Joe Italiano's Maplewood Hammonton — Restaurant in Hammonton

As a North Jersey guy meeting South Jersey friends for dinner, I was looking forward to dining at this place. The bulk of the reviews are four and five stars, and it's not easy finding authentic Italian food in South Jersey. But things got off to a bad start when I called to make a reservation for 10 and the owner flat out refused to give me one. He said that he only takes two reservations per night, and that they already had two reservations on this date. Two reservations? Two? What respectable Italian restaurant only takes two reservations per night? I've never heard of such a thing in my life.

Figuring there might be a bit of a wait, I showed up a half hour early to put our name down for a table. Well...we wound up waiting an hour and a half to be seated. Needless to say I wasn't happy, and at that point I remarked, "The food here had better be worth the wait."

First they put out some fresh bread and garlic bread for the table. The garlic bread was both dry and stale. The fresh bread admittedly was very good, definitely one of the better breads I've had at a South Jersey restaurant. They also served salad family style, and the salad was delicious as well. I loved the house dressing and the mix of ingredients in the salad.

Things went downhill quickly when we got to the main course. I ordered my staple, chicken parmigiana, which is the barometer I use to measure the quality of an Italian restaurant. The plate actually looked pretty good when it came out. The portion was decent and the chicken was pounded paper thin. The chicken was tender as well when I cut into it. But it wasn't crispy at all (keep in mind I had ordered my chicken breaded, not grilled). It was soggy, and although it was smothered in sauce, it tasted very bland. In all honesty, it was one of the worst chicken parms I've ever had, and I have been to a LOT of Italian restaurants across New Jersey.

One thing I had heard about Joe Italiano's is that they have the best homemade pasta. I ordered penne with my meal, so I was looking forward to trying it. When I asked for the grated cheese at the table, I was handed a dispenser with big chunks of cheese (see attached photo). Care to guess if any cheese came out when you shook this dispenser? What rocket scientist put this together and placed it at the table???

Needless to say I skipped the cheese and ate the pasta as it was. The pasta itself seemed alright, but the sauce was VERY bland. It had no flavor at all, which was a huge disappointment. Admittedly I skipped dessert, so I can't comment on that portion of the meal.

Only the fresh bread and salad kept this from being a one-star review, folks. The cheese dispenser that wouldn't dispense served as the perfect metaphor for this entire experience, and if I had to sum up Joe Italiano's Maplewood Inn in one word, it would be OVERRATED. Don't say you...

4/29/13 This review is specifically for Maple II, 6126 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing, NJ Really enjoy going here. Just good old style italian cooking. This restaurant reminds me of some of the italian restaurants which were in Wildwood, NJ many years ago. My Grandparents owned a hotel in Wildwood and my Grandmother and my Aunt were outstanding italian cooks themselves, so we went to the best of the italian restaurants and Maplewood II certainly is comparable to them. Actually, my Grandparents and the rest of the family would have enjoyed coming here. The food is very good and everything is fresh. We have had excellent service, other than from one person who we will not deal with who supposedly is a manager/bartender-server. We will not allow her to wait on us and since we enjoy sitting at the bar we do not go in when she is working at the bar. We don't understand why the owners keep her on as we certainly are not the only people that do not want to deal with her. Other than that...our service has been wonderful. Gene & Maria are wonderful bartenders...you won't find better, more accommodating and pleasant than these two. Whatever crazy cocktail you may wish to have these two will attempt it and master it one way or the other. A number of reviews refer to this restaurant as a dump and we cannot argue that the place is in dire need of being renovated. The restaurant is in the process of renovating and is very overdue for this renovation. It appears that they are renovating in sections and it is our understanding that the entire restaurant in the end will be completely renovated. They do a very brisk business and it appears that they are always busy. We have met and conversed with some very nice people here so we would say that they attract a very nice clientele. We would highly recommend this restaurant! If you decide to go for a holiday they are packed so either get there early or see if they will take a reservation. This restaurant is popular!!! UPDATE 4/29/13 This location is now temporarily closed for renovations. They say...

Very nice atmosphere. Waitress was wonderful Pleasant and very good. Wine was good costly at 9.50 a glass Cost of meal were right where they should be. Our meal Appetizers we got the bruschetta. It was very good. Our meal came with warm bread and salad the red was so so I've had better. Salad I would have expected from a restaurant of this class to serve a salad with mixed greens rather than plain iceberg. He ordered the shrimp fra Diablo and was very impressed and loved it as he's been there plenty of times before and says it hasn't changed. I have never been to this particular one here over on White Horse Pike Route 30 over by Hammonton this was my first time. I ordered the seafood Delight alfredo. She put it on homemade pasta with those excellent the sauce tasted very good. I'm very picky about my Alfredo it was good I've had better but I've had a ton worse I definitely would get the Alfredo again. There was plenty of scallops and shrimp on my meal and a tiny little bit of crab it did advertise it came with lobster but I did not see any of that I was very disappointed that it didn't come with what it said it was supposed to when I order something off of a menu with certain particular things in it I expect it to be in it so there it was negative. However if there was a piece in there somewhere there was maybe a tiny little piece just like the crab it was very very sparse. I would stick to something like shrimp scallops or if you're going to get crab just get the crab legs so you actually get some meat. I was going to get the crab bucket with all the Steamers except that I wanted to try an Italian meal at an Italian place. I most likely will stick with something next time like that all seafood or maybe a chicken marsala. As a gentleman I was with Don said that the Marcel is very good there so that's probably what I'll try next time I'm sure they won't miss putting the chicken in it LOL. All I know is a really good experience and their...