Angeloni's Restaurant and Pizzeria — Restaurant in Caldwell

Like many others, we saw the Dave Portnoy review of this spot and we thought we would take a ride. . We come from the S. Jersey area, so this was about an hour and a half ride from us. We visited the Star Tavern in Orange and loved it. After seeing his review, we had high hopes (since he specifically called out Star Tavern in his review). Well....We couldn't have been more let down, and disagreed with "El Prez" more. . We visited on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, for lunch around noon. Parking was plentiful on the street. We walked in and were promptly seated as the restaurant was about less than 1/4 full (again, it was the beginning of a holiday weekend). . We ordered a coke and a water, small Chicken Pastina Soup and a Large Thinnie Minnie plan pie. . The girlfriend didn't care for her cola. Maybe it wasn't a name brand, maybe it was watered down. Don't know, didn't taste how she's used to cola tasting, but that's ok, it's just cola. The water with lemon was fine (much better than the Philly city water we're used to). . Chicken Pastina Soup was pretty good....but onto the pizza. . Even looking at the photos, we're like....Damn it looks good. The pie is very photogenic! . But the taste....ugh....The taste MIGHT'VE been better, but our tastebuds were ruined. You see, the edge of the pie has crispy cheese around the edge. We thought it would be similar to like a Detroit pie with cheest around the edge. The thing with us....The thing that absolutely ruined this pie (and our tastebuds for the rest of the lunch) was that this cheese was burnt. Burnt, burnt, BURNT. So we go, grab the cheese and go to snack on it and we were both like "oh no....this is stright up burnt". So now we got the burnt taste in our mouths that won't go away... . So that taste lingered the whole rest of the pizza and just ruined our experience for the most part. The second slice, I ate up to the "crust" part of the pizza and then stopped, and it wasn't that bad.....but then we started to think about it and said..."We'll it's not that bad, but not that great either...." For our preference, we prefer the other joint previously mentioned. . .....and before anyone says anything....we literally take shreedded cheese at home, put it on parchment paper, bake it until it gets nice and crispy. This was legit just burnt, can't understand anyone eating it and finding it pleasant. However, that's just us. . The ambiance was nice inside, the restaurant was large and the server was quick and efficient. We just weren't the biggest fans of the pizza....but that's why we drive all over, to try all these spots. . FWIW, when we went to the Star Tavern, we were talking to the bartenders/waitresses and asked them where they like to go to get Pizza, and two of them mentioned Angeloni's. . This place likes to cook their pies well done (as we could see from other tables), we just didn't like how well, well done ours was when it came to the edge and all. Maybe a regular pie (not a Thinny Thin) would be more enjoyable? We can only speak on our...

We’ve been going to Angeloni’s for “Sunday pizza night” for quite a while. We were big fans of their “thiny-thin” pizza and that’s why we always came back. However, the last few times we were there, the experience was not good. One Sunday, without any notice, they closed the restaurant early for some kitchen renovation that was happening the next day. There was no sign on the door and no warning on the website that they were closing early that night. We arrived at our usual time (around 7:45 ish) and they still had 2 tables eating, but told us they were closed. We debated that there was no warning about the early closing, and that we had driven 20 min to go there. They finally agreed to sit us and the only thing we were able to order was the pizza. Mid-way through dinner, they turned off all the lights with the exception of the kitchen area (our table was near it) and were told we had to pay cash because the CC machines has been turned off. The last Sunday we went there, we again arrived around 7:45-8:00 PM. There were a few tables finishing up, but we sensed they were annoyed that a new party had just walked in. Mind you, they supposedly close at 10:00PM on Sundays. We tried to order garlic knots and clams casino for appetizers, but were told they were out of both. Huh? Garlic knots are the simplest things to make, how can you be out of them at a pizza place? We settled for Caesar salad and the pizzas. Once again, as we are half way through dinner, they started cleaning the floors around us, even though it was only around 8:30 PM. Nothing can be more unpleasant than eating with the smell of cleaning products around you. Unfortunately, that was our last time there. The owners should really consider closing up earlier on Sundays, as they are not doing their business any favors by staying open until 10:00 PM with a staff that clearly is done...

Great looking restaurant. Love the brick laid into the walls. Soft yellow lighting but you can see clearly. However when the restaurant has a full house don't expect any elbow room and to get up without knocking into someone. The food itself was fantastic. We tried the thiny thin thanks to Dave Portnoy and it hit the mark...crispy thin crust and a savory flavorful sauce. The salads we ordered were great as well. We ordered a mix of pasta dishes and meat for our entrees...Portion sizes were all over the place though...the pasta dishes came just as a typical Italian restaurant serves them...thimble size portion...massive price tag. Sorry it had to be said...So if you're particularly hungry don't order a typical Italian dish...but the pork chop and veal came out quite an exceptional size though. That being said as far as the taste of the entrees goes...they were very enjoyable. Nothing was over seasoned or over cooked and the taste profile of each dish was spectacular....The service was a bit spotty at times...felt rushed when it's busy..however what was very impressive was the waiter took our orders and didn't write anything down yet remembered every dish to a T. They brought the dishes to the table in groups and forgot one but made up for it by giving us dessert on the house which was very generous.... All in all it is a typical Italian restaurant but with its own flair that's definitely worth the visit. Especially...