Timothy's of Newark — Restaurant in Newark

We're regulars here...and I've been supporting this business for years. I've eaten in and gotten take out countless times. I've rented/hosted numerous parties upstairs. I'm spent thousands at this place. Quite literally. All this to say, I have skin in the game. I want this business to succeed. I ask the owners and managers to take the following to heart:

I visited Timothy's of Newark on September 19th, with my son, around 8:30-8:45PM. We both ordered to-go our usual: two bacon cheeseburgers with cheddar cheese and loaded "cheese fries" as our side. To complement our meal, I also requested sides of blue cheese, horsey ranch, and pickles, all which I paid extra for (see pic).

When I arrived, I found our order sitting on a table, but there was no one around to acknowledge me, or take payment. Eventually, a staff member came over, and when I inquired about the contents of the bag and if the side items I requested were in it, she was uncertain. I decided to double-check and, as expected, the side items were not in the bag, and the cheese was missing from the cheese fries. (This happens quite often, which is why I'm finally writing a review...)

After my inquiry, she went to the back and returned with two sides of blue cheese and one side of horsey, mentioning that they only had one horsey left. (Huh?) I accepted that, but I still pointed out that my cheese fries were missing the cheese. She returned to the kitchen and came back with two small containers of dipping cheese, but this wasn't what I had ordered. I usually get the loaded cheese fries.

Despite explaining this, there seemed to be confusion, and I asked to speak to a Manager. Unfortunately, there was no Manager on site at the time. With my food getting cold, my son waiting in the car, and my exhaustion from a long day, I left my contact number with the staff member and requested that the Manager call me, to address the situation.

When the Manager called me, she inquired why I hadn't asked for a Manager while I was at the restaurant. I explained that I did request to speak to a Manager, but it was taking quite a while, my son had just finished football practice, I had worked all day, my food was getting cold, and I was exhausted...

She expressed understanding, and I proceeded to detail the entire situation, including the initial mix-up and the subsequent confusion.

However, the Manager began offering excuses, mentioning their short staffing issues, difficulty in finding good employees, and constant turnover. She even mentioned that the girl who served me "was only 16 years old," among other reasons.

I empathized with these challenges, as I'm a business owner myself, but emphasized that there should be better training, coaching, accountability and leadership in place to handle such situations effectively. I reassured the Manager that I had no intention of getting anyone in trouble, causing job losses, or wanting anyone to face repercussions. Nor did I request any compensation for any of this. All I wanted was to have a better experience and get what I pay for, especially since I'm a regular customer of the restaurant.

Unfortunately, though she did apologize and say she wants me to keep returning, she also gave excuses and wanted to "defend" the 16 year old, rather than taking full responsibility for the situation.

I ask the owners to read this and take it to heart. You should "want" your customers. Sadly I feel unwanted, like a nag to the employees, and like I was a nuisance to the manager. I'm not sure if it's...

PLEASE READ ALL. I NEVER write reviews, but felt I had to here tonight.

I have been going here for years. I am not exactly a regular, but go here often. I rarely write a review and please understand I normally would rate Timothys as a 4.4. The only reason I rated a 3 this time is because tonight so many things were off. Now understand (which people that have never worked in the industry do not understand, but I do) it was at the peak of dinner time and packed and I saw trays of food going upstairs for a party. The kitchen can only handle so much in any building. If you go any where at peak times, plan to be patient or go to McDonalds. Tonight, I ordered the Rib Eye Dinner at medium rare, it was more medium to medium well, but still an excellent cut and taste (you wont need A1 here!) Morgan offered to get a new one and I refused (since I know better and I was hungry). Also my salad (which I always love here) came out with my meal. I am not going to let a great steak get cold to eat my salad. My friend ordered the Prime Rib sandwich and he got what looked to be a Rib Eye burger or sandwhich, obviously not the same meat. Our server had it rang in right on the receipt, so either the way it was placed by the cook in the kitchen and/or the runner that delivered our food got it wrong. We did not have any utensils or napkins, so I just grabbed them from another table, since I'm not lazy. Pretty sure that was the hostess job, yet a runner should be able to spot that. All in all, the food was great as usual, just so many things in one night, which I have never experienced here before. NOW, I read other reviews and had to laugh. I will give you all the total review of the establishment, considering other reviews and issues that others commented upon.

Parking, is a bit far at times, especially during peak hours. No real way to fix this due to the unique building and location. They can not build a parking garage over the creek, since that would eliminate one of the greatest parts of the atmosphere. If you have elderly or handicap folks in your party that strugle to walk a distance (like I do on Veterans day, when I take my older friends and vets for a treat they deserve on their day), prepare in advance. Once again, I am not lazy, so the short walk does not matter to me and I usually need it from being so stuffed and happy.

Attmosphere is awesome! I love old engineered buildings and they did and great job to restore and keep as much of the original design of the old brick mill building as possible.

Noise is part of the issue associated with the above! Accoustics can not be changed unless you destroy or cover up the original design of this wonderful building. I am not a fan of "loud" either, BUT please do not change this layout or design. It would just be wrong. I can deal with it. Plus, realize you are in Newark, a college town. Some college kids will show up. I am not a college kid fan, but when they show up here they normally tone it down and appreciate where they are. It is a totally mixed and diverse crowd,...

This was the WORST FOOD I've had in a very long time! What boggles my mind is i chose this place based on my experience at the Timothy's on the River Front in Wilmington. Their food is delicious! The service there is awesome! So i figured since i was looking for a place during a PANDEMIC that could sit me, and my siblings using CDC guidelines (who btw, haven't dined indoors since covid started) this particular Timothy's of newark would work. Yes they reserved an entire one side for us with tables 6ft a part, and 10/12 ft away from the other patrons. We wanted to be able to socially distance from each other as well as the other customers. This is the ONLY THING that was done in an awesome way! The food wait time was extremely long. It was NOT crowed, so im just gonna assume they were filling take out orders over the dine orders which caused the wait time on our food to seem like forever. I was the only one to receive my appetizers out of our party. ...and me, and my husband were the last to show up. How does that happen when others were there before us, and ordered before us???? Once everyone's food arrived, out of multiple meals, only two were edible. Horrible!! I will speak on my husband, and I. The spicy new Orleans pasta with shrimp, and roasted peppers was a HOT, GREASY, RUNNY MESS!!! HORRIBLE! (I discovered this when i got home) I didn't even get a chance to taste it until i got home because by the time it arrived we were boxing up food to leave. 19$ for wilted peppers, and grease. My Husband ordered the ribs, onion ring, wings appetizer. They gave him buffalo instead of garlic parm. They corrected it by sending out the garlic parm wings. Horrible! The wings had no seasoning on them (very bland), and had a bunch of butter, and shredded parm cheese dumped on top of them. Seriously? Smh. He didn't eat them. The waitress didn't ask everyone if they needed drinks refilled...only once, and that was only one table. Two of my sisters didn't eat theirs as well, and left it on the table. I truly don't know if this is how they are, or if they just didn't have the right ones cooking, and serving yesterday..either way the experience was a horrible one, and we definitely won't be back. My family was definitely disappointed. I mean, i would be too coming from out of town. Also, if they are gonna allow people to smoke right outside of their doors, they need to find away to keep the cigarette smoke from coming inside. We have a special needs child who has a trach, and BPD with her lungs. She was present with us. I smelled the smoke so strongly we thought they actually let people smoke inside. That definitely was a major thumbs down for us. They really have to consider the...