta like topping. Yum, we gobbled that sucker up.

I went for the Shrimp Creole. It was pretty tasty, but wayyyyy more food than I could handle, esp after a beer and appetizer. Hooray leftovers. The hubs, however, DEVOURED the Stuffed Sole with Lobster Sauce. Our waitress mentioned that it was her favorite on the menu, and he agreed. It came out with an awesome presentation; not at all what we expected.

So all this food plus a restaurant.com certificate, and it was still a pricey meal. But, then again, it was a LOT of food, and alcohol too. The certificate certainly helped, but we probably wouldn't have gone for the app without it (hey, isn't that the reason a restaurant would do those things anyway?)

Overall, we are VERY pleased with the Old Bay. The service was good, the food was excellent, and it was a great early weeknight evening for the toddler in tow crew---The Boy was able to sort of run around without us worrying AND without his disturbing other patrons. He LOVED that we were sitting at a window with a street view.

Villa Madrid

615 Ringwood Ave
Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442
(973) 616-0005
http://www.villamadridrestaurant.com/

This spot has been a troubled one... we went a few years ago to Monster Sushi, which was in the spot. It didn't last long. We believe, however, that Villa Madrid will stay for a long time.

Our party of 6 started with a round of appetizers that we all shared. Everything was excellent, from the lobster and crab ravioli, the octopus, the seafood and crab cakes, the seafood stuffed mushrooms, the chorizo and shrimp with garlic, all the way to the shrimp and mushrooms with garlic. Everything was perfect.

We waited to see if we would need entrees after the appetizers, and most of us did. A friend and I chose to get another order of the crab cakes, two others got the skirt steak, and my husband got the paella. Everything I tried was wonderful, and the entrees we got were LARGE... it's rare for my husband to take leftovers, and he might even have done so had we not gotten the appetizers. Their entrees also came with a really good cream of mushroom soup.

Finally, our friends shared flan, which was pretty good. It was flavorful, but cold... I didn't think flan was supposed to be so chilled.

I did feel like the pricing was on the high side, particularly for a BYOB, but it was definitely a nice treat to go here.

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.