One Willow — Restaurant in Highlands

First impression visiting 1 Willow website: Tapping "Menu" brings up a recurring list of the same items in Starters, Main Courses and Desserts. (Who is the webmaster?) Garlic Bread through Seafood Platter repeated through the three categories. (The dessert menu has garlic bread and seafood as a selection?) Moving on. How do you see the menu offerings? Now after being totally confused with the first menu offerings, hit the 'hamburger' icon in the upper left of the screen. Now choose Lunch, Dinner or Sunday. Now you will see the menu as presented at your table. When at the restaurant turn the menu over and take a picture of the QR code and it will take you to the specials for that day or the waitress will inform you. Moving on to the dining experience. The waitress was very pleasant and attentive to our party of 6. We were seated at an accommodating table at the southern end of the dining room along the expansive windows next to a set of double doors out to the dining deck. (7 PM) Unfortunately food runners were constantly going in and out serving deck diners and a strong cold breeze each time the doors were opened was very disruptive and uncomfortable. We requested another table away from that area and were re-seated at a far south window location. No issues. Drink orders were taken and arrived in a timely manner. Extra cocktail onions for my Gibson were provided as requested. Meal orders were taken and we continued our birthday celebration. Two bread baskets with butter were served and proved very un-appetizing. I would think a venue with this price point would offer a much higher level. Very disappointed. Apps and salads arrived at the same time, no big deal I guess but a pause between the servings would have been more relaxing. We ordered 3 apps and 3 salads to share and it was quite crowded on the table. Crispy Eggplant was very enjoyable. The Burrata was acceptable (not great). The Seafood Donuts were a disaster. Fried golden brown on the outside but like paste on the inside. The waitress described them as 'fritters' but nothing like a fritter I have ever encountered. The waitress said she would remove it from the tab but I really didn't check. Nice of her to offer. The scallops were very nice and had a good portion size. The fish and chips were predictable (how bad could that be?) Swordfish and salmon entrees were acceptable - nothing noteworthy. Pork chop was not flavorful but cooked well. Food servers performed admirably delivering entrees simultaneously to the table. My only issue would be the clearing of the table. Bus persons stacking dining plates and silverware at a table between diners is, in my opinion, unacceptable for an establishment of this claimed quality. This is not a roadside diner! A tray stand and tray would be more suitable for clearing one or two settings at a time. Also the 'hostesses' (3) huddled at the reservation desk on their iphones is not a good presentation. Guests arriving or departing should be acknowledged without having to interrupt the hostesses online activities or conversations. Salutations are an important aspect of the hospitality...

Trama’s Trattoria in Long Branch is one of the best restaurants in Monmouth County in my opinion. My wife and I have been there a handful of times and every single time, the food was tremendous. So when she told me that the owner/father was opening a second location of sorts, I was excited.

We went this past Saturday night, a bit early at 5:30. Upon entry, I was very hopeful. The tiles as you walk in and large bar ahead has a great vibe, especially as the latter looks out on the water in the background. That, unfortunately, was perhaps the highlight of the evening.

The service felt uncomfortable and rushed. The waitress seemed nervous and anxious the entire time and came over too often too quickly. I can overlook that as someone being new (no idea if she was) if the food is strong, but it was not.

The bread was about as ordinary and bland as bread can be, and also seemed semi-stale. My wife and I ordered two apps, spring rolls which were actually worse than the standard fare bar food one can get about anywhere. They were done with short rib and caramelized onions which sounded great which is why we ordered them. But there was little to no flavor and the exterior was somewhat greasy. We also ordered the Baby Burrata. This was solid. I’d give it a B-. The figs were fresh and tremendous but something was off. There was essentially no honey. More would have helped. And the cheese did not taste like higher end cheese like one gets at a fairly higher end establishment. In fact, this too was fairly flavorless. And there was too much of it. I love cheese as much anyone but I think half the amount, but that of a better quality, would have helped to make this a tremendous app.

For our entrees, my wife got a fish dish. She was very happy with it. I had a bite and it was quite flavorful. I got the rib eye. It’s my typical go to. It was good, not great. The Trama’s Long Branch location, Char, Picola Italia, a couple other places, all have superior steaks.

I’m not sure I would go again. If I’m going to drive over a half hour, I’d far rather go to Drew’s which is phenomenal and a far...

Went to dinner with my wife and two daughters for our 23rd anniversary yesterday 5/26/24. The restaurant was beautiful in a wonderful location. For our apps we got the octopus carpaccio, garlic shrimp and king crab legs. Service was slow, but the octopus and shrimp came out timely and were great. Our dishes were cleared and the king crab legs never came out. A quite a bit of time later our server checked in on us and asked if they ever brought our king crab legs. We informed her that they did not; we then waited a while longer and they were served. Unfortunately the crab legs served had turned bad; I haven't yet experienced a restaurant serving king crab that foul. We let our server know and sent them back.

For mains we had three specials: lobster, shrimp & clams and scallops and salmon off of the regular menu. By this time almost every table who had come in after us had left and people were repositioning from outside to inside of the restaurant. The people who were repositioned started to also leave prior to our mains being served.

We received two mains first, followed by the shrimp & clams and later followed by the lobster. The servers joke for the delay was sorry we had to fish for it in the ocean.

The salmon and scallops were good. However my wife & I were the ones with the lobster and shrimp & clams. Those mains were horrible. The andouille sausage and potatoes on both dishes were ice cold and the clam dish was served with closed clams.

I haven't had to go out to dinner, especially for an anniverary and order take-out on the way home but last night was a first. At least the Plumpjack Chardonnay and the Pigs on the Beach cocktail were great!

Knowing that we returned our king crabs and didn't eat our mains (mind you we didn't complian) our server left us by saying I hope your anniversary is better next year!

For the owners of this restaurant - location and restaurant design A+, however if your back of house collapses and your front of house doesn't step up to cover it leads to horrible experiences. I didn't take kindly to the better luck next anniversary...