Revolution Woodfire Grille — Restaurant in Lambertville

Having never been to the location that Revolution replaced, we had no predisposition or prejudices regarding our first experience.

With that being said, there were some glaring issues that we felt must be changed to ensure long term success of this location.

Moving in the order of our experience, the location seemed oddly empty for dinner time on a Saturday at a new location in Lambertville. Despite that, we were seated in the very far corner of the establishment, in a very hot room that for a freshly remodeled location did not feel rustic, historic, or classical, but more like a hodge podge of miscellaneous decor that goes between your local pizzeria and a poorly executed attempt at fine dining. For a freshly remodeled location, the overall atmosphere felt dingy and cheap. The wood fire oven is nice, and smelt nice, but was ultimately nothing but a gimmick. It felt like a location in identity crisis.

The first glaring issue was the fact that drink orders must be fulfilled next door at the boathouse. This creates a backup and delay that is unreasonable. We were asked twice to place our appetizer order before our first drink order was fulfilled. A second drink order was placed at the time dinner was ordered and was not received until after dinner was done. The location, being about 90% empty, makes it very difficult to imagine how the drink situation could be managed at all if the place was at all more filled.

In addition the drinks were not made well, and one drink was made to the polar opposite of how it requested to be made. We did not feel comfortable pointing this out because we did not want to wait another 10-20 minutes for a replacement drink.

Moving onto the food. The charcuterie was fine, but prepackaged cheese cubes and a small portion overall was a bit disappointing. The spinach artichoke dip could be a TGI Fridays frozen box, indistinguishable from getting the same thing at an Applebees for 1/4 of the cost. The chips were overcooked and there were not enough of them as compared to the amount of dip. Among the starter items the best tasting was the bread.

For dinner we ordered the scallop and shrimp, lobster scampi, and the New York steak. All three dishes were disappointing, by any basis, but even worse considering the cost of each dish. The shrimp and scallop came with two scallops. The brandy cream sauce was just butter and cream. I left feeling as though we paid an exorbitant amount of money for 2 scallops over a bed of angel hair with butter. The shrimp were tender and there was a good amount of them provided. The only flavor permeating the entire dish was butter.

The lobster scampi was somehow worse. While the lobster meat had good flavor; the quantity was starkly lacking and the dish had not a single hint of scampi sauce. There was not butter there was not salt there was not lemon there was nothing remotely resembling pasta sauce. It tasted like plain pasta in pasta water with lobster. The lobster, like the shrimp, was tender, but the dish overall had zero flavor.

The steak was cooked correctly but was incredibly tough even for a New York steak. The only permeating flavor was butter, and it tasted like a $12 steak that was purchased from a local grocery store and then resold with a $40 up charge. The steak would be fine at an Outback Steakhouse but for the price charged and to be served a la carte was simply unreasonable. Out of the three entrees the best item we had was the side of mashed potatoes.

We will not be returning at this time but hope the location can rectify these issues and achieve long...

This was our first experience here since the space was occupied by Hamilton. The atmosphere was nice, but very different than the previous restaurant. I was shocked to see it so stripped down to the raw space that was once housed a favorite Lambertville haunt. Enough about The Hamilton Grill Room though, we’re here to share about Revolution Woodfire Grille, a totally new Lambertville experience.

We went on a stormy Thursday night, so the space wasn’t crowded at all. There was plenty of staff to see to it that the diners were all attended to. Everyone on the staff was pleasant, attentive and professional. It was very nice to be handed a menu with an impressive list of wines, beers and cocktails. I’ve never been a fan of the BYO’s so the fact that Woodfire now offers adult beverages was a huge plus for me. Three in our party of four ordered the baby wedge salad. I love wedge salad, but I’ve never experienced one so flavorful and tender. The baby iceberg was a brilliant innovation that elevated something as simple as a dinner salad to a new level. I love pasta so I opted for the shells with vodka sauce, sausage and broccoli rabe, a total taste sensation. I used our last piece of bread to clean the sauce from the plate. The other diners had the grilled bison, the bacon wrapped meatloaf and angel hair with shrimp and scallops. No one left so much as a bite of food on their plate. Every one of us raved about our meals. I had the steamed lemon pudding for dessert. Again, a heavenly treat.

The whole evening was a memorable gastronomic experience and the service was top notch. I don’t usually single out any individual when it comes to customer service, because I realize that it’s a team effort, but I’m going to make an exception and mention the incredible service from our waitress, Jillian, who went out of her way to ensure our dining experience was all that we’d hoped it would be. I believe she could sense our initial disappointment when we arrived and realized that the space bore very little resemblance to our old favorite, but she was determined to make sure we had world class dining experience in what is sure to become a new...

This, unfortunately, was not a good experience, and I very rarely write poor reviews. The hostess was very nice, and gave us a choice of where we wanted to seat - unfortunately it was either the super crowded back room, or the front room where you get the cold air coming in every time someone came in. The restaurant feels so detached and has several rooms all with different flooring, styles, etc. As far as the service, it was not good. The waitress said she would get us bread - she never did. Then, we ordered mac n' cheese to go with our entrees - she brought it out as an appetizer (we did not ask for it as an app). We even waited a little to eat it because we thought the entrees would be out soon after - they didn't come out, so we ate it. We brought wine, and we were told our wine would be opened for us upon our food coming out. Well, the "app" came out, and we were sitting there waiting. When we finally saw her to ask, she brought the wine back with no glasses. As far as the food, it lacked flavor - we got the grilled chicken, halibut and mac n' cheese - it was very disappointing. The chicken just had a charred flavor - the waitress also told us that it would come with vegetables on the plate and it had nothing else on the plate. The halibut had a tomato-y cinnamon flavor, which was odd. We were really sad with this experience, considering we were celebrating newlyweds and thought we were going to a restaurant that would be extra special. The tables were so close to one another that we felt uncomfortable talking, and we had to listen to the table next to us talk politics. It was so unfortunate. We wish we would have chosen a different restaurant. The two stars are for the kindness of the hostess and to the kitchen staff that said hello when we walked in and were waiting...