Courtzzz

I have been waiting all week for someone to respond to this review, and the fact that nobody has really makes me question the motivation of the posts on this forum. The regulars on this forum all appear to be chummy with the owner of this place, so I guess nobody would dare reply or agree that the food is mediocre at best. It seems to me that people rave about places when the portions are big and their ass is being kissed by the owner/ chef/ staff. Any negative comments are not well received and the owner or someone close to the place jumps in to defend any negative feedback. I realize that it is probably difficult to see your place get blasted by a customer, but I thought this was a forum for opinions. Maybe I am incorrect.

Kim- Yes it is the one in Hopewell. I really don't get to the Priceton area too much, so I can't answer your question. We actually went to The Brothers Moon as a result of reading the reviews on egullet.

Back in June I dined at the Brothers Moon in Princeton. Overall it was a good experience but we got a good laugh at the waiter, who looked to be about 18, opening a bottle of Whitestar for another table. At a glance you knew it was going to be a problem as he struggled to twist the cork out instead of twisting the bottle slowly from the bottom, when suddenly.. POP!! out pours the champagne all over the floor. I hope they had an extra bottle in the back because it was a BYOB

Hooked on Phonics?

[what NJ restaurants do you find incredible? ] Not many Tommy. The River Palm Terrace is the NJ restaurant that I most frequently visit and I drive an hour to get there. It’s worth the trip because the food is great. Another place that I have always enjoyed is Doris and Ed’s. These are the only 2 that I would put in that category. I live in Somerset County very close to both the Bernards Inn and the Ryland Inn. Both are nice places but more for special occasions. I find most of the local places to be inconsistent. Have any recommendations???

[As a native New Yorker with ample exposure to some of the finest restaurants in our area, I can say, without hesitation, that I was quite impressed to discover such fine food, atmosphere and service tucked away on the other side of the river. ] I too am a native New Yorker and have ample exposure to the finest resturants in our area and beyond. If this is your opinion of fine food, I have to agree with the Boatman about taking your comments with a bit of skepticism.

I haven't been there in a while but we have had some good meat from the fairway Market in Ft.Lee

Lreda Thank you for the response. I acknowledge that we chose the booth. My comment wasn’t on the table being bad; my comment was on the atmosphere in general. I chose the calamari because I love all of the ingredients that were in it. It wasn’t a little sour…It was overwhelming. I LOVE SALT. I put it on everything so for me to comment on something being salty- it is unusual. My apologies to you about the sauce description but the sauce wasn’t the problem, the deep fried crabs were. I am familiar with "Panko", Japanese breadcrumbs; it was because of the panko I ordered the crabs as the description sounded intriguing. I’ll take your word that they weren’t deep fried, but they certainly tasted like it and they were saturated with oil, as was the steak. The strip steak was very thin and almost round in shape. The gorgonzola sauce had separated and appeared on top of the steak as an oily mix. I'm not sure of the exact price but for around 24 dollars for the entree I was expecting a bit more. All the menu descriptions looked quite interesting and it took us a long time to make a decision. The service was excellent, which I pointed out. The reason I did not complain is because I chalked the experience up to my own bad judgment. If I ordered a steak rare and it came out well done, I would have sent it back. But to tell the waiter I found the soft shell crabs to be a deep-fried mess, is just not something I am going to do. A restaurant that pays attention to detail would not have served a dish of food like this. I am not looking for a free meal or an apology nor do I wish to give you a public flogging. Egullet is a restaurant forum, a place to voice all opinions whether good or bad. It was because of a recommendation we tried your restaurant and we are stating our opinion. People are free to agree or disagree with our review. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that it was an "off night" for the kitchen. Now about you asking us how everything was on the way out, I think you have us confused with another party. The only person we saw on the way out was a busperson. We asked him the name of our waiter because as I said he provided excellent service. If you had stopped by our table or we had seen you on the way out we would have surely said something to you.

After reading some very positive feedback on this place, we decided to give it a try last night. What a disappointment. We began the meal with two appetizers including blackened tuna, which was actually pretty good. We also had firecracker calamari, which was completely over flavored, for lack of a better word. It made your eyes water it was so sour. All of the food was salted to death. For dinner I had the soft shell crabs served over a bed of potato hay. The dish was described as “Panko crusted Soft Shell crabs with a buerre blanc sauce.” A better description would have been breaded and deep fried soft shell crabs. The plate was saturated with oil from all of the deep-frying. The accompanying vegetables even tasted greasy. The portions were enormous which really turned me off. I took about 3 bites and was done with it. My husband had NY strip with gorgonzola sauce. The quality of the meat was poor and it was quite tasteless. Again the plate was full of grease, almost as if the steak was deep fried too. Our relatively full plates were cleared and we were not even questioned about whether there was a problem with the food. Although the dessert menu looked appetizing, I was too disgusted to order anything else. I found the atmosphere to be peculiar as well. We were seated at a booth in the aisle as people walk in. There was no music at all and the only noise that you did hear was the traffic on Route 10 or noise from the bar. My one positive comment is that the service was excellent. Sean was our waiter and he was very friendly and attentive, particularly with wine service.

Hi Rosie, Our favorite places for dinner include the River Palm Terrace in Edgewater, Scalini Fedeli in Chatham. Occasionally a trip to Don Pepe for Lobster... I am from the Basking Ridge area and am always looking for something new. Any suggestions other than the usual ones mentioned on the board?

Tommy- That is what I mean. There is a space for Subtotal/ Tip and Total. The server is including the tip under subtotal indicating that it is part of the food bill, rendering the contract invalid :-)

I think we are all in agreement that hiding the service charge is not a policy of the restaurant . It is however a manipulative move on the part of the servers. They are well aware of what they are doing.

Hi Tommy I have been a lurker on egullet since last year but this topic has me so insensed, I had to register and reply.

The Boatman is absolutely right. If the resturant policy is to add the service onto the bill, then you should be informed by the server and if you pay by credit card the receipt should have the tip area populated with the correct information. Apparently it is no problem for the resturant to include it on the check, so why not include it on the receipt? This business about completing the contract is absurd. Technically the "contract" being presented by the server is incorrect because the tip should be separate from the food total on the receipt. Or did they just design it that way for no reason?