Curiosity — Restaurant in Kearny

I’m writing this review pretty heartbroken as an original customer of Curiosity by Intrinsic since its inception. I do not recommend visiting now for at least a period of time until these things are sorted out immediately. I will not be recommending anyone to go here after my self and my little cousin’s experience. I have heard from friends about their negative experiences recently but wanted to give them a shot again (Had a bad experience on a date two weeks prior).

I had hyped this place up for my cousin, she had never been here before, and the experience was disappointing for her.

Food: Poor quality/food safety.

Quality isn’t up to standards of the old restaurant AT ALL.Borderline dangerous experience. The iconic food arrangements and pairings are gone along with their names. Walk in the field and Pumpkin Patch, you will be missed dearly. Cross contamination is real. Mango popping bubbles should NEVER end up in a soup dish in any context. The implications for those with food allergies is frightening.

Service: Lacking.

Best to know inventory before taking an order you’ll be assembling as the server and sticking to the substitution customers picked after you already made the mistake (for drinks). Cups and utensils should come to the table clean and not covered in any dirt or sticky substances.

Atmosphere: Loosing its charm/becoming very cluttered.

Not very mindful of the restaurants original branding and reasons it’s become a Kearny staple by midland ave for families, out of towner’s and students alike. Quite overwhelming now/visually cluttered. Simplicity of decor and streamlined space utilization was the key to their success in the past. The aesthetic is being consumed sadly.

Our experience below:

Server was prompt and friendly at the beginning in approaching us.

A few minutes after being seated and ordering our items, the server approached us again to inform us our choices of drink were out of stock and to ask if we’d like a substitution. We picked other items. A few minutes after the server left, they came back and informed us that our original items were in stock, and asked us if we wanted them. This was weird considering we’d already picked something else out on the menu and been amicable to a substitution. We were confused for a few minutes after that and it interrupted our experience.

Our drinks glasses were sticky and covered in syrup, the drinks poorly mixed, gritty, with, stale boba/pearls. My drink (a coconut bubble tea with tapioca) had a rock hard piece that I came very close to choking on. Additionally stale pieces and globs of sugar were present at the bottom of the drink. I’d never experienced this with bubble tea from Curiosity. My bubble tea, the pearls were all stuck to the bottom and clumping (tapioca does this when improperly mixed with hot water in sugar/powder drink combos).

My cousin had a mango popping boba show up in her miso soup, which was shocking. If someone at our table had an allergy, they could have been in serious trouble with cross contamination like this if someone came here with an allergy.

The miso soup used to be simple, with excellent quality for a very good price ( it was around 6 dollars). This iteration was a “student special” and contained bean sprouts, bok choi, and tofu. The soup tasted like sesame oil, soap, and some type of a soy sauce. Miso soup is supposed to be very earthy very umami and this soup was salty and missed those earthy tones. Very disappointing to say the least as a long time customer.

While I’m understanding of parents working in the industry and support that, someone should keep an eye on any children present and not let them fall around the restaurant. Quite irresponsible, and it was interfering with my cousin and I’s experience. We were both worried about the child wandering around without adequate supervision.

The quality of the food on our visit was shockingly poor compared to how this place normal ran things with the original owner. And while I love innovation and growth, I don’t at the cost of quality for...

I really don’t like leaving bad reviews, but please don’t go to this place. It’s not like it used to. I ordered 2 salmon onigirs and matcha (nothing out of the world, simple and easy) anyways.. I went to pick them up, the cashier told me it was going to be 10 minutes, I went there she was making the matcha and the onigiris were almost ready, she handed me the matcha and it was all dripping and messy, but I didn’t care bc she seemed new, but when I tried it, I’m not lying when I say that I almost broke my tooth, the tapioca was hard as a rock and I told her right away. She didn’t apologize and told me that if I wanted fresh tapioca I had to wait for 10 minutes ( I had no choice because I already paid for everything) she redo the matcha and I noticed that she added more milk to make the cup full tbh I wasn’t going to say anything else bc I needed to leave. At the end she gave me the bag of onigiri, I checked my bag and it was only 1 onigiri, I told her that I ordered 2, so I had to wait AGAIN for the onigiris and the poor watery matcha. Once I got everything went to my car and the onigiris were PURE RICE, barely any piece of salmon, with the previous owner the onigiris were delicious and with a good portion of salmon. Please don’t waste your time like I did. Horrible experience and horrible...

What an amazing spot! The owner and staff are phenomenal and make you feel like family when you're in! And no, I'm not trying to be corny, they are genuinely some amazing people! But not only are the people amazing, let me tell you about the food! We started with the Garlic Naan and Scallion Pancake. These were perfectly baked to perfection and the paired sauces compliment the dishes excellently! We also got the Soboro (Ground Chicken bowl) and the Rainbow roll. If you enjoy high quality sushi, this is the place for you! After speaking with the owner, I learned she souces everything of great quality and you can tell! The flavor was fresh and filling! And the ground chicken bowl was super filling, so come hungry! We also got some teas but they have a great selection of bubble tea as well as baked goods! 10/10 a great place to come with friends to be outside in the lovely garden, or sit inside for a coffee & food/pastry in their cozy cafe portion. What...