Gusto Grill — Restaurant in East Brunswick Township

This was a very pleasant, unexpected surprise. My noble chum and I came here last Friday night before a punk concert at nearby Starland Ballroom (judging by some of the interesting hair colors in the dining area, we weren't the only ones). This is honestly one of my least favorite areas of the state, and I wasn't enthused about the nearby dining options on paper. Gusto Grill had a convenient location for us, and a fairly safe though slightly edgy cuisine we could both get behind. I arrived a few minutes before my friend and was able to grab a high-top table in the bar area very easily while I waited. Everyone I interacted with from the minute I got in the door was super courteous, professional and accessible - exactly what you want, and one of those intangibles you don't always get, unfortunately.

I decided to get the Ghostly Encounter cocktail ($12), partly because of the name, partly because it had a unique/intriguing blend that included rose, vodka and the star of the show, house-made ghost pepper syrup. Did not disappoint - it definitely has a kick to it at the end, but I didn't find it over the top. Their bartender has a legit mixology skillset, which to me is 90% about walking the tightrope of different ingredients, and with ghost pepper syrup? You better know what you're doing so the patrons don't have smoke coming out of their ears. Fine work.

We split the sesame ginger calamari ($18), and I opted for the sashimi tuna app ($22) as my entree. Both were very good. Calamari to me comes down to texture more than anything, and this dish had the perfect crispness to it - the fact that it was seasoned perfectly with a nice Asian zest was a bonus. We polished it off pretty quickly. The tuna was also excellent. I definitely wasn't as hungry as I could have been, so if you're walking in here with a legit appetite this is not something I'd get for your main meal. But it was the perfect portion for me. The tuna was fresh, and it's very similar to a sesame ahi tuna entree you'd get at a steakhouse (which I do get fairly often when I'm not feeling QUITE as carnivorous/assertive of my place at the top of the food chain).

I already touched upon it briefly, but the service was absolutely top-notch. Our waiter came by often to check up on us, and I can't recall a single time when we were looking around or waiting for him to bring us a dish, the check, etc. We also were not the only people in the bar area (this was a Friday night around 6:30, so there was a decent crowd), and he still managed to show up pretty much the instant we wanted him. I don't know who's in charge of hiring for this place, but they know what they're doing.

Strong, strong recommend. My chum, who is not given to effusive praise, remarked throughout the meal how impressed she was and that she wished they had a location further up north where we live. Gusto Grill is the rare breed that sets itself apart with a lot of unique flavors/offerings, but also with high quality service and hospitality. If you happen to find yourself in the area for a concert by a punk/alternative band that passed its prime 20 years ago, this is a great place to stop...

We usually go here on Sunday afternoons after shopping. Food is really good and different...we love it! The wait staff and bartenders however are hit and miss.. My wife usually requests a cabernet merlot mix...in other words she asks if they can mix it as they dont carry that blend... There is one waitress who says no we cant mix(she has red hair no name tag) so we asked her to ask the bartender and the bartender with really short hair said no. This is the second time this happened, yet on another sunday a different waitress and different bartender (again no name tags) were more than happy to mix the 2 wines... I would even pay extra for it. Hey guys, either please carry a blend or just please mix it up... We wanted to get up and leave the second time this happened...but we were hungry and stayed...but ate and weren't happy... Also on 7-29-18 the bartender with the short black hair was coughing and touching all the drinks she made...real low class! My best guess neither wanted to work on Sunday....so next time we come if these 2 are here we leave....and im not into calling a manger to ask to mix a glass of wine..its such a simple request the waitress acted like we were asking for a free dinner or something. Why so taboo guys to get a cab/merlot or mix it???? Bad service by these 2!!!!....

so i did this review while still eating there, usually i never do a review while in an eatery, and within 10 minutes a manger named Athen (i hope i spelled it correctly) came to our table and asked how everything was and said i should have asked for him immediately, but then goes on to explain to us he has studied wines at some level 3 and his wines in his establishment are not made to be mixed, then proceeds to tell us he usually has that blend but we were "out of season", but promised us he will have that blend next time. Just sounded like a contradiction. At this point i just felt that this restaurant is not the type of place that goes the extra mile to please a customer regardless what Athen told us. We are the type of folks that normally visit the same places all the time and were ready to make this spot one of our "listed stops". ..Our bill usually comes to around $100 including tip when we visit here, and thats for lunch...not dinner. We have drinks, appetizer, and entree ...for lunch!! We dine at Social in Bridgewater, Beckam and Feim are happy to blend the wine, we dine at Spain 92, Sergio always blends the wines for us, we dine at cafe Emilia, Andy and staff just bring us the blend without even asking, we dine at Lukas Grill in Warren, Johnny and Matt, same deal no problems blending the wines.... We really liked the food at Gusto but we don't want to upset their rules so we will not...

Let me start off by saying. Overpriced nyc prices with subpar food and service. Me and my fiancé decided to give this place a 2nd chance after the first time the salmon and swordfish dinner got us sick an hour later and left us in the bathroom all night after. Tonight we decided to sit outside. Drinks took about 15mins to be brought to us. We got scallops and I spent 30$ on the ribeye after the server said it was the best one I was ever gonna have. I've been to American cut and much better steakhouses and this steak was absolutely cooked from frozen ,over cooked, tough and after I told the server it was horrible with not eating more than half of it. He took the plate back and didn't comp us 1$. The presentation on the scallop dish my fiancé got looked like the chef was competing for master chef in the first round. Very surprising. No good at all. Spent 105$ that night. Nobody cares our dinner was horrible. Will never ever go back in my life and warn everyone else that attempts to go here for dinner. Now I realize why everyone around me was getting 10$ pizzas and sliders at the "nyc upscale wanna be" restaurant in east brunswick nj. I will say this is the last time I ever waste my hard earned money here. Complete joke.

Update: So the owner Athan calls me after my last bad experience and he apologized so much for my experience that he would pay for my entire meal (105$) because he was so concerned about me becoming a customer again. He spent a good 10 mins on the phone with me making sure I was 100% satisfied to return. And assures me the check will be there early next week. This was Saturday. 7 days later I send him an email with no response. So today almost 11 days later I send another email to him and he says after speaking further with his server he will only comp me for the 30$ ribeye steak meal. Really?? Obviously going back on your word in any business situation is pretty low. And you obviously don't care about my business nor me returning. His cheap actions do reflect on the service and food quality so I'm not surprised. Everyone beware of this guy and the operation he tries to run. He can get away with this in east brunswick apparently. In nyc this would never be anything close to a successful place. Totally disgusted with his place and he owners actions. Never ever...