Carli's Lounge — Restaurant in Hillside

We recently visited this establishment after hearing promising remarks about the food and ambiance. My wife, her friend, and I were looking forward to a relaxing evening filled with good conversation and even better cuisine. Unfortunately, what followed was a masterclass in poor service, lack of professionalism, and apparent disregard for customer experience unless, of course, you’re a familiar face.

Upon arrival, we seated ourselves and began enjoying our conversation, yet were met with a conspicuous absence of service. No one greeted us, no one offered menus, no acknowledgment whatsoever. After an extended wait, my wife took it upon herself to go to the bar and order our drinks. The bartender eventually delivered them, albeit with confusion regarding payment, as the establishment oddly requires immediate payment at the table a policy that lacks clarity or coherence in execution.

Still attempting to enjoy the evening, we continued our conversation while observing the supposed owner circulating the dining area, engaging with and taking orders from guests who arrived well after we had been seated. We naively assumed he would eventually make his way to our table. He did not. Instead, we watched as food and drinks flowed to other patrons while we remained entirely ignored.

In a moment that bordered on the absurd, my wife’s friend stepped outside and called the restaurant in an effort to place our order over the phone yes, while we were physically sitting at a table inside the restaurant. Even then, no one approached us. We had now been seated for nearly an hour and a half with no food order taken and no follow-up.

Ultimately, our food ordered by phone took another hour to arrive. During that time, multiple parties continued to come in and receive full service ahead of us. After two hours and fifteen minutes, a man perhaps the manager or owner finally glanced in our direction and asked, “Y’all good over there?” I replied, “No sir, we’ve been sitting here for over two hours and no one has serviced our table.” His response? A vague apology and the all-too-familiar excuse we’re short staffed. A statement that might carry some weight were it not for the stream of other customers receiving full, cheerful service without delay.

At this point, I requested that our call-in order simply be brought to us so we could leave. That, too, took another 30 minutes. I calmly suggested a courtesy deduction from the bill, given the wholly unacceptable experience. The gentleman visibly irritated granted a mere $10 discount, which frankly added insult to injury.

To be clear, the food itself was decent nothing extraordinary, but certainly passable. However, the egregious lack of hospitality, selective service, and unprofessional management ensures that we will never return. My advice to future patrons: if you’re not a regular or personally known by the staff, spare yourself the disrespect. Order your food to-go if you must and prepare for mediocrity masked by...

I give Carli’s 4 stars and I feel like I’m being a tough critic for doing so because the establishment is great and the food is awesome my only issue is when there is a lot of people in the building it’s impossible to get a drink because it’s only 2 bartenders for huge waves of customers wanting drinks! Granted it’s a small bar and there’s not a lot of room to add too many extra bartenders but I’m sure there’s a solution to customers not having to wait 30-45 minutes for a drink! If I were a business owner I would do my best to figure something out instead of taking the obvious stance which is it’s crowded what do you want me to do! My experience throwing events I know if your under staffed your guest are going to suffer. I am a very optimistic person so my brain is wired to solve problems even if the problems are challenging they still must get solved so my customers can enjoy themselves they did not ask to be business owners so it’s not their problem to solve it’s mines as the business owner! So that’s my only complaint that I feel like I just voice the lack of staff to tend to us customers! The DJ was “LIT” the women are always gorgeous, my goodness gracious the women are so beautiful in this place for some reason it’s like all the pretty ladies in town have a meeting and they all decide to go there I was in heaven from a single bachelor’s perspective! I ordered food it didn’t take long at all and I even smoked a little hookah what the heck I like to live in the moment lol! So even though I waited 35 minutes for a drunk everything else was phenomenal and I even walked out with a phone number from a African Goddess and I will jump through hoops of fire to make sure we go on a date lol! So I have to say thanks for the love connection and thanks for the awesome...

I would really like to give this place a one star on the service that I received; very disappointing. Five stars on the food because the food and or cook is great. The service not so much. I was off duty, I am an Essex County female police officer. I came into Carlis due to a friend of mines raving about the food there, I came with a small group of friends. From the beginning to end the service was horrendous. An older lady served us. She came to our table with an attitude and asked us our order, midway of us answering she turns around and leaves? then comes back with a pen and pad? she didn't excuse herself. She was rude the entire time. I go out often to be social with family and friends. I must say this by far has been the worse dine in/restaurant experience YET. We still tipped not because we had to but because I like to put my money into black owned businesses and or small businesses. There are many good places to eat and chill in this area and elsewhere. If you want to keep your customers coming or want to expand, it's definitely important to work on customer service. BAD ENERGY SCARES...