Reservoir Tavern — Restaurant in Parsippany-Troy Hills

NYC is the Italian American capital city, but NJ is the Italian American state (upstate NY and Long Island are no match for Jersey’s pizza and Italian food culture in general). A testament to this tradition are places like Bevacqua’s Reservoir Tavern. The Rez as it’s known by Parsippany/Boonton area locals is the oldest pizza parlor and Italian restaurant in Morris County, and likely one of the 10 oldest in NJ (along with the likes of Sciortiono’s in South Amboy, DeLucia’s in Raritan, Santillos in Elizabeth, Patsy’s in Paterson, Barcelona’s in Garfield, and Papa’s in Robinsville), so it came as no surprise that this was one of the better and more memorable pizzas I’ve ever had in my life. This place may be a tavern by name, but the pizza served here is definitely not a cracker-like bar pie, they’re pizza is North Jersey/New York style with a rustic and artisan flair, with a crust that’s slightly hardier than the average slice and the sauce is among the best I’ve ever had. Only potential complaint is the pie can be noticeably floppy because of the softer middle of the pizza, so it can be a messy experience, which I don’t mind at all but others might. Overall for me, an 8 1/2 bordering on a 9 out of 10. The pasta dishes were phenomenal too, and the atmosphere was awesome, old school tavern/pub combined with your classic NJ/NYC Italian American flair. The restaurant as a whole, I would rate easily a 10 out of 10. Great service, great food, great time. Can’t wait to return in the future, and certainly will now that I live in...

I wanted to write this review to express my frustration with the Reservoir Tavern. I did the "call ahead" for a Friday night for 5:30pm because this is what my mother requested for her birthday dinner. I spoke with the lady on the phone a day before we were coming in and she told me she would do her best to accommodate us as best as possible, especially for my mother's birthday. Once we arrived, I spoke with the hostess where she told me there would be a wait. I asked for any type of time frame and she rudely responded whenever I asked a question. She didn't have an answer for approximate wait, how many tables were in front of ours, and if any of the tables that would fit our family had already received food. Her response to every question was a rude, "Uh, I don't know". About forty five later my sister went to ask the hostess if she had an update on how much longer we would be waiting and she responded very rudely again. Our family waited another 10 minutes before my father went in to express how unprofessional the hostess spoke to both my sister and I. We left and went to another place for dinner. I understand that this restaurant has great food, but the way the hostess spoke with my family was extremely disappointing. I tried to call a manager 3 times and left my contact information with the people who answered my call, and I have not received a call back yet (I called three times within the past week). Overall, very disappointed in the service and...

If you want to be treated unfairly and subjected to preferential treatment, this is the place for you. After waiting 15 - 20 minutes for a seat at the bar (literally standing behind the occupied bar stools), the hostess informed us that a couple at the bar was leaving soon. Another couple comes and takes the seats! We were told they were there before us but were sitting in the dining room. Who does that? If you’re waiting to sit at the bar, you wait by the bar. Next, a woman walks in and asks us if we’re waiting for a seat at the bar. We tell her we are. She then speaks to the owner behind the bar who tells her she can have the two newly vacated seats. The owner then comes over to us and says he didn’t know what our “intentions” were by standing where we were. It doesn’t take a genius to see we were waiting for seats. He knew damn well we were waiting just like his hostess did. He never apologized, never told the woman he made a mistake and that the seats were ours - instead he was very rude. I tried to again explain the situation and was told to leave. He knew what he did was wrong but instead of apologizing and finding a way to accommodate us, he throws us out which is easier than being professional and doing the right thing. Never in my life have I as a customer been treated so poorly. My boyfriend and I have been to this place 3 other times. We always eat at the bar and we tip the bartender very well. ...