Montclair House Grill — Restaurant in Montclair

I was excited to have driven more than 2 hours to explore the Montclair House Grill, but when I entered this clean and well-organized bistro, I was very disappointed. Although my food was absolutely delicious and cooked to a superb standard, the overall customer service was supremely lackluster. I was barely greeted when I was seated by the host. It took almost 10 minutes for a server to approach me and accept my order. My server seemed incredibly taciturn and never introduced himself and told me his name in case I had questions or needed anything. My server never made any suggestions or recommendations about any menu items and my server failed to see if everything was okay and if I needed anything sporadically during my visit, which is typically demonstrated at dine-in restaurants from servers.

I was appalled by this. The bistro wasn't busy when I dined there during the sunny late afternoon. There were about 4 to 5 servers and the female server was ebullient and attentive to her guests and I don't know her name but she should be commended. She did well. Her coworkers were entirely aloof, lacked personality, and they didn't engage and interact with any of their guests except when they handed them their food and beverages that they ordered.

Very clean and bright restaurant with an all day breakfast menu made me smile. The food was fantastic. However, please have servers who care about their customers and their jobs. This is a major issue and needs significant improvement. I refused to render a tip due to this unacceptable behavior. Despite these minor issues of concern, I hope to return to Montclair House Grill and I recommend their fluffy golden pancakes and the turkey burger deluxe platter with a lean and exquisitely flavored...

I've come to this diner several times over the past couple years. Not often, but enough times to feel it's warranted to write a review - I sort of try not to reactionarily write reviews after only one time going to a place/using a service, but it's a work in progress.

I come here time and time again because it's a fairly humble diner serving pretty basic stuff. I don't think it's also terribly priced. But by God, every time I come here, the service is lackluster, inattentive, and just flat out bad. The place is run by the stupid local college kids (even the manager seems this way) who are generally pleasant enough in their demeanor, but are just completely oblivious and clearly don't know what it means to work in service, at least as far as being attentive to the tables you're waiting is concerned. While you need something and are even trying to flag someone down, they are all congregating around the counter/register area laughing and joking and talking amongst themselves. It's just not professional. The food is good, but you're not even going to give me a pickle or coleslaw with my tuna sandwich? Nothing? Other diners I've been to include this. They also assumed I wanted my sandwich toasted when I asked for no such thing, so I asked to send it back and was apologetic for not letting them know, but I never did ask for this. You can ask me. Don't assume.

I will keep coming back here, but I hope the management (not the food) changes because it has the potential to do better, but these kids either need to be trained better or...

Had a wonderful dinner with great friends last night (12-4-2019) at this very warm and cozy establishment. Our hosts Chris and his charming wife along with the very friendly attentive staff made us feel so welcomed. The food was delicious. I'm a chef and when I tell you the food was amazing, I'm absolutely serious. I had the vegetable barley soup that was very flavorful and full of veggies. As my dinner I chose Shrimp and Eggplant Parmesan with fresh mashed potatoes. The portion was enormous. The shrimp were extra large, perfectly cooked and plenty. Eggplant was thinly sliced, sweet and fried to perfection. Topped with lots of bubbly mozzarella and a tomato sauce, that was fresh and vibrant red, full of flavor. What a delight!!! The tomato sauce was so light, that I could eat it with bread alone and I would be content!!!! Fresh mashed potatoes as my side, was perfection. If I could give Montclair House Grill 10 stars I would!!! Clean place from top to bottom. Great quality and quantity for a great price!!! I highly recommend it for your next lunch...