Lemon Mediterranean Restaurant — Restaurant in Freehold Township

I wish I could rate a zero.

We met with the owner of Lemon Restaurant, “Chef Ash” on March 4, 2022, to discuss a luncheon/repast for my father's upcoming funeral as he was in the hospital and according to the Doctors, there was little chance for him recovering from the illness. We discussed the number of attendees that will be there after the funeral services, and he happily agreed to prepare the food for 85 ppl. @ $40/pp. When my father passed away, we gave him 24-hour notice as per his advice and the final number of guests, 75 ppl., since some relatives couldn't find plane tickets in time for the funeral. However, we ended up with only 51 guests coming to the restaurant. On the day of the service the food was not what was discussed, the service was very slow and the guest had to continuously ask for drinks such as soda and coffee which was supposed to be served but it wasn’t. Just water on the tables. At the end the guests were paying their final respects before leaving and close relatives were waiting for us, as traditionally they would go home with family for a few hours after the funeral. So, we were in a rush and my wife went to pay him for the service. She seemed disturbed. When I asked her, she told me that "the owner is asking for a lot more money than what was agreed. He took $4000 and is still asking for $1000 more. He is giving me all kinds of excuses for his argument. I told him that we are going to have to come back and go over this as to why we should pay more than the agreed amount." At home, when we went over how much he should have charged us, it was clear that for 75 people it is $3000. Even if he claims 85 people, it would still be $3400, and still owes $600. He argued that he prepared food for 85 people even though we told him 75 people 24 hrs in advance and he served us food on a day that he was closed which he had never mentioned that it would cost more. In fact, we brought him business on a day that he didn't have to worry about anybody else. We went back a few days later to talk to him and get the money that he had over charged us back. HE turned out to be a TOTALLY different person! Not only was he not willing to refund the extra money that he had grabbed on the day of the service, but he still insisted that we should give him another $1000 in cash. When my wife and I asked, let’s talk about the $1000 that you have to refund us, he got extremely nasty and walked away as didn’t want the people at the restaurant to know what happened. I am still demanding the extra $1000 he took from us for NO REASON-other than his way of taking advantage of people like me while they lost a loved one and at a time of vulnerability. DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN -HE IS EXTREMELY SLICK AND USES “FAITH” TO FOOL PEOPLE. Advertising "HALAL" meat but comes to find out he’s using non-Halal meat. It is important to make the public aware of this dishonest man and his unethical behavior especially while you are mourning. If you have a gathering of any sort, happy or sad, go somewhere that are more honest and would not take advantage of...

I found this little gem on Yelp when in the area shopping. Solely, off of rating, we decided to stop in here.

I called first, because on Yelp it looked like you needed a reservation. I had the pleasure of speaking to Frank. He was awesome! He let me know we'd be fine to walk in. After our conversation, he called me back to inform me that it was BYOB.

It wasn't too hard to find. Upon entry, you can tell that this establishment is privately owned. The decore eas nice, and it just felt very homey. Every single employee that passed you, or made any type of contact with you was super pleasant.

I have never, ever... even in big chain restaurants seen such an attentive wait staff. I was floored. They all worked together so nicely and merrily. What a great sight! I swear everyone working personally asked us how our food was, or checked to make sure we were ok. Andrew was the first to come to our table. (He gave me directions to the Liquor store for wine). Very well spoken, as everyone else was. They were all very informative on the menu items. Very professional. Great staff!

I could be wrong with spellings as I am doing this strictly from memory... but I ordered the barazino sea bass. Which came with a lemony, buttery risotto, stewed cherry tomatoes and garlic, and i believe a molasses vinegarette sauce of some sort. Everything on my plate was delicious. All of the flavors complimented eachother. The flavors weren't over bearing... it was delicious!

For dessert, I ordered the mango panna cotta, again, spelling could be off. In sort, this dessert was amazing! It can be described as a fresh whipped cream, flavored with fresh mano. On top was a raspberry relish. Omg! Please try this dessert! My sister had the caramelized dates... also, VERY good! Our friend had the special dessert which was an almond poundcake. This too, was delicous! So moist, and perfect!

We had the pleasure of of Chef Ash coming to our table to ask how our meals were, and top up our wine when needed. He took the time to describe and explain each of our desserts to us, and added on how he made them. Just the interaction between the staff and customers is enough to keep you coming back. The awesome menu is the plus!

Please, do yourself the ultimate favor and stop in to...

Worst dining experience in a very long time.

I am not sure where these 4.6 ratings came from but it couldn't have been at the same place the four of us ate at last night (April 13, 2024). It started out with my rickety seat that made me feel like the chair would have collapsed at any moment. The tables were so close together that my chair, and me, were constantly run into by the wait staff at least a dozen or more times, not once met with any "excuse me" or apology.

The hummus had the consistency of a wet slurry and had way too much garlic in it to have any other taste come through.

Entrees arrived about 40 minutes after the hummus and pita was served. The couple next to us came in 15 minutes after us and was served their food 10 minutes before us. We should have left then.

My friends had the Branzino and a Chicken dish for their main course. Both were so bad that they ate about half of it. My friend's wife described the Branzino sauce as "some kind of flavor that she could not identify but was not good."

My wife had two appetizers for dinner. The first was rice balls in a sauce that I tried and can only describe as "Cambels Tomato Soup" flavored. That was followed by a shrimp and artichoke dish that had the smallest and poorest tasting shrimp she had ever had.

My dish was supposed to be Cioppino. The "risotto", if I can call it that, had no texture of any risotto I have ever tasted. It was swimming in some kind of butter mixture and rice and not creamy at all. Not sure if it was even the correct rice. On top of that were two overcooked shrimp, 5 clam shells of which two had no clams in them (the missing clams were not anywhere to be seen), 6 muscles, three very small and narrow crab legs (They were okay but certainly not the "King Crab Legs" described on the Specials menu, and two pieces of cod that were so small that I almost forgot they were in their when it arrived.

All of this for $50 per person without any alcohol.

I really can't understand how anyone can go there. I know we will never...