Sweet T's Southern Eatery — Restaurant in Montclair

I've been chomping at the bit to go to this place, so I was very pleased when I convinced my chum to mosey over here for lunch yesterday. One of my favorite restaurants in the area is Vonda's in Newark (which serves the same type of soul food/Southern cuisine), so I was hoping this would be just as tasty, but in a more convenient area. It was really good, but with all due respect, it's not quite at the level it thinks it is.

We decided to split the cornbread with strawberry butter app ($6), along with a separate order of mac and cheese ($8). I personally think the mac and cheese should also be available as a side, and it feels a little like upselling (it reminds me of a burger restaurant that has an additional charge for French fries), so hopefully they consider that in the future. How can you not go to a place like this and forego the mac and cheese? The cornbread was delicious. I'd never heard of strawberry butter, but it's amazing and was a perfect complement to the cornbread. My friend was a little disappointed that parts of the cornbread were cold (presumably it was baked beforehand and refrigerated before being warmed up for us), but I didn't mind too much. They should warm it up more though, which obviously wouldn't be difficult to do. I was disappointed by the mac and cheese - I thought it was dry and pretty bland. For what it's worth, my chum loved it, so we quickly negotiated a 70/30 split of the mac and cheese, which was acceptable to both parties.

I got the Crispy Catfish entree ($23), with candied yams and collard greens as my sides. The catfish was excellent, with an exquisite cornmeal batter, and the tabasco-like condiment was very strong, verging on overpowering, but worked well with the fish. I loved the candied yams; great consistency and extremely tasty. This was actually my first time having collard greens. They were fine for what they were, but just not my cup of tea. I'm sure they have enough fans to go around without me. A lot of this food is top-notch, and you can definitely understand why it's popular and getting a lot of buzz in the area.

Unfortunately, the service does verge on subpar. I think you should expect lengthier turnaround times for some of this food, especially the chicken (and to their credit, there is a disclaimer on the menu about the projected 30-minute cooking time for that specifically), but we intentionally picked other food because we were hungry and didn't want to wait 30 minutes to eat. It didn't matter - we still had to wait at least that long for the entrees. Additionally, the dessert menu looked amazing and we both opted to go somewhere else because we knew that ordering something else would lengthen our stay considerably, so Sweet T's is literally leaving money on the table because of that.

We weren't too affected by this because we came in right around when they opened, but I do have concerns going forward that the rules of this restaurant don't really mesh with the culture they're ostensibly trying to promote. I've lived in the Deep South and I've been to my share of Southern comfort restaurants like this. By definition, it's leisurely - it takes time to make a lot of this food, and by and large, it's worth it. But in turn, you should be able to leisurely eat that food. If you're going to be really hardcore about reservations and time limits for meals, it will inevitably bang up against the lengthy food prep time. That's a really tough balance to manage, and hopefully they figure it out. My two cents? I think they should take the middle ground between the required reservations route and the Cuban Pete's, no reservations route - have a specific, limited number of reserved tables but be open to the walk-ins. If the restaurant is too busy at a given time to serve everyone who wants in, too bad. That's life sometimes. Those people will come back.

There's a lot to like here, but my inclination is to go to Vonda's, knowing that their food is as good if not better than this, without the...

Had a girls night out with my friends from out of town. I read about this establishment in an article regarding black owned businesses that is a must try for southern cuisine in NJ. Figured this would be a perfect outing. The establishment is a byob. We drove over an hour to find out there is no parking in the back of the building as told by an employee who answered the phone. After driving around looking for this parking for 15 minutes we decided to park in a near by deck. We were running out of time to meet our 6:00 pm reservation slot. Didn’t want to be late and risk cancellation and being charged $20 p.p. on my cc. We arrived to find that our table was maybe 12 feet from the front door. The seating arrangement was awkward. Every time that front door opened we felt every bit of the cold from outside. (This is a recommendation put a divider up at least so your patrons can feel comfortable and not have to wear a winter coat indoors while eating.). We requested another table . There were a few empty ones available at the time. We were told no and that we could order our food to go if we’d like. Iv’e been to 5 star restaurants and chicken shacks and never have been treated in this manner. Honestly if it wasn’t for the cancellation policy we would of left. In this economy no one can throw away money and not receive anything in return. Because this establishment was byob we bought a bottle of bourbon to pour into the house made sweet tea. That didn’t happen because we were told you can only have beer or wine which was fine. The issue with this was our bourbon was confiscated as if we couldn’t be trusted as adults to the right thing and not open the bottle. We ordered a full course meal. Appetizers, entrees and desserts. The Cornbread was heavenly by itself and the strawberry jam was amazing. Fried Okra lack luster it was too oily. Deviled eggs was a hit. The entrees we all enjoyed. The Smothered Turkey wings were outstanding and the dressing was full of flavor. The Collard greens were tasty. I ordered a side of Mac and cheese that’s was average. My friend had the lasagna it was enough for 2 servings and she loved it. My sister said the salmon cakes were well seasoned and grits were cooked to perfection. Dessert was excellent the banana pudding was amazing and the sweet potato pie was average. The peach cobbler tea was ok. We came here with positive energy looking to have an amazing time while supporting Black owned business. I also wanted to impress my out of town guest with a wonderful experience . Overall the food was 5 stars and the service was a 3 only because the waitress was nice. The manager had a nasty disposition and was very dismissive. Hopefully the merchant will read this review and make the necessary adjustments and this place could be 5 stars. If you are looking for amazing southern cuisine this is the spot just please make sure it’s take out only. Compliments...

So we were 3 adults and 1 child and had a reservation for 5:45 to celebrate my husband’s birthday on Sunday 2nd. We were a few min late due to not finding parking nearby. However, when we arrived, we waited 30min for a table, one of the waiters was apologetic, brought water for my 4 year old and a chair for her to sit-which was nice and we were ok with the wait since this was supposed to be a special day. A different wait staff took our order. When trying to place our order, they were out of beef ribs and grits so we had to order something else. My husband and nanny ordered fried chicken- and as you know takes time to be cooked. When the food finally arrived after 15min of eating our waitress asked if we wanted containers to take our food home while we were still eating. I knew something was off and thought it was such bad manners and felt that she was trying to kick us out of the restaurant. I just took the containers and put it on the empty table next to us since we were one of the last 2 tables left. Few mins later it was official, we got kick out by the waitress, so her earlier subtly was a warning. Now we were pissed, I said to her are you kidding me- you guys sat us down late, it’s my husband’s birthday and now you’re rushing us out where we have not eaten 1/2 of our food. This was the worst experience ever and has never happened to us before. Completely and utterly horrendous considering it was not our fault they sat us down to eat so late. Unfortunately we did not know of the restaurant closing time at 7pm and we felt that before they sat us down they should have said they could no longer be able to accommodate us based on them either overbooking or accepting walk in, which made the place packed with no seats available. Considering also I mentioned to them this was my husband’s birthday while we were standing it was inconsiderate of them to not mention that the kitchen would be closed soon, which they knew we would be rushed out of a restaurant and not be able to finish our food. They totally ruined this F’ing experience, we would have happily gone to the Thai restaurant up the block and enjoyed our meal without being forced out, but I guess they were focused on getting our money instead of proper etiquette. Well it’s our first and last time at this place. They tried to make it up by offering a free dessert, which we refused because for us nothing makes up for bad customer service on a day we should have enjoyed. I also made sure my husband was not charged their mandatory tip or I would have totally lost it in there. Never again 0 stars- I would happily go all the way to Harlem for good...