The Cranbury Inn — Restaurant in Cranbury Township

Just wanted to do this place justice and write a review. My wife and I got married here two years ago as of this November. A few nights ago we went back on our anniversary to have dinner. We have come back the last two years for dinner and even had my wife's baby shower here. Tom (the owner) is great. He wants you to have a great experience and loves seeing you when you come back. He is always so courteous and spends some time to catch up with you.

If you are looking for a wedding venue I highly recommend it. The grand reception room is gorgeous and has such a quaint, rustic feel. The rest of the Inn also impresses with coziness and charm. I'll stick to just reviewing the food since a wedding venue is a whole other story.

Our waiter (David) I believe, was so welcoming and nice. He brought us some bread and butter to start , along with complimentary glasses of champagne. We also ordered a bottle of Dreaming Tree Crush Red wine. I have no idea about wine but I found it to be delicious. I ordered the potato bacon soup and my wife ordered the three cheese onion soup. Both were delicious and eaten without complaints. We both ordered the honey baked pear salad (the salad on our wedding menu) which has mixed greens, candied walnuts, Gorgonzola cheese, with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I hate salads but this salad comes together so nicely and the baked pear is delicious. Couldn't recommend it enough!

For dinner my wife ordered the Turkey dinner with all the trimmings (a full course Thanksgiving dinner). She loved it, I had a few bites and it was great (one of our wedding dinner options). I ordered the Filet, medium rare, which was on special. It came with a port wine sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus. The asparagus was cooked nicely and the mashed potatoes were very good. The Filet was cooked more towards a Medium cook, as opposed to a medium rare cook but the port wine sauce helped. The steak was still tender and delicious. The steak ended up being an 8.5 out of 10 cooked medium, instead of being a 10/10 if it had of been medium rare.

We finished dinner and shockingly ordered dessert! Hey, it was our anniversary don't judge us! Before we ordered, Tom came over to see how everything was and asked us if we ordered dessert. We told him we did and he said good, dessert was on him. We ended up getting coffee and two desserts to share, a bread pudding and dark side of the moon cake. On a side note l, sounds stupid but their coffee was good. I'm a coffee snob and only drink Rook coffee or coffee I brew myself but their's wasn't bad! Anyway, the Bread pudding was okay I suppose. I've never had bread pudding and don't even know what to compare it too or how it should taste but my wife wanted it and she said it was good haha! The cake was moist and chocolatey but not over bearing.

Our total was $106!!! Granted, the champagne, desserts and coffee were comped due to Tom's generosity but soups, salads, a bottle of red wine, a full thanksgiving dinner and a Filet with two sides, you can't beat that!! Tom loves to see you come back and crest traditions and memories at the Inn and he will always take care of you when you come in. I hope they continue to be successful for a long, long time. I will continue to go there for dinner every year on our anniversary, as well as going there to have big events like a baby shower. I even told my wife we should make it a point to come at least another one or two times a year besides our anniversary. I know this was a long wordy review but I hope this entices someone to visit the Cranbury Inn and have as an enjoyable experience as my wife and I have had every time...

We were so thrilled to find this historic gem! We were married in front of the old fireplace and had our small reception in the older historic dining room, in September 2019. Excellent service and staff, delicious food, charming atmosphere. Hope they reopen by our 1 yr anniversary date. (Closed due to Covid right now.) UPDATE 2023: In a word: DISAPPOINTED (Changed a 5 star to a 3 star) I'm glad we were married here before the new owner changes. I understand wanting to update, but I firmly believe it has crossed a line and has buried the charm in the basement. I like some of the changes but some have crossed a line. There are modern frosted glass doors dividing the bar and dining room and appear entirely out of place. Pocket or slider doors would have been a wiser choice if at all. The bar is brighter, maybe too bright. It looks new and frankly it shouldn't. Most floors went laminate when a beat up wood floor would have been better. Nobody expects a perfect floor in the longest continually running restaurant in NJ. The plates were removed from the dining room but I was told I can still see them in the bathrooms. 🙄 Zero Plates=Zero Charm. They opened up the historic fireplace room to the old liquor store which was very wise. The new entrance makes better sense. I believe a historic mural was removed from the small conference room. I hope I'm wrong. In the fireplace room, there are nice historic color choices on walls but after reviewing my visit, the furniture is contemporary and nice but it should be balanced with more antiques. And why on earth is there a TV added to this room? The room doesn't look old enough. There, I said it! Food and Staff are still excellent. Always. But I think the management needs to listen to their lifelong patrons and swallow the modern vision and get back to the roots that make it special. It's historic and therefore should look historic with contemporary comforts. The banquet hall is being turned into a high end liquor store with wine tastings and events. Sad in a way. I was told it is built on part of the original barn foundation. I have no real opinion about it since it isn't completed yet. The ice machine shouldn't be outside on the patio. It looks tacky. I'm begging the management to reconsider these changes and pay a deeper respect to the Cranbury Inn's history. The first impression should be its history, and right now, it just seems as if they have sold out. I'm not sure we'll return for our anniversary dinner as we've done for the past 3 years simply because it doesn't feel the same at all. It...

I had 5 restaurants we were deciding between for my sons baptism. We chose the Cranbury Inn due to many positive reviews from people in the area. I booked the baptism about a month ago. The day before I went to the Cranbury Inn dropped off the cake and confirmed it in person. That night the owner called and confirmed the amount of people and time. I thought everything was set.

We were told the room wouldn't be ready until 1:30pm. We showed up a few minutes early and they were setting up. They finally had the room ready around 1:50pm. We sat down and I had to ask where the brunch was. When we went to get the brunch it was almost completely empty. It was leftover COLD food from the party prior. I asked the waitress to replenish the buffet. The waitress said it will be replenished. About 20 minutes after I was told they would replenish I asked again. I then asked for a manager. The manager wasn't the nicest and told me they were working on it and brushed me off. The owner then approached me. They ran out of food!! The Chef never knew we were coming. They offered 1/2 price lunch and gave a fixed menu. They also stated more staff would be in to help which never happened. At this point the baptism was already ruined and they put such a damper on the day I just took it. When I went back into the room everyone just wanted to leave because of the horrible experience. When the meals weren't out within a 1/2 hour I asked to speak with the owner again who told us we didn't have to pay for the meals.

I tipped the waitresses but was very hesitant and not as generous as I would have been. Not because of what happened but because we overheard them talking crap about us.

I would NEVER go here again and I will be telling people what happened. This is a once in a lifetime event for my first born son and thanks to the Cranbury Inn they ruined it.

By the way the food they eventually brought out to us was horrible.

Also They told my husband that he should have called and confirmed AGAIN this morning. How many times do you have to confirm when I did it in person AND over the phone...