Masseria Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Morristown

So sadly this is an edited review based on two subsequent visits...

The food quality is reducing, not going up. Reduced from 4 to 2 stars.

Last weekend (18 July) we re-ordered the Porterhouse for two the same as our last visit medium rare and it came medium well - unforgivable for a $170 steak. We were with family from the UK so did not want to complain but it is not good enough. The lamb shank was gelatinous. The octopus starter had not been prepared properly so they left the 'skin' on some of the octopus so slimy.

We wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt so went today for lunch (27 July). On the plus side the calamari was great - same with the arugula salad and the soup. The bread was a day old. The burger I had was soggy (bun) and overcooked burger - I'd get better at most other places in Morristown. The worst item was the halibut special - so overcooked it was awful. Sadly the sides to the halibut were excellent and the pasta was excellent so the kitchen can absolutely cook - no doubt. It is just totally inconsistent.

I also want to mention the bar prices - the wine by the glass in many cases is 50-100% over comparable restaurants - $24 for a glass of Sancerre is a joke. Also, good to note - this place does not free pour but requires the bartender to measure - again means we paid '$26 for a double' that most other restaurants pour for $13 so just think 100% premium in your head for any drink apart from beer.

The lunch was pretty much $240 with tip. Same lunch at a recent newly opened restaurant (more drinks) in Morristown was $160. We will not be back any time soon.

FIRST REVIEW (please read accordingly i.e. ignore)

First visit - The porterhouse steak was excellent, cooked and seasoned perfectly. But this place has issues if you want a 5 star experience. A very solid 4 stars, but not 5. I also question the serving size vs local alternatives (read on).

I will start with the food so TLDR;

The food was very good 4 stars out of 5. We ordered the carpaccio to start - it is served on clearly straight out of the fridge plates so the beef is too cold, but was a decent balance of lemon, capers and arugula although the lemon was very uneven. A simple salad was excellent. We also ordered a specific wine to be served and it arrived close to 10 minutes after the appetizers arrived. We had the Porterhouse rare and this was cooked perfectly - excellent char and seasoning. The peppercorn sauce we ordered was poor and I object to paying $5 on top of the cost of a $180 steak - simply not acceptable. One of the party ordered penne a la vodka - nicely spiced and a decent version although the pasta was VERY al-dente and that is from someone who like their pasta firm (read for most people undercooked). The sides were adequate - the fries and spinach were on the small side so if in a party of 4 expect to order two of anything as they are meant for 2 people at best but billed for a larger serving (based on the local single steakhouse competition where they serve 4). The desert choice is 'meh', nothing interesting but the olive oil cake and biscotti were solid. The desert wine/offering is also pretty unimaginative by the glass.

Our server was 'attentive' without being actually attentive. Drinks were very slow and our server was over-recommending items. They also did the unwanted dropping an extra Pellegrino when no one is looking close to the end of the meal to add an extra bottle to the bill, my pet hate.

So now for...

Came here for New Years Eve and had a very bad experience. Ordered the Branzino crudo and asked if the dish can be made without pistachios (was one of the ingredients listed), and let the server know I have an extremely severe peanut and pistachio allergy. He assured us that this can definitely be made without nuts. Once the dish came out, I trusted that it was made correctly and that my severe allergy was taken seriously, so I took a bite at the same time as my husband. My husband quickly jumped up and yelled for me to spit it out because they failed to withhold the pistachios. Thank God he told me to do that because I could have spent my NYE in the emergency room because of my anaphylactic allergy to nuts. So scary that a restaurant, especially a new restaurant, can be so careless. The restaurant wasn't even crowded yet, as this was a 5:00 seating.

Other than this almost deathly error, the food was decent. The Pappardelle Bolognese was tasty and filet was very bland.

There are other much better options in the area for this type of cuisine. The manager didn't even have the decency to come apologize. Shame on you, Masseria! The GM just contacted my husband to deeply apologize about the experience. This means a lot to us that he reached out. We will be giving this restaurant another shot and will update my review upon my return. FINAL UPDATE:

After our first experience here, gave it 2 stars because of my traumatizing experience. But........

Gave the establishment another try last weekend. What a different experience! The restaurant knew about my allergy debacle last time and really paid close attention this time. While we waited for the table, we sat at the bar. It was completely packed. The bartender was fantastic and made a delicious French martini. I'm very critical of this drink since I bartended for a long time and since this is my go-to drink. It did not disappoint!

We once again ordered the Branzino crudo WITHOUT pistachios and the dish came out perfectly. It was delicious. We also got the Polpette (meatballs) which were pretty tasty. For my next dish, I ordered the Pappardelle Bolognese for my main course which, just like I had my mentioned in my first review, was delicious and absolutely recommended. Recommend this dish way more than the steak. The waiter was very pleasant, and the owner even came over to introduce himself and personally apologize about the experience last time. Thanks for making our date night so special and for completely redeeming yourself from the last time. We look forward to dining there...

TLDR: Bad food, bad service, and overcharged. AVOID!

Was excited to try Masseria, hoping it would be a good addition to town. Had a table reserved, but went early for a drink a the bar. The bar was great. Didn't catch the name of the female brunette bartender, but she mixed a great drink and was friendly to my wife and I while keeping a close eye on the other patrons in her area. Got seated at probably the worst table in the restaurant, right outside the door to the kitchen and right by a service station. All through our meal, there were crowds of staff bustling past my wife, stuck helplessly in the main flow of traffic. They really need to just take that table off the floor. Or server, Sophie, was pleasant but mostly absent, disappearing for long stretches. She also didn't seem particularly knowledgeable about the menu. My wife ordered the insalata di mare for an appetizer and the gnocchi for an entree. I ordered the polpo as a starter and the strozzapreti amatriciana as an entree. I also ordered a glass of white wine to go with the octopus and a glass of red to accompany my entree. The appetizers were good. My wife like the seafood salad, and the octopus was well prepared. The beans it came with were dry and needed salt, but overall the dish was good. I had asked for the red wine to come with my entree. The entrees were dropped off, but I had to ask multiple people for my wine, none of them our server Sophie, who was completely MIA. Eventually, somebody came to pour red wine into my white wine glass. I stopped them and told them I needed a clean glass, which seemed to totally confuse them, but they eventually complied. Finally I got to try my pasta, only to discover the pasta was overcooked, but the pancetta was undercooked. It was a remarkably unique failure. I sat there waiting for Sophie to come by and inquire about our meal, but it was in vain. Eventually, my wife flagged down a busboy to get them to take the dish away. Eventually, another waiter came over and I explained why the dish was inedible. At long last Sophie returned with the bill and noted that management had deemed my concern valid and taken the failed dish off the bill. These folks have not worked out the bugs yet. I hope they figure it out eventually, but boy, it's not a good experience right now.

The final blow came when I looked at my credit card bill, and saw that they added a 22% tip that I did not...