Dined here yesterday for lunch with a friend. We ate outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. All of the waitstaff was incredibly attentive. Water was refilled without having to ask. My friend ordered one of the specials of the day: butternut squash ravioli in a sage butter sauce. Four large ravioli served with delicious stalks of asparagus. The ravioli was fresh, the sauce light but packed with flavor. I ordered the Linguini Torino; linguini with shiitake mushrooms, sun-dried tomato, spinach, oil and garlic. The dish was so fresh and so light. Delicious. Both meals were served with a beautiful salad, and bread with the most delicious dipping oil I've ever tasted. I'm a huge butter fan, so this speaks volumes. Pricing was reasonable for the quality of food. A++++. read more

My favorite place to eat! If you arrive and have to wait, it is worth it. I have eaten here about 5-6 times in the past year and every dish is delicious. My favorite is the Rigatoni Azzurro. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. The staff are very friendly, prices reasonable and it's wonderful to have a great BYOB with wine shop just a few doors down. Highly recommend! read more

The waiters are rude, pompous, and arrogant. The food is mediocre, and when coupled with lack luster service, this place is not worth it. Our waiters were passive aggressive, and wanted no part of listening to us. Don't waste your time. read more

A group of us came here to celebrate a co-worker's retirement. I feel like we were taken advantage of from the moment we arrived. The arrogant waiter asked us if we wanted appetizers for the table - we said yes. We had no idea each person would get their own personal appetizer - we assumed a few dishes would be shared with the table. They charged us $7 a bottle for STILL WATER. Are you kidding? The food was good but didn't make up for being charged astronomically for basic courses. I will never return and encourage my co-workers to not go there. They took advantage because they knew it was a retirement lunch from a local company and assumed money didn't matter. read more

Worst experience ever!! This past Saturday was our first time at Cafe Azzurro, and it will be our last! We had a 7:30 reservation and we couldn't even walk through the door to check in. Upon checking in we were told our table was just being cleared and it wouldn't be long. LIES! That was the first lie of MANY that night. We stood in the crowded hallway with the other customers, all of whom had reservations!! Every time you would ask how much longer, you were told another lie of soon. Don't take reservations if you can't hold them! They do this on purpose to get you out that way where there are not many options in the general area. After ONE FULL HOUR WAITING, they started seating other parties of 4 who got there AFTER us and had 8PM reservations! Absolute ridiculous! Many people were raged in the hallway as they too were passed up for people who arrived later than us all. We FINALLY get seated at 8:40PM and they weren't exactly rushing to take our orders. You would think they would have offered something complimentary! An appetizer, dessert, some sort of compensation for having us wait well over an hour, but nothing! The food was good, but nothing spectacular that warrants treating customers this way. And I didn't wish to have dinner at 9:30PM! There are tons of other Italian restaurants with better food that know how to hold a reservation. We were not walk-ins! read more

Our first experience with Cafe Azzurro made me wish I'd paid more attention to previous reviews regarding poor service. We had a reservation for 4, this Saturday at 7:30 & waited at least 45 min to be seated. We were not alone, as other parties also waited far too long than expected when having reservations. Once seated, another long wait for our order to be taken. Appetizers however came with little delay but one of our Clams fradiavlo arrived with mostly shells containing no clams. When we pointed this out, our server acted as though this was not at all possible, but did rectify the situation by bringing out a replacement. Disappointment continued. Another 45 min minimum passed as we waited & inquired as to the status of our entrees. On top of this, a bizarre occurrence... a head staff member of the service team stopped by our table to ask if we would share a glass of our wine with him!!! Unbelievable ! Again we complained & he told us that these service issues are common every Friday & Saturday. "If you want good service, come on Thursday". Finally about 9:45 our entrees came, and were actually pretty good. We had coffee & paid our check. Frankly we should have left a poor tip but did not. We left at 10:45. (Remember our reservation was 7:30). Ambiance is great, food good, service terrible. read more

Can't believe this restaurant is in NJ, AND, that the prices are so reasonable, AND, it's a BYOB. Been there twice. Both times, all entrees were astounding, including surf & turf. If I had to choose ONE restaurant, where I would HAVE to eat, EVERY DAY, this would be the one. read more

We had decided to have dinner at Cafe Azzurro on Thursday night. Not very crowded which we wanted. We ordered calamari as an appetizer and two entrees. They forgot to bring the appetizer of which we had to remind them. They took the entrees from the table while we waited for the calamari which was quite good. After we were finished with the calamari they brought the entrees. The same old entrees they brought before. We could tell because one of us ordered the duck breast rare and it came back almost well done. They didn't provided any apologies and we didn't want make a fuss so we could enjoy the evening. It was real up Azzurro to make it good. It wasn't terrible, but they didn't do their job. We have been there many times before, but this was our last. read more

I've always had a good experience here. I love their ravioli. It's so good. Can't say any of their desserts were memorable to me. It's nice that it's BYOB. read more

Everything was perfect until we ordered the dessert. We paid the check after we ordered the Italian chocolate cake . It supposes to take 15 mins but it took more than 50 mins. We needed to leave and the manager instead of suggest to comeback, he gave us the money back for the dessert. The money was not the problem, it was the time that we have to wait. I would prefer to have a better customer service. read more

We went to Cafe Azzurro twice this week -- once in a small group and once with a larger group as a private party. Both experiences were very good. On Tuesday night, eight of us had the corner table in the front room and we ordered from the menu. The rack of lamb was excellent as were the scallops, chicken parm and assorted pasta dishes. The portions were ample and the service attentive. Mixed reviews on the salmon. On Saturday night 16 of us were in the back room. They offered a 5 course meal including hot antipasto (fried mozzarella, coconut shrimp and portabello), penne pasta, crispy well-dressed salad (choice of 2), choice of three entrees (chicken, veal or salmon), and creamy tiramisu for dessert. All the courses were very good and for only $40 per person! Salmon was nice size and well cooked. Even though it's BYOB, Azzurro does a nice job with glassware and makes it feel like a special occasion. read more

This is consistently one of my favorite local restaurants, but I'm really frustrated by a recent visit. The food is always great, but reservations are meaningless at this restaurant. The last 3 visits we've had to wait any where from 30 minutes to one hour to be seated. Last night we were seated after a 30 minute wait and then asked to give up our table because the space was too tight. We said the table was fine but they told us that they would not seat anyone at this table. Ten minutes later they reconfigured the space for a larger party. When we confronted the hostess she told us she was just doing what the manager asked her to do. We were seated 10 minutes later. No apology from the manager and no offer to comp any part of our meal. We told them this was extremely bad form and they didn't seem to care. Honestly the food isn't that great to put up with this type of treatment. read more

Ate outside for lunch. Beautiful atmosphere. Eggplant parm was delicious, with pasta that tasted freshly made and was cooked al dente. It came with a salad. The meal was a generous portion, but not enough to take home. The quality was a bit higher than somewhere like Pizza Brothers (where the same dish would be enough to serve 2), but the price was also a bit higher. read more

honestly food was pretty good. not amazing. service left A LOT to be desired.

This is a good and reasonably priced Italian restaurant. Its outside patio is the big plus for me. We enjoy going there to have dinner outside on a nice evening. Food is good but not really great. Service is fine. read more

My wife and I went to Cafe Azurro last Saturday night with 2 other couples. The servers not very friendly and we felt rushed all evening. My wife and I both ordered the Sole special with lobister. The dish only contained a few crumbled pieces of lobster without much flavor. Once the meal was over we received the dessert menu before the dishes wete completely cleared. Coffed arrived well before the desserts did and the hostess gave us the bill before the desserts as well. The waiter never offered more coffee. We traveled 35 miles to meet up with friends for dinner. Next time I will stay closer to home. read more

Been there a few times and the food never quite this bad...in fact, so bad that with the place absolutely packed, and several tables turning over several new customers, I thought I may have been hallucinating. So popular, yet so....mediocre. Let me explain. We had calamari to share at the table, between 6 of us, plus everyone had a salad. So far, so average. The calamari was reasonable. Came with a ketchup which was uninspiring, but nonetheless acceptable. Salads were generally reasonable, though at a leaf per dollar ration, pretty abysmal in terms of value for money. But then (drum roll please) the main courses. Each of the six of us had different courses, including the specials. Uniformly bad. My wife had clams with linguini. Clams were boiled into rubber bullets in a shell. And how can an Italian restaurant massacre linguini? For goodness sake, you just have to boil some pasta! At $18, it was a travesty. At $8 it would still be a travesty. I had the Boston scrod francaise. It was just about the worst fish-based meal I have had. The batter was lumpy and waterlogged. The vegetables (carrots which were julienned into submission) and some mashed potato in 3 artistically scalloped small piles, were a mild diversion from the lemon sauce which looked like had been scraped out of a packet of non descript ingredients for something else. Truly horrible. And the audacity to charge $25 for this?!!! The other diners at our table also left remnants on their plates and it wasn't because the portions were big, I can assure you. My wife then, not knowing when to give in to a job badly done, ordered New York style cheesecake. Usually restaurants buy their desserts in. Wherever and whatever this was, it may have been in the style of a cheesecake, it may have once visited New York, but edible it was not. Again, lumpy and with a soapy mouth feel. The saving grace of this restaurant is that is a BYOB. So you can drink yourself into oblivion and pretend you are somewhere else. Given the place was so full, we may have hit a bad night, or have been in the minority, but this was really a poor experience. read more

And again...wanted to update. Been coming here for 6 years, and still our area go-to. I'd always recommend trying to get here on the later side, after 7:30. We never make a reservation unless we are with a group, and never wait more than 15 minutes. I pretty much always get a special, generally a fish, and I've never been disappointed. Everything is always fresh and presented beautifully. Servers are friendly and attentive. I never hesitate to recommend dinner here! read more

We have been eating, catering and have had a party here and all have been excellent. It is crowded best if you go before 5:30. The service is top notch and so is the food. The portions are average for a resturant of this level. read more

Very inefficient. Service was very slow. We had to wait more than 30 minutes despite a reservation.

Food has always been great, but that's it. They always overbook reservations and force customers to wait for an hour before getting seated. We have celebrated many holidays and special family occasions here, but have had it. Last night the hostess was rude about us having to wait regardless of reservation (2nd time in a row). We walked out and went down the street to Il Monello. We were seated outside immediately and had a awesome meal with great service. For anyone who is sick of Cafe Azzuro making you wait and/or rushing you through your meal, you have another great option right down the street. We are done with Azzuro. read more

I debated whether to rate 2 stars or 3, but really -- I drive by this place everyday, their outside seating looks lovely and inviting, it is 5 min from my home, and why I have been there only once? The food was just OK. There is nothing compelling enough for me to go back. read more

I have been a long time client of Café Azzurro, sadly I think that changed last evening! I was there with three friends and we were enjoying our evening. When the bill came we all decided to put in cash. The bill was 196.00 and we all put in $60, three of us put in three $20's and one of us put in a $50 and a $10. The waiter came to the table and picked up the bill along with the cash. We were relaxing and finishing up our coffee and tea for about 10 minutes when one of the waiters came over to the table and asked if we enjoyed our evening. Our reply was yes. With that he threw down our bill and said well you might want to rethink this then and walked away. We were shocked and began to look at the bill and the money. To our surprise some of our money had changed into two $5.'s and a $1. we feel we were duped by the wait staff and someone took a couple of our bills and replaced them with the two $5's and the $1. We decided to just all put in some additional money and we did. Come to find out after speaking with a few friends, they recently had a similar problem and did the same thing we did. In retrospect, I wish we had called over the manager and discussed the problem. I think there is a problem going on there and it is important to let the general public know. If I decide to return it will be a credit card for me!!! read more

While the food at Cafe Azzurro is excellent and the servers are fast and efficient, to book customers for dinner and then not even have enough seats for them, telling them after waiting for 45 minutes, is not the way to run a business that depends on repeats! I was lucky enough to get seats at wonderful restaurant close by. read more

Have eaten here many times and have always been pleased until last Friday night. We chose it specifically to eat outside- made 6:30 reserves for outside- ,whole party was there on time and were told there's be an hour wait for outside. There were open tables on patio but were told we couldn't sit at them!!???? We sat inside and the service was not good at all. It took at least 15 min before our table got any attention. We had 3 different waiters but they were inattentive- never checked after food was served to see if it was OK, we had to ask for everything (except more water- busboy did his job well)- split dishes were not pre-separated. In the beginning it was very busy, but halfway thru, it cleared a little and we still had bad service. My asparagus/beet salad was great but linguine w/red clam sauce was pedestrian and pasta was too al dente. My friends had pasta also that was well prepared. I ate it anyway since I couldn't find the waiter to send it back. Had I thought about Il Molina up the street, we would have gone there like the other reviewer on this list did. Very disappointing and pricey for bad service! read more

We dined here many times and for the most part things always went well. Last summer we had a bad experience. I forget what I ordered but it didn't come with any accompaniment so I was forced to order a side of mash potatoes. As far as I know potatoes are relatively inexpensive. When the bill came, I was charged $10 for a small side of mash potatoes. Of course with tax/tip these potatoes were up to $13. I thought it was ridiculous and asked to speak to the manager. It was a lot of back and forth before he decided to reimburse us $10. He gave us cash because we had already paid by credit card. But we had gotten up to leave already, and it felt awkward standing there arguing and then waiting for him to bring the $10. We have not been back since, and reading many of the reviews, it appears things have gotten much worse. So I think its wise for us to continue to stay away read more

Service is always great and the food is consistently good. Although the menu is nearly always the same, it is a great go-to spot, especially for outdoor dining. read more

Very good service. Above average food and nice ambiance. Make reservations especially on weekends. Place gets busy and for good reason.

My wife and I went here for our anniversary dinner last Saturday that Benny and his staff made very special. Great Food, Service and Ambiance = perfect recipe for a winning restaurant. We were seated at a nice quiet table in the back and shared the Beef Carpaccio (melt in your mouth good) and Calamari Salad (tasty and refreshing). We both had the Lamb Shank special (fall off the bone..yummy). The food arrived piping hot and the service was on their game with always topping off the water glasses (one way I can tell if service is good). It was nice to have the owner come around as well. Thanks for a great dining experience! We will definitely be back! read more

Love this place! We live nearby and always take our out of town guests here for dinner. The outdoor seating is so delightful and they just updated their umbrellas, heat lamps and lighting. The food never disappoints....try the avocado and shrimp salad. It's BYOB, too, which makes it even better. Excellent service and the place is always packed but not noisy. read more

Nice place great food and great service. even on Valentines Day they did a great job and they were packed. Azzoro has yet to let me down. Great service resonable prices. One of the best pic in the area. BYOB makes it even better. read more

What a lovely restaurant. We were taking a leisurely Sunday drive and happened upon it. The service was exceptional and the food was delicious. If I lived in the area this would be my favorite spot for lunch or dinner. Unfortunately it's an hour drive from my home and work. I highly recommend it to anyone who is nearby - you're lucky. Enjoy!! read more

Ordered veal cappricciosa. Came burnt, as did wife's cocoanut shrimp. The veal was supposed to be over broccoli rabe, but I'll be damned if I could find any. It was more like chopped up leftover salad, with bits of regular broccoli. No Mas! read more

This was our first and last time patronizing this restaurant.The coconut shrimp appy was average, but minestrone soup fared better. I enjoyed my veal francaise, but it only came with a small scoop of mashed potatoes and veggies. My husband thought his seafood fra diavolo tasted below par, and could have used more seafood. Overall, the meal was OK (yet overpriced), but my bigger complaint was with the staff. We had an early reservation, so the restaurant wasn't too busy. The staff constantly circled around the room and stood off to the side of us. It made us feel uncomfortable, let alone difficult to have a private conversation. We couldn't wait to leave. read more

Unfortunately this seems to be another place that's been ruined by success. Been going here for years and always recommended this place as the food was excellent, staff attentive and outside patio relaxing and beautiful. Unfortunately they recently made some significant changes - adding quite a few tables to the patio - to the point where I was (literally) bumping elbows with the person next to me during the meal. This also seems to have had an effect on service - during my last visit the only time I saw any staff was when they took our order and silently dropped the food. No freshening of our water, no inquiry as to how the food was, no fresh pepper when the food was delivered. We also waited 45 minutes to be seated in spite of having "reservations". We repeated asked for wine glasses while we waited so we could enjoy the wine we brought but those never appeared. I finally went and took glasses from a nearby table - thankfully I had brought my own cordscrew. While the food is still good they have raised the prices significantly while cutting the portion size. There are quite a few excellent Italian places nearby - many with outside seating - you may want to consider those. read more

Awesome food..excellent service ..loved it ..great ambience ...definitely will go again..

Came here with a few friends on their recommendation and was quite surprised as food was excellent and the outdoor seating is pleasant on a nice evening. Had one of their veal dishes which was so thin and tender you could cut it with a spoon...the best! Though we don't live in the immediate vicinity we will definitely be back again soon. read more

The hostess is unbelievably rude. There is absolutely no effort to be courteous or accomdating to customers- she actually argued with us over whether we could sit outside (we had a reservation for outside). She was so rude that we left - I will not go back there. read more

It was a beautiful Fall day and I thought it would be a good day to try out this restaurant's outdoor patio. Unfortunately the food was mediocre and the portions ridiculously small. The bread was blah, my salmon was overcooked, and the side of potatoes and mixed vegetables consisted of one small potato and a forkful of julienne carrots and other unmemorable vegetables. Now I know why the prices were so reasonable, but still not worth the food that was served. read more

Asked for corner table when I made our early reservation of 6:15, since I know if crowded it can get noisy. They did not honor our request even though there was a table open. There were 4 of us at a tiny table next to a party of 8 who were very noisy to the point we couldn't hear the waiter or each other. Should have left. Food did not make up for it and felt very rushed. Never again, too many good/great places in Morris/Somerset counties. read more