Zinna's Bistro — Restaurant in Cranbury Township

Ok so I came here to write a review for this fabulous restaurant my husband and I dined at tonight. I stumbled upon some ridiculously fake reviews. Please!! If anyone reads some of these negative reviews, DO NOT believe them. They are obvuiosly written by someone with a grudge against this restaurant. It's troll reviewing at its finest. I can not say enough positive things about our dinner tonight. It started off with our very friendly and knowledgeable server, Morgan. She was helpful and pleasant right from the start. I love when a server knows the menu and when he or she is confident with descriptions and recommendations. She was clearly knowledgeable in all areas. We went with the calamari and a house salad to start. The calamari was sweet and tangy with a little bit of heat. The portion was more than enough for 2 to share. The house salad was crisp and fresh. The balsamic dressing was delicious and again, enough to share. My husband got the linguini with clams. Yum!!! The sauce was amazing and the amount of clams was incredible. I've never had linguini with clam sauce with so many whole clams. They definitely don't skimp on portions. The house made pasta was perfectly Al dente. There is nothing better than perfect home made pasta.🍝🍷. I ordered the short ribs over risotto. The sauce was delicious and the portion was huge. It wasn't what I have known as short ribs so I wasn't completely in love with my dinner. Our attentive server noticed that, took the dinner back and offered to get me something else. Unlike some of of the other reviews, there was no problem here and it was actually the most sincere offer to get me something else. This is why I'm sure the negative reviewers are nothing but vengeful trolls. Anyway, while I was looking at the menu, the chef, Jason, came out to our table to apologize and offer other suggestions. As I mentioned above, the sauce was delicious. It just seemed to be a bad cut of meet. It happens. No reflection on the talent of the chef. Jason's passion for food was obvious by his desire to make me something new. He asked us if we had a little extra time to wait for something special. Of course we do!! 😊😊😊. He came out with an Ossobuco that was out of this world. It was a decidant, tender melt off the bone, huge plate of visually appealing deliciousness with a rich flavorful sauce, next to a perfectly cooked risotto. Jason sent out his homemade salted caramel cheesecake and bread pudding for dessert. I was pretty blown away by both desserts. A chef that can bake!!! Both desserts were spot on. We were the last table in the restaurant and never felt pressured to leave. Everyone was so amazing and so friendly. The owner, Chris, also came to our table and he couldn't have been more engaging. He has some obvious passion for cooking and his restaurant. The manger was also amazing but unfortunately, I didn't get her name. Sorry 🙁 This was our first time here and I already want to go back tomorrow. Funny thing is, we came here because we bought a Living Social coupon and after this mind blowing experience, we forgot to use it. Bonus!!! We get to go back tomorrow!!! If you're looking for an outdoor dining experience, they are redoing their patio and it's absolutely beautiful. It's picture perfect. Think patio dining with white string lights, iron fence, oversized flower planters, tables with umbrellas and a gorgeous lush pergola......maybe Napa or Almafi Coast. They also have a garden where they harvest vegetables and herbs for their kitchen. Whatever they can't grow on their property, they buy local as much as possible. Fish comes in daily so try the fish for sure!!!! I am so excited to share our dinner experience. This was a total spur of the monent decision and it ended up being such an amazing find....

Went with the extended family to celebrate my wife's birthday. The service here, and particularly the owner ruined our night. She is arrogant, rude, and condescending.

We waited 20 minutes for our server to arrive before we had to flag someone over. When a server arrived, she said how can I help you? And I stated, can we order? She's like oh, your server hasn't come over yet. We waited again for the right server to arrive.

Not enough table settings/ utensils for a reservation we had made in advance. Not enough plates. Our waters were never filled. Terrible service - but with a 20% automatic gratuity.

We ordered appetizers and a salad along with a couple of pastas/entrees. We were not asked if we wanted to space them out. Everything was dumped on our table at the same time. We were a bit confused, but we rolled with it.

Server missed our salad, we finally flagged her down after 15 min, the server said, "oh I left it on the counter”

Things were not going well, so I wanted to talk to the manager. Someone finally came and said, oh I'll just take the salad off for you. I asked if she was the manager, and she said "the owner is here, I can get her, but I'm warning you that she isn't nice."

If your own employees are telling customers that the owner isn't nice, that is a problem. She came over with a nasty attitude and took no ownership, no listening skills, no empathy. She's like I already heard what happened, what do you want? I said I genuinely want to give you feedback.

She argued that if I wanted my food spaced out - I should have asked for it. I explained to her that we didn't even have the right number of table settings or utensils. She angrily went to another table and grabbed 9 new utensil/napkins and walked around throwing the utensils Infront of all my guests, for even those who had utensils, including my 6 year old, 2 year old, and 6 year old nephew. "Are you good now?" And she stormed away like the couldn't be bothered.

Our entire table was in disbelief and our dinner was ruined. A genuine response to make things right after a bad experience would have been welcome, but I do think the owner needs to reevaluate how she treats her patrons and how she behaves.

I have dinner at so many restaurants in my life, and this has to be the WORST manager/owner I have ever dealt with. Her actions and attitude were...

RUN! DON'T WALK! RUN FAR AWAY from this place. I am salt sensitive and so is the rest of my family. But it had us wanting to throw a salt shaker down our throats because ALL of the food tasted SO bland! Both appetizers and all three Entrées were HORRIBLE. I would of given anything for my school cafeteria lunch at one point. They have the fresh ingredients that they boast that grows right in their backyard but clearly, they don't know how to give them the respect it deserves by amplifying it with simple seasoning. I have had airline and hospital food better. The chefs are either completely without talent and not qualified to be near a stove or absolutely demonstrating lazy cooking, obviously NOT tasting what their making, or giving a crap about what they are serving. If they can do that on a Saturday night and get away with it, them shame on everyone. There is no such thing as quality control here. I picked the restaurant and I was sad and embarrassed that our special Saturday night was ruined by mangers, owners, and employees that don't care because they aren't the ones sitting done expecting at least an on part meal. I would be SO embarrassed and ashamed if I had anything to do with this establishment. In one night I was introduced to so many front and back of the house problems. There were so many simple restaurant 101 examples that they messed up on including plating a cold salad on the same plate as a hot entree. Never ever should those Temps be mixed, plus who wants dressing in their entree? Furthermore, a salad should be served on a cold bowl or room temperature at best. When I questioned it, I was told by the manager, "that's how we've been doing it. That's how the owner wants it." That's very telling. You know that saying about s* rolling downhill? There you go! I guess the owner loves bland too. If so, then they nailed it all night long with endles bounties of sad tasteless dishes and over cooked bland seafood. The calamari and shrimp (that i never ordered in my dish was cooked to death as if they were trying to kill it for the 2nd time! Lucky fot them they are near a hotel with unsuspecting guests. Now that I'm the wiser, I'll know to find my hair netted lunch lady as I stay above 55mph waving to Zinnas in my rear view mirror. $80 bucks for us to go home and make turkey sandwiches. Thanks...