Patrizia's Of Matawan — Restaurant in Old Bridge Township

This a review of the Matawan Patrizia’s only. I've been to the original Staten Island location multiple times (never any issues there). The party i had was for 26 people. A restaurant has to be extremely unimpressive for 0 out of 26 people to take pictures of their food, but I was able to get incidental pics.

First: Check your bill: in my case our $300 deposit was never deducted from the final bill (we called the following day and they rectified it.) & there were charges for bar drinks on there that were not included but were “given” to my guest (by Santo). Only tap beer is included. No bottles, another guest had a bottle that I paid for. Staff should be instructed to tell exactly which beverages are separate charge. In the case of Santino (who knew one of my guests), when my guest tried to pay for Jameson, Santino said, “I got you”. I guess “I got you” means I’ll charge it to the guy who’s paying the bill.

Two: Consider other options: What may seem inexpensive for a full meal at $65 per person. Matawan location is like app size plates put on table and is a 1 piece a person sampling. What is $65 now was the $45 menu 5-6 years ago. Yes prices have gone up, we all know that but at least offer the same size family style meal since the cost has increased 45%. My last dinner at Ponte Vecchio, I paid $220 with tax and a 20% tip which for 4 people ($55 ea). This family style dinner at Patrizias Matawan came out to $87 per person with tax and tip. Other options may be cheaper & allow your guests to order off the main menu (Ponte Vecchio or Feast).

Three: What they claim they give you on the family style menu is not what you get. They must have ran out of “Buratta” because we got fresh mozzarella slices instead which explains why the “margherita Pizza” was substituted with Neapolitan Pizza (no fresh mozzarella, no basil and just regular pizza sauce). The chicken carbonara was just pieces of fried chicken cutlets with some onions and I don’t know what else put on the plate underneath it.

$64.99 Family Style Menu

Pizza Margherita: Actually 12” neopolitan pizza (regular pie). No fresh mozzarella, No fresh basil, no fresh tomatoes Burrata: Non existent. Slices of fresh mozzarella were given with diced tomatoes. Usually when sliced mozzarella is given it is paired with sliced tomatoes. Eggplant Parmigiana: A thin piece of eggplant about 3-4” in diameter with some sauce and a little bit of mozzarella on top. They serve 5 pieces on a plate, 2 plates for table of 11 people. Basically one piece a person. Fried Calamari: Not bad, but only a tasting for each person. Baked Clams: I don’t eat baked clams it still ran with the small tasting per person theme. Homemade Pasta: These are the moneybag pasta which I loved in SI, but the sauce here was not as tasty, but still ok. A few guests thought when they put this small bowl of pasta in front of them that it was for each person. In the pic, you can see there is approx. 20 moneybags in each bowl. 2 put on a table. My table had 11 guests so that was about 4 each person. I told the waiter you have to bring another bowl which he did. They were all gone before a few people had any. Skirt Steak & Chicken Carbonara: Steak was ok. The chicken carbonara was a joke. I’m so glad I caught this in one of my pictures. Its just very thin fried chicken cutlets served on a bed of onions and I don’t know what else. Soda: you have to get on the staff to bring it. My sister in law even offered to pay for a pitcher of sprite but the staff said it was included and brought one. Considering this staff is getting 20% tip automatically for what essentially is a sit down buffet, you would think they would be more attentive. Coffee: no complaints at all about the coffee. Including cappuccino and espresso. Dessert: they brought out appetizer plates with cut pieces of assorted pastry on them. S.I. Patrizia used to bring a lot more & the Nutella pies were brought out whole. Good thing I brought my own cake for this dinner, or else there would have not been...

We tried this place based on our positive experience at the sister location in Red Bank. Apparently this chain has gotten large enough that the experience is totally not the same. It was for my wife’s birthday and we were a party of 8.

First of all, our waiter was covering our table of 8, a large group of around 50 people. Not his fault but he was never at the table. We constantly had to ask for basics such as silverware or a clean plate. And if you don’t ask for something, you won’t get it here. The room was loud to the point where conversation was nearly impossible. By the way, the music they are blasting was random garbage they’re playing off Youtube and the owner didn’t even pay for premium 😂 so we listen to ads while sitting in this sweaty room! The room is dark, probably so you can’t see the food.

Speaking of food, We chose family style - the $75 option. Advertised to include a variety of appetizers pizza entrees etc. Well we were a table of 8 - received one medium sized pizza cut 8 ways. Not that I wanted to pay $75 per person and eat pizza, but that’s all you get. Not even a large. Each person gets 1 slice and that’s it. Calamari was plentiful - rubbery and way over breaded. Burrata tossed on a plate with bland generic tomato’s. Octopus, of course they gave 1, yes just 1 burnt tentacle chopped up with a plate of potato’s in a skillet for 8 people. Pasta which was actually decent probably because they didn’t make it, was sufficient that each person could eat maybe 3 pieces max.

At that point, I realized this place sucks. Multiple members of our party felt that we were being blatantly ripped off and expressed disgust. The restaurant manager came out shocked that we weren’t thrilled with our single tentacle amongst 8 people. They offered if I’d like to order something off the menu - to which I respond no thanks since the food has no taste anyways. If you’re going to offer family style, provide some actual food, not a tiny plate leaving your guests hungry. This is not “Italian Family Style” in the least when you are making ceremony about taking a slice of pizza because you want the other guy to have something to eat! I went home and ate after this dinner!

I hate to trash a business but this place is terrible. The service is horrible. The food is mediocre at best, everything is overly breaded and tasteless. The portions are like a fancy French restaurant, only the food quality sucks!

Avoid at all costs! Negative star...

The food was very good . Fresh delicious and lovely plating . The service was terrible, we had reservations and were still standing and waiting for over 30 minutes and that was after we had to ask the hostess if she knew how much longer it would be. After we were seated we ordered pretty quickly . Then we waited over an hour for our meals to come . We didn’t get appetizers or drinks so we were literally sitting waiting to eat . It was so noisy and loud, you could barely talk to each other. Then once every half hour or so, they scare the crap out of you by playing a very loud birthday song and then popping some confetti all over the person. You see the other patrons jump every time the popper went off. It was so loud and intrusive while you are already struggling to hear the people you are dining with . Maybe if you are young and in your 20’s this is a good place to go ? By the time our meals came it was almost 9:00 . Who wants to eat a full heavy meal that late? We all took ours home after a few bites. When the “hostess” came over and asked how everything was we told her the food was good but that was it . She asked why and when we told her all the things about the service . Forgetting soda when we asked, not bringing bread to us while we waited etc. She just stood there acting as if she didn’t know what was going on in the restaurant that she worked at . They comped us desert, the bus boy suggested we try the surprise tray so we said yes . Of course it was nothing we would have ordered on our own . And none of it tasted that great except the almond cake . So disappointing because we would have definitely gone back and recommended this place since it’s so convenient for all of our colleagues, family and friends. Maybe order take out from here and save yourself a headache and some...