Osteria Cucina Rustica — Restaurant in Marlboro Township

We never had issues eating here but last nights experience and treatment will be the last I will ever dine with them. Will also pass along to other colleagues that dined here in the past. If you want the car dealership experience then this is the place to eat. Was were seated at 10:05PM waiter came after 10 minutes and we ordered 2 appetizers and 2 rib eye special. This was the last time we ever saw our waiter. Apps were served after 10-15 minutes. During that time our waiter never checked up on us meanwhile he was attending to 2-3 tables next to us making sure their drinks are flowing. 11PM still wondering where our food was (no service) 11:15PM pretty much had it and spoke to front desk informing her we been sitting around with no service and at this point would rather leave and pay for what we ate for. She tells me our waiter will speak to us. 5 minutes 11:20PM later he comes and tells us food is in the window. I kindly informed him you never bothered servicing us or at least keeping us up to date with our food and we will just leave and bring the bill for the food. He apologizes and asked if we wanted to take it home and i replied NO. Sat around for 10 minutes as he went to speak to a manager. Head waiter came and we explained our situation and understood that service was unacceptable ( he was the only positive one). He said he would offer to comp the meal but i replied i would prefer to pay what we ate. He said give him a few and we did. 10 minutes later smug owner I assume came to us. Take into account he was not wearing a mask at all. Starts the conversation with "whats seems to be the problem" I replied you staff did not give you the information. His reply was they did. Talk about great customer service for possibly the owner. He proceeded to give us a cooking lesson with the meal ticket at hand. Ribeyes take 30 minutes to cook etc. He screwed up when he mentioned the timeline of the food. Based on the ticket the steak was in the window at 10:50PM. I told him I did not complain until 11:15PM so you are telling me our steaks have been sitting there since 10:50PM. Accused us that we refused the steak when it was serviced . I informed him that we had zero service, no update on food and the steaks never came out. Facial expression changed and said ill go speak to them. Sat again all I wanted was to pay for my bill. Waiter came and said food was comp. I told him I spoke to the manager and I want him to verify. Few minutes passed and just had it my wife and I left the table towards the front desk so that we can pay the bill and go home. I see the owner inside sitting down having a conversation. Waiter came out with the bill for the apps. I gave them my credit card and left. The owner made me feel like I was some deadbeat trying to get a free meal out of it. If i was I would have pushed for it or even just leave based on the time wasted sitting around. We ordered two ribeye specials costing $90 each. With that price you would expect some level of service but that did not exist last night. To the owner if you require your staff to wear mask when they interact with customers that rule should apply...

Where should I begin...I ordered mussels, which was prepared in a liquidy, oily tomato based broth with minimal flavor. My wife's salad was laden with a heavy dressing whereas it should have been in a light lemon/oil dressing. My pasta was ok; my wife's fish was disastrous! The fish was brought to the table in a spotted aluminum bag that the bus boy opened at the table. He plopped this liquid with whole tomatoes, fennel and a rubbery piece of fish (that literally bounced) in the bowl. The delivery was poor, but would have been acceptable had the fish tasted good. The fish was rubbery with a tinny taste, under-cooked and horrible tasting!!! The waiter (only saving grace) brought the manager to the table and rather than apologize for service of this bad tasting fish, the manager decides to explain the process of how the fish is prepared. My wife graciously asked him, ""How does the process change the bad tasting fish?" He continued to tell us that they sell lots of fish dishes and have never had a problem. He came to my table to lecture us, borderline accusatory, on how my wife should accept this bad tasting fish. He then asked my wife what is wrong with the meal. She explained in detail that the fish is rubbery, tastes bad, with a really awful after-taste. Approximately 10 minutes later the same manager came out to inform us that he evaluated the fish and recognized it was definitely undercooked, not flaky and made poorly. If that was not bad enough, we asked for the check. The check was first presented with the bad fish meal still listed on our bill. We asked for it to be properly adjusted since it was returned uneaten except for one forkful. The waiter came back with the fish dish removed. I gave him my credit card. He returned with the credit card receipt for my signature only to find out that my credit card was used to pay a bill from a different table. The waiter was informed of this error and we waited for his return.. Approximately 45 minutes later, we are still waiting for it to be corrected. We asked for the owner.. well that was a mistake! This person, Nellie, was extremely rude, unprofessional, discourteous and arrogant!!! Both manager and owner passed the blame onto this waiter, of which the owner did not know this waiter's name. Actions, reactions, and how to conduct oneself properly starts from top (owner) down. There is no way that this establishment can run successfully with Nellie and this manager at the helm. They charged my credit card to pay for another table's bill and refused to provide us with a printed receipt showing the charge reversal, but rather insisted we sign a credit card receipt for our actual bill thereby paying $156.00 more than our actual bill. Business is based on repeat business of which we definitely will not return to this disgraceful, poorly managed, unprofessional joint. Don't waste your time, money and palette on this...

Was in the area from northern Bergen County, specifically to go to another restaurant (that somehow 'never got' our reservation). Noticed Osteria while en route, so we turned around and thought we would take a chance. The parking lot was quite full and there were many people in the waiting area. I took a deep breath, walked up to the hostess and asked how long a wait for a table for two. She went over some screens on her tablet and said, "Um, if you can give me like 5 minutes, I'll have a table ready for you!" ... Let me tell you, the place was BUSY ... the bar, all the rooms, and I know why. It's GREAT. The wait staff couldn't have been more attentive. The pace was perfect and we didn't feel rushed. My son and I were all set with our choices from the menu (which pretty extensive) and then our server announced some specials ... 5 appetizers and at least 10 entrées (I lost count). So our minds got changed (well, for my entrée and the appetizer for the table). Appetizer was calamari, spiedeni and baked clams. Not sure how the calamari was cooked, but it was barely sprinkled with crumbs (NOT a bad thing) It was tender and delicious and it's plate-mates were equally so. With a soup or a salad on the side, it was large enough to have been a shared entrée!!! My son had the Pollo Rustico (chicken breast with wing attached) over a very smooth polenta with a mushroom sauce (similar to marsala but so much better). I had a stuffed pork chop with spicy vodka sauce with rigatoni. (I am always on the quest for a stuffed chop--am a big valdostana fan). The chop was huge; it took up most of my plate. I chose a just-above-medium spice level (nice they offer a choice) for the vodka sauce and it was the perfect accompaniment. The chop definitely more then edged the meat-to-pasta ratio. It was a nice little portion of al dente rigatoni that this low carber had no issues eating all of it (and the other two-thirds of the chop I took home is calling me from the takeout box). Though we were stuffed, we HAD to try dessert. Jay got tiramisu and I had the cannoli (two large ones). They too, were perfect and glad we have leftovers on them. We will find any excuse to come back. "Because it's Tuesday" sounds just as good an occasion as any! Thank you all for an...