The Office Tavern Grill — Restaurant in Elizabeth

I travel lots for work. I usually work the whole day, then fly in the evening. Dinner usually comes from the airport and usually doesn't satisfy the craving for quality restaurant food. My exprience today at Office Tavern Grill #4030 in the Newark Intl Airport, however, exceeded all expectations tonight.

Look, my cholesterol tested high in 2024, so I switched away from most meats. Most of the restaurants in airports don't have such accommodations. So when I saw a tuna burger (tuna is good cholesterol!) on the Office Tavern & Grill menu as I walked by, my choice for dinner was made.

The tuna burger surpassed my greatest hopes. The tuna portion was generous. When I first saw it, I thought "Man! I'll just eat that like a steak!" So I started eating the tuna separately. It was cooked perfectly and tasted fabulous! But then I realized, "I need to trust this chef!" So I put the sandwich back together and BAM!! The slight crunch from the cabbage mix, the crustiness from the bread fresh from the griddle, and just enough wasabi to clear your sinuses on this cold January evening. So good!! I hope my employer sends me back through the Newark Intl Airport so I can have this dish again.

Other highlights include: Due to high cholesterol, I stopped drinking. This place has Athletic Brewing's NA beer, which is tasty. Legit NA drinks (not sodas or Shirley Temples) are rare in airports. My server, Roth, was exceptional. He was attentive and addressed my needs before I knew I had them. Before my days in education, I worked in restaurants. Customer service isn't like it used to be. Roth's service took me back to the "good ol' days" of hospitality. I live in Kansas City. I know good hospitality. I feel bad for not remembering her name, but the manager came out to ask how things were. We talked for several minutes and the topic shifted from how the dinner was to... how I was. She asked about my travels, my job, and just made little old me traveling solo in the airport feel important.

If you're ever hungry at the Newark Intl Airport, do yourself a favor and go to Office Tavern & Grill. Your belly and your spirit...

Most of the restaurants at Newark have relatively the same choices. No overwhelming amount of options or anything exotic; very basic and unimaginative menus on display. After circling the Gate A twice, not impressed by any of them, The Office Tavern happened to be close to my departure and was chosen purely by proximity.

There was no signage to wait to be seated so I sat at the counter bench facing out to the main thoroughfare. Even though it was busy, the bartender greeted me quickly, and took my drink order. He was friendly, efficient, and most importantly, made an awesome Espresso Martini.

For dinner, I had the Ceaser Salad with shrimp. While the salad was a very generous proportion, it only came with 4 jumbo shrimp. The menu said grilled, they might as well have been boiled. There was no seasoning and they weren't flavorful. The ceaser dressing was the perfect companion as it also was flavorless. The croutons were toasted bread, nothing more, nothing less. I've never drowned a salad in so much salt and pepper. Looking at the pictures here now, I'd say you're better off getting the chicken ceaser, (if tasteless salads are your thing) at least then you'll get a larger portion of protein. I must say, the romaine was cut well and it wasn't just chunks of white stem.

After trashing their salad so much, why the decent star rating you ask? Because I was starving and would have eaten the menu itself at that point. In addition, the service was on point. Even though the place was busy, I was never forgotten. I was repeatedly checked on, and my water glass refilled, which is a huge green flag for me. Let's not forget about that amazing martini that made me ten time more susceptible to tolerating the meal. And let's be honest, it's an airport restaurant; pay twice as much and receive half the...

It hurts to leave a review like this because the food was actually fantastic, but holy cow the service was some of the worst I've ever had, even for an airport restaurant.

First, my girlfriend tried ordering the short rib but wanted to substitute out the grits for a different side (who the hell decided grits goes with short rib anyway?) Well, the server informed us that the chef doesn't allow ANY substitutions and you must have what the menu says it comes with. What a stupid policy. The chef isn't the one eating the food, so screw whatever the chef wants.

She ordered something else, and we ended up getting our meals. The food was really good (shame you can't actually get what you want), but we never saw our server again for a refill or anything. After we finished, we waited about 20 more minutes before he showed up again so we could ask for the check.

I asked if they had an airline employee discount, and at first the server straight up lied to me and said no. Then he quickly backtracked and "remembered" that they do (he probably realized I was sitting within earshot of him discussing the discount with a couple of other employees). No idea what that was about, and I'd like to believe it was an honest mistake, but given how everything else went and the way he said it, I felt otherwise.

In short, I'd pick one of the many other options EWR has to offer. Maybe somewhere that allows you to get the sides you ACTUALLY want with your extremely overpriced...