Flames Restaurant — Restaurant in Monroe

So much needs to change to make this a memorable, successful restaurant, and separate it from the rest of the short lived restaurants that occupied the space previously.

My wife started with the Caldo Verde which she said was good. I started with the stuffed clams. Some of the worst I have ever had. Just clams with bread crumbs sprinkled over the top, no garlic, parsley or oil and with all the juice left in the half shell that causes the breadcrumbs to be nothing more than a soggy mess.

For our main course, my wife had the Veal Florentine. She said she enjoyed it. I had the Cod Livornese. The fish was cooked well, however, since I wasn’t fond of the veg. served with it, I opted for a beet salad. What a disappointment. You either like beets or you don’t. If you order this salad you like beets. This was an arugula salad and not a beet salad. It came with 4 strips of beets. No lie. Each strip was a ¼” thick, by 1/2 ” wide served on a mound of arugula and dotted with goat cheese.

We topped off the meal with cappuccino and tea.

A few words about the service. When we were first seated, we had a waiter who was attentive. We ordered drinks. My wife ordered a glass of white wine and I ordered an extra dry Martini which came with way too much Vermouth. Secondly, the bartender who delivered the drinks, asked if we were ready to order. Since we were not, he left and didn’t come back again until it was time for coffee and desert. Confusing. Who was our waiter. We waited an inordinate amount of time, before calling our original waiter over and placing our dinner order with him . When it became time for dinner, the waiter who took our dinner order came over to take our desert order and the bartender showed up and told the waiter he would take the order. Once again who was our waiter. Confusing.

In final analysis, this staff needs more training. The food needs some re-work. Until this is corrected, I would go to Osteria Romana or Sal e Pepe’s in Newtown. Better value...

Been here once before for drinks only. 1st time having food. Holy smokes! The service was IMPECCABLE!!! They knew what you wanted before you actually did! Michael Rugova must be known for this as the service at Goodfellas is the same! We were given fresh bread & good quality olive oil for dipping. Started w/their calamari & asked for the balsamic and marinara dips on the side to try. Both were excellent. Calamari was cooked well, not chewy at all. Got the chicken milanese. It was very flavorful, juicy & the breading was not overcooked or greasy. The arugula topping was great, fresh & not over dressed. Also got the chicken piccata which came w/mashed potatoes & sautéed garlic spinach. Everything was super delicious, except the texture of the chicken was "weird". Hard to explain, but the mouth-feel of it was like it was boiled, which was a bit off-putting. The piccata sauce was buttery & lemony. Make sure you save some bread for dipping! Yum!! Spinach had just the right amount of garlic - not overpowering, but flavorful. Potatoes were creamy, but lacked some seasoning. We were offered a complimentary taste of their either their homemade limoncello or Sambuca - picked limoncello & it was outstanding! Just enough "zing" that you know it's alcohol, but still very drinkable, sweet & lemony. Finished off w/creme brulee & limoncello cake. Brulee was great - velvety smooth, but I wish the inside was a bit warmer (personal pref) - oh, I still ate the whole thing, don't worry! The cake was very good too. Wasn't heavy & almost tasted like the lemon cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. Slice was a little small for $10, but still yummy. I can't stress enough how great everything was, especially the service! Please give Flames Restaurant a try, you won't be...

My husband had high hopes for this place as he read a raving article but unfortunately the entire experience fell short. Now we are both foodies and fully prepared to pay a premium for good food and we were unimpressed all around. We had reservations for 7pm on a Friday night and were lucky enough to grab the last parking spot. We took the packed lot as a good sign and eagerly went inside. We were sat at a high top in the bar area which we thought was interesting since we had reservations but didn't mind. There were no parties waiting for tables. That section has more of a sports bar feel so don't expect an intimate dinner. I ordered a Grey Goose dirty martini and my husband had a beer. The martini was undrinkable (and that is my usual drink so I know a vodka martini). The bread was decent and warm and the best part about the entire meal was the olive oil. Very high quality which was encouraging but unfortunately that was the only thing that was good. We had the meatball appetizer. It was flavorless and definitely not homemade. Husband had the Oso Buco special and I had the Veal Marsala. The food was BLAND with and portion sizes were small. The mashed potatoes had zero seasoning and just tasted like boiled potatoes. The veal was thin as paper and so over cooked. The Oso Buco also was flavorless. It all honestly tasted like the food you would get at a low quality banquet hall. Servers were polite but we really didn't know who our server was because we saw 6 different ones, never the same person. Husband's beer sat empty for quite sometime without anyone asking if he would like a refill. The homemade complimentary sambucca was a nice thought but underwhelming again. We will...