Under the Moon Cafe — Restaurant in Lambertville

Okay here goes. We came here for our 5 year wedding anniversary, we’ve been meaning to come for ages. Arrived 15 minutes early and thankfully they seated us right away.

We were greeted by a tall blonde. She gave us the drink menu but no food menu and she promptly left. Unfortunately, we don’t drink, so we were left to awkwardly sit without a dinner menu for a while. It felt like they pressure us to drink, which is a clear way to up-sell… rubbed us the wrong away already.

Food menu was eventually dropped off. We went with the tapas, flight 2, and got the ropa vieja, short ribs, meat balls and potatoes bravas. We both got the same thing.

THE GOOD the meatballs were the best I’ve had in my entire life. I’m a very good cook and these really outdid all of my prior meatball endeavors.

The potatoes were phenomenal. The sauce was surprisingly quite spicy.

THE NOT THAT GREAT The short ribs were lack luster. The addition of blue cheese made it unsettling and a combo I wouldn’t think combine well. Did not enjoy. If the blue cheese were out, it would taste fresher.. it added an aura of rot or mold (I know blue cheese is inherently that but the combo just didn’t jive well on my palate or in my stomach)

The ropa Vieja was the worst I’ve had. Dry. Barely any seasoning. The plantains were awful. My husband is Colombian and he couldn’t even eat one. That was super disappointing.

THE REALLY BAD The service was a bit bizarre, the greeting was already weird the whole drink menu issue. I highly suggest giving people both menus at the same. I really didn’t like sitting and waiting for 10 mins to order FOOD.

The server wasn’t approachable, it was incredibly tough getting a hold of her.

The desert debacle was the main issue for us, it was what made our experience reduce to 3 stars, especially on such a special day. She told us they had “cinnamon monkey bread,” sounded amazing… she left, came back and said it was “French toast monkey bread”… okay, sounds GREAT still, we ordered it. We asked how much it was, she went to check, NEVER came back to tell us the price. Then she came back again (without the price info) to tell us it’s actually “French toast bread pudding”… okay… we went with it.

We asked for more water THREE TIMES.. she didn’t fill our water at all and forgot to do so despite being asked (we shouldn’t have to ask).

10 minutes later… a dish that wasn’t ours came out. She left promptly. We tasted it… it was some kind of coconut dish that awful. I HATE coconut, strongly. It makes me nauseous. I hadn’t ordered this…. I spit it out in a napkin. My husband hated it too. I got a hold of the server eventually and she seemed genuinely confused … as if she had no knowledge this was clearly the wrong dish. She said “oh they might’ve switched it out, hold on”…. ummm what? Who? Why? I’m just as confused at this point.

She comes back and tells us they ran out of whatever French toast desert thing they had and they now had “coconut bread pudding.” Well, 1) how do you not know???? 2) if you did know, shouldn’t you inform us, what If allergic to coconut??? 3) the coconut was really not great.

We were so soured by all of this combined. But then to top it all off… the method of payment is my least favorite. They literally watch you while you choose your tip. She knew we hadn’t had a great time and now we have to mutually watch me tipping her? Did not like. I tipped normally but I felt pressured to. I found the server to be unbelievably forgetful. The desert issue was MAJOR, and the food was just okay.

I would change this review if I got some kind of recourse here, I’m just bummed this was...

I grew up about 20 minutes north of here, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that Lambertville/New Hope is almost a ghost town on Tuesday when you compare it to their rollicking weekends, and it can be tough to find a decent sit-down meal in the middle of the week. I stopped here with my dad for lunch in the middle of a Stockton-Lambertville-New Hope hike. Gorgeous, gorgeous weather, and we took full advantage of the outdoor seating on the porch. The indoor area looked very cool as well - as mentioned by others, this is a converted ye olde house, and this might be my first restaurant bathroom experience that included a shower. Nice little eccentric touch.

We were pretty famished and decided to go with the tapas, specifically flight #2 ($40 for four). Our waitress recommended we also get an app based on the portions, but these were on the larger side and in hindsight the app wasn't needed - we had food left over. That said, the app we did get (the artichoke rice balls) was very good. It was a LITTLE too perfume-y for my taste, I'm guessing from a heavy portion of blue cheese, but overall it was very flavorful. I'd get it again.

The best tapas we had was the tortilla espanola. Delicious, and reminded me a bit of a classy macaroni and cheese pie. The Spanish meatballs weren't memorable for me, but they were more for my father anyway. He seemed perfectly content with them. The chorizo was good but honestly a little too sweet for my palate. I'm sure it has its fans, but I like chorizo because of the spice, which was lacking here. And the plantains/ropa vieja were okay - given the portion of beef stew, I think an additional plantain or two should have been included. The plantains balanced out the more tomato-ey stew, so the ropa vieja by itself wasn't quite as good. Given that the tortilla espanola is included on both flight options, I'd go with the cheaper flight next time and order around that.

When our waitress realized I was interested in the cocktail menu, she provided the two drink specials for Pridefest, and I went with one of those - a paloma. It tasted excellent; all of the ingredients complemented each other perfectly. The only problem was that the bartender went REALLY heavy on the ice. By the time I had drained the cocktail, there was literally half a cup of ice still in the glass, so you're really only getting half a cocktail based on the surface area, maybe less. Cutting the amount of ice by 50% would go a long way here, especially since the cocktail is so well made that arguably having more ice risks diluting it quickly and negating some of its brilliance. Pretty easy fix in my opinion.

We came early in the lunch hour (I'd guess a little after noon) and probably benefited from a sparse crowd, but the service was excellent. Our waitress was attentive, helpful and pleasant, which went a long way here and ultimately tipped the scales from okay to very good, especially since some of the tapas were on the mediocre side.

I'd definitely come back to focus on the tortilla espanola and the mixology, though I might have to order the cocktail neat, or...

UPDATE: We returned to Over The Moon recently with other friends. I'm happy to say our experience was excellent. I spoke with the owner, who graciously offered to comp part of our check. I appreciate a business person who steps up like that. It seems clear our earlier experience was an anomaly. The restaurant proved to us it's top-notch: service, food and integrity. We'll be back again to enjoy dinner on the front porch. END UPDATE

After a good experience with friends last fall, we brought 2 other friends last weekend, only to be embarrassed. The real measure of a restaurant is not just In the food and in the service, but in how management handles mistakes. Because of staffing problems everywhere we cut restaurants a break but that only goes so far. THE GOOD: appetizers, drinks, mains, atmosphere. They were as good as last time. THE BAD: 2 of us ordered Ropa Vieja, a Cuban specialty made with tender, shredded marinated flank steak, rice, beans, and vegetables. When the 2 plates arrived you wouldn't know they were the same dish. One had a generous portion of meat, virtually no beans or vegetables. The other was served with no meat at all. Back to the kitchen while the rest of our party started eating. A runner, not the waitress, brought back 1 plate, problem corrected but food was now cold, and the other plate now with a tiny bit of meat. Nobody checked. We had to ask for our waitress, who brought a tiny dish with a tiny bit more meat. The 2 plates still looked like 2 different dishes. Meanwhile, the diner who ordered salmon cooked medium discovered it was clearly very rare. Back to the kitchen. Finally the manager appeared. She apologized, said she would comp our appetizers, and buy us dessert. Fair enough, the right thing to do, thank you. Then it was game over. When the bill game came the appetizers were still on it. The waitress acted like nothing was wrong, and the manager was nowhere to be found. We had to ask to have the appetizers removed. Waitress had to go get this authorized. Clearly, the manager was involved. But she never reappeared, nor did the promised desserts she was going to buy us. All in all, a disaster. Not just because of the stream of mistakes, but because the promised remedies revealed management problems. No one checks plates before they leave the kitchen even after they're sent back! No one follows up on mistakes on top of mistakes, and no one follows through on customer satisfaction. 2 stars for the good food. Too bad, because with a little attention this could be a really good restaurant. Our friends were impressed, but not favorably.

UPDATE: I was pleased to hear from the owner, who apologized for our experience and graciously invited us for a return visit with a gift certificate. Thank you - It means a lot. We look forward to it, and will post another...