Opine Away

Decent food, small deserts….

www.sohoongeorge.com

335 George Street

New Brunswick

NJ 08901

Tel: 732-296-0533

Map

SOHO on George has good food, reasonable (not cheap) prices, good service, OK cocktails, OK décor.

They might be a little too pretentious, it is not a high end NYC restaurant, but the food is good and presented nice. Sitting outside is nice except for the traffic behind you, which is blocked by a row of small trees, but is very very close…

Opine Away rating of SOHO on George:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

Go for dessert or to sit and chat over coffee….

http://www.cafelalo.com/

201 W 83rd St

New York, NY 10024

(212) 496-6031

Map

Lalo is a noisy little café with a huge selection of desserts, good coffee, nice selection of breakfast and brunch items, full bar and a great atmosphere…

Don’t expect to have lunch or dinner here (no meat on the menu)… this is a place to have dessert or eat a breakfast/lunch, go before or after a show or for dessert after dinner for sitting and chatting, or when you just crave for a dessert…

Opine Away rating of Café Lalo:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

The picture is not a mirror image, that’s the way the sign is…

http://www.nohostar.com/

330 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10012

(212) 925-0070

 Map

The NOHO Star is good food, good service, nice atmosphere, somewhat diner style. We had brunch, steak and egg, served with grits, all were good, fresh OJ was good, coffee was surprisingly good, side bread that we asked for was pretty terrible, soup was good.

Excellent to sit and chat, not too noisy, acoustics are reasonable, no pressure to go away….

Great brunch place….

Opine Away rating of The NOHO Star:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

Mantra Restaurant

Surprised me. 

www.mantranj.com

275 E, Rt 4 (Westbound)

Paramus, NJ 07652

Phone: 201-342-8868

Map

There used to be a different Indian restaurant in the same location. No comparison. This restaurant is higher-end one, with nice NYC-style decor, a bar that opens till late (relative to this area’s close-by-9PM places) and… very good food. I admit I ate here only once (yesterday…) but I’ll go again and if anything will change, I’ll update.

Been there with a friend, and we both were surprised and very pleased. Had Samosas for appetizer, Chicken Tikka Masala (not on the menu, they have the Chicken Makhani which is the same without onions and bell peppers, but if you ask they’ll make it Tikka Masala), Rogan Josh, bread basket and rice pudding. All were excellent, served in nice dishes, and I’m getting hungry again thinking of it.

Prices are not cheap. We had a glass of wine and a couple of bottles of sparkling water and ended up paying just over $50 each including tip, but it is justified by the excellent food, good service and refreshing atmosphere for a suburban restaurant. Will definitely go there again.

Opine Away rating of Mantra:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

Update 9/13/2008 - Been there with a large group (11). Service was terrible. Slow, mistakes, everything that can go wrong did. The food was still very good. Even after complaining to the manager, they just couldn’t keep up with the service. We had two salads that the vegetables were not fresh. I still recomend this restaurant, but for small parties only.

For a full disclosure – I’ve been there only once, so I’ll add to this if anything changes in my future visits – and I will go there again….

211 Livingston St

Northvale, NJ 07647

(201) 750-8570

This is a tiny family-run restaurant with no fancy bit in it – but the food is good, the portions are generous and the service is efficient (this word was selected carefully, as they are very nice, polite and fast but don’t expect any ceremonial fancy over-smiling “may I wipe your mouth for you sir”…). The family is genuine Greek, the food is genuine Greek, and the service is genuine Greek…

Don’t expect anything from the décor, that’s not the reason you’re going there… enjoy the food, the non-pretentious atmosphere, and again, the food….

Opine Away rating of The Greek Village:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

You’re not going to stay hungry.  

www.carminesnyc.com

They have a few locations (NYC, Atlantic City, Paradise Island). I’ve been to the two NYCs:

200 W. 44 st.

New York, NY 10036

Phone: (212)-221-3800

And my preferred one:

2450 Broadway  (Between 90^th and 91^st)

New York, NY 10024

Phone: (212)-362-2200

Carmine’s serves dishes family style – big, enough for a few people. I would recommend going there at a least a party of 4 – although I ate there by myself a couple of time… lots of left overs..

The food is good and consistent.  My standard order is Carmine’s salad, fried calamari (one of the best I know) and seafood pasta in red sauce (lobster, clams, muscles, shrimp, fish…), if more than 4 adults, usually also the Chicken Scarpariello (pieces on the bone with lemon, butte, olive oil, garlic,  a little rosemary). That can feed 3 couples.

For desert – Tiramisu is excellent ( enough for 3 couples…) and if you’re with kids, or a big party that want to have fun, the Titanic is a huge portion of ice cream with all the goodies – brownie, whipped cream, fudge, banana, strawberry, nuts….

Carmine’s is reasonably prices. The ceiling is very high, and the place’s acoustics makes it noisy but not too noisy, just enough to make you comfortable to talk and not whisper.  The service is usually very good. Reservations are made only to large groups (over 6).

Opine Away rating of Carmine’s:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

Don’t tell anyone about it, I don’t want it to get too crowded.

www.luciennyc.com

14 1st Avenue

New York, NY 10009

Phone: (212) 260-6481

Lucien is one of those gems you want to tell only people you really like about. The place is very small, with a small bar and amazing food.

French food without any fuss. The Foie Gras appetizer and the Fillet Mignon are my favorites.  

The Foie Gras is served with onion jam and kind of apples (they taste something between an apple and a pear…) and I can’t stop myself of cleaning the plate with the baguette after the Foie Gras is gone.  

The Fillet Mignon is served with light black pepper cream sauce and amazing French fries – the sauce is so good, I clean the plate (again) with the fries until there’s no more sauce.

Desserts are great too…  Try the Crème Brulee or the Tart Tatin… I’m getting hungry now….

Prices are reasonable for the quality of food you get.

Opine Away rating of Lucien:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother or irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

They have a few of them in the US  - NYC, Chicago, Miami, Dallas… I’ve been to the two in NYC:

www.sushisamba.com

245 Park Ave S

New York, NY 10003-1404

Phone: (212) 475-9377

And

87 7th Ave S

New York, NY 10014-3415

Phone: (212) 691-7885

I’m writing one review for both, because it will sound practically the same…

If you’re looking for a traditional Japanese sushi, this is not the place. Saying that – they have very good food.  Sushi and Sashimi are creative and fresh, other dishes like the Moqueca Mista which is their version of a seafood paella with coconut milk (I like this dish very much) are great. The deserts I’ll skip, nice presentation but usually pretty disappointing taste. Selection of tea is not great…  Sushi is prepared in the middle of the restaurant, so you can look at the sushi chefs at work…. Pretty good bar.

Prices are high, no doubt about it. The place looks great, has excellent atmosphere, you have no chance of being taller than the hostess…. or leaner for that matter…

The service is just OK – not fabulous, but reasonable.

I recommend going from time to time with friends to have fun, and with out of towners. You don’t need a second mortgage for it, but it is expensive, but to have, drinks and good food in a very nice environment it’s a great place.

Opine Away rating of Sushi Samba(s) NYC:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

I’m not going to mention any specific name in this insert, but I’ll try and do some restaurant reviews (my kind of review…) in separate notes. Live 15 minutes from NYC, love food, cook myself, and visit a good amount of restaurants, and believe I have a good pallet for food – which of course is very individual, but I can usually distinguish between generic good and something that probably I’m the only one in the world that calls it tasty…

My opinion about a restaurant is highly dependent on the reason of going to it. Am I going mainly to eat good food, am I in a hurry, is it a family chaw, are we going out with friends… so there no common “rating” in my opinion (of course) but an “occasion” dependent rating.

What I really get annoyed about is highly priced restaurants that serve mediocre (or worse) food, and portions that insult you (not looking for the whole cow on my plate, but getting a quarter size Spicy Tuna Tarter for $17 is what I call insulting). There are many restaurants like that, sometimes I’m really surprised they survive, my guess is that many people who spent over $100 per person in a restaurant rather say it was great than admit to others they got screwed on their anniversary. They don’t even admit it to themselves…

So Here’s how I’m going to rate my restaurants:

Rating in all entries will be 1-10, 10 is best (duh).

Rating of food by style of visit:

• Family – going out parents with kids (by kids I mean 7-15, older and they will tell you where to go, younger and you’re into a whole different ball game).
• Friends – going out a group of friends (two or more couples)
• Out of towners – taking out you guests from England (or Australia, or Holland).   
• Unmarried – if I need to explain you’re probably in that group.
• In and out – quick bite before the movie…

Rating of décor will use the same style categories.

Needless to say, I might change this in the future, as I start putting in restaurants I’m sure I’ll figure some stuff need to be changed…

L.