Stopped in here for the lake view and linner before it got dark. It's a cute spot right on the…read morewater. The menu was not very extensive but enough to pick from for our needs. Our food was tasty and plentiful. The crab fries were huge! We had food left over for lunch the next day. Our server was excellent. She was very attentive to us. We were taking pictures and she noticed and asked if we would like her to take one of me and my other half. It was a bit cold in the dining room. That would really be my only complaint. I think it would be nice to go back in the spring or even summer because they have outdoor seating on a deck right by the lake. I would go back when in the area.

Food, excellent, service also excellent. Great views and I…read morelove being out on the deck on nice days.

Stopped at Stonewood Tavern off Route 206 in Byram -- a great location and an even better dining…read moreexperience. Food: We started with garlic bread that was absolutely awesome, followed by grilled octopus with a perfectly balanced, succulent marinade. I had shrimp with pasta, while my mother-in-law enjoyed a fillet of sole stuffed with crab meat and my wife had the cavatelli with broccoli. Everything was flavorful, well-prepared, and satisfying. Service: Our waitress, Casey, was excellent. Always checking in and very polite throughout the meal. She made the whole dining experience feel welcoming and attentive without being overbearing. Aesthetic: The restaurant has a warm, inviting look with stonework accents along the walls and an open barn-style concept. The lighting creates a comfortable atmosphere, and there's plenty of seating for both small groups and larger gatherings.

Came here for brunch on Labor Day weekend; service was friendly, though a bit on the slower…read moreside--perhaps because they were short-staffed for the holiday weekend. My husband and I split the Florentine Omelette with hashbrowns and the Ricotta Pancakes. The omelette was tasty, though the potatoes weren't quite my style. The pancakes, on the other hand, were a standout--light, fluffy, and full of summer flavor with blueberries and a hint of lemon zest. The restaurant itself has a bright, open feel and would make a great spot for a private event.

Finally, an excellent Mexican restaurant in Budd Lake! Perfect dining experience from the service,…read moreambience, food, and view of Budd Lake. The waiters were friendly and helpful. Came for lunch on Valentine's Day before it got busy. Started with ceviche and table side guac, both phenomenal. Wife had chili rellenos and I tried molcajete loco, both were generous portions and delicious. Prices were good and there was cash discount. Will absolutely return.

This is hands down my favorite Mexican food in the area and will be the only place I return to from…read morenow on. We ordered the Fajitas Monterrey Dinner, the Mango Habanero Chicken Wings, and the Beef Burrito. The Fajitas Monterrey Dinner was easily my favorite. The steak was so tender and charred perfectly. The fajita was mixed with onions, pepper, cheese, and PINEAPPLE. The pineapple made this absolutely special and delicious. The meal also came with a free side of chips, rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. The ground beef burrito was similarly delicious and they added peppers and onions to it free of charge. The man taking my order was super accommodating with this, which I appreciated. The burrito similarly came with chips, guac, salsa, sour cream, beans and rice, so It was impossible not to be stuffed afterwards. The chicken wings were crispy and delicious (we asked for the sauce on the side), and the sauce was really unique. I can't speak much to the ambiance of this place because I have never dined in, but after this amazing initial experience, we will definitely be back.

I have been here many times and keep coming back because they do a good job being creative with…read moretheir specials. Today I had the medium wings bone in which is a common go to for me. I love them. The wings are a bit on the smaller side but sauce and cooking is great. The chowder flavor was great it was a bit thinner that I prefer and more potatoes would have been perfect. Lastly the special drunk grandpa pizza was great. Quiet in here tonight but it's a Sunday in a local pub so as expected.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the colloquial use of the word dive to describe a…read more"drinking den" or "other disreputable place of resort" comes from the fact that these types of establishments were originally housed in cellars or basements, into which "frequenters may 'dive' without observation. I will leave it to you to decide whether Shakey Jakes Cafe is a dive bar, but they seem to take pride in it. As you will see upon arrival the door mentions that Shakey Jakes is recognized by Yelp & NJ.com as one of the top Dive Bars in Jersey. Bartenders are super friendly, helpful & professional. I sampled Bombay Sapphire, which is offered in a small glass or beer goblet...humm okay I'll bit let's go Big! I ordered the Steamed Clams, which come with croastini. On the menu it is offered with a Cajun Garlic Butter, I replaced that with just the regular drawn butter. Wow--wonderful nice size clams with the toasted bread, delicious. I loved it so much I had a second order. If you are are a steamed clam fan don't forget to sample the clam broth. This place is a keeper. I sent a picture of the front door of Shakey Jakes to my wife and son. I mentioned that "If I go missing this is the place to start." I showed the text to the Bartender, she got a huge kick out of it and said you are not from around here are you?

What makes a great sports bar great? Excellent menu choices, awesome drinks, a billion big screens…read moretvs, affordable bar and kitchen specials, and fast friendly service. Well, I'm pretty stoked to report that Polo's has all of that plus a whole lot more. My only regret about this place is that I waited too long to stop in. I Highly Recommend. Come And Get Your Munch On!!

The problem I have with this location is every other time there's broken dishes with chips. Why are…read moreyou serving dishes with chips? If I did not see it, I could've been cut. The other issue is I got the strawberry rose sangria the strawberry on the glass as a garnish was disgusting. Just don't use it on the glass, use a different strawberry. I'm getting concerned that this is happening more often with the broken dishes when we come. At this time, I cannot recommend.

***If there's one review you should read before deciding to come here, it's this one. I'm about to…read morewax poetic.*** Let me preface by saying that I'm a young adult who considers himself a bit of a foodie. I work in Times Square so I usually frequent fine dining establishments in the city, but my home is North Jersey so I am acutely aware that there are some hidden gems in this state. Last week, I was at the Saddle River Inn in Saddle River and was blown away. But this place is far, far, even more exceptional. Greatest dining experience ever. Called the restaurant due to a last-minute cancelation in my party. Evan, a manager, was super helpful in waiving any cancelation fees. It's BYOB and there's a brewery across the street that apparently does takeout. I just brought beer from my house. They gave me chilled glasses and a bucket of ice to keep my refreshments chilled. Onto the ambience. You walk in and it's a nice, cozy little place with tables and a bar top with an open kitchen layout behind it. You can see all the food that's cooking and the presentations that go behind each dish - all live in front of you. The chef's were busy but always obliged when I said hey or asked a question. I tried the 5 course chef's tasting menu for $125. You get a little bit of all of the best flavors coming out of the kitchen. And the flavors are always changing. They source their ingredients from local farms. First came out complimentary course #1 - all I remember is it had crudo in it. Then course #1 - gulf shrimp with squid. This is the point where I decide no matter how else dinner plays out, I'm coming back. What fresh ingredients and creative flavor pairings. Next was course #2 - duck confit spring roll. It's just a smaller portion of what's regularly on their menu. This may have been my favorite item of the night. Next was wood fired octopus in tagliatelle pasta. After that, I believe, was complimentary course #2 - what appeared to be a caesar salad. Anything they make is delicious. Finally, I had an American wagyu strip as the fourth course. Absolutely delectable. At this point, I'm in Heaven. But I'm not quite yet full and ready for my dessert - profiteroles - one of my favorite desserts. I was looking forward to it from the moment I walked in and saw it listed on the tasting menu. I only eat 1 meal a day so when I finally eat, I eat a lot. A normal person would be full at this point, but I wanted more. I also couldn't help but think it might have something to do with me not wanting to leave and just try anything this kitchen made. So I ordered more. I asked for their regular menu and ordered some more duck confit spring rolls and some type of pork belly entree. Quick note - the pork belly entree was not good. You have to take the losses on the chin to make the wins matter more. Pork belly over beans? It was like bbq ribs meets an English breakfast. Please get rid of that, respectfully. After 3 bites, I didn't want any more so I quietly flagged down my server, Kat, and told her please quietly take this, I fully intend to pay for it since I ordered it; it's just no good. And I had been raving to her about every dish up until that point. So she insisted that she'd take it off the check. I insisted I'd pay, she kept insisting, so I relented. That's really good customer service. Now time for dessert. I wish I could say I was ending on a better note but the Profiteroles - which I mentioned is a favorite dessert of mine - massive disappointment. After everything else was put together for care, I got notes of freezer for this last one - especially the pumpkin part. I love this restaurant and I intend on returning as soon as possible, so please don't take offense to my constructive criticism. I applaud your efforts to infuse different flavors together. It is working wonders for you. Keep it up. I'm gonna share pictures of everything, including the menu. But the last 2 things I'll talk about are the cost and the service. With the pork belly entree taken off, it was just the 5 course tasting menu, an order of duck confit spring rolls, and a $6 double espresso. The total came out to $168 after taxes. I tipped $168. That's right. 100%. In a world where people like to dock tip percentages from their precious "20%" for what they perceive to be a lack of good service, let's normalize going above 25% for exceptional service. Not everyone can afford 100% like me, but next tip tip your servers 30-35% for exceptional service. As a former server in my heyday, I promise it'll mean more to them than the few extra dollars to you. And exceptional service is what I got. From manager Evan, to server Kat, to all of the others I met - forgive me if I forget any names. Chef Kelly, Chef Mike, Chef Jon, Keira, Jimmy. Thank you for an unforgettable 5-star experience. Keep up the exceptional work. I will see you again soon.

Early dinner on a Friday night. Again, couldn't have been better! We again did the 3 course dinner,…read moreamazing as usual. Took pics this time so wanted to review. We ordered the bread this time too. Delicious! Didn't need any drinks because the food was amazing. Great meal yet again!

All the food was excellent. Beautiful presentation the pride the chef has for the food he sends out…read moreshows the love and passion shows Its always an honor to sit down and eat such wonderful dishes put together the menu was perfect we picked a tasting menu which was perfect so i can taste a more variety of German dishes in small portions. I highly recommend black forest restaurant The soup really packed with flavor we had to order two pints to go. Soup and lobster bisque The ambience of this establishment is cozy quaint lovely, beautiful, very beautiful atmosphere. Nobody's loud obnoxious place right now is becoming full. All the workers are very professional the young men and women probably from the Neighbourhood. This is such a great place that even gives young people the opportunity to work these young men and women in this place really work hard and you can see that they're proud to work here and they take extra to provide excellent service impressed with Black Forest restaurant. My compliments to the chef for excellent cuisine and my heart to all the employers who showed nothing but professionalism and establishment I also would like to thank the young man Zion for his professional and courteous service. Well presented with clean uniform prompt service Thank you Zion for your table service in your mannerism and thank you so much for making it pleasant for my wife and I You're truly a great representative of the establishment that you work in. I hope your bosses notices that you are very valuable employee as I can see for myself as a retired professional chef for 37years thank you Yours truly chef Ramos.

I was fully prepared to come in here and unapologetically grade on a curve - I always feel a little…read morebad for this area of NJ when it comes to the gastro scene, and I want to support a legitimately unique enterprise like this. This was, sadly, not a good meal and based on expectations easily one of the most disappointing experiences I've had in recent memory. I came here yesterday with my top-tier chum from the Kingdom of Sussex, along with my #1 Honorary Young Pup Chum, fresh off a 20-mile walk down the Sussex Branch Rail Trail - so a bit tired and very hungry. Black Forest got me (and my appetite) in the best situation for them, in theory. Unfortunately it stayed just a theory. The atmosphere in here by far is the biggest selling point. I love a good taxidermy situation, and this place had it in droves. We were seated near a bear, and had eyes on numerous other wildlife, preserved for eternity. The stained glass throughout the restaurant is also pretty wild - it feels like you decided to go to church in a European hunting lodge. It's also deceptively large in there, which I discovered later as I tried to locate the bathroom (there is no signage for that) and wandered into two or three different dining rooms. Just wild and really does set this place apart from virtually any other restaurant in the area (maybe the far superior Walpack Inn can lay a claim?). I was intrigued by the Potato Pancakes w/ Applesauce on the appetizer menu, which ended up being the best item I ate. As you can see in the attached photo, they're basically big hash browns. They were good, and the applesauce made for an interesting palate combo. In what ended up being a bizarre theme throughout the meal, the accompanying applesauce came in a small plastic container that you had to open. This to me is one of the more egregious self-inflicted wounds I've seen from a restaurant, but also pretty fixable. This wasn't a crab shack at the beach or a taqueria in Newton - this is a restaurant with white tablecloths. Why aren't you serving the accompanying sides in a nicer dish, like a ramekin? What makes it more mystifying is that they HAD ramekins or something similar - they served the wrapped butter for the stale dinner rolls in it. I genuinely don't have a clue what the thought process was, but it honestly cheapened the optics and is something they should stop doing immediately. For my entree, I went classic German with the veal wienerschnitzel and a side of spatzle. The wienerschnitzel itself was fine - I've honestly had better from a food truck in Jersey City called Mordi's (I just checked and sadly they've closed), but it had no sauce or anything so it was super dry and overall not that tasty as a result. It would have even been an upgrade to get one of their infamous plastic containers of basically any condiment. The spatzle was honestly terrible; I had an excellent version of this at an Austrian restaurant in FiDI called Schilling (which has now converted to a French restaurant, apparently; I can't with these closures. Lord.), and this was just utterly tasteless. My chum likened it to "brain noodles," meaning the noodles you'd use in a blindfold game around Halloween. Fair, but even some of those probably had some flavor to them. Huge miss. I'm not sure why I kept going at this point but I decided to end this situation with the Black Forest Cake. It was a little stale (maybe it's kept in the same area as the dinner rolls?), but it was okay. Could have been worse, so I'm taking that as a victory of sorts. The chocolate mousse within it got positive remarks from my other dining companions in the context of their items, so that's probably the play if you're hitting up the dessert menu. The service was mediocre. Our waitress was very nice when she came to our table, which was infrequent. It seemed like she was waiting for food to come out (which took a while) as the context for a visit, rather than taking initiative to check on us. The Young Pup Chum waited close to 15 minutes for a second soda, which shouldn't have happened, especially given that we were there at a VERY slow time (just before 4pm). And the price point was honestly close to insulting. Neither of us are opposed to plunking down some Jacksons for a nice meal, but getting a bill for $200 (plus tip!) for not great food was not a fun feeling to close out our afternoon. I hate to end this on a dark note, but given that my two recommendations for German food in the area have both closed, you might not have much of a choice but to come here if you're hankering for schnitzel.

Fun, energetic spot with a true local feel. The tap list is extensive, and it's a great place if…read moreyou enjoy variety and trying flights. Lively atmosphere without feeling overwhelming, and bartenders know their stuff. If you're indecisive, go for a flight, it's the best way to sample their range.

Great place for a fresh and cold beer!!!! Went there many…read moretimes during summer and now winter and still welcoming!!! The ambience had Christmas decor so cute... the server/bartender was also really friendly and knowledgeable about the beers with great recommendations.

I have been coming here with fantastic experiences for years.....I cannot believe that I have yet…read moreto do a well earned positive review (mommy-brain in full effect LOL) Year after year the atmosphere, service, food, and libations have been stellar. The owner also consistently walks around to ensure that his guests are happy, for years! This time we started with the soup special, Guinness beef stew, SO good. Then we had the oysters which were delicious. For our entrees, I had the branzino which was also delicious. My hubby got the short rib pastrami special...WOW! We thought it was going to be a type of Reuben sandwich, but it was a platter, and it was amazing, so I'm glad it was suggested to us by the staff. We normally don't have room for dessert, but we made sure to try one of them since they are all homemade; we tried the red velvet cake, which was really good! Our dinner and dessert beverages also complemented our meals. This is definitely a place you want to try!

We came here for Mother's Day and had a delicious early dinner. We ordered Burrata Rustica and…read moreFried Calamari for apps: the burrata was smooth, creamy, and fresh tasting and the fried calamari was tender, though the sauce was a little too sweet and there was a little too much of it for my liking. My mom and I had the Veal Scallopini for our entrees and it was wonderful- cooked perfectly and the tagliatelle was a nice al dente. My husband really enjoyed his Rack of Lamb and received it very rare, just like he requested; and my dad loved his Halibut special in a pomegranate sauce that was also nice and tender. For desserts, I had the Creme Brulee which was melt-in-your-mouth good, my husband had the raspberry sorbet which he really liked, and my dad had the carrot cake, also very good. The service was also excellent, with Mattar himself coming to say hello. Overall, a very satisfying experience- will definitely go again!

Whenever my wife and I shopped at Lowe's on a Saturday, we'd try to stop in at the Longhorn for a…read morecocktail after. Yesterday was the first time we've been back there in a few years. This is the first time we've been there since it was reopened. The restaurant, especially the bar, looks great! Our server was also helpful and friendly. They have drink specials, including my Jack & Cokes for around $5....can't beat that! We ordered a couple of appetizers, the Wild West Shrimp and the White Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms. Both were delicious and huge, a lot of food. They also serve bread beforehand which was very good. It was fun stopping back in here. Great place for appetizers and drinks!

Came for dinner got the 8 oz sirloin and 8 shrimp. Delicious! Husband got the 7 pepper sirloin…read moreloved it. Staff was friendly and not too over attentive. Had our dinner and was able to enjoy without the how's dinner question with a mouthful of food.