Went here for a quick dinner after traveling all day and landing at EWR. We were starving, tired and had our cranky 18mo that needed to eat ASAP. It was a slow night here when we arrived around 5:30pm. But the service was nonetheless fast, efficient, and friendly. The pizza and chicken parm with vodka sauce (custom request) were fire. Hit the spot after being in the islands for vacation. Good no frills Italian-American meal back in NY/NJ! read more

Ellie's Bistro - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

We were in town for a concert and this spot was very close to Prudential Center and got solid reviews. It's a cozy little spot with something everybody will enjoy. The ribeye was good, but it could have used a little more seasoning. It lacked salt and spices so the fat/oil seemed overwhelming. The bruschetta was nice and fresh. The pasta fagioli was also good. The chicken cavatelli was pretty good, but the chicken was a little dry. The service team was kind and attentive. I would come back to Ellie's again. read more

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Ordered a few paninis for a work lunch and sadly this spot does not deliver. Only pick up. The paninis came in a large aluminum pan and cover. The sandwiches were sliced into 4 portions each so it definitely looked a lot more. Sever panini options include a veggie panini, one with chicken. I really like how they made the bread crispy and marked, can tell they made an effort in this. I was hoping to love them but it was only ok. I had a taste of the eggplant chicken and the Roman panini (veggie only). the chicken was rather dry and was ok. The Roman panini was better, loved the mushrooms in it as well. Overall pick up service only with some good panini options. read more

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Wood fired pizza ... we were eager to try it. Disappointing as it was "doughy" & not crispy...didn't have enough char. Just fell short of expectations. $18 for a bourbon. Roasted pepper & mozzarella salad was very good. Simple balsamic dressing but loads of flavor. Next to the Rock ... 1 drink each; 1 salad each & split a pizza with toppings. $90 w/ tip. read more

Came here before a concert for a quick bite, the workers were pretty unfriendly. Menus were dropped at the table and they went back to the bar with their backs turned. Before they left we asked for waters to start and we never got them until our meal came when we realized we still didn't have them. The drinks were okay, I got an espresso martini. The panini I had was grilled chicken with mozzarella and the chicken was literally rubbery. My partner got a chicken Philly and the chicken was chunked which was weird. Tip is already included and the waitress never mentioned it to us, just good to know to avoid double tipping. read more

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Went for a work event on a Thursday. Cute little restaurant, the inside is small but super nice. The service was slow, I understand we have a big party, however there was not that many other parties. I would have an empty class of soda and attempt to get the server's attention to refill and it took multiple attempts to get their attention. However the server was very adamant on getting alcoholic drinks refilled. The food was okay. I ordered the penne vodka with chicken. Not a great amount of chicken added to the pasta. Would have liked more. This restaurant works in a pinch and is a good suggestion compared to others in the restaurant, however would like to try other restaurants before going back. read more

Ellie's Bistro - Penne Vodka - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Sautéed in roasted garlic with marinara. Broccoli Rabe over took the entree. Maybe if there was actually marinara sauce it would have made a difference. However, there is definitely an abundance of oil and butter. Not worth over a $20 meal. read more

Ellie's Bistro - PENNA BROCCOLI RABE & SAUSAGE (lunch) - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

I've probably been to Ellie's on more than 20 occasions. Things have changed. Be very wary when you eat here. There is a 20% service charge added to EVERY bill. And the server doesn't tell you that is it is already added. The female server we had for lunch today was incredibly rude and condescending. Only reason for two star review is the incredibly nice male server who probably has to deal with the BS of the new owners. He has been working there before these new owners. Again, make sure you look at the bill with the 20% service charge added. I won't be back. read more

One of my favorite bistros! Ellies is always great for a nice drink, good music, and comfort food. I've always had a pleasant experience at Ellie's because the staff and service interactions have always been pleasant. My Certified Fan favorites are: The penne vodka with blackened chicken, The Napoli Panini, Cheese Pizza with Garden Salad, and The Angus Burger. read more

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Always looking for options before a Devil's game and Ellie's did not disappoint! Steps from the Prudential Center they are the perfect choice. The wood-fired pizza was outstanding and our calamari was great but the best part? The SERVICE was absolutely amazing!! It was busy but they took such great care of us. Drink empty? Within seconds a server was looking to help. Ready to order? Quick, efficient service and the food came out quickly. Servers buzzed around turning tables, ready to seat the next set of fans. I can't recommend Ellie's enough as it is way better than arena food and our experience was phenomenal! read more

I really enjoyed this place! It is perfect for all of your dining (and drinking) needs pre-show at Prudential! You have to come early, though... it gets packed and the place is super small. We were seated promptly... preferred the bar area-- I like to feel like I'm the middle of it all lol. Esther was primarily our server and she had a great energy about her. Super pleasant! But, I love that they work as a team in there... someone was always checking on us! We ordered the garlic cheese with bread which was sooo good! The portion sizes here are HUGE! It was served with a delicious marinara dipping sauce. We also ordered meatballs that were wonderful! They tasted homemade and came in the same marinara with ricotta... such a treat. My mom ordered the pork chop which looked like something out of the Flintstones, was perfectly seasoned and very juicy. I loved the vinegar based sauce that really complimented the pork. To wash it all down, I ordered a martini (my memory!) which I loved and then a lemon drop which was perfectly balanced sweet and sour. It was much needed because, unfortunately, it was almost unbearably hot inside once the crowd kicked in! I'm not usually in the area, but whenever I return, this will be my go to! read more

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Food was good service was great. The place was packed with people waiting but the staff always had a smile and had you seated as fast as they could. read more

First time at Ellie's grabbing some food and drink before a basketball game at the PruCenter. Simply wonderful! Friendly staff (including the Owner who we met) Great space and the food was fabulous - I recommend their hotsy totsy shrimp. Great pre -game stop. read more

Service was not good or attentive. We arrived around 6pm on a Friday prior to a concert at the Pru Center. The server apologized stating she was alone. Firstly, we were a party of 3, it was about 30 degrees outside, and mostly empty inside. We were seated next to the side door which was cracked. 1st mistake. Secondly, we ordered our food and the server never came and checked on us. I never received my pasta which ultimately I didn't want anyway but they weren't aware. My friends ordered espresso martinis which looked delicious but they stated they tasted like bad black coffee with no Bailey's. The owner was chatting it up with patrons but never came over and said, "hey I noticed your drinks are still full, are they ok?" He also never asked if we needed anything knowing only 1 server was working. I tried to get the attention of the runner who was standing directly in front of me and he ignored me. We thought he was hard of hearing but later realized he didn't speak English. Really, so you ignore the customer? The owner did see me and asked what I needed (this was earlier in our visit and I just wanted a straw, which he provided). We ordered eggplant parm, Caesar salad, ziti, calamari and truffle fries, and all food items were very good. At the end my one friend did tell the owner about the drinks and he said he would fix it next time. We don't live in the area our next show dinner in the area will not be at Ellie's. You get one time to make a first impression and they failed. read more

WOW! The service and food were absolutely perfect! This family-run gem could not have managed the frenetic energy & crowd this evening with greater kindness and skill. The owner greeted everyone with warmth and an unmatched, genuine caring for our service. We were seated and served a delicious meal- every detail was cared for and the food was outstanding. Many thanks! read more

First time visiting led by proximity to our location after visiting our favorite spot in Newark. We were greeted and served by a nice young man who was doing double duty at the bar. We had the Hotsie Totsie Shrimp for appy and the Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti and Caesar Salad with Salmon for lunch. Will have to come back and try a pizza next time. They have a bar with TV's and they're located right next to Newark City Hall. I would recommend stopping in for a meal when you want to try something new and different when you're in downtown Newark. read more

Ellie's Bistro - Hotsie Totsie Shrimp - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Nice cozy place to hang out. Food was amazing including the staff was super friendly . Definitely recommend this place.

Nice friendly amd cozy and good food very nice waiter waitress bartender too Calamar the best read more

Ellie's Bistro - Calamar. Cesar salad - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Arrived early from out of town and Elli's was a walk from the hotel. We got the lunch special of a salad and personal pizza for $10 along with a couple of beers. Very good food and quick service. Cool little vibe for this small bar/restaurant read more

Came here before an event and the food blew me out of the water! I feel like for a lot of restaurants that are close to arenas, the food doesn't taste too great and it is usually overpriced as well. Ellie's Bistro is the opposite of that, delicious and reasonably priced. - Complimentary Garlic Bread - This wasn't so much like a slice of bread, but more like flatbread with garlic mixture on it, but this was still delicious nonetheless. The bread was crispy on the outside and chewy with a pizza dough-like texture on the inside. - Chicken Parm Pizza - Big fan of this pizza and honestly highly comparable to some of the best in NYC. I especially liked the mozzarella as it tasted fresh and was a great contrast to the heavier ingredients on the pizza. I loved the dough here, it reminds me of the chewier pizza doughs you get in Italy and London. I appreciate the bite and the charred flavors throughout, would highly recommend getting it. - Penne Vodka - I usually am not a fan of this pasta, but they make it so well. I appreciate how much prosciutto they sprinkled throughout the pizza. The sauce also coated everything to elevate the flavors and using the garlic bread to clean up the dish is truly my favorite part. Overall, highly recommend coming if in the area. In the future, I should come to NJ more for food as it is so much more affordable than NYC and the food quality is still great. read more

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Everything is so good I went there with the family and friends Everybody was happy with the food and service! Highly recommended read more

The only place to go before a game or concert. The gentleman running the place now has really improved the experience. Get there super early because they get PACKED. It's a small, homie joint. But, the pizzas are insane, wings are crispy, calamari great, and even salads are fresh and tasty. It's a bit chaotic, but it adds to the charm. My one critique would be the bar service, there is only one bartender making drinks and she was viably overwhelmed my last visit. Otherwise, great food and fun spot. read more

I would love to support this local restaurant but when I ordered over $100 of food for a work luncheon, their delivery service Slice failed to deliver based on the agreed time of 11:45. Instead I received cold pizza at 12:10. Ellie's did nothing to address the issue, since "they don't deliver" and continued to hang up when I called to get an update on the delivery. That's not putting the customer fiest read more

Party of 10 accommodated very well. Had great service with us and the food was great variety and great quality.

First time at the restaurant before an event. The food was good but the service was poor. They took our order for entire party all at the same time. One person in my group got their meal 30 minutes before the last person. The place did nothing to resolve the issue. Basically, two people in our party were finished their dinner before the last dishes came out. The place even put a 20 percent tip already in the bill knowing we were annoyed about the service. Think twice about going her due to very poor service. read more

I had both lunch and dinner at Ellie's Bistro tonight. I went to lunch with my co-workers, and we had a great meal. One co-worker had a wonderful salad (which she ended up bringing home to her place in NYC), and my other co-worker and I had the Pollo Francese. It was a wonderful dish with excellent flavors. Tonight, I came back for dinner and had the Pollo Parmesana (chicken parmesan, for the Americans). It was very tasty. The service was exceptional and I felt lucky to find such a great place within a block of my hotel. thanks, especially, to B - she was great!! read more

Was so surprised with how much I loved Ellie's bistro. Starting with the appetizers - calamari and garlic bread! Ordered the quinoa bowl with salmon and loved as well. So many great whole vegetables on it which i so appreciated. Staff was nice as well. Would definitely recommend read more

Ellie's Bistro - Salmon Quinoa Bowl - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

What a gem. Limited menu. Garlic bread with cheese was surprisingly fabulous. Pizza was great. Order the meatball app! Limited seating. So avoid event night at the prudential center. read more

Rating minus ZERO!!!!! We had thee worst experience tonight at Ellie's! It was a concert busy night so we were advised by another customer to "find the lady with the pad" who I found at the back of the restaurant so I submitted our name. We waited 30 plus minutes to be seated but received no menus. We decided to look on our phones for what we could order! Another couple just seated next to us by a few minutes had their order taken, yet the waiter looked my way and said he would come back but he never did. He never even served that table next to us their drinks as they received them only after they ate their pizza and salad. They were not happy! We sat there for close to 20 min with no one available to take our order-- Finally "the lady with the pad" walked by and I asked if there was anyone to please take our order. She said she would so we ordered a Portobello pizza and 2 beers to make it simple since we had to attend The Who concert! We waited another 15 min and no beer, no pizza, no service...period. Sadly we got up and left after wasting 1 hour PLUS of what was supposed to be a basic relaxing dinner before a concert. This restaurant had thee worst service and they should be ashamed of how disorganized tonight truly was!! I have never experienced such a lack of service and disregard in a restaurant. Note: yes we were the fools that actually believed the wait at Ellie's would be worth it! Obviously it wasn't! Beware of the crappy non existent service. read more

Had a chicken parm sandwich at the bar. Sandwich and fries were good, service was fast and pleasant, bartenders were very friendly.

Food was definitely great. We went right before a game at the Prudential Center, and they seemed understaffed. Service wasn't great. I'd hope it would be better at a less busy time, but I'm not sure it would be. The 1 or 2 servers they had didn't seem happy to be there. read more

The food was fire and the service was great definitely coming here again in the future. read more

Ellie's Bistro - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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A nice little hole in the wall with above average Italian food. The lobster ravioli is a tremendous dish. The wood fired pizza was flavorful but a bit soggy. The desserts did not seem to be freshly homemade. Good service and decent food. Wouldn't take much to make it 5 star. read more

Outstanding! Short visit from Austin and we were looking for something local. Staff was excellent, the three of us shared are dishes and we couldn't agree on which one was the best. Neighborhood atmosphere. We couldn't get over how good the sauces were. The portions were generous and we couldn't finish any of the plates. Highly recommend. read more

Ellie's Bistro - Chicken Parmigiana, Penne shrimp marinara, and baked Orecchiette. - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

PROS 1. The BEST Meatball Parm in Newark. So Authentic with Textures and Flavors. Deeeeeelicious! 2. Cozy yet Stylish Interior. 3. Friendly Service. 4. Reasonable Prices. 5. Good Wine Selections. 6. Good Cocktails. read more

Ellie's Bistro - The BEST Meatball Parm in Newark. Hands down! - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Location - perfect, close to concert venue - Very cute place. Food - absolutely delicious. Presentation was fabulous. Enjoyed every bit of it. Service - waitress greeted us and was very nice. However, the place was overcrowded, so the waitress really didn't have time to check on our table. We had to flag her down for refills on drinks/check. Only other concerns with this place was the noise level. Perhaps it was because the place was so extremely overcrowded. It was so loud in there that I couldn't even hear myself think much less chat with the person seated next to me. We found ourselves shouting throughout dinner. I would also mention that the temperature was very warm due to overcrowding / small place but you could tell the air conditioning was not cooling as everyone was fanning themselves with the menus. Sweating and shouting while trying to eat, not a good combo. read more

Stopped by for a meal with my family before a Devils game and it was great. We were promptly seated and the service was attentive and quick. We loved the support the restaurant was outwardly displaying for the Devils. The food really was the winner though - everything we ordered (Chicken Parm, Linguine Bolognese, Seafood Ravioli) was delicious. I will definitely be back! read more

Had a chicken themed dinner and it was 5-stars from start to finish. I started with a blackened chicken Caesar salad and the chicken was so flavorful. Followed that up with the chicken parm pizza pictured below. The crust was fluffy and crunchy all at once-- still sad I ate it all and don't have leftovers. For the main course, I had the best chicken francese I've had in years!! The flavor was so rich and wonderful. The chef spoiled me be bringing out a deep dish hot chocolate chip cookie with ice cream!!! Holy moly it was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Will absolutely return. read more

Ellie's Bistro - Chicken Francese - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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Went here to eat before the Blackpink concert around 3pm. Waitress was super nice and complimented my nails which I said was for the concert. After we finished half our food someone started playing the Blackpink album over the restaurants music system! We loved it and it was so fun that someone had did that. Very sweet touch, thank you. For the food we got 2 sandwiches with fries. I had gotten the Napoli panini. Both sandwiches were very good and the fries were perfect. Crispy outside, soft inside. We both felt they were salted perfectly. The waitress came to check on us a few times at appropriate intervals. The atmosphere was cozy and I felt comfortable. It was interesting to see into the prep room when going down to the bathroom, though I'm sure the worker didn't like me watching him prep chicken. read more

I was in town for business for the day and needed to grab dinner before heading out to my hotel. I saw the good reviews for this place and came here for dinner at 7 PM. I walked in, was seated with some difficulty as it took a moment to get the attention of the waitress/bartender (foreshadowing what was to come), and placed my order for French onion soup and a pizza. I was one of two patrons at the restaurant; another couple of people were at the bar. The place was not remotely close to busy. The soup came out quickly; it was mediocre and overly salty, but serviceable. Then I waited for nearly an hour. I found this odd, as at this point I was literally the only restaurant patron and a pizza can't possibly take that long, so a little past 8 PM I asked where my pizza was. Turns out, my order was straight up forgotten, and by that point the kitchen had closed. The waitress/bartender hesitatingly comped my soup (she had initially come to hand me the check after I complained, then, holding the check in her hand, paused, thought better of it, then told me to not worry about paying for the soup -- as if, after entirely forgetting my existence for an hour, comping the soup was an act of supreme generosity on her part), which was the least she could do. However, instead of apologising, she spent time trying to convince me that this wasn't her fault, that it was the kitchen's fault, that I must have seen how she was so busy at the bar (she wasn't), and that she personally knew I had ordered a pizza -- the main concern here for her was not that a restaurant patron had been entirely abandoned, but that she, specifically, not be blamed. Then, to add insult to injury, as I left, she told me on my way out that "you're young, you'll be okay" -- as if my frustration over her/her restaurant's mistake of literally forgetting my order was some unfortunate event over which she had no control, deserving of pity but not an apology. I've eaten at a lot of restaurants, some good, some bad, but I must say that it's a first for me to be completely forgotten when I am the sole patron at a restaurant. Since I went to this restaurant to eat pizza for dinner and did not end up eating any pizza for dinner despite my best efforts, I can't recommend this place or its rude, patronising, forgetful service. read more

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