VIP Restaurant JSQ - Barshay's — Restaurant in Jersey City

Please do yourself a favor and trust the negative reviews. For someone to be so upset that they write a short novel of a review as I aim to do, it had to have been pretty bad. It also seems to have been renamed the VIP diner, but that is a terrible misnomer.

I came here earlier today with my friend looking to just grab a quick diner breakfast/brunch. Upon entering, there was no hostess and I was left to wait 10-ish minutes before the person behind the register noticed I wasn’t being helped, and after being unable to find a hostess, told me to sit anywhere. So I sat at a nearby booth, and after another 10 or so minutes of being walked past by waitresses but completely ignored, I had to get up to speak with who I can only assume is the owner in order to even get a menu. The menu also has no prices printed, and one copy had handwritten prices, but the other lacked them entirely.

I have to say, the saving grace of this diner was not the food, but the clearly overworked yet kind waitress. I ordered the cheddar grits with a side of Canadian bacon, and my friend ordered the Belgian waffle with bacon. The service was slow and it seemed they were understaffed. To her absolute credit, our waitress tried to make us feel welcome and was attentive to drink refills whenever she was able to pass by our table.

When our food finally came out, I was greeted by perhaps the most unappetizing waffle I’ve ever seen, short of someone deciding to leave it overnight in the waffle iron. The waffle’s texture was gummy, too thin/flimsy to stand up to more than perhaps a drop or two or syrup without collapsing, with a strangely pock-marked exterior that I can only attribute to the cooks using an absurd amount of sparkling water. The batter should not be anywhere near that watery and I encourage anyone working as a cook in this place to take the time and watch a YouTube video on how to actually prepare the food you’re making. (With the exception of whoever did the bacon, because it was pleasantly crisp in the way good diner bacon should be). The grits were covered with a large pool of oily preshredded cheese melted over top, perhaps in an attempt to hide that they were severely under seasoned.

The worst part was the Canadian bacon I ordered. When it came, I was having an unusually hard time cutting it, not only because of it being painfully dry, but because there was a thin cord still on every single piece. I flagged down the waitress, who apologized and took the plate to show her boss. Apparently, due to their understaffing, they had a girl who was not accustomed to the line working, who sliced the Canadian bacon WITHOUT removing the strings that make up the casing. Our waitress explained this to me and quickly came back with a new plate, this one equally as dry, but notably without the cord.

Even leaving this place was an ordeal, as there was no waitstaff to be found and I had to get up and find someone myself to get a check, after waiting for someone to show up. We paid for everything, (yes, even the Canadian bacon) and left.

The management at this poor example of an establishment is severely lacking and the staff and customers are suffering for it. To the credit of the waitress again, she does try her best to make people feel well accommodated, and the obvious regulars seem to feel right at home with her and her service.

I wouldn’t usually write a review of this length, but it was legitimately the worst diner I’ve ever been to, and I regretted my decision to go. The only way this could get any worse is something I have to wait to see, but hopefully I don’t get food poisoning. If I do, that’ll be added to this review or written separately.

Edit: my friend and I spent an unfortunate amount of time alternating between who was in the bathroom about 8-10 hours after eating here, so dine at your own risk. I also saw another review show a LIVE RACCOON...

INSENSIBLE, HARASSERS AND LIARS Today I had a terrible and very unpleasant experience in this place, I am pregnant and to take some vitamins that the doctor prescribed I must do it with a breakfast or snack, I arrived at the restaurant and left my car parke for a while, while I was going to pick up my vitamins with the intention of returning, having breakfast and taking my vitamins, upon returning unfortunately I can see that my car was not in the parking lot of the place where I left it. I was so afraid because I thought they had robbed me. I went into the restaurant very nervous and scared to ask for help to see if they knew anything and there the manager told me that when customers don't come to eat at his restaurant, a tow truck comes and takes them. It takes you where they charge you $182, I explained my situation and that I was going to go to their restaurant to eat because that was the intention, I just needed my vitamins for my pregnancy, which I went to get and it took a few minutes, they told me that THEY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING that the only thing I had to do was to call the tow truck, pay a fine and leave. I did what he told me and called the tow truck where they told me that they had received the report from the restaurant to ask them to take my car because I had not gone in to eat at their restaurant. I went back to the restaurant and told them that they had called and asked them to take my car, I asked them to please help me and return my car, that there is no warning sign in their parking lot and the response I received was very rude and with an arrogant attitude that they did not make any call which was a LIE I asked them to help me and almost by force they took me out of the restaurant INSENSIBLE Why didn't they consider that I was nervous and pregnant, I was just asking for help... It's not the first time that I go to the restaurant but unfortunately today will be the last time I go. I understand that perhaps in the time it took me to pick up my vitamins another customer could have used that parking lot, but the damage I supposedly caused them does not compare in the slightest to the damage they caused me and is totally disproportionate. Because I even missed my medical appointment to go pick up my car, a restaurant where the manager does not have the slightest empathy with a pregnant woman, I consider that I should not work directly with customer service. I am so sorry for this restaurant...

This place was absolutely horrible. First of all, for a diner to have only four diners on a Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., in a very busy part of Jersey City, it's absolutely unheard of. We sat down and ordered our food. Within minutes, the waiter came back stating that half of the things we ordered were not in stock. So we made alternative choices. One of the alternative choices were the wings, which weren't that bad. But they didn't even have buffalo sauce in stock so they substituted hot sauce and barbecue sauce.

My wife ordered a pita panini which was just frozen processed pita meat and feta cheese on pressed bread. I ordered the chicken marsala, which was chicken, with bland pasta, canned mushrooms, and about a cup and a half of oil. It was completely inedible. The only thing that we ended up eating were the wings, the rest we took home and promptly threw away.

While we were eating, the other three diners were complaining to the waiter about their food choices not being available. As a matter of fact when we were leaving, one woman was sitting there for 40 minutes waiting for her meal, only to find out that what she had ordered was not in stock in the kitchen.

When we checked out, the server who was checking us out was on the phone during a personal call. And left me at the counter waiting to pay for at least 15 minutes while she took care of her own personal business on the phone. Mind you, there were two other patrons at this diner at the time. The rest of the diner was completely empty. Completely empty with a seating area for about 200 people.

This is probably one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. It's too bad because diners are very limited in this area. The one diner that used to be good now thinks that they are serving Michelin star rated burgers when it's the same food for triple the price. This was our last resort for a local diner. And it looks like the idea of a local diner for Jersey City Heights is dead. Avoid the VIP Restaurant at all costs. You're better off just going to a fast food place. At least they're consistent in their food and you know what...