Amalfis Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Lawrence Township

A Diner's Delight!

Do not be fooled by the ratings of people not having what they wanted vs. what was there or by the old vs. new restaurant menu. If you take it on face value and go there for what they serve, you will find this gem of a restaurant an incredible feast! Yes, their prices are a little high but what I figure into it is the fact that all of the area restaurants are starting to push their prices up to match but the food quality is sub par in the others and fresh isn’t even in their vocabulary. The others often times have the same thing over and over again and it gets a little tiring. Different is refreshing! The quality is here and the flavors are abundant and if I were to open a restaurant I would steal the chef! I actually got take out from Grub Hub and while Grub Hub themselves are atrocious, it was delivered quickly and absolutely not sitting around. Here's what I ordered:

Butternut Squash Ravioli with an Arugula Salad - The butternut squash was certainly up in front of the full flavor profile and very fresh. The sage brown butter sauce was surprisingly not super greasy. I’m not sure how that could be accomplished but given the fact that the chef definitely seems to know what he is doing it seems like it was a no brainer for him. There was just enough to cover the entire dish yet not too much so it was drowning - again, something that cooks often do but actually takes away from the dish rather than add anything. The sage imparts a wonderful holiday flavor and there were just enough pinenuts and pecorino to add to the luxurious mouth of the dish.

Crispy Brussel Sprouts - While the menu says that this is a crispy brussels sprouts dish typically when you do anything take out nothing comes crispy. I was completely surprised to see that not only was it crispy but it seemed as if each individual layer of brussel sprout was hand crisped and then layered back together. Spectacular! The sweetness of the raisins and the acidity of the vinegar took away all bitterness that is common in any brussel sprout dish. It was very smooth and the best I can compare it to would be the difference between wine straight out of the bottle or letting it breathe. Very nice. Adding the crispy bacon, pine nuts, pecorino and grain mustard (part of the sauce) just added to the harmony of a well composed dish. This is either my favorite or tied for my favorite brussel sprout dish! Given how much I like brussels sprouts, that’s saying something! For certain I will be ordering it over and over again. This could easily be a dinner on its own for any vegetarian or vegan if you omit the cheese (although I don’t presume to be an expert in that subject so ask questions first!).

Nutella Pizza - Again, as favorites go, this is the best Nutella pizza I’ve ever had. It is very light and crispy and not over chewy as many are. The flavor of the crust is so good that it absolutely appears to have been created for the Nutella instead of the Nutella just being thrown onto any old pizza crust. I would consider it definitely more than personal size, but then again, I guess it is up to whomever is eating it!

As for my lone arugula salad (which happens to be my favorite type of salad), after having two it three ravioli, half the brussel sprouts (which is meant to be shared, I’m sure) and a piece of Nutella pizza , I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet! But if it is as delicious as the rest I can already tell you with confidence that it’s wonderful!

I’m pretty certain if you go for what is listed on the menu you will simply not be disappointed by the food! It was a wonderful find and a new favorite that I will be sure to patronize over...

Went to Amalfis in Laresnce last night with 10 people for Dinner. It was for my two Grandchildrens birthdays. They both have October birthdays so we celebrate them together. Now my Grandson just turned 14 and his Sister 12. He wanted Feticuni Alfredo..she wanted Calamari. My Daughter Looked at the menu but did not see Fettecuni Alfredo on the menu so she Called to see if they had it., they told her they could make it. I wanted Mushroom Gnocchi I had seen in their online menu. So n Ed get there for a 6 pm dinner. A young male waiter took our drink orders. Next we ordered some appetizers . So when we went to order our entrees we were told they had no Fettucini . My daughter told him she had called and was told they could make it. The waiter seemed confused snd went to the kitchen. He came back and said they could make the sauce but no Fettucini pasta. So he had to have it onAngel hair pasta. Next I told him I wanted the mushroom gnocchi and was told they had no gnocchi, I ordered eggplant Parmesan. My wife saw eggplant rollatini as an appetizer and asked for it as a dinner size. My son in law did not see anything on the menu he wanted so he ordered a classic burger on a regular unseeded roll. They told him they had none. My oldest son ordered Vodka Rigatoni which he did not eat because there was very little Vodka sauce. The other meals were ordered. Now comes the meals. Mine, the eggplant Parmesan was cold, and it was from frozen patties. I sent it back.my wife’s eggplant rollatini came out as an appetizer size not a dinner size. Now all the dinners came with a salad except for my wife’s . I asked the waiter why and he said because it was an appetizer so we had to pay for a salad. The next surprise was that since I was paying with a credit card there was a 4% added charge. So now I have a $350 bill for food that was terrible in half the cases, cold food, etc. Just a terrible experience for two grandchildren. I will never ever go back there. A Very bad experience. I would not recommended going there. With the tip, it was a $400 nightmare. ...

A friend and I went here for the first time to celebrate our birthdays. It's easiest to break this down in terms of good/bad/meh. Good: my Roman Caesar Salad was very good... Lots of sliced parmesan, fresh crisp romaine lettuce, crisp croutons and the dressing was tasty... good balance without being to vinegary. My companion had a strawberry mojito that she enjoyed (she even got a little buzz, but she is a bit of a light weight in that respect). The dipping oil that came with the bread was very tasty, but the bread was a bit stale. Meh: We both had the Seafood Pescatore. Mostly mussels and calamari (the cheap stuff), with a few dinky clams and a couple shrimp. The tomato sauce (?) was bland bland bland. I could see some sliced garlic in there, but couldn't taste it (we both agreed it was not worth the $28... neither in the amount of seafood or the flavor). I also had the Italian wedding soup... a bit on the greasy/oily side, but decent flavor. I had the chocolate mousse for dessert... it obviously wasn't fresh made... the tiny chocolate chips sprinkled on top had that film they get when exposed to air and the edge of the mousse itself was cracked from being in the refrigerator, but the mousse was still fluffy and light with good flavor. Bad: the cappuccino was more of a latte with a heavy emphasis on the milk. I think that they made it with regular coffee (instead of espresso) at about a 3:1 ration of milk to coffee. And the foam disappeared in less than a minute after it arrived. It was BAD! Overall: We were both seriously unimpressed and probably won't return again. The food we got for the quality we received was very overpriced. Food gets 2 stars (when the salad and dipping oil are the highlights, you've got a problem), and an extra star for the 2 young men that were our waiters... they did a good job and were very attentive... kudos to them. Our money can be better...