South+Pine American Eatery — Restaurant in Morristown

My girlfriend and I visited South+Pine in Morristown for her birthday lunch on a Saturday afternoon. While we were excited to try the place based on its glowing reviews, our experience turned out to be a bit uneven.

Parking was a hassle, there's no dedicated lot, so we had to find street parking, which was metered and tough to come by on a weekend. We arrived around 3:00 p.m. and found the place nearly empty, with only one other table of diners inside. The space itself was cozy with a rustic charm, highlighted by unique wall decor made of old doors pieced together creatively. It had a quiet, relaxed vibe.

We started off with drinks, the toasted coconut latte and the vanilla bourbon latte. Both were delicious, not overly sweet, and offered a nice balance of flavor and coffee. However, by the end of the drinks, the syrup had settled at the bottom, making the last few sips overly sweet, so I didn’t finish mine completely.

For an appetizer, we shared the spicy lamb meatballs served over Greek yogurt and cucumber relish. They were flavorful, though definitely not spicy despite the name—barely a 1 out of 10 on the spice scale.

For our entrees, I had the short rib and winter veggie hash with poached eggs and chipotle hollandaise, which was pretty good in terms of taste, but I was disappointed by how little short rib was in the dish, it leaned heavily vegetarian. My girlfriend ordered the Fried Chix 2.0 (chicken and waffles), and unfortunately, it was a major letdown. The chicken was bland and lacked seasoning, and even the waffles didn’t impress, which was especially disappointing since she’s a big waffle fan and didn’t even finish it. She said it was bland and chewy. Probably an over mixed batter. We also got a side of Polenta fries, made out of corn meal. These were pretty good, crunchy outer shell with a mushy seasoned corn meal on the inside.

Service started out strong with a kind and attentive waitress who greeted us and brought our drinks. However, the second server who took our food order was less pleasant, her demeanor was curt and a bit rushed, despite the restaurant being nearly empty. At one point, she even pressured my girlfriend to order quickly, and I had to ask her to come back in a few minutes. Meanwhile, we could see some staff casually chatting at another table, which didn’t make the rushed vibe feel very justified.

We decided to skip dessert and try another spot down the street instead. Overall, South+Pine had some highs, like the lattes and cozy atmosphere, but also several lows, particularly with the entrees and service. I suspect the rave reviews are more reflective of their dinner menu, which we didn’t get to try. I might consider coming back in the future for dinner, but as far as this birthday lunch went, it...

Had reservations 17 and we waited for possibly 20 minutes. We kept ourselves busy catching up. We were escorted to the back and sat at two large tables across from the kitchen which is open part of the ambience in this rustic setting. Delicious looking food choices on the menu and very expensive.

It took 30 minutes to get bread and butter. I’m not so sure if they were generous or because I was grateful It showed up. We were starving. We had to ask for more butter because I swore someone was eating with a spoon. There was no wait for that. It took another 20 minutes before our our orders were taken. We were served about 10 minutes after our other table but what’s another 10 minutes when you’re starving? It feels like 30 minutes. I ordered the mussels which arrived with bread and shared with a friend. They were absolutely delicious. If I had known my main meal was going to be so horrible I would not have shared my muscles, and I adore my friend. The mussels were perfectly steamed, the broth was flavorful and had bacon bits. The bread was soft and crunchy at the same time. There was only one bad muscle in the bunch but that can happen anywhere in my opinion.

A tiny amount of dinner arrived and cost me $33. I have no problem paying $33 for fine Food because I grew up in NYC before moving to NJ and I love a quality meal. I ordered the linguine with lump crabmeat, lemon and cheese. I paid for green mush. It didn’t help that it came in such a huge bowl because it looked even smaller than it was. But I’m grateful it was small because it didn’t taste like linguine, I didn’t taste crab, and never saw any. Another friend ordered it and we couldn’t make out what the flavors were except for a little bit of lemon. Very disappointing. We only ate a bite or two and left the rest . Another friend ordered the burger with the Thomas English muffin for a bun and he said it was OK and disappointing. Another friend ordered the spaghetti squash and she couldn’t even eat it even though they gave plenty. Other friends thought their food was OK and overpriced. If it was underpriced it was still too much to pay for this meal. I didn’t order dessert because I was scared it might taste like a hotdog. Absolutely overrated and high priced. The only thing that arrived on time...

A couple months ago my friends and I made a reservation for this restaurant. We all hadn’t seen each other in quite some time and we’re excited for a relaxing and fun dinner together. I was first to arrive (early) and seated right away. After a few minutes a waitress came over to ask where the rest of my party was and to tell me that we had to be out of our table by a certain time. I was completely taken aback by this and told her they would be arriving shortly. When they did arrive a few minutes after, she came over after a few minutes to ask us if we knew what we wanted and we said no. Then she left for another 5 minutes or so came back and we asked to put in an appetizer and THEN she tells us everything needs to be ordered at once. Then she proceeded to tell us we could only stay for about an hour bc she needed the table by a certain time so we needed to put our order in soon. When we pushed back she explained there was another reservation coming in 30 minutes after she kept saying we needed to be gone by. That was it for us. She was extremely rude at that point and rolled her eyes at us then walked away. We promptly got up and left and were welcomed into a restaurant around the corner where we were allowed to sit and actually enjoy our food and our time together so the our anyone consistently reminding us we were only allowed to stay for an hour. As we were leaving 2 of my friends were stopped by the manager and they explained the situation and she provided them with the most random amount on a gift card. Not that any of us would ever attempt to eat there again. So if you make a reservation make sure they won’t be kicking you out an hour after your reservation. If they had explained the situation to us when we were making it, we wouldn’t have wasted our time even going there in the first place. Never in my life have I ever experienced such a rude and snotty server in my life. Not had any of us ever walked out of a restaurant...