The Vine & Oak Tavern — Restaurant in Cranford

Baby Shower at Vine & Oak

Originally when I had booked Vine & Oak for my baby shower I had spoken and planned with the event coordinator, Isabel who was wonderful. In the time between me booking and having the shower, Isabel had left the position, of which I was never notified.

A month before the shower I went in as per Isabel’s prior instructions to coordinate tables with guest numbers and general set up. The man I spoke to was nice and accommodating, said everything (the tables etc.) would be moved and ready for us to go in and set up at 11 am (shower start time was 12pm). I was told we would have until 3:30 pm then would have to begin cleaning up.

Come the morning of the shower- absolutely nothing was set up. The staff did not arrive until after 11:15 delaying us so much time in beginning our own set up. This left us scrambling to get everything ready before the guests arrived.

During the meal, the short rib pappardelle was extremely lacking in short rib. There were only shavings of the meat. When my MIL asked for extra cheese, she was told by the server “It’s already on there,” and was never brought more.

When the general manager, (Possibly Armin?) was asked if the music could be turned down just a little lower while I opened gifts so we didn't have to scream what the items were, he said “no, we have other guests here.” So, I guess my 60 guests I brought into the venue and paid for weren't important enough.

When I called the following day to discuss these matters, the same general manager was unapologetic and uncordial. I have never dealt with someone who works in customer service and was so lacking in caring for the actual customer. When asked why my MIL who was paying for half the event was denied cheese- he didn't have an answer and instead jumped to the fact I should've complained that day about the lack of meat in the food. I asked him how he would have possibly rectified that during a party of 60 people?

He had no answers as to why no one was there on time top begin set up- the only comment I got was “We should've done this the night before.” They also tried changing the prices we had agreed upon within the original contract. AND when asked about the music he started adding how many other guests were there (he got to 17) and told me I should've read my contract bc it's on the first page. I have never dealt with someone so rude and ungrateful, personally, having worked in the industry for many years myself, I’m surprised he even has a job in customer service bc absolutely nothing he did was for the customer on that day. Oh! And they started kicking us out at 3 instead of 3:30 like promised.

If you choose to have an event here just be mindful management and customer service is lacking, it will be completely uncoordinated on their part, what is promised may not actually happen, and you’re supposed to memorize your contract.

I’m giving three stars only bc the venue is beautiful and my family and friends were able to keep the day afloat and get everything ready despite the venue’s lack of care. Management I give 1 star for making me laugh at how absolutely indecent he was to me after we spent so much money...

Just to start off I am someone who has worked in this industry for over a decade and I came here for me and my girlfriend’s anniversary and I normally never leave reviews but this experience was so underwhelming I felt like I had too. To start off made a reservation and for some reason we were sat in this small room in the corner right next to this blaring fireplace with other tables available. We ordered a plate of calamari to start and that had to be one of the worst executed plates of calamari I’ve ever seen the pieces were cut huge and there were only about 8 pieces there. Then we ordered 2 pastas a penne vodka and the short rib and a side of broccoli rabe

The broccoli rabe was so bitter we couldn’t finish one piece of it either the broccoli rabe itself was bad or they burnt all the garlic they cooked it in.

Penne vodka is hard to mess up and this one was somehow underwhelming especially considering the price. Pasta was undercooked and there were still chunks of raw garlic in the sauce.

For dessert we got the Zabaglione which a 5 year old could’ve made it was literally just assorted berries with a watery custard and cookie crumb on top

With all this being said we probably would’ve looked past this if the service was decent the manager literally checked on every table in that little room except ours he even literally squatted behind me to check on the table behind us but never once even acknowledged us the best service we received was from one of the bus boys who noticed we needed something

As mentioned earlier I never leave reviews like this because I understand all the moving pieces it takes to execute a good service but I think we could’ve went to an Applebees and had a...

I have been to Vine & Oak at least 10 times and this is the 2nd time when it did not meet the standard. We ordered 3 apps, one was the fried Calamari, which I have had on 6 occasions. It came out dry, with no sauce. I shared with my guests, first timers the sauce is missing. I shared with the waiter and he was like would you like me to bring you some sauce to put on top. At this level of restaurant this should not be the response. They should have offered to remake it. So he then brings me out a side of sauce, I paused because I was definitely surprised this was the response. I then requested it be taken off the bill, again I should not have to ask for it to be removed from the bill. Then the waiter said the chef is new and didn't realize sauce came on it. Again, this is not what I would expect from Vine & Oak. Next the manager came over, very polite. I shared my concern and that I have gotten the dish several times. I had to explain to him it was dry and then the waiter brought the sauce out. I shared when we get it, it is on it and now I just have this side. His response, "all we do is pour it on top." Again, not a response I would expect from this type of restaurant. Then I paused and he said we will take it off the bill.

In addition to the issue above, we had to flag the wait staff down to get more water and the waiter to order. I found the waiter off to the side on his phone. Definitely a miss on a Monday. The bill came to 191.00 and despite the above we still gave a tip, but this was below standard and not worth the money tonight. Disappointing.

We also got meals and dessert. the bill came to $191.00. For this type of restaurant, more...