Brick & Brew — Restaurant in Hardyston Township

3 1/2 stars

The Kingdom of Sussex has become very difficult to access due to the sinkhole debacle, so in an effort to remain friends with my top-tier chum resident of said Kingdom in these perilous times, we decided to have lunch on the other side of Sussex, far far away from my typical Route 80/15 entry point. Sussex overall isn't the best area for eating options unfortunately, with the exception of a very small handful of establishments, so we knew the risks going in. This was actually a little better than I was expecting but there were a few misses.

We came here (along with my #1 Honorary Young Pup Chum) yesterday for an earlyish lunch around noon on a dreary Saturday. It looks like they have decent outdoor seating in the back, but that was definitely not an option on this day. We were seated in their main dining area (my chum noted there's a downstairs bar area she's never been in herself, but I'd be curious about that), which was smaller than the pictures online would suggest - not cramped but not quite as homey/comfortable as I was expecting. I did love their little ice bin/cabinet by the front where they keep their bottles of water cold for each table; cute touch.

We impulsively decided to hit up the Berry Mule option on the Specials Menu, and that was a huge highlight - one of the better mules either of us has had in recent memory, and we're optimistic that it officially got my chum out of her year-long mule slump (which is a thing, people. I've witnessed it firsthand). The mulled berries in the bottom were a little annoying, especially with the tiny mixing straws where the fruit kept getting caught on the bottom, but overall very refreshing and tasty. I'd ask for a normal straw or swig straight up to avoid our berry drama in the future.

The mozzy sticks were pretty legit as well. A little TOO overly fried for my taste but still a positive (I like it when they have a bit more give to them, if that makes sense) and the accompanying marinara sauce was decent. Top marks from all participants.

I decided to aggressively assert myself at the top of the food chain on this particular day and went with the Butter & Rosemary Roasted Ribeye. Eh. The bacon potato cream sauce it comes with is really good but there are two issues - one, it's completely obscuring the steak, so you can't see the super fatty gristle sections that I'd typically avoid/cut off and you aren't going to discover them until it's too late and they're in your mouth and two, the sauce got cold very quickly. It was a little nippy in there (my chum noted that the waitress had to turn up the heat in there about halfway through our meal) but I think the obvious fix is to make sure that sauce is piping hot to begin with so it's not chilly within two minutes. The potatoes were excellent, both in mashed and presumably roasted form. Would get those again in a heartbeat.

Somehow I still found room for dessert and opted for the mint chip brownie sundae. I'm pretty sure all of the ice cream here is actually gelato, so be aware you're getting a rich co-star with these desserts. It was very good though on all fronts, and I thought the brownie was just the right amount of density - this was the only item I had, now that I'm thinking about it, that didn't have any slight issues. Perfect across the board as far as I'm concerned.

The service was excellent and put this over the top for me as a result. Our waitress was very friendly and down-to-earth, came by regularly, and demonstrated a very strong knowledge of the menu. We were all huge fans, so even with small problems across most of the items served, that intangible made up for a lot in my book. I might have to get a little creative to avoid some metaphorical potholes (or dare I say sinkholes) on the menu but this is worth a...

Ordered dinner this past Saturday. Called in at 6:55 to order a pretzel, steak sandwich and quesadilla to be picked up. The girl taking my order gave a pickup time of "15-20 mins". I head to the restaurant about 15mins later and am told it isn't ready yet. No big deal, I knew I was early and it was a busy Saturday night, I have no problem waiting a little longer. Some time goes by and I ask about how much longer it would be. The girl at the counter doesn't have an answer. She goes back and forth to the kitchen several times and never gives me any kind of update. Ok, no big deal - I'll continue to wait. This is our first time ordering from here and we were excited to try it. I go to wait outside a while. Some more time passes before I ask the girl again about the status of my order. Again, she can't tell me how much longer it would be. She finally tells me "just a couple more minutes." 30 minutes go by. I ask her once again how much longer. She says "they're wrapping it up now". About another 15 minutes go by and I have had enough. I ask another member of the staff for my money back since I had paid as soon as I got in. Finally, as the girl is processing my refund, my food is brought out. At no point during the over an hour of me waiting at the counter for my food did any member of the staff ask if I needed anything or try to find out what was going on with my order. No manager came over to offer any kind of compensation or explanation. Every member of the staff upstairs walked by me probably 20+ times each like I was invisible. I give a lot of leeway to restaurants when it's obvious that they're busy, but having worked for years in the food service industry myself, this was inexcusable.

The steak sandwich was dry and the pretzel tasted like it has been microwaved from frozen. Take your business elsewhere because this place clearly does not value your time or money, and you will not be getting quality food...

My fiance and I tried Brick and Brew for the first time tonight. I would rate this new establishment in between 3-3.5 stars.

Good: marina sauce that came with mozzerla sticks. Chicken noodle soup. Red red vine pizza.

Bad: Steak au poivre under cooked and bland for $22...ordered medium temp and steak was most certainly rare. We don't send food back so we ate what we could and saved the rest for the dogs at home. We order a similiar dish from Tony's restaurant and pub in Stockholm and although its a few dollars more it certainly has better flavor and is cooked to temp. To Brick and Brews credit it was a busy night and they just opened so I don't look at this as a deal breaker. Bread brought to table was not the freshest and mozzerla sticks were sitting for a bit before coming to table. Again it was busy. Bar was not wiped down before we sat and tables in the downstairs bar needed to be cleaned. The guy sitting next to us even said something.

I would rate this restaurant average. I'm happy to see new business come to Franklin and I wish them the best. No I'm not affiliated with Tony's just a local who wanted to give the place and change we will try again after the...