So my wife and I have eaten here for a number of different events so we decided it would be the…read moreperfect place to host our 1 year old daughter's birthday party. This place is fantastic. I wish I remembered our hostess name but she was the best. She ensured all the food came out in a timely matter, any request we had she was on top of it. Truly exceptional service. As far as the food and their party package it's an amazing value. People drank and definitely left full, which all you could ask for. Highly recommend!

Meeting a friend for lunch, we decided upon this posh restaurant in the Holmdel center, where the…read moreanchor stores are Best Buy, Ulta, and Turning Point. Upon entering, we were told it was recently renovated. Being that I didn't know what it looked like before the renovation, this place looks very upscale. We were given two sets of menus. One was their regular menu, which is good for both lunch and dinner. The other menu had the lunch sandwich menu. The waitress indicated that the sandwiches come in two different types of bread: focaccia and Italian. I was not very hungry, so I ordered the Parma with focaccia bread, as my friend ordered the Cheese steak on Italian bread. We were then given a bread basket with whipped butter. My friend stated the bread was fresh and good, but she was hoping for the olive oil. Shortly after placing our orders, our sandwiches arrived. I was a little surprised as my Parma appeared more like flatbread than the thicker, fluffier focaccia I had expected. I didn't want to make a fuss in front of my friend, so I simply ate it. The sandwich was tasty, but I wished it had been warmed, as that would have better married the flavors and elevated the overall experience. My friend's cheese steak was huge, as the skirt steak was plentiful, and the cheese leaked out a bit, making it look remarkable. I inquired how it tasted, and she stated it was good. She just wished it had a bit more onions to break up the taste of the meat. We each ordered a cappuccino, and that was truly the highlight of the meal. The 6-ounce cappuccino came with 4 small biscotti, which paired well with the beverage. Neither of us used any sugar, and the cappuccino was excellent. The ratio between the espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam was perfectly rich in both taste and texture. I can't stop raving about it. Service was very good, and the food was enjoyable. The ambiance was chic. My rating is 3 1/2 stars, though I have rounded it up to 4 stars.

My wife and I went to Trattoria Toscana for the first time last weekend; we enjoyed it so much we…read morewent back a few days later! The owner & staff are spectacular; attentive, friendly, & professional. Our meals both nights were excellent, from the appetizers to the dessert. Be sure to try their house specialty coffee. We are looking forward to returning soon.

This weekend I attended a baby shower at Trattoria Toscana for the first time, and the place is…read moreabsolutely lovely. The ambiance was wonderful, and the food was even better. Everything I tasted from beginning to end was delicious. My only suggestion would be to shorten the wait time between courses. The dishes were served very spaced out, and we waited quite a while for the entrée. That said, every appetizer and every dish offered was absolutely wonderful and well worth it. It's a shame they're a little far from me, because otherwise I'd probably be having dinner or hosting parties there all the time!

By far the best Italian food I've ever had it's like having my mother cook all over again for me…read more Such an incredible family they make you feel very welcomed and so friendly. Great menu amazing food the best chicken Parm around. It's nice to enjoy a meal and be able to have a conversation in a nice quiet setting. Plus it's BYOB

Finally tried Lubrano's, had heard good things from friends. Decided to just go the take out route…read moreso no comments on dish presentation. We ordered the Pasta Al Forno as an appetizer & Chicken Scarpariello for the main dish. Was quoted 35-40 min when I called it in, arrived ~30 min, paid & food came out near the 40 min quote. The pasta - for us the cheese on top was perhaps over toasted as it was on the dry side. Flavor was fine otherwise. Not sure I'd order this for a main dish without added protein though. The Chicken Scarp - excellent. The chicken & potatoes were very tender. The mild sausage makes this dish come together, it adds a level of savoriness to complement the balsamic sweetness in the sauce. I also like the long angled slices of sausage nicely seared on each side, it was not expected vs other versions that I've had. Meal also came with bread to soak up that chicken sauce. Also noting the place seemed packed, only 2 spots on their lot were open plus it sounded busy inside. Will try it next time onsite with one of my many fine bottles of wine. :)

Nana's Kitchen is a beautiful restaurant! It's not your usual jeans and tee shirt place. The dining…read morearea is immaculate and beautifully decorated. There's some interesting art on the walls. The tables are set nicely. Keep in mind it's a BYOB place. The service is great. You are seated by the hostess and your waiter is classy and very cordial. The menu is limited but I bit upscale. Expect some interesting specials. We had the Fra Diavlo and the Vodka sauce. Both dishes were excellent. Tips here are make a reservation. Bring money! This place is a bit more expensive than it should be. That said it's a nice place.

Went for uncles celebration. An angry woman st the host stand who told us that her name was Joseph,…read morecame by to check on us and coughed all over our food for an extensive period. Quite unpleasant.

This restaurant creates experiences I genuinely value. The team members kept our glasses full and…read moreregularly asked if everything was meeting our expectations. This restaurant combines good environment, attentive staff and delicious dishes. The food follows authentic traditions. Thank you for the good time. And for the entire experience.

What goes great with beer? Meatballs!!! Hubby and I happened to come upon Your Sister's Balls, the…read morefood truck when we went to Alternate Ending, a local brewery. What a wonderful surprise! Two ladies who run the food truck have great homemade seasoned beef balls (their OG Sisters Balls), seafood balls, sausage meatballs (Tony's Balls), turkey balls (Gobble Gool Balls), Rice Balls, vegan mini balls, and even mini calzone aka "Italian empanadas."  All are topped off with their signature San Marzano tomato sauce.  If meatballs aren't your jam, they also offer specials such as eggplant parmigiana and zucchini flowers. We ordered the following, Gobble Gool, OG Sister's Balls, Tony's, and their famous OG Sisters Balls. All were perfectly seasoned and savory!! Your Sister's Balls, the food truck, serve their balls in pairs with a slice of fresh Italian bread, to mop up the delicious sauce in to-go containers. If you plan on eating right away, they do offer a paper tray, lined with aluminum foil. It should be noted, The Sampler, which includes 3 big balls, please note the seafood, vegan, and mini calzones are not included. If you want to know where their food truck will be found, you can check them out via Instagram or FaceBook. One of the ladies even told me you can sign up for their email list for updates, promotions, and where they will be to follow them. Can't wait to try out more of their specials. I've got my eyes on their eggplant parmigiana!

This place is fairly new. We went there on a recommendation from a friend and we were looking to…read moretry something new. The owner greeted us and was extremely friendly and accommodating as we did not have reservations and all the tables were full. The food was excellent. We ordered Chicken Parm, pasta bolognese, and chicken Frances's over linguini. All 3 dishes were delicious and the portions were plentiful. The service was superb. The atmosphere was really nice despite the restaurant being on the smaller side, they managed to utilize the space in a very good way. I would recommend this place to anyone seeking really good traditional Italian and looking for something new.

We there for the first time and were pleasantly surprised. It's located in a strip mall in…read moreMarlboro, but once you walk in, you would not know the location. It is decorated like a NYC restaurant, very contemporary and bright. The owners Colleen and Joe Pisacreta were both very welcoming. The service was very professional and Ray did an excellent job explaining the specials to us. The busboy came around a few times to make sure we had everything we needed and Ray was on top of the clean silverware. We all started off with the house salad that comes with the main meal and warm bread. The salad was very fresh and cold. I ordered Shrimp Fra Diavolo over Linguine. My husband and another guest had Linguini with White Clam Sauce and other guests had Chicken and Veal Parmigiana. At the end of the meal, some of us had coffee, cappuccino and 2 desserts of Tartufo. The homemade cream served with the Tartufo was creamy and delicious. Being that we all came upon a recommendation of one of our friends, they came and gave us biscotti with their homemade cannoli filling. At the end of the meal, the owner/chef, Joe came to our table to say hello and chatted with us a bit. He wanted to make sure that we were happy with our meals and service.

We had such a delightful dinner at Neapoli this week!…read more The restaurant was warm and cozy on a cold rainy night. Just what we needed to warm up! Jenny was our server and she took such great care of us. From providing menu recommendations to keeping the food flowing, she really added to our dining experience. My husband had a really nice caesar salad with salmon on top that he loved. I enjoyed the spicy rigatoni with fried chicken and it was very good and plentiful. I couldn't finish my meal so now I have a nice portion of leftovers in the freezer when I have my pasta craving. Tiramisu dessert and a perfect cappuccino was also very good-- so much food and so good. We will definitely be back.

Super pleasant staff and owner at this BYO pasta house! We had a leisurely lunch outside, and the…read moreserver, Jenny, was very accommodating. The owner came out to show us the days fresh baked bread. We would love to go back to try the brick oven pizza! We enjoyed the Rigatoni Bolognese - Skirt Steak Bowl and Zucchini Chips appetizer. Took home a leftovers! There is an open kitchen and the inside is comfortable with lots of space - great atmosphere all around.

We came back for another Father's Day early dinner. Service was gracious since they accommodated…read moreour group to a more comfortable area of the restaurant. Food was good overall. Appetizer Artichoke Meatballs Eggplant rollatini Fried calamari Caesar salad Entrees Salmon Dijon Chicken Milanese Osso Bucco Cheese ravioli w Vodka sauce- they had a miss by adding Mozzerella on top n then briefly putting in the broiler. Dessert NY Cheesecake Ricotta cheesecake Ice cream Desserts are not made in house n just ok. Assagini is a good spot for Italian at reasonable prices. BYOB

I was in the area and found Assaggini using the restaurant feature on my gps. It is located inside…read moreof a shopping plaza and there is adequate parking. From the outside it looks like a simple storefront but on the inside, it was a beautifully decorated restaurant. We were welcomed and seated promptly. The server came over and greeted us and asked if we had a bottle for her to open, which we didn't. Unbeknownst to us the restaurant is BYOB. When we shared that it was our first time there she gave us some time to look at the menu. I ended up ordering shrimp parm with linguini, and I asked for the linguini to have white sauce as opposed to the red sauce. She brought over water, a bread basket and bruschetta for the table. I usually prefer lime with my water. They didn't have lime, but she did bring over lemon wedges. While waiting for our meal my company had to step out and by the time the food arrived they weren't back. I asked the sever if I could get a plate to cover their food and she was super accommodating. Upon my companies return the server, even offered to reheat the food for them, which I thought was a nice touch. We declined, but we were still appreciative of the option. My food was very delicious. The white sauce for the linguini was amazing. One of the better Alfredo sauces I've had in this lifetime. The shrimp Parmesan was so so. I felt like it could've used maybe a little bit more seasoning but honestly paired with the pasta. I had no complaints. The restaurant definitely has a family feel and I got the impression that a lot of the patrons are regulars. I don't live in the area, but if I'm ever there again, I would certainly return.

What an absolutely delicious dinner. The hospitality from the moment we drove to the valet, to the…read moreproper entrance with the hosts and throughout the entire meal was purposeful and thought out. The employees here care about your experience. My wife and i have only lived down here since January. We've explored restaurants from Red Bank through the shore. This was #1 so far, I would actually look forward to dining here again. Alan, our server, you're very good at what you do. Thank you for that. Get yourself a nice bottle of wine, head here. Order anything and sit back and enjoy the experience. It was absolutely beautiful inside for my 45th!

Falcone in Lincroft is basically what happens when someone spends 95% of the budget on interior…read moredesign and 5% on the actual food. The restaurant itself? Beautiful. Gorgeous lighting, trendy aesthetic, romantic atmosphere. If your goal is taking photos for Instagram or pretending you're dining in Manhattan for the night, this is your place. The food, however, was wildly underwhelming for the prices. I ordered the "short rib" bolognese and spent half the meal trying to locate the short rib. It looked and tasted more like regular chopped meat sauce than slow-braised short rib. I've honestly had pasta dishes from local pizza places with more flavor and authenticity. And the candles... there are approximately 47,000 candles in this restaurant. So many that at one point a waiter leaned dangerously close to one and I genuinely thought his vest was about to catch fire -- meanwhile he had absolutely no idea. That pretty much summed up the overall dining experience: chaotic but aesthetic. Also, why is there forced valet in Lincroft? Even when you self-park, they still ask for your keys like you arrived in a Bentley instead of a Honda Pilot. Another strange touch: it's BYOB, yet they keep your wine bottle off to the side somewhere instead of leaving it at the table. The whole point of BYOB is being able to pour your own wine whenever you want without having to flag someone down every time your glass is empty. It felt unnecessarily pretentious for no reason. The biggest issue was that the restaurant never actually felt authentically Italian beyond the decor. For a place charging premium prices and branding itself as an upscale Italian dining experience, there should be a stronger sense of Italian hospitality, personality, culture, and presentation throughout the service experience. Instead, the whole thing felt more staged than genuine. Communication around the specials was difficult, nothing was written down, and the service lacked the polished confidence you expect at this price point. Ironically, the teenage valet outside gave more authentic Italian restaurant energy than the dining room itself. My suggestion? Lean harder into genuine hospitality and authentic Italian dining culture instead of just the aesthetic. Right now it feels like a beautifully designed movie set where the food and service never quite match the image. Overall: probably a nice place for cocktails, dessert, and ambiance before or after a night in Red Bank. But if you're going specifically for an amazing Italian dinner worthy of the prices, save your money and hit a really good local pizzeria instead. I promise if you change the wait staff to people who have a little more command of the English language... the word on the street would probably improve.

Always a great time at Birravino in Red Bank. Service…read more Food Parking Salads, pizza, chx all very good. Thx for a great date night

I'm giving it a 5 stars Bec the service was awesome. Our server was very attentive and constantly…read morechecks on us. The meatballs was very tender , well balanced with the tomato sauce that's not too acidic. The sauce was not heavy at all and I love the fresh basil. The chicken parm , which I don't normally order was recommended by the server and did not disappoint. It was tender, moist chicken cutlet with crispy, flavorful breading, balanced by a vibrant, not too salty or acidic marinara sauce and, melted mozzarella, served with rigatoni. The desserts we got were super delicious and not too sweet. We had a 5 pm reservation and was able to self park on their lot.