Mathews Food and Drink — Restaurant in Jersey City

My husband & I enjoy dining out a great deal. We don’t just appreciate great quality food but also value the hospitality we receive a great deal. We have dined here a few times & keep returning mainly for the Black Mussels & a few different items. The service could be upgraded a great deal though….

Today we tried going for brunch. We were waiting for a table for a while. When we were FINALLY about to sit - This random woman comes out of the restaurant, sits a family who had literally JUST ARRIVED & says “Yes, they had a reservation” My husband questioned her about this as we had been awaiting for a while… Her words were.- “Well, you didn’t go inside to ask me” As if she even looked like the manager (which, I apologize if I may say so- She absolutely did not - So not well put together…)

I’m not a young chicken, but…. When someone has a reservation- Isn’t the table supposed to be RESERVED and waiting for them? (There was an empty table on the corner which actually was being held for a RESERVATION.) This table was obviously not a Reserved Table.- The party who was sitting there just happened to pay, get up & leave.

This woman (a young, very pale, woman) claiming to be the manager- just blew us off and placed this people there and absolutely neglected to see what she could do for us. It makes me sad to see how the quality of service is becoming less and less important in the Restaurant world. Maybe it’s just in certain places… I am hoping that Mat Kopec, owner of restaurant sees the importance of not just the quality of food you are offering in your restaurants but also the way your clients are being treated may effect a great deal whether or not people will come back to your establishment or not- & please don’t forget one of the best sources of advertising is WORD OF MOUTH…

We REALLY miss La Conguita! The restaurant which was in this location before this. Old school, family owned Cuban restaurant. great food, incredible prices & the service was always on point- ALWAYS.

Super...

Went with a party of 7 to celebrate a graduation and birthday. We were seated in a booth far in the back next to the restroom. The waiter did not inform us of any kids menu or options until we asked, despite there being two kids in the party. The waiter forgot about one of the beverages initially, did not check during the meal whether additional beverages were needed and the empty table water was never refilled. The appetizers were good and the party was generally happy so I let a lot go.

Then the runner started bringing out the main courses and was pushing them onto the table amongst all the empty appetizer dishes that were never cleared. I let it go for the first two main dishes thinking that surely he would come back and clear the table prior to bringing out the remaining mains. Nope. He came out with three more mains and attempted to shove them into awkward spots on the table. That’s when I spoke up and stated that he needed to first clear the table and ensure the proper cutlery was placed (for example, steak knives) before bringing out the main courses. Once I said something the waiter and other staff started to pay more attention to our table. But by that time, the experience just wasn’t as enjoyable as it should have been. There was never an apology at any point.

I gave the waiter feedback at the end of meal and he actually defended the runner stating that he was new and didn’t know to clear the table. That’s concerning as that’s then a management problem - new staff always need to be shadowed by seasoned staff to ensure that what should happen happens. It’s Restaurant 101.

We tried Matthew’s several years ago and had mediocre experience and just didn’t go back until a few months when we gave them another shot during brunch. The brunch food and service were fine. We went back again for the dinner described above and we will not be back again. The service is just too spotty to know whether a meal will be...

I’ve been to this place before and it was good. But I went there last night again and the service was beyond terrible. We wanted to sit outside and were told it was an automatic 20% gratuity and 2 hour limit bc of the parade that was going on. We were ok with it. There were about 15 tables outside and only about 4 were being taken. We were sat in the front close to the stage. As soon as we ordered our food the music started to get loud to the point that I couldn’t hear my boyfriend. We asked if we could get moved to one of the tables more to the back. The server said “those are 4 tops” (we were 2) we pushed more to move to the back since we wanted to enjoy the food and the experience w out being so close to the stage. He said “I can speak to my manager and see but I can’t guarantee anything”. This didnt make sense to us. The whole outside was empty there were more than enough tables outside. Well over 10. We got our food. We were looking around to see if we could get moved and the server was no where to be seen. I really wanted to get up and move ourselves but I didn’t want to be rude. So we sat there and ate our food without being able to even talk to each other. Server finally came around when we were almost done w our food to just ask about the food nothing about us being about to move despite the fact there there were STILL well over 10 tables available. At this point we just wanted to get out. We asked for the check. Food and drinks were good but the server ruined the experience.

Point is dont charge automatic gratuity if your servers are not competent enough to accommodate your customers or atleast acknowledge a request. Will not go here again and will...