The Cranford Hotel — Restaurant in Cranford

The food is unbelievably delicious and so so good.

So for the hire of the chefs, great job owners.

A warm Autumn night, and we found ourselves at the Cranford Hotel. I love this place, for the food has always been top notch, service people have never been top there, but it has never been as it was last night.

We arrived and there was a table for us, wonderful we thought, but when even my bf states it is cold, you know it is cold. He loves cooler conditions, but the winter garden area was just cold, so I let the staff know, and it was remedied, or so we thought.

We were told, there’s a table right by the fireplace, oh you mean the fireplace that wasn’t even on and running, that fireplace, okay. So we were sat at a table with a direct AC vent hitting us on full blast, and the fireplace wasn’t even on. The person who took our order was either having a bad day or she is just not very good with people, or perhaps one just has to deal with it and put up with mediocre service and disrespectful niceties, I stated I didn’t want straws for us, and it almost seemed like she took personal offense to that, not really, but the attitude just began there.

I let her know that we were moved from “outside” to inside, as it is cold, but that this direct AC vent hitting us full blast, while on a nice night, is still cold for an Autumn night, but I will try to deal. The AC went into colder mode, which is fine, just don’t put someone who states they are cold, directly under an AC vent. A table got up and I noticed that their tables were not under direct AC vents, so I asked if we could move, again, attitude coming from the person, I went up to the hostess who thought it was a good idea to sit someone who was cold, under a cold AC vent. As I didn’t who else to go to, so upon being there, I also let the hostess know she sat us under the vent, and I would like to move where those people got up, and the person “helping” us comes up, with attitude, and I was just done at that point. I get it, I was the, I am cold girl, but I am not asking them to change the temperature for me, I am not just getting up and sitting myself down, I am trying to go through the proper channels, to have an enjoyable restaurant experience. And then to add insult to injury, my bf apologized for “us being difficult”, to diffuse a tense situation between the service and myself, but I stood up for myself and said, I don’t apologize, because it is not us being difficult, we are just trying not to have a table with the vent blowing down hard, on the girl who is cold.

Needless to say, it was not a good night, until the food came, which I almost canceled, as I was just done with the girls attitude, and done with “freezing🥶”.

Terrible service experience, but with a delicious belly filling end.

If I could have isolated and stated that if I tip the normal 23-28% that I do, knowing that it would only go to the amazing kitchen staff alone, I would have. But as that was not the case, I opted for a number I have never in my life given.

Long story long

The food is absolutely worth the bad/disrespectful service experience 😹🤷🏼‍♀️ and order the chicken, it is absolutely divine!

Also, if you give a specials menu, knowing that a lot of it is eighty-sixed, don’t give it out without telling people which...

To start, the organization between top and bottom levels is non existent, not that I would have minded to wait 15 minutes to dine on the top level, but there were several unoccupied tables on the bottom level the hostess at the door was unaware of. Finally we are seated, the waitress started out pretty strong, explaining menu items, offering house wine, ect. There is no variety in the menu here, if you like burgers or pizza, this might be the place for you, but with a burger king right down the road and several small pizzerias in town (that serve a 16" pie for the cost of their 12" bar pie). The food itself took a little over a half hour to reach the table, it took the waitress (who did not serve the food) maybe 10 seconds after that to ask how it all was, nobody had even taken a bite yet. The waitress is then not seen again until after plates are being pulled while other people at the table are still eating, too late to voice complaints. The pizza was probably the highlight of meals on the table but still extraordinarily small, both burgers were missing ordered ingredients and improperly cooked, and the Ruben was a chunk of pot roast fat blended with some sliced cabbage and some sort of imitation Swiss cheese (no thousand island, no rye, dry sour kraut.) Needless to say the whole experience was a lot like watching a failed rocket launch, we were all excited, things seemed to be going really well, then the thrusters misfire, the rocket turned and killed everyone spectating the launch. My family now has a new nostalgia for the Cranford hotel, being a rundown understaffed overpriced gimmick and a desperate attempt to keep history alive in this small community. Hopefully new management comes in and returns the restaurant to the former glory my family raved...

First time at the Cranford Hotel Restaurant & Pub. It was highly recommended by someone… apparently there are two different bars, but we went on a Wednesday night, so only the upstairs bar is open during the week nights, wasn’t too packed, so was easy to find a seat at the bar. The blood Orange margarita I ordered was on point, the bartender was very nice.

We ordered the pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries which was very good, and then the cheese board, which could use some improvements, but wasn’t horrible.

Overall the atmosphere was nice, I loved the hanging plants, (yes I’m a dedicated plant mom and really appreciate things like that), and everyone who worked there was nice and friendly.

I may have given this restaurant and pub a 5 star review if I had went on a weekend night and been able to experience the downstairs bar which I heard was a lot of fun, and a younger crowd.

Overall, would recommend giving this place a try if you’ve never been … it was a nice and...