Lima Bean

Hey picnic. Yes still owned by aldos and it's been the brick house for years so if you haven't been there since it was called wyckoff inn....then not sure how you are saying it's an overlooked resturant. Hoping your opinions are based upon recent and frequent experiences... (smiles)..... I think they were ok, but the direction they are headed (wedding factory) indicates to me it's down hill from there.. limabean

sakura bana has a recent thread since they remodeling and reopened, no surprise more expensive, like everything else in ridgewood and during the first 2 weeks i would say after 2-3 visits they were much below standards... As with the BBQ conversation, we will try again after a month or two. If you're thinking take out, forget it, their remodeling didn't take this into considersation so there is no where for the customers to order, wait and the waitresses have just a small of a space to get the sushi from the chefs. My guess on this is that they wanted to squeeze as many seats in as possible and not care about functionality. I see lots of new waitresses, so not sure if this is another sign. I used to frequent this place weekly....so i speak with experience limabean

harvest yes, good catch Ho Ho Kus Inn, going down hill...oops and they just sold it, so this confirms brick house was ok, now renovating into a wedding factory, tearing down the old house that once stood there...don't expect much when it opens

with so many other good sushi places, I would vote this one of our least favorites it's located in ramsey, main st next to the liquor store near the RR tracks... swing down to allendale and stop by MASA, or Ridgewood

spanish sangria is easy to get to if you come off of rt 21 and 78 and not Ferry street, it's the back way into it....and the shrimp in white wine sauce is the only thing I get there...it's outstanding... Tony da caneca 72 elm road, again off the back end of Ferry is an excellent portugese/brazilian and less spanish...very good limabean

I'm a little picky about my sushi and KUMO would NOT be one I would recommend - poterhouse montvale/park ridge - amici's wycoff - houston's hackensack - arturo's midland park -

We live in Ridgewood and eat out 4-5 times a week...at this point, what makes me leave and go to another town is diversity of food and the quality, celebrating a special occassion but honestly, it's rare that we go out and about and say, we'll be back on a regular basis...with the exception of.. - porterhouse in Montvale/Park Ridge border, irish pub good food 15min ride, nothing else around - Houstons at Riverside in Hackensack..shopping before or after...good resturants at a mall is not uncommon, Atlanta and Arizona have been doing this for years... - any good hamburger/hot dog joint recommended by egullet - weehawken, ho bo ken, for the views of the city..pf changs - Newark..good brazilian/portg. ...we do walk around Ferry street..purchased a great linen/cotten table cloth.... My point is that....I don't think we REALLY...care about the ambiance, community...we go for the food...but we are the extreme... I think the target market that Teaneck is looking for is the "family" outing, maybe some trendy foodies..girls night out/boys night out...again, Ridgewood and Montclair cater to all of these. Teaneck cannot launch a community overnight, where will you start, will you move away from Kosher/Middle Eastern foods...and upset your local community..? What type of people will work in your resturants/stores? love this discussion limabean

The foundation of a good town starts with it's own community. The residents of the town must have the savy/foodie sense and income to support their own town. Everyone here is talking about people traveling.. I live in Ridgewood and see half of my neighbors around town, we support the community first. This is the basis of things to come. Most people in Ridgewood have been here for years, good roots, not transiants or communiters going into the city. We look for resturants that bring passion, effort, cleanliness and eclectic foods to the area. Having just 1 chinese resturant is a poor idea, it doesn't beg competition which drives good food. There are 3 chinese joints in town and each one does something a little different than the other...GOOD..we like this. It also keeps the service up to a certain standard, which, if I'm going to spend the money to eat out and possibly travel as well...then we want a good experience. A foodie town cannot be made up of one main street or strip mall. (I'll just feel like I'm at Atlantic City without the gambling). Notice both Ridgewood, Montclair, ERutherford (maybe) and Princeton have several cross streets, it's like a community, New England-ish. A safe neighborhood..... Easy access someone mentioned which is key also, enough said about location. LIMABEAN

not sure I agree about eric...is it just because he's friends with AB? limabean

yes bergen county is in need...great location...hopefully it is a matter of time and yes, we will try again...we're foodies and don't give up that quickly especially since we know this place has it in them to really succeed....they do have a good reputation

i think the passion should stay out of this, our goal on this board is to state facts, good or bad... Fact is we decided to give this a second chance...CLOSED at 8:20 on a Friday

Now....that's my kind of sandwhich...late at night after drinking.... Gonna try it this weekend

No harm...Mike...you have a good thing going there, location is half the battle and you've picked a perfect spot. Your pulled pork is extremely moist, but bland, maybe just some more salt to top it off. Since I would say I have some good experience in this area..please explain what type of BBQ you are serving then folks would understand a little more? Remeber, most NJ'rs have never been to the Carolinas, New Orleans for cajun, Kansis city or texas....education and communication.... Also, funny subject about the asphalt bump...you know what I think, the pitch of your roof does not hang over the asphalt bump it's short, so when it rains, don't you think the water will pool/flood right in front of your door? you might want to take a look at this... limabean

yes yes, I mean the place in Emerson Hot dog Heaven Sorry AHD....I will be sure to go there this weeked because I've heard so many good things...that I hope it lives up to it's reputation.. limabean

Hi, We live in northern NJ and went to amazing hot dogs by way of recommendations from this board. We find many good "finds" as a result of egullet through the years. We've tried just about all of the hot dog joints in NJ. We were original addicts of Johnny and Hangies when they were in paterson 20 years ago...since then and moving to Glen Rock they have gone down hill in many people's opinion. About 2 months ago we tried Harim's in Fort Lee and AHD just 2 weeks ago. There are four of us that venture to try new hot dog joints and we were dissappointed in AHD and still vote Harims as one of our all time favorites. I know it is a personal taste and all. There was no crunch/snap and they weren't hot. We don't particularly like small fries and we thought they were greasy like the onion rings. Sorry worth the drive to Fort Lee and not emerson. We'll give it another try down the road, but nothing I would go out of my way for. LIMABEAN

Hi, .....any updates on helmers new open date?

hi we ate there on Sunday and I think this place misses the mark. I've had BBQ from Kansas to the Carolina's and there was no smokey flavor, not even in the sauce. Granted the pork and brisket were very tender, no fat, it was bland...i could make this at home... big portions for 8.99 combo however,... the sides of beans and mac&cheese, both missed for me..one reader said "maple" flavor...I didn't taste that at all not many BBQ in bergen county....so it will do ok...perhaps give it time.. limabean

Yes, the deserts were limited, not all were available. And i don't know about you guys, but if I owned a resturant and my coffee machine wasn't working, I'd go out and rent or buy another one. does this mean that the big wedding they were hosting earlier, didn't have coffee either? I'd be pissed. If I was at some diner, I would expect things like this to happen, but the SRI touts itself on being one of the finest resturants in the state, with high prices, so I have higher expectations and I think I should. It's very hard for me to post this considering we had our wedding there so I'm not making this up.

Well I'm sad to say that the day has come that I will no longer walk into the Saddle River Inn for dinner. After several years of being a loyal customer, even had our wedding reception there, we had the most disappointing meal there this month. We had limited our attendence to special occasions only, because the menu is stale, the staff is not first rate anymore and the idea of still having to wear jackets and ties is ridiculous. It was my mother in laws choice for her 70th birthday, so off we went to the SRI all 5 of us and 3 bottles of champaign to celebrate her birthday. We had the second seating of the night and by this time, they were already out of any special (on a sat night at 8pm?), and with limited jumbo lump crab appetizers to "order now" was the suggestion. OK, so I order it, and there was no lump, just strands of crab...the shrimp appetizer, looked over cooked from a frozen selection and only 4 small pieces...heck my chinese resturant gives me more...the entree's were not up to par at all, the meat was just ok, the duck was in the same sauce as the shrimp. Inbetween dinner the waiter kept hitting my chair several times, one of the most annoying things in my opinion, with no apologies at all. We decided to order dessert, which again was limited but the worst thing was that their expresso/cappucino machine was not working. ON A SATURDAY? Desert came with a candle, but is usually free for a special occassion, not this time. We knew something was wrong and asked if the owner, MR. EGG was in the kitchen and the waiter said, no he had a big wedding and is home drinking his swiss chocolate? What kind of answer was that from what used to be a high class place? What was even more dissappointing was my mother in law wrote a note siting our dissatisfication and their verbal response and written letter back was that we were liars....no apologies, no....the customer's always right...nothing. Well that's what they are getting from us, nothing. No glaring reviews, no more visits. They seem to be catering to the wedding crowd now, and oh by the way, they let "anyone" in the door, no jackets required and we saw several men in just tee shirts..... Very dissapointing, but not surprised.

We went in, sat at the sushi bar on the second night they opened. The decor is pleasant but nothing extravagant like the place 2 doors down. Prices are way up, and I didn't think they were on par as before. One of waitresses didn't know what "MP" meant next to the toro listing. She came back and explained market price but wasn't sure what the amount was somewhere arount $13 or $14 dollars. They gained about 14 more seats and added just one more sushi chef, not sure that will make good sense. They also do a big take out business there, but they made it even more difficult for both the staff and the customers, not very functiona food was so, so...chalk it up to it only being the second day Denise

we recently did the same thing and went to the JC location. I think the Hack one wins hands down. It was obvious other people think the same thing because the JC location was empty and I've never been to Hack when the line isn't out the door....ever Lima Bean

Hi, last week my husband and I ventured to Rutherford, NJ. It's been several years since we have been in that area and I must say, it looks like it's trying for a revival for resturants. The prior owners of the Fiesta Hut have a small place, same menu looks like, no atmosphere but it was packed. There's a new Latin, Tia and Greek resturant too. We stopped at a place called MIGNON, of course a steak place. The petit filet was pretty good, but the garlic mash and creamed corn side was even better. My husband (trying to be healthy) ordered the special cajun fish and it was perfect. Perfect spice and done perfectly too. My dish came with a side of sauce...looked like a peppercorn...tasted like jaggermister..aughhh...we topped dinner off with a chocolate cream brulee...yes chocolate...tasted like a really rich, fudgy pudding...we ate it all. The atmosphere is good. we might go back to rutherford to see what else is going on...we think the Latin place will be next.. oh, one thing....it's a dry town..BYOB Lima Bean..

Well, we were back to Sakura Bana last night and it was of course, great. Ken added two new rolls, which I'm glad to see. The "Charlie roll" with tempura shrimp, avocado and jalapeno. Not too spicy, perfect. The second roll is the Hercules Roll...spicy tuna, avocado, chili pepper powder on the outside covered with raw onions, small silvers of raw garlic and Japanese mayo....OUTSTANDING !!! We also asked them to make us a lobster tempura with the miso butter that usually comes with the Chilean sea bass appetizer...this was an unbelievable combination...small portion though. And if you haven't tried the spicy shrimp salad....it's wonderful. ok..it was our anniversary last night, 16 years, so we splurged a little !!! LimaBean...

Ok, we've been down this route before and here's our choices and they don't include shortways, kirkers or anything in ridgewood.... * Porterhouse in Montvale almost to the boarder of NY state past Davey's Locker...definately pass this joint....keep going about 1 more mile north. We are in Ridgewood and it's worth the 15 minute drive. Cops definately hang out as you come out. food is excellent and so are the martinis * Brick House bar area, Wyckoff. martini, burger very good * Harvest in Closter, GREAT bar for drinks and meeting people, not bad on the burger/food The Barn in Wyckoff, off the beaten path recommendation, the bar is a wooden fence people sit on no bar stools/chairs. GREAT martinis and burgers Finnegans in Westwood (NOT the IRON HORSE....please) good burger, martinis are good, people are friendly at the bar hope that helps

I'm a BBQ lover, and try it everywhere I travel. Clearly an end less arguement dry or wet....so when I need a fix, I don't go to the mason jar, loved Finks, didn't think the place in Teaneck was anything worth mentioning. Instead, i go to Houston's at the Riverside Square mall in Hackensack and eat their ribs. I'm always satisified. They are wet, smokey and fall off the bone. The thin fries make a good side. Lima Bean