Mezza Notte — Restaurant in Fair Lawn

Went for Christmas Eve Dinner. We had our daughter in laws shower there a few months ago and the experience. Tonight was decisively different Upon being seated, we all lightly giggled as the seats had. stuffing left in them and we were all awkwardly lower then you would expect. The waiter (also the owner dropped the menus and left. Upon returning, he took out appetizer order and they came out and the food was very good. He then returned to take our order off the menu (I’ll get back to that). When the dinner came out, I ordered a club soda with lemon. My first bite of my chicken rotini tasted like it was cooked in kerosene. I was so taken aback I took another bite and that is the last bite I would take. I ate the penne and left both pieces of chicken on my plate. Now back to the club soda. I’m sitting there are the water person fills my glass with water. Before I could stop her, my glass was full of diluted club soda. I told her if the error and she quickly brought out another can. Yes. A can at a fine dining restaurant. Ok. So here’s my favorite part. A few minutes later she comes back and refills my soda glass with water again. Holy geez!!! Ok. Back to dinner. When the waitress asked if I wanted to wrap up the leftovers I explained to her it was actually awful. She smiled and said ok and took it away. No way to make it right. My wife’s dinner had only a few tiny shrimp in her shrimp scampi. Everyone else at the table 7 in total thought the food was “ok”. Nothing special. Ok. Here’s my favorite part. As we are leaving, the owner / waiter was at the next table reading off the long list of specials???? We were like. We were never told of any of those. Overall experience? Never would I ever go back. Owner was grouchy, abrupt, and the food was way below par. Don’t bother with this...

I wanted to be surprised about this place. I wanted to scold myself for thinking this was a drab restaurant s that had nothing worthwhile to eat on the menu and finding that the cuisine was spectacular and something Divine that I'd never tasted before in my life. I wanted this to be the place that is so unassuming that it just surprises you and amazes you. it makes you feel like how have I never been to this place before. but my instincts were right. the pasta was bland and flavorless. the fish could not have been fresh. only thing that was halfway decent was the crispy bread. I've passed by this restaurant hundreds of times. going back and forth to work everyday. I wonder how restaurants like this can stay in business. it's practically empty every night and every weekend. how do they keep going without any innovation without any change without any investment in the interior? it's the same drab interior that was installed in the late 1970s or '80s which would be okay if the food was amazing, but it's not. this is one of those restaurants that just simply needs to shut down and the place that needs to be repurposed for something new. and I hope this review helps someone avoid wasting their hard-earned money on another bland meal. fairlawn deserves to have new restaurants that are inviting with ambiance with menus that inspire...

With just one day notice Mike the owner was more than willing to accommodate 30 guests and help us in having a repass lunch. I had never heard of the restaurant but I needed a place close to the cemetery and I found him with a four and a half star rating and good reviews. Coming from a very Italian family (and critics) let me tell you the food was delicious and good portions. Nothing was pretentious about dining there. I really felt like I was at home on a Sunday afternoon enjoying a delicious meal. I was getting compliments on choosing the location. The service was exceptional they always were paying attention to the needs of my guest and Mike was there on hand personally to make sure everything went well. The preselected dinners that he had online were great choices and we were not disappointed at all with any of the entrees. What you don't get from Mezza Notte when you first enter is a restaurant full of fancy decorations all over the place. What you do get is a great family friendly attentive atmosphere, great service and excellent food for the price. My first time there but it will not be the last, we have more events in the future and Mike will certainly get...