Went my third time with my wife and eldest daughter and again had wonderful meal . We started with house salad and wonderful baked Mutz then entrees my daughter had the Chicken Parmesan which was exceptional not standard presentation served with vermicelli. My wife had crusted cod over spinach which was delicious and I had one Ohrbach specials a whole wheat pasta served with zucchini asparagus sundried tomatoes with hot red pepper seeds in light sauce Had real Kick and was terrific. We ended the meal with an unexpected but delicious presentation of tiramisu parfait. . Food and Service and was outstanding. Highly recommend! read more

My fiancé and I go here weekly. Gregory os an impeccable chef. His food is like artwork on a plate. He always cooks with the finest ingredients. His wait staff, is magnificent....... I can't say enough amazing things about Sebastian and Theresa. They are staples, in yhe restaurant. Their sevice is professional, warm and friendly. I never feel rushed. They always aim to please their guests. The restaurant is filled with regulars, that are foodies. I am so blessed to have this magnificent restaurant in my neighboring town. I LOVE GREGORIO'S. Much thanks and love, Jennifer Marchi and Joe Martino read more

Had an EXCEPTIONAL dining experience at this precious intimate restaurant. There was loads of street parking, the small stripe is very clean and safe; no need to worry walking down to the restaurant with cute outdoor seating, holiday decor, and lots of community members out walking their golden retrievers (and other adorable breeds). They followed state COVID precautions, taking all of our temperatures; our server Santiago was very engaged and not intrusive at all; he was very kind and knowledgeable. It was my fiancé's birthday and they gave us the most delicious desert imaginable! I had the gluten-free spaghetti with shrimp, my fiancé had the special appetizer and entree and my friend had a chicken entree. Everything was absolutely schromcious and come out super quickly! The meatball appetizer was to DIE for, super super yummy. Also, yes it is BYOB which I really appreciate and especially appreciated there not being any corkage fees. We will definitely be back again! Next time we will make the reservation earlier so we can truly enjoy this awesome find! If you're contemplating going, just do it! Go! read more

Very pleasant atmosphere and delectable food. The wait staff could be a bit better trained

The food here was delicious and so fresh! Our server was one of the kindest and most helpful servers I've ever had. My one small complaint is it's a bit slow. They have a small kitchen and it took a while for things to come out. read more

Our party of 7 arrived on time for our 5 pm reservation. We were the first people there. Unfortunately management and the staff were still in the middle of their pre-service talk and we could hear all of it. If you open at 5 and take reservations for 5, be ready at 5-not 5:15. The food was delicious but our main courses came out separately: four plates, then two more and finally (after the rest of us had basically finished SLOOOWLY eating) the last dish came out. To make matters worse, it was not prepared as requested. That's unacceptable. It was supposed to be a special holiday dinner and it was very uncomfortable to have six people eating and one not. Gregorio's can do better. The least they could have done was offer coffee to our table. All we got was "Sorry, it will be out soon." It wasn't. read more

I'm on the fence about Gregorio's. The decor is nice. The place was more then half full on a beautiful Sunday evening in February. My fabulous significant other and her amazing parents were treating us to dinner to celebrate my birthday. I was excited because the menu had amazing sounding dishes and it wasn't overwhelming with options. It is BYOB. The atmosphere was fun and had a nice vibe. The company I was with were amazing as usual. We arrived and were seated right away. We were offered bread with packaged butter. Deduct one full star immediately for butter in foil cups at a nice restaurant. Our waiter was prompt with going over the specials and the first dish not available was what my SO wanted for her main dish. They ran out and can't blame them. That was my first thought. After thinking about this I need to elaborate. Eggplant....Italian Restaurant....they should never run out. They had two versions of an eggplant dish and ran out of one of them?? Bizarre. When we ordered our appetizers we asked if we can place our main dish order and were told it would be best to wait to when we get our appetizers. Huh? The waiter said something about different cooking times. Huh? This is where things get bizarre. We had our apps... very good tasting food and good sized portions. We ordered our dishes and were told after one of the dishes was not available. We asked why not? Ya think the answer was...we ran out...nope. The waiter decides to tell us the Cod was available but wasn't ready or needed to be prepared. Oh...forgot to mention we had reservations for 6:00 p.m. and were prompt. They now have two dishes crossed off the menu. But the reason was confusing. We swapped out one seafood dish for tuna and asked the waiter for sushi grade/rare tuna. He repeated back...medium rare...we said no...rare. Bizarre. Deduct one point for bizarre communicating. About 15 minutes later soon after eating the apps one dish arrives. We ordered 4 dishes at the same time. Including the tuna dish. Just the tuna dish arrives. The 3 of us are now looking in bizarre fashion as one of us is eating while we wait for our food. He is eating.....eating.....eating.....finally the waiter comes over and says our food will be out shortly. Huh? I asked to speak with the Manager and was brought to the open kitchen to speak with what I think is the head chef or possibly owner. I explained it was my birthday dinner to the waiter right before this and he said yes to my offer....mine....of what can you do for us?? Free dessert?? The guy in the kitchen explained to me rudely at first there was nothing he can do about my food coming out because there was a problem with the ticket. What?? I should be getting my meal for free at this point. A few minutes later the 3 other dishes came out and we ate our dinner. This is when things get weird for me and have me scratching my head. Oh....deduct one point for rudeness and lack of communication. A few minutes into our food out comes man with the apron from the kitchen. I never get his name. He has a Gregorio's logo on his apron. He goes on to throw the waiter under the short bus about how the waiter submitted only one meal on the ticket. The waiter didn't realize this until.....ready.....when the chef guy hands him one dish of the tuna. Huh??????? The chef goes on and on about this problem and how the kid lies often when he makes mistakes...blah blah blah. I was polite the entire time but needed an answer for why the Cod dish wasn't available. We asked this because it was unclear. The chef guy says.........there were 3 orders earlier and a take out order came in right behind us. I counted to my SO and her parents....1,2,3,4.....this is how many that is available for the evening for your best dish on the menu recommended by the chef??? Dinner was at 6pm and you ran out of your best dish?? Because you only bought 4 from the fish market??? Confused again. Deduct one point for lies. In the end we got 3 desserts and 3 cappuccino's on the house and a half an apology. Final thoughts....1 point for really good food. 1 point for nice decor and atmosphere. The place has really good food. 3 of us said we would come back and the best cook among us....her food is restaurant quality by the way...said she would never come back and there are many other better places we can go to with better service. I agree. Really good food but I have had a lot better. One star. Good luck. read more

Cozy Italian! Great tomato sauce on the rigatoni. The sundried tomato and oil dip for the bread rocks. Sebastian is a great professional server and added to the fun. Our group of five loved it all. Out of staters: no corkage fee :) read more

Excellent food, service is fine, the initial greeting by the hostess could be a bit better organized but ultimately pleasant.

Avoid the headache, too many other good places in the area. Tried to order for pickup from here THREE times. I called last weekend and they said they were having some kitchen emergency and couldn't do it. Ok fine, give them another chance. I called on Fri for an order for Sat and they said to call back on Sat. Understood. I called on Sat to order a couple of pasta trays since people were coming over. They tell me that they can't do the trays on Sat (doesn't say that anywhere on website) because they were too busy. Guy on the phone said I could place individual entree orders instead (guess they weren't TOO busy), but it would end up costing me twice as much. Seems like they are just using the "too busy" excuse to get people to pay more money. read more

A nice go-to BYO restaurant with really good food and terrific, hard-working staff. Ariel was our waiter who was very professional who made us aware that the Pan Roasted Cod which I was about to order had sold out so I opted for the Herb Crumb Crusted Cod with Potato Puree, White Wine, Black Olive Oil (23.95). My wife ordered the Pistachio Crusted Salmon accompanied by Butternut Squash Risotto, Spinach, Red Wine (24.95). Both dishes did not disappoint. The cod was moist and flaked easily with a fork. The herb crumb crust had a tiny crunch and very flavorful. The cod sat on a bed of creamy potato puree and a yummy side of sauteed spinach. The salmon was cooked medium and top encrusted with a crunchy layer of pistachio crumble. The fish was served on a bed of butternut squash risotto along with sauteed spinach. We would definitely go back as service, food, and prices were all very good. read more

I thought it was strange that they call it Italian Mediterranean when most of the menu is just Italian food. Maybe I don't get the Italian and Mediterranean together. My impression from the name is that their specialities is all kinds of pesce (fish)...particularly from the Meditteranean region say brazino but it's not. BYOB - that's nice so we don't have to over pay glasses or bottles of wine. Went there on a Thurs. night last week and it was packed. Nice to see given the recessionista. To me, it's a good sign if the place is packed on a weekday night. Saw a former manager of Danielle's Bistro and now is a waiter and manager at Greogrio's. His name is Hector. Nice gentleman and hard worker. Ordered the bosc pear salad....good portion but I would expect more endives and larger slices of pears instead of being diced up and framed around the plate. I think if they add raddichio to this salad which would make it more colorful and add spiced or honey roasted walnuts that would make the salad a heck more palatable. For my entree, I had the fettucine with exotic mushrooms and hint of truffle oil. Again, good portions and the pasta was fresh and bountiful of mushrooms. I thought the dish was delicious and close to the pasta I had in Italy. Went there again and the braised lamb shank with mushroom risotto and spinach in a red wine pomegranate sauce is amazing. The balsamic glazed pork loin is also tasty. Didn't had dessert as we drank the wine the whole night. Kid friendly place? Somewhat even though the appearance from the outside doesn't portray that. They had a kid's menu and one of those Koala Kare diaper changing areas in the women's bathroom. Nice to know for those parents out there. What to improve as a more kid friendly place? - Offer crayons and those coloring pages, a non-breakable cup with straw, a beverage and dessert to go along with the children's meal built into the children's meal price. read more

Gregorio's calls itself Italian Mediterranean Cuisine. I'm not sure what that is, but the food was good. I had a bosc pair salad to start that was very fresh and had a nice blend of flavors. Then I had the pork stuffed with mozzarella cheese. This was tasty, but the dish was so greasy that it became overwhelming after a few bites. The spinach was well prepared as was the fried cheddar potato bite, but the greasiness of the pork overwhelmed the whole dish. My friend had the skirt steak which had a nice citrus taste to it. I'll try that for my next visit. I skipped dessert as the pork dish had me stuffed. As always, BYOB. read more

Mediterranean Italian? Who gives a Shtt. Good food is good food and good Italian is a blessing. Service was attentive and polite. Food presentation is A+++ - all presentations were clean, modern, and artistic. And for the food.. Everything was properly balanced, intense flavor, and executed with perfection. Must try dish is the tuna with parpadelle, eggplant caponata and red wine reduction. Will be back soon!!!!! read more

I need to unfortunately update my rating after we were accidentally overcharged and then we were overcharged hundreds of dollars more when we caught the error and they tried to reverse it. It took a while for everything to get fixed and didn't receive an apology until we pressed for one. Too bad since the food is really good. read more

Fine Italian restaurant--not worth a long trip, but a very good area choice. Good salads, pastas and lamb. Typical desserts. Generous portions at reasonable prices--plus BYO! Very nice staff. Pleasant decor. Only negative was the noise level--this place is deservedly popular and there is nothing to absorb the noise. Best parking is in the back. read more

Small, bright and inviting byob; limited menu. Helpful and attentive staff. Bread was served ice cold - a quick pass through the oven would be a nice improvement. Beet salad was very basic. Lobster ravioli was very bland - sauce not flavorful. I tasted my husbands shrimp and linguine fra Diablo and that was quite good. Nothing was bad, just nothing really stellar. read more

I was extremely impressed by this quaint small town restaurant. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. I had the Mahi Mahi.... Fabulous! The fried calamari was the best I've ever had. It is served with a different sauce on the side, but don't be alarmed, its amazing with the dish. Its a BYOB, so that's always a lot of fun. Quaint, cozy and delicious food. Can't beat it! Great choice!! Enjoy!!!! read more

My family and I have been coming to Gregorio's since they opened several years ago and since our first time there, it's been my absolute favorite restaurant. We celebrate many special occasions there and I've tried many things on the menu and have loved them all. I especially love the calamari, eggplant rollatini, and fettuccini with mushrooms. In addition to the amazing food, the service is great. The owner Alessandra always greets us at the door and checks in on us during the meal. The wait staff is also always very friendly. Overall, great food and great people at Gregorio's. Can't wait for my next visit! read more

Solid 4 star meal broken down as follows. Bread and sun dried tomato sauce - 3 stars Caesar Salad - One of the best - 5 stars Chicken Gregorio - 4 stars - Great sauce only negative was it wasn't really hot Chocolate flourless cake - Very good - 4 stars read more

Great little place. Owner takes great care in what is on the menu and is served. Not your typical boring red sauce Jersey Italian. I ordered Gluten free pasta and the Chef came out and suggested Duck confit and mushroom risotto (off the menu). It was amazing. That's service! Polenta appetizer is great too. Soups are usually quite good. This is the go to place in fall and winter as the different pastas are comfort food for my wife. Menu changes pretty frequently and as seasons change. read more

Really good food and a fine collection of Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Best Chicken Parmesan in New Jersey. The little addition of pesto really compliments the panko breading. Staff is always genuinely nice and accommodating. This is a staple in our monthly dining out routine. read more

Always loved this spot! They've nailed it with Covid adaptations! Happy downtown ambiance! Tommy is a natural host, made my date night sing! Food is always scrumptious, but the Tiramisu........! To die for! We will be back! read more

If your looking to book a party of 25-35 forget it. It won't happen. If it's at night on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, you have to buy the whole restaurant out. That's 60-65 people. I have a rehearsal dinner party of 35 people I wanted to book for a Thursday 6:00 January 23 and was told no. My future daughter in law called in advance and was told to stop in. I went with my son to dinner last night to sample the food and the owner didn't even bother to come out to talk to us, we were just told we'd have to pay for 60 people. I guess that's how he keeps smaller groups out. We drove 40 minutes to get told that. I also saw a review on yelp that said they had a party of 40 and had an excellent time. I brought that up to the owner and was told they did pay for 60 people. Funny, they must have forgot to put that in their review. Martha Jurewicz read more

Ordered pick-up during the CV lockdown. We are regular customers during normal times. As always the food was absolutely delicious. Chicken Parmesan, salmon, shrimp scampi, veal Milanese; each was sooo good. read more

Clams Gratinate knocked my socks off and everyone at the table agreed. The rest of the food is good. Gnocchi "to go" as a left over, did not hold up well after refrigerated...had to throw out. carpaccio has less greens that cover the meat now and of course the garlicky sauce...a little better than before. I still I prefer lemon juice, Dijon and Parmesan on it. read more

Really good food, and a lot of unique dishes are offered. For instance, gemelli pasta with butternut squash, cherry peppers and sausage mixed the right amount of sweet and spicy. The standards are also great, try the eggplant involtini. The prices are right, The service attentive and professional, and the owners are always gracious in greeting their guests. The tables aren't jammed together, adding to a more pleasant, and quieter, dining experience. The BYOB format makes it an even better value. read more

I've lived on the west coast for so long that I was looking forward to some fine east coast Italian food! I looked up the local restaurants and this gem jumped out for two reasons - the first was the quality of the food, and the second thing was that it is shockingly BYOB. Apparently this is a popular thing in this area, and fortunately my coworkers were ok with this so I was able to enjoy some delicious Italian food while on business travel. We started off with the beef carpaccio, it was drizzled with tasty olive oil and and I was a bit upset that I had to share with everyone else! We also had the fried calamari - it was crispy, fried in clean oil and quite tasty. In my mind, clean oil is the one thing that instantly ruins the flavor of the calamari! I had the lasagna - it was good, east coast good... and west coast phenomenal! The noodles were perfectly cooked - just beyond al dente, yet not mushy. The tomato sauce was flavorful and just the right amount of sweetness to balance the flavors of the meat and cheese. This baby didn't last long at all - I devoured it between conversations... but I was mostly silent ;) For dessert we had the flourless chocolate cake with mocha ice cream. The cake was wonderful, but I prefer the vanilla that I added as a separate dish for the table. Go check them out! read more

Just had takeout, zucchini parmesan dinner, my son had chicken gregoria and calamari. My zucchini dish had a crusted layer on top of the most wonderful flavors. It was a nice size portion with enough for next day lunch. The chicken dish again had the most intense wonderful flavor. My son said the croquet potatoe ball was unbelievable. Best food in this area by far read more

Love love Gregorio's!! Food is wonderful and always consistent- Homemade lasagna is one of my favorite dishes along with the cavatelli with escarole and sausage- yum!! BYO is a plus and staff is always friendly. read more

I've been living in Madison for 10 years and believe it or not this was the first time that I've been to Gregorios. I try to stay away from Main Street but a friend of ours recommended this restaurant so I figured we would give it a try. The place was packed so we decided to take out. The following was our order: Appetizers: Beef Carpaccio, Eggplant Involtini, and Pear Salad. All were excellent. Main Coarse: Both my wife and I had the Pistachio Crusted Salmon dish and both of us loved it. I'm a tough customer and I can't find a single thing to complain about. This is now our go to spot for Italian food. I can't wait to go back. read more

Always on my top picks for places to eat in town. The food is always delicious and I love the cozy feel. It is a BYOB, so don't forget to bring a bottle of wine! read more

The best italian food in Morris County by FAR!!! I love both the Asiago Crusted Chicken and the Chicken Gregorio is my favorite. The crusted mozzarella for appetizer is also amazing. AND its BYOB! Teresa is my favorite, always so sweet and accomodating. We've been here so many times and actually recently brought my picky eater parents here for dinner and they cleaned their plates. Definitely worth a visit! read more

The food is excellent and the service very good. However if you are late weeknight diners, 8 pm, beware at 9 pm. The staff will start to crash the silverware and clink the glasses and dishes until it is a loud crashing nightmare. Just when it should be quiet and relaxing and you might order dessert, all hell breaks loose. Note to owners: Please have the staff sort the silverware and glasses somewhere other than the dining room! Every time I go I have noted how loud and obnoxious this is and we can't even talk over the din and have to leave out of desperation it is so noisy! read more

Gregorios is a hidden gem in the area. The rigatoni sausage (substitute with their homemade gemelli) is the best pasta dish I've ever had. Cozy spot and nice atmosphere. read more

Delicious food and great service made our Sunday nights get dinner a treat! Salads for our party of four included the beet and apple salad, arugula salad and pear salad. My arugula was lightly dressed and included olives, sundried tomatoes and provolone: delicious! My entree, crumb crusted Cod was perfection with buttery mashed potatoes and lovely spinach. Husband loved his pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce with polenta and spinach. Our friends both enjoyed lamb shanks which were tender and served with a wonderful sauce. We are on Weight Watchers and loved our options at this lovely restaurant! read more

Gregorios always works. Chatham has certainly become a nice little foodie Main Street. And Gregorios is our favorite. All of the dishes are prepared with love and care. Portions are just right. Price is just great, with most entrées in the low $20 range. Chicken and fish dishes are probably the specialty. We judge Italian restaurants by their chicken Parm and that is perfectly done here. Very attentive service. Warm and cozy atmosphere. You can tell that there are a lot of "regulars" here. BYB is a bonus also. read more

Last night, a group of close friends and i decided on Gregorio's for dinner in order to celebrate a birthday within the group. I read all of the wonderful reviews about Gregorio's here, and after some deliberation decided this would be a nice spot for us to enjoy a relaxed and fun dinner on a Tuesday night. I was wrong. From the minute we stepped in, and they refused to accommodate our party of 7 with a table that didn't include one seat sticking out in the middle of dining room away from the rest of our seats I knew we were in for an interesting experience. Regarding that, we had to adjust the seating ourselves because the incredibly rude host refused to. After that seemingly minor hiccup we all settled in to enjoy a nice meal. It was anything but. We were a party of 7 seven ladies in our late 20s, early 30s. All working professionals, all from the area. Seeing that it seemed, the host assumed we weren't necessarily worthy of the "top notch" service he was THICKLY laying on the rest of the tables in the dining room. Here is a breakdown of the incredibly awful experience: - We were rushed through our ordering process and kept being harped on to place our meal order even after we ordered appetizers. - The guest of honor was RUDELY ignored when she asked a question about her meal, and then proceeded to receive the wrong dinner, even still. When we all commented that this was obviously not what she ordered the terrible host actually fought us on it and claimed it was. After much back and forth, he eventually took the mistake plate and brought out the correct meal. This was after about 15-20 minutes or so of all of us sitting with our meals in front of us. - There was no move to even suggest this being taken off the bill as a major mistake. - We were offered free dessert for just the guest of honor by another, less rude hostess, but when we said no thank you to this because we just wanted to get OUT of there at this point, no other recourse was offered. Overall, the food was sub par. Decent, but definitely not anything NEAR I would come back to this place for. They will not be seeing business from any of us again - that's how generally terrible the experience was. Take a pass on Gregorio's if you're looking for a good italian byob in the area. It's not worth it. read more

Sundays in November mean one thing to me. Football. Except for that one time a year, or at least it seems, when I have to give up my Sunday and attend a Christening. Replacing football with crying babies is not my ideal way of spending a Sunday, which according to God, is supposed to be a day of rest. But i digress. After the scintillating sermon was given by the priest and the babies had been "baptized", we headed over to Gregorio's for dinner. I parked in the back of Gregorio's and came in through the back door. *Ahem* Our party took up the entire room that is Gregorio's, a medium sized space with a decent sized bar. Not knowing about this restaurant, I wasn't fixated, like previous Yelpers, as to whether it served a Mediterranean cuisine or not. I just knew it was Italian and that was all that mattered. On to the food. Our set menu consisted of an appetizer, a first course, a choice of three entrees, and dessert. The appetizer was a sun-dried tomato pine nut pesto filling, tomato salad and basil oil. Fantastic! I know, it's hard to make a bad fried cheese, and so while I enjoyed it, I still wondered how the rest of the food would be. The first course was a Gemelli al Pomodoro, basically pasta in a tomato basil sauce. While I did enjoy the sauce, the pasta was too hard for my taste. Granted, I prefer my pasta to be "scotta", or overcooked, but it was definitely not served al dente. For the main course we had a choice of three entrees. The first, A Grilled Pork Involtini, was ordered by some and were said to be good. Gregorio's called them rolls but they looked more to me like links to me. The second option was a Chicken Scaloppine, which is basically a battered lemon chicken. In my opinion, Veal Scaloppine is better, but not many people these days are okay with eating veal. The third entree and the one I opted for, the piece de resistance, was a Pistachio Crusted Salmon served on top of Butternut Squash Risotto, with spinach and in a red wine sauce. Salmon is not one of my favorite fish to eat but the pistachio crust was phenomenal. The risotto was cooked perfectly. I tried to savor it and didn't want to finish it. The spinach was, well, spinach. The dessert consisted of a cake that the parents of the baby provided. I had a double espresso, twice, so in actuality I had a quadruple espresso. Wine makes me sleepy so I needed something to counteract it. It worked. All in all, everything was wonderful at Gregorio's From the courteous wait staff, to the friendly bartender, and all the way up to the lovely manager/owner. If I lived closer, surely I'd go back. I can't help but wonder if the Giants had been losing, or lost, if I'd still have such a good taste in my mouth regarding my experience at Gregorio's. Haha, just kidding! I'm not that easily swayed. read more

Tonight's dining experience was a culinary roller coaster. I was lucky to win a $100 certificate from Chatham's Downtown Alliance and Town & Country Properties. When calling and making my reservation, I spoke directly to the owner and told him how I won and that I could choose any business to use the $ and I chose his restaurant and was looking forward to dining there with my son and husband. When we were sat, I again introduced myself to the owner and expressed how happy we were to be there. Company, conversation, wine were exhilarating. Food...delicious. Then came the check... We handed the $160 bill back with the $100 check made out to Gregorio's, plus our credit card. Our server looked confused, a co-worker even more perplexed. They then called the owner's wife on the phone, and then were talking to the owner in the back. No one knew what to do. I went up to the front desk (owner still in the back) and explained that this was a check made out to them ($100) and provided them Downtown Alliance President's telephone number. The server proceeded to tell me the owner knew nothing of a donation and I should pay the bill in full and cash the check myself (BTW the check is payable to Gregorio's). Again I explain that it is not a donation given from the restaurant but a check given TO them from another business in Chatham. 30 minutes later, I was asked for my driver's license to have a copy made and the owner's wife would then be calling me in the morning. The entire experience was highly insulting. I will never patronize Gregorio's again. With many, many years in the restaurant business and more in catering, the first and biggest rule of thumb...the business problem NEVER becomes the customer's. The lack of professionalism, from not being acknowledged from 4 staff members when we first walked in the door, to the owner yelling across the restaurant to someone else,"there is no such thing as Al Dente' pasta", until the end with the way our bill was handled, leaves me with nothing but doubt and disappointment no matter how good the kitchen presents itself. Gregorio's needs to present itself as a whole. Nothing more, nothing less. read more