Lombardi's Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Cedar Grove

Boy, do I miss the Lombardi's in Fairfield. The reviews for this place seem to be all over the map, but I'd be curious to know what percentage of reviewers have been to the now-closed Fairfield location - the atmosphere and more importantly the pizza were significantly better there, and I suspect the ratings here would take a hit in direct comparison. Unlike this particular restaurant, the Fairfield location was a standalone building, featuring a more sports bar-themed section and also a family-oriented sit-down restaurant area. It kind of gave off (and I don't mean this as any type of insult) an Applebee's vibe where you have a lot of local sports team memorabilia prominently displayed, and it was just comfortable, regardless of the specific environment within the building you chose to sit in.

The Cedar Grove Lombardi's loses a lot of personality points in favor of its closed sibling. It's in a strip mall next to a supermarket, and the restaurant/bar is housed in a single, square room. Efforts have been made to spiff it up a little (the furniture looked new, and it appears that a fresh coat of paint has been recently applied), but the lighting and layout just makes the environment overall come across as impersonal, in my opinion.

Due to the recent polar vortex weather, I decided to order a cheese pizza for lunch pickup to accompany a West Wing marathon (obviously nothing after Season 4 when Aaron Sorkin left - life is too short). Lombardi's website indicated that they opened at 11:30am. I called around 11:50am - no answer. I called back about 10 minutes later and got someone on the phone this time to place the order. Not a huge deal, but I don't think you should have to call a restaurant multiple times to order something. And I hate to say it, but you wouldn't have that problem with Dominos down the street because of their automated system that at worst would keep you on hold for a few minutes until someone was available to take the call.

When I went to pick up the pizza, it took about six minutes for the waitress to finally go back to the kitchen for me to procure it - longer than it should have but it did seem like she was the only one out there (which likely explains why my first call went unanswered), and she was manning all aspects of the front, from greeter to waitress to bartender. The waitress seemed a bit harried, but you can understand that to a degree given that she was in charge of literally everything in the restaurant presumably other than making the actual pizza.

The pizza was very mediocre. Lombardi's specializes in bar pies. I think the gold standard in the area is Star Tavern in Orange, and this is not that. A bar pie should have a thin, crispy crust, and this was doughier, especially on the outer edges, where it just didn't look cooked enough (you can see it on the accompanying picture - the density should be pretty universal throughout the pie). None of the ingredients were particularly tasty, though the sauce was PROBABLY the best, on the sweeter side. Optics-wise, it reminded me a lot of a freezer Celeste Pizza, which is probably not what they were going for. The price was pretty par for the course, at $11.99 plus tax.

I won't be returning, and I'd recommend if you're in the area and hankering for this type of pizza, spend another 15 minutes in the car and go...

Had a really disappointing order from this place tonight. We called in an order for one pizza, salad and kids' mac n' cheese. We were told that they were busy so delivery would take over an hour. No problem - we will pick up instead. Promised in 45 minutes. Arrived 50 minutes later. Not ready. Waited. Sat at bar after 5 minutes. Was told "I let them know you are here." Okay, I'll have a quick drink while I wait. 25 minutes and an empty drink later I was now wondering where the food was...wife indicated kids were "starving." Now I got more aggressive- "where is this food?" They will check again. Many orders for eat-in diners and other pickup customers came out. Finally, more than 90 minutes after the order was placed, I got the food. No apology. Full price had already been paid (with tip) for drink and takeout order ($50).

When I got home 5 minutes later the pizza was cold. The mac n' cheese was lukewarm but kids didn't care. Salad was fresh.

More than one star because they have all football games on Sunday and a cozy dining area with fireplace. Full bar with mediocre selection of booze and beer. Was very disappointed to have such a poor service experience, which could have been resolved with a heartfelt apology, discount or drink on the house.

Still searching for the best Italian restaurant...

RUDEST host staff I’ve ever encountered. Called to place a delivery order to Caldwell (website says free delivery to Cedar Grove, Little Falls, Montclair, CALDWELL, and Verona) and was told they didn’t deliver to Caldwell. I asked if the host could verify and she came back saying the drivers wouldn’t come to our address, only North Caldwell, which is not what the website says. I live 12 minutes away and unfortunately was not able to leave while my daughter was sleeping. I mentioned the website should be updated but that I’d have my husband stop by on the way home for pickup and the host interrupts me and says “THANKS HAVE A NICE DAY” and hangs up.

I’ve been coming here with my family and grandparents since I was little and will tell anyone that it’s my favorite pizza in the area. I will never be ordering from here again due to how rudely I was spoken to tonight.

And if management reads this, I called at 5:05 PM on Saturday 6/28. Whichever host was managing the phones at that time needs some training in customer service.

Also attaching a screenshot for where it says delivery to CALDWELL on your website. If that’s only North Caldwell, then that needs...