Chive Café & Catering — Restaurant in Lambertville

Today I went for the second time since the new owners. I gotta say I'm disappointed. I know chive has been getting a lot of hate recently so I've going to give as honest and constructive feedback as I can.

For my background, I have been a weekly regular for the last 4 years. I have gotten to know the incredible staff and I tried nearly every item on the previous menu. And most days I would normally get a simple Fresh Turkey Sandwich.

Today, I ordered a Caprese thinking it would be similar to the previous Tuscan Special. (it sounded the same but with no prosciutto) But what I got was a much smaller sandwich that was mostly tomato and very little mozzarella. It felt like I was biting into a tomato directly... There is no excuse for this.

I had previously given new Chive the benefit of the doubt, but as long time weekly regular, I gotta say, it feels like I'm paying more for less food and less quality.

There was nothing wrong with the original menu, many were fan favorites. you could throw a dart on the menu and confidently land on something delicious. Changing so drastically spits in the face of all the regular patrons. And now, I cant even order a simple turkey sandwich without getting some weird niche flavor like Blueberry Jalapeno coming with it.

If these changes were due to saving costs, I would have rather they increased the prices of the original menu, as opposed to whatever this is.

If the owners want to save this business, they need to either revert to the previous menu or make some big changes real fast, Otherwise, I don't see new Chive lasting very long. Which pains me to say because Chive was one of my favorite sandwich places in NJ.

I hope you take my feedback and improve upon things because this is making me consider other lunch options...

My condolences to the staff, they deserve better circumstances. I am genuinely upset to see...

I must unfortunately take off two stars after my two most recent trips. I received a porkroll, egg and cheese on a kaiser in addition to a side of their “ash potatoes.” These are instead of the potato offering they had before. The sandwich looked awful. It wasn’t cut in half, the cheese wasn’t evenly distributed and the first bite was all bread and egg. Thats why you cut sandwiches in half- so the first bite is in the middle where you want to be. That matters. Also the fried eggs used to have color and crispy edges, now its omelette-ish. And no butter or light toasting of the kaiser roll. The ash potatoes just tasted like garlic. I’d rather have traditional hash browns for breakfast. They are more of a mid day fair, imo. These little things matter and make me wonder if the new management has done this before.

I have been going at least once a month for the last four years. I may give it one more chance. They took their burger away which was awesome! So was the po boy and original buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. Do better. Please. I live a couple blocks away- I’m rooting for you! It was dead in there with weird music. I’m used to seeing their regulars. You gotta do something fast because there’s a bunch of great places to get lunch. Breakfast on the other hand was yours. You had the best. And the daily specials were always interesting and unique. Here is my original review, probably 50 sandwiches ago: 😣 This place rocks. I highly recommend the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich and the po’ boy. Great cheeseburger as well. For breakfast the #4 classic cant be beat. Oh and they make the best macaroni salad Ive ever had (you can get pints to go). I’m there a couple times a month....

I’m leaving this review in hopes that the new owners are open to some constructive criticism. We are locals, but only moved to the area a few years ago. We don’t personally know the previous owners or staff. We did, however, love the old Chive. The Roast Beef, Turkey, Pan Fried Chicken, Shrimp Po Boy and BLT were go to’s.

We just visited for the first time since the new ownership, and everything was just mediocre. Iceberg lettuce and plain mayo on a BLT is just not trying hard enough. The previous one had better lettuce, avocado, and an herb mayo. That’s what people want when they go out, something elevated they’re likely not going to make at home.

The new Pan Fried Chix was pretty poor. The chicken was way too big for the brioche bun. It was too thick and too dry. The previous preparation was much tastier. I don’t know if they changed the cook staff, but there is a noticeable difference in flavor and presentation.

I really want to like this place, as we used to go to Chive about once a month for lunch. I understand that making the menu smaller and making changes to cut costs may have been necessary, but I think they cut the wrong things. There is too much competition in Lambertville to just pump out mediocre recipes. I’m rooting for the new owners and I hope they take some of this advice and make changes for the better, because all these 5 star bot reviews on Google are not going to drive the business, making stuff the locals will come back for again...