Yesterday's Restaurant & Banquet Center — Restaurant in Hazlet Township

Came for lunch on a Sunday. No wait. No one really in main dining area. Mostly people at bar and a few baby showers. Hostess was pleasant, we were seated right away in a nice section. Waitress wasn’t overly friendly but not rude. Came right away, got drinks, soup, salad, bread.

Chicken soup was water. Most flavorless soup I’ve ever had. It had no taste. Salad was standard, nothing to praise or critique. Bread was plentiful but hard.

Entrees were a mixed bag. We ordered chicken parm, chicken francese, two steak dishes, mozz sticks, and a cheeseburger (kids).

Mozz stickes we’re best part of meal. Tasted homemade and not frozen. We liked them. Chick parm was good. Huge portion. No complaints according to the person who ate it. Chicken francese was tasteless. Person said it was the worst version they’ve ever had. No lemon flavor, no flavor at all. One steak dish was a strip covered in cheese,onions, and mushrooms. Person liked it, thought it was good but not worth almost $30. Other steak dish was mine and it was the rollatini. Kind of salty, the red wine sauce was gross and tasted like pure wine. Like it wasn’t cooked down enough. Bacon they wrapped it was rubbery. Overall, I ate it with the baked potatoes without the sauce and it was okay. It’s not something I’d Ever get again though. The kids burger was fine. Seemed a little dry but it was eaten.

Found a hair in something. Brought it to the attention of waitress. She apologized and gave another to go. Charged full price for it still.

Overall, while the service was good (waitress was attentive as was the bus boy) the food and prices were not up to par. There are several places you can have a better meal at...

When we arrived there was a short wait due to the establishment being busy. We were seated fairly quickly. Once browsing the menu the prices obviously stuck out like a sore thumb. If I am paying a premium for a dinner with a salad bar, soup and mussels marinara I excepted it to be good to great at least. Not the case, we waiting a good 20 mins before anymore mussels marinara were available. The salad bar was okay at best and nothing to write home about. The soups lacked flavor. Just a prelude of things to come. Eventually when we were able to get some mussels that were included in the price of our dinners. It was anything but mediocre. They we're deviod of any flavor or joy and in a sauce that was more water then anything else with a hint of tomato. Eventually our dinners came out and my wife ordered the ravioli. She received six raviolis that we're just as flat as the plate it was served on. She states they were lacking in flavor, bland and not worth the $15 to $16 we spent on it. I ordered the chicken francese with linguine. Just like the mussels before it the sauce was just as watery. The sauce lacked any flavor other then a hint of lemon. The chicken which I received two thin slices about the size of the raviolis were lacking as well and also had that lemon juice hint to it. The pasta was deviod of anything but a hot water flavor. Overall it was nothing but tears, shallow and padantic. The only one who enjoyed their meal was my 13 yr old son. The only thing this night out was good for was the memories we made and why we won't be...

Great food, huge portions, and every entrée comes with unlimited salad bar, soup, and mussels marinara. Despite the reasonable prices and unlimited food, the quality is very high, and the atmosphere is super chill. There is a bar on the way in with regulars chatting with each other and the staff, some TVs around showing the Yankees game and other stuff with volume off, cozy high-walled booths, nice atmosphere lighting, and spacious, simple decor.

Our server was extremely friendly and attentive. She let us know she would not put our orders in immediately so we could have time to relax and enjoy the salad bar. The entrees came out exactly as we were just about finishing our salad, soup, and a small bowl of mussels.

Salad bar was extremely fresh, and in addition to the usual American salad fixings, included a three-bean salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, cole slaw, sliced black olives, cubed beets, pepperoncini, and other extras. The soup I tried (chicken and rice) was legit with nice chunks of white meat chicken and homemade flavor.

I got the chicken and eggplant parm entrée with linguini on the side. If I had not skipped lunch there is no way I could have gotten through more than half, but I did, and I did. It came on a large oval platter about the size of two dinner plates. My dining partner got the seafood special and had to take 1/3 of it to go, but reported it was very good. (It looked and smelled good, but I was too full to try any.)

We will definitely be back any time we're out...