We recently celebrated a high school graduation at Ancona Bistro with a party of six, and it could not have been a better choice. From the moment we arrived, the service was outstanding. Our server was attentive, friendly, and did a great job taking care of our larger group without ever making us feel rushed. The food was excellent across the board. The Chicken Milanese was perfectly crisp and tender, topped with a fresh arugula and feta salad that balanced the dish beautifully. The Penne Vodka was rich, creamy, and packed with flavor. Every plate that came to the table looked great and was enjoyed by our group. The atmosphere was another highlight. The dining room is warm, inviting, and comfortable with an upscale neighborhood Italian feel. It struck the perfect balance between special occasion dining and a relaxed family gathering. If you're looking for a place to celebrate a milestone, enjoy a family dinner, or simply have a great Italian meal, Ancona Bistro delivers. Excellent food, outstanding service, and a wonderful ambiance. We'll definitely be back. read more

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Had a very good meal at Ancona. Shrimp with pasta was simply delish. The owners and service were great and I discovered it was Albanian owned, which they are a little sensitive about revealing. They shouldn't be because they put out food any Italian would be proud of. Great local place to visit. read more

Came here for Thanksgiving yesterday. We had never been here before, but heard positive things about it so we were a little nervous. Everything was beyond delicious. Our appetizers and our dinners. No complaints from anyone in our large group. Staff were very friendly for working a holiday. Inside is very clean. I definitely recommend and I would come back for sure. read more

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Delicious meal. Fresh ingredients, excellent preparation and presentation. Service was outstanding.

Food was very fresh and tasty. So much to choose from. Did not disappoint. Service was great. Very tentative. Atmosphere was very cozy. Would definitely go back to try other dishes. read more

Would not recommend for large parties. We had a large party of 18 but two people fell ill and couldn't join. You can imagine our surprise when we got the bill and we were charged for 2 extra people. The restaurant gave us two entrees (not from our choosing) but it did not include the appetizers or dessert that we were charged for. Unfortunately, we can never return to this establishment because of their lack of customer service. read more

Excellent food, service, presentation. Intimate ambiance your go to for a great time.

Have been there about four times now and find I get more impressed each and every time. The food is always perfectly cooked, and served in a timely manner. Our wine glasses never stay empty. The waiters are extremely attentive, so much so that my wife with her bad hip, excited the ladies room and started limping her way back to our table, a waiter noticed and immediately went to her and escorted her back to her seat. I can not say enough wonderful things about this restaurant. I wish I could give it more than five stars. read more

This review is for a delivery/take-out order. I don't know why I haven't ordered from Ancona Bistro sooner but I'm glad I finally did. Despite it being delivered the food was fairly warm. Just a little heating was all it needed. I ordered the Shrimp Scampi and Mozzarella en Carrozza. The Mozzarella en Carrozza was delicious and one of my favorite appetizers. Not many Italian restaurants seem to have it on the menu opting for mozzarella sticks instead. Ancona's Mozzarella en Carrozza was delicious. It comes with sauce which was perfect in taste and texture. The Shrimp Scampi was nice and full of garlic. You get six jumbo shrimp with the tails on. I know tails are visually pleasing but I hate taking them off. The only thing was it lacked salt. Better to have too little and add some later. Overall it was an excellent meal. I can't say anything about the ambiance so I gave four stars for now until I go there to dine in. read more

Ancona Bistro - Shrimp Scampi - Jumbo shrimp and lots of garlic. Delicious. Too much pasta for one person. - Italian Near Me - Gillette, New Jersey

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Good food and service!! Could have more variety in their menu.I don't like this software that tells more how many characters I need to leave a review!! read more

They recently renovated the interior, wow! It's a gorgeous space! We had a wonderful dinner, the food was excellent. Service was amazing. Highly recommend! BYOB, perfect! read more

I took my wife and other family members here for dinner. this wasn't the first time I've eaten here but this is the first review that I've written. first off the place is beautiful, they had some renovations done and the place is welcoming. the staff are top notch friendly, professional, efficient and kind. the food is completely out of this world. now this is coming from someone who used to cook professionally for a living. if I was financially secure I would dine here at least 3-4 times a week. I highly recommend visiting this establishment, you won't be disappointed. I will be there on New years eve as well. I have done that for the past 4-5 years in a row and as long as they keep having this I will bring in the new year with them. ago and enjoy this place, worth every cent. read more

An average Italian restaurant. Wasn't amazing, wasn't terrible. Came here for Father's Day and sat on the patio. Many mosquitoes - got a lot of bug bites. For appetizer we had calamari, fresh mozzarella, mozzarella in carrozza, and eggplant rollatini. Everything was pretty good. The calamari was chewy, though - not my favorite. For dinner I had the chricken abruzzi (francaise style with artichokes). It didn't pass the fork test: meaning the chicken wasn't tender enough to cut with a fork. It was still pretty tasty. The service made the dining experience enjoyable - very kind and pleasant workers who want you to have a nice evening. Also: BYOB, parking lot attached to restaurant, on a busy road so a lot of trucks pass by read more

This place has great food and great atmosphere. Very good Italian restaurant in the area.

We planned my mother's 80th birthday party here and we couldn't have had a better experience. Valon helped us with planning a menu and he was flexible with every need we had. When it came to the day of the party, everything was timed perfectly. Service was perfect and every guest commented on how the party was the best birthday celebration they'd ever been too. Lots of compliments on the food, the atmosphere and the servers. I can't recommend Ancona enough! read more

Drive past this restaurant all the time. Decided to go with my wife. We both really enjoyed the ambiance and the food was great! Would definitely go back again. read more

Great ambuance and impeccable service. Never dissappoints. If you love eating at high end establishments this is the place.

I recently held my daughter's graduation dinner at Ancona and it was fantastic! The food was suburb! The waiters were great! Wonderful service! Ancona gave us a terrific evening! I highly recommend this restaurant! -Pat G read more

Menu has become too limited. Many of the old favorites are gone. Changes in decor are nice but not the same since Tommy left. Do not dine there as often read more

This is the perfect place for a family gathering, for a date or just because you feel a little extra. I love their menu every single item is perfect but I must recommend their ancona chicken it is the best. I also like their calamari because it is very fresh and fluffy just delicious and their salad are so fresh and unique. I love dinning at their patio specially during the summer the area is very nice and their service is top of the line. I had their tress leches and tiramisu for dessert and they were very tasty. I need to go back ASAP my mouth is watering!!!! don't look anymore stop at this place. read more

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If you want the best of everything try this place, Great ! We loved it Food, Service, Waiters,

Dinner was a average. Service spotty. Bread not good. Skip the Mozzarella Corona, Vegs cold. Salad dressing oily and tasted like fridge. Veal was good. Flounder Franchaise not good. Tomato sauce questionable. Nice to have a neighborhood place but not worth the money. BYOB. read more

We made a reservation for a party of 10 but had to cancel last minute. We felt so bad cancelling bc they were so nice and accommodating. We will be back. read more

It was pouring rain out but we were comfortable and dry under Ancona's outdoor patio tent. Service was attentive and friendly and the food was very good. I was tempted to order a typical Italian dish but an interesting entree caught my eye. I think it was called Veal Ancona and it consisted of veal, shrimp, asparagus and marinara sauce. It was a bit of an odd collection of ingredients and it could have used more shrimp and asparagus but I must say it was very tasty. Looking forward to going back. read more

The food is rather bland but service is good. They have an outdoor tent and are byob which is nice.

Last night was my first experience at Ancona Bistro. The space is lovely and welcoming. The apps of calamari, mozz.cheese and beet salad were fine. I was disappointed with my Lobster Ravioli entree .I found out that there was no lobster in the ravioli and that the filling was shrimp. To me the filling tasted like mushy baby food without any type of flavor. I was shocked that Ancona called it "lobster". The pink sauce that is came with seemed to be watery tomato sauce. I was very disappointed with my meal. My husband ordered the Ahi Tuna and he did enjoy it. Our party of 4 had a 5.30 pm dinner reservations & I definitely go the feeling they were rushing us out when they gave us the dessert menu, came back in 30 seconds to take our order. I MAY try this bistro again, but I really like when the title of the food is what the food is. The non lobster ravioli really bugged me. Sorry.... maybe the other entree are great. read more

Very good food and service! Very good PORTIONS for the price and on the premises Parking read more

This is my favorite place and bring friends here on a regular basis. I love when friends say they found this great little place.. During COVID, they have been super stars!! The outside dining is great and pickup is fantastic. They pay so much attention to detail and always make us feel like family. Highly recommended! read more

We just had a lovely dinner on the patio. The servers are very friendly and we loved our dinner. We were greeted with warm bread with a pesto dip. The chicken dishes were all great but the chicken parm was my personal favorite. I was tempted to try my nephews vodka pasta and I heard it was delicious but he was vigilant so I couldn't steal a bite. There is a kids menu and they were kind to the kidsThe restaurant is byob. My mom is definitely moving into their dinner rotation. read more

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Daughters bday and requested we go back to Ancona. We have patronized this restaurant for many years and highly recommend to Our friends Food was very good and selection wide. Service spot on and accommodating. Tom the owner was present and as always, greeted us like we were family . We have had a few parties over the years and this a perfect restaurant for an intimate get together . The best read more

My wife and I recently dined at this establishment after deciding we wanted to try a new local Italian place. The service here was very good and on point; you definitely feel welcome upon arrival. The decor was okay but quaint, typical mom and pop interior style, nothing too fancy but not terrible either. For our dinner we split an eggplant rollatini which was very tasty. We then both ordered salads, I ordered a Caesar and my wife ordered a beet salad. My salad was enghh. It was chilled which was nice but you could tell it had been sitting out for a while because some of the lettuce was a bit wilted. My wife loved her beet salad which resembled a beet tartar with arugula on top. She loved it but I'm not a huge beet fan in general so I'll take her word for it. My entree was the veal parmesan and my wife ordered the sole on the specials menu. My veal was decent but not great either; the portion size is good though so you won't be hungry afterwards. I'd have to say I enjoyed my wife's sole a bit more; well prepared and flavored. We did split a chocolate mousse for desert which was decadent and flavorful. I'm giving this place a 3 because some of the items were good and others were just okay; nothing was great though in my opinion. It is a nice intimate local Italian restaurant and not a bad choice of you're in the mood for Italian food. You'll definitely be full when you leave. read more

Ancona Bistro - The large portioned veal parmesan. I did finish this though. - Italian Near Me - Gillette, New Jersey

Went here for dinner last night with my family (5 people total). We were seated immediately and the place was packed. They first bring bread to the table with butter and a delicious pesto oil to dip in. The oil was full of garlic which I really loved. We started with eggplant rollatini and mozzarella en carozza for appetizers. Both were delicious. The marinara sauce really made the dishes. Again, a really great garlic flavor! I ordered the veal parmesan with penne pasta, which was fantastic. I cleared off the plate completely. Again, I loved the sauce. It was a big portion of food and totally worth the price. The veal was perfectly tender and had a great melted layer of cheese on top. Everyone at the table loved the food. Also, this place is a BYOB so prepare ahead of time! The only complaint was at the end of the night we had to ask for our check 3 times before we finally got it. The service was great up to that point but they started ignoring us after they cleared our plates. I'll definitely return. Great spot for date night with some romantic seating and white table cloths. read more

Ancona Bistro - Veal parmesan - Italian Near Me - Gillette, New Jersey

Good food friendly atmosphere. Staff treats you like family. The fact that it's byob is great

We had a fantastic diner last nite . There were four of us. two had the mushroom ravioli and the other two had different specials. Can't rave enough about the ravioli. Absolutely delicious. One of the specials was a bronzing dish which was delicious. Service was excellent . We enjoyed the Italian soufflé with ice cream for dessert . It was a lovely evening ! I would recommend giving it a try ! read more

Food is fantastic. They have an outdoor area setup that works nicely. Great meal. Will be back.

We dined with friends at Ancona Bistro a few weeks after their opening a year or so ago. My fish special was just ok and I tasted what my friend's had and it was pretty good but nothing to rave about. My husband wanted to give this place another try so we went for dinner. We played it safe and had some pasta dishes. I had the shrimp scampi. Pasta was good but I felt the shrimp were cooked a minute too long but my husband thought it was perfect. He has no clue. He had the chicken parm and my son the fettucini bolognese. Both were equally good. For dessert, I had the tiramisu and that was good as well. Overall, dinner was good, not great, just good. But it was better than last time though. We will eventually dine here again but there are other places I'd rather go with better food for the money. read more

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Great food, great ambiance, great service! Will come back again! Thanks for Covid precautions being followed and making customers feel safe.

High quality family-style Italian. BYOB. Had the Chicken Parmigiana. Very good. I think their very reasonably pasta dishes are a strong suit. Better than a lot of far pricier places in NYC. Excellent value. read more

What a disappointment. The setting was nice, the staff was welcoming and it is BYOB. The good news stopped there. To open, the bread wasn't up to par, nor was the olive oil we requested for the bread. My entree was bland and unimaginative -- dry, unseasoned chicken, topped by underwhelming spinach and accompanied by what seemed to be boiled broccoli. My wife's dish, a special for the day, was better but lacking complexity in flavor. We would have stayed for dessert, but why roll the dice? With all of the Italian food options nearby, I doubt we will return. read more

Lunch was very reasonably priced. Veal parm was 12.95 and Chicken parm was 2 bucks less. Both were served on a bed of pasta. Breading and red sauce were light. Chicken Francaise was not too eggy or buttery. They serve bread with pesto oil. Food has zero spice by default. Service was friendly and attentive. They have outdoor seating on astroturf. The road is a bit loud. Clean bathrooms too. read more

Ancona Bistro - Veal - Italian Near Me - Gillette, New Jersey

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