Cafe 28 — Restaurant in Ocean Township

The reason this restaurant has so many high stars is because the food is excellent and prepared and presented beautifully and tastes delicious too, but a bit over-priced. If you SEE A LOW RATING, you will notice that all those comments are directly related to the owner's attitude, disposition and arrogant table-side manners. This owner actually took my COMPLIMENT (which was in the form of question) the wrong way and obviously way out of context. His response was nasty, unkind, rude and totally embarrasing. He responded to me, right in front of our whole table - everyone was stunned and silent, and I especially was shocked at his reaction and more so his body language. I then (due to the embarassment) tried to mask it by thinking, he has to be joking with me, so I actually tried to clarify what I was trying to imply. Again, he just stood there (like a repremanding soldier) and repeated his previous nasty reply, looking me straight in the eyes and began his second response with... "AS I JUST SAID TO YOU AND I WILL REPEAT" - who the hell talks like that to a paying patron, especially when throughout the meal he was told how delicious the food was? In my opinion, he clearly does not like Americans and must be a very unhappy man and that was my take on it!! So be careful, if you go there, you will likely really enjoy the food, pay a bit more, and have zero friendliness coming from your Owner, Chef, Waiter (who is this guy doing it all). Don't expect friendly ambiance as this is not the place for kindness, friendliness nor welcoming table-side behavior, coming from the only person who should be giving just that!! No hello greetings, nothing! Just place your order and sit without comment. ???????????? God Forbid! I hated to have to write this review, as I love giving great reviews but he totally had it coming, to speak to a woman, much less anyone in that dispicable manner, for what was intended to be a big compliment, simply taken the wrong way. People are mean in the is world and yet if you look at one of his reviews, where he states...he is with GOD???? GOD WOULD NOT APPROVE OF THAT BEHAVIOR OR TREATMENT TO OTHERS. Little did he know that I am about to undergo an operation while also dealing with my 95 year old mother in the hospital. We all have our baggage and that is why we should all be kind and polite to one another - it goes a long long way. Bad reviews like this only make you not to want to return but increases the odds that you will tell others what happened and that is nothing more than bad advertising for free. This guy owes me an apology, if he ever wants my business again. And if I get one - I will acknowledge that in a review as well, to demonstrate that he does read his reviews and takes them to heart. I will forgive him. Nobody deserves embarassment like that - IT RUINED THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE OF EATING...

Food amounts are small relative to the higher prices compared to similar restaurants. I ordered cheese manakish, which found to be not related to the real manakish at all. The mix grill was not bad, but not good too, and small in size. Overall, it was not a good experience. UPDATE: After the Owner reply, I have to put only 1 star. This is the most unprofessional, arrogant reply I have ever seen. He assumes that because we ate, the food was fabulous, it was just ok food that you eat because you order it. Also, because we tried to give it a chance and tried to taste and not judge it from a small portion. The small portion is not as he is trying to assume that we order one item for two. We actually were going to order many things, I was really excited as I love Mediterranean food. I was shocked by the smell inside that was not good, due to the place being to be in an old building (I assume), however, I just ignored that and start looking to order. The way the waiter, which I think is the same as the Chef and owner talked to us was not nice. He explains the menu, but when I asked about some items if it is done in a certain way, he explained that no, nobody will buy it in this way (in an arrogant way) and he changed it to something better. So, that's fine, but it didn't encourage me to order it. I felt that I should be careful not to order too much till I test the food. That's why I ordered one Medley Grilled to try besides the baba ganush and manakish. And I am glad I didn't order too much. The portions were smaller and the taste was just ok if I compared to other Turkish, Mediterranean or Egyptian restaurants that I visited. I don't care if they got best whatever restaurants, I care that I enjoy the food, the place and go home happy, which this restaurant...

Food was mediocre along with the owner. We ordered two entrees, one was the chicken shawarma and another meat item. However, shawarma was not authentic, it was basically grilled chicken breast on a bed of rice and arugula. True shawarma is marinated in decadent spices and slowly cooked to perfection. On the other hand, the meat item was decent. As for the service, since the owner is the only one working there he seemed blunt and quite arrogant. We asked him if we can sit on the spacious table, however he was more worried if a crowd of people would swarm in around 7pm close to closing time and he would have to join the tables together. Mind you, it was a Thursday night with just two other individuals on the other side and no one else in sight. Since the gentleman was the only one working there, the service was quite slow. We had to ask for condiments as they were not provided and to do that we had to go knock on the kitchen door to get service. For that he was very rude and sent his customers off to the table. I understand not every business is fully staffed, but dishes can we washed later, your customers need your time and attention in case something is needed. Overall, the food we were not so fond of, but for the price we paid, we just added condiments to add extra flavor. The kunafe was basically a joke, it was kadayıf with rose water and nuts. Real kunafe has warm cheese oozing out. While their ingredients might be fresh, the service was horrendous and definitely does not define Mediterranean cuisine. It is more for those who want to believe flavorless food is what eastern food looks like. Definitely not returning and definitely not...