Sammy's Ye Old Cider Mill — Restaurant in Mendham Township

Here is the pithy essence of what will be a detailed review: outrageous owner arrogance ruined what would have been a wonderful meal (and five-star review) at a restaurant my family has been patronizing since the 70s; it will rule out future visits unless there is new ownership. If you have not been here before, I sadly but strongly advise against going.

My parents moved to Central NJ in the 70s and started going to Sammy's for all special occasions. It was always expensive but fun. They loved the speakeasy vibe, the cocktail lounge, and the food.

My parents are now retired, and I no longer live in the area, so I wanted to treat them last night. We arrived and placed our usual order at the hostess station: vodka pasta and t-bone for 3. The imperiousness of the hostess and co-owner (I believe MaryAnn, who earned such descriptors as "nasty" and "rude" in previous reviews) was to be expected; after all, Sammy's doesn't even bother to have a sign outside.

It's a snobby place that expects you to know what you want when you arrive, and if you don't directly ask to see the menu, you only see the food prices on the check. We knew the drill and ignored the background hauteur. I wanted my parents to enjoy themselves!

In fact, we witnessed exactly that customer disdain during our meal. While we were savoring the delicious food and wine more slowly than the couple at the next table, we couldn't help but witness two experiences in particular. One: the man's lobster bib fell to the floor after he ate, and MaryAnn, who watches the dining room like a savage hawk, swept in, scowled, picked it up silently, and swooped away. The woman and I had a sardonic laugh about this. Two: when she went to pay the bill, her gold AmEx card was declined. She was stunned and uncomprehending; she questioned the young male server but then just rolled her eyes and gave a second card that worked. Her attitude was contemptuous but dismissive. (To me: "you have a $300 tab, and you deal with this?")

Imagine my surprise and annoyance when the same thing happened to me. My card was declined, and I not only expressed surprise but asked the server to run it again. (NB: there's no issue with this card.) It was declined again, and I mentioned to the server that it also happened to the next table and surely to others as well. The second card was accepted.

This was annoying, but I was also prepared to be contemptuous and dismissive like our table neighbors. However, before we could leave, MaryAnn came over to scold and "correct" me. She took issue with my suggestion that it happened to other customers that night. She told me: "it only happened to your tables." I could not believe she came over simply to be combative! I said it seems to be a problem with their machine. She argued with that, in fact telling me (and I'm paraphrasing here) that they had previously contacted the company, which informed them it was not their problem but the customers' banks. I said in this case it was two different banks (AmEx and Citibank), but she continued to argue until I thought: what's going on here?

Indeed, I WAS extrapolating that other customers had had the same issue, and her argument proved me right. Nitpicking that it hadn't happened that particular night before our two tables seemed a foolish fight to start when our tab was over $400 for three.

Why come over just to quarrel as I was about to leave the tip and be on our way? Alas, as I've read other reviews, I see many complaints about hostile encounters with this unpleasant woman, which understandably repel even affluent long-term local customers. As much as my parents and I enjoyed our meal, we all left angry. A terrible end to a special meal.

If you must risk severe owner rudeness, at least bring cash. LOTS of it. We won't be back for another...

Let me begin by saying the only reason my girlfriend and I heard of Sammy’s was the fact that driving to work in the morning , someone called into 101.5 about great hidden gem restaurants and raves about this speak easy in Mendham Nj . The caller into the radio show was so convincing about what a hidden gem of a restaurant and speak easy this place was . Interested I decided to take my girlfriend to dinner after doing some research into this cider mill speak easy . The short of the long is that I’m certain this place was and could have been amazing at one time . The fact that there are many reviews on how great this place is and how amazing the food is boggles my brain . Everyone obviously is entitled to their opinion and should have read more reviews before I chose to take my girl to this place . For what it’s worth the fact it’s a speak easy which one would think is enticing and interesting since it’s been around for so long , when you go down to the bar and it looks like someone put a speak easy bar in your high school cafeteria is just sad for business the lighting is like you were in your grandmas basement looking for folding chairs for Thanksgiving and to boot the fact that their are video game consoles rather then round tables and chairs for people to sit and hang out in amazing atmosphere killed the vibe even before we sat down for dinner . For the money they charge for the food we ate upstairs on a Saturday night doesn’t anybody think owner , mangers , the people who give this place rave reviews that maybe they should dim the light and have a 3 piece jazz band playing to live. Up the full vibe of this basement church hall I had my 8th grade dance in ? Cmon Sammy ! Get it together . So let’s move on from the bar to our food upstairs in a cafeteria atmosphere, the servers we had were great . Seem to be really nice and friendly , but the food ye old cider mill is not worth half of what your charging . I’m sorry and no disrespect to a steak house chef that doesn’t know the difference between rare medium rare and medium . Hate to stick it to you but you may want to reconsider who is cooking , the shrimp scampi that was raved about at the bar had no taste whatsoever , the shrimp were great size but how do you cook a shrimp and get rid of its flavor ? I’m stumped . The veal chop with lemon sauce looked amazing , the veal chop was cooked perfect but whoever decided to make a bitter lemon sauce and mushrooms and throw it on a perfect piece of veal must have no tastebuds . It was like taking a beautiful piece of meat and dunking it into lemonade . I’m done with this review , but anyone who has taken the time to read this and if you love great food , don’t waste your time or money on this awesome piece of property who is family owned and ran for so many years . Story and history cool , but they gotta change a bunch to make this place amazing for what they charge and...

Don’t understand the hype and never again! Fool me once shame on you , fool me twice and shame on me . What can I say… friends insisted we go for dinner and this was my second time there and I didn’t think it could be any worse than the first time . However, it was . The concept of standing in line and ordering your dinner before you sit down is baffling and not pleasant . Trying to figure out what you want to eat when people are breathing down your neck is not fun. The staff at the front is not friendly , arrogant, and not helpful . Then they tell us to go in the basement (and our elderly father(94) was with us and we asked to be seated at our table because we didn’t want to do the flight of stairs . They looked at us like we were breaking some kind of sacred ritual . Finally agreed to let us go to our table where we sat and were ignored by the voluminous wait staff . Kudos to the person who filled water glasses ..very attentive and job well done . When our server came to the table and asked what we would like to drink ,I asked what beer was available (no list available) he had no idea what beer they had .. told me to go down to the bar and look . My wife and I ordered Josh Cabernet. It was served so warm I’m surprised It didn’t spontaneously combust . Dad, ordered the pineapple cocktail featured drink and it let’s just say it wasn’t worth the $$. ….Salad .. worst ever “dressing” tasted and smelled like nail polish removal ,canned roasted red peppers with garlic for an app ..zero stars. The famous pasta and garlic oil app was as flavorless as it gets .I’m guessing 3 cups of oil and none of it EVOO…We ordered surf and turf.. filet was ok lobster bland and not fully cooked ,bone in ribeye was nicely cooked but bland, shrimp scampi was fair but never received the pasta that was supposed to be served with it . Local corn on the cob served as the vegetable after it sat in water for must’ve been three hours had no taste whatsoever .. how does one do that to such beautiful local corn ??Apple crisp was mushy and just terrible . Ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream and guess what ? Not a single chocolate chip !😳 the chocolate and vanilla ice cream tasted just like friendly’s . Coffee was harsh, bitter, and tasted old . And add another 15 minutes trying to get our ever so attentive waiter to bring us our check …. I didn’t mention our friends food because i didn’t try...