Monica's Restaurant — Restaurant in Pompton Lakes

My wife and I have been to Monica's 3 times in the past month. I worked in the restaurant business for over 15 years. My grandparents owned a fine dining continental cuisine restaurant for over 25 years.

The food at Monica's is well-presented and delicious. The atmosphere is like an old-style Italian restaurant almost like in someone's home. However, on our most recent visit (3rd) on a Friday Night at 7:30 after the rush, my wife, who has gluten-Celiac issues ordered the fish special (called Swai). She asked the waitress if there was flour on it for sauteeing because she couldn't eat it if it was. The waitress went and asked the chef and came back and told her they could make the fish special. She then told us that if it was busy the chef wouldn't be able to make it gluten free. Really??? The menu states in bold red italicized letters that they do "Gluten free and vegetarian entrees can be prepared upon your request". Under the "SPECIALS" section it stated: "TIME IS ESSENTIAL IN THE CAREFUL PREPARATION OF FINE FOODS. WE GRATEFULLY REQUEST AND APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE. UPON REQUEST, WE WILL PREPARE YOUR INDIVIDUAL DIETARY NEEDS". Now, the menu mentions special dietary needs can be prepared. It doesn't say "because we're busy we can't prepare dishes with dietary needs". I suspect very few people would ask for such a dietary dish on a week night when it's slower or a busier night.

All the chef would need to do is to either broil the fish, or if sauteed, if the sauce had flour, use arrowroot, almond flour, tapioca flour, or potato flour instead of the regular flour (made with wheat), or eliminate the gluten ingredient. My wife's Celiac issue is not highly allergic so the kitchen doesn't need to be shut down just to make her dinner. She just can't eat items that have wheat in them. It makes her sick.

I was a 2nd line cook and manager in very high-paced restaurants and we made special dishes for dietary needs. When I heard that from the waitress, my blood boiled. I was pretty upset for the entire dinner. It was my birthday, and that's the last thing I wanted to hear at dinner. My wife wasn't as upset but obviously she was the next day. If you advertise you prepare gluten free and vegetarian entrees and will prepare according to individual dietary needs, then DO IT!!!! If you advertise and then say you can't do it when it gets busy, that's false advertising and...

My girlfriend and I decided to go Friday night because we remembered it as being awesome. But not after Friday night. The place is very small and quaint. Almost feels like you're sitting in someone's living room. I should have known there was a problem when I went to change my reservations from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m and the hostess told me they always have availability.. not a good sign for a Friday night.. we started off with an appetizer of eggplant rollatini. I've had eggplant rollatini a bunch of times but upon the first bite I immediately knew something was up. They put prosciutto in their eggplant rollatini. Holy cow, my girlfriend doesn't eat meat... Too late! She ate it! Honestly, that one was our fault because it does state on the menu that there is prosciutto in it. But come on! Who puts prosciutto in their eggplant rollatini? My entree was definitely below par. I had linguine with baby clams. The sauce tasted like it came out of a can of Progresso. My girlfriend had pasta with chicken which was actually pretty good so no complaints there. Moving on to the service. It was absolutely horrible It took us over an hour to get our entrees. Within that hour our appetizer plates were never removed and our waitress not once asked if we would like more water. But she was more than happy to keep asking if I wanted more wine. I'll wrap this up by saying this place is also a little overpriced. Our total bill was $78 for two pasta dishes and one glass of wine. That was without tip. Sorry Monica's. But for those reasons I will not be returning to your establishment and I would discourage others...

I visited Monica’s restaurant in Pompton Lakes, and unfortunately, it was far from an enjoyable experience. Upon entering, I noticed that the restaurant was empty, with no other diners present. The waiter initially tried to seat me directly in front of the exit door, which puzzled me since there were plenty of available tables throughout the restaurant. When I declined that seating, she informed me that I only had 45 minutes to eat. When I asked why, she mentioned that there were reservations, even though there were no reservation signs placed on any of the tables.

I expressed my concern that being rushed to finish my meal would make me uncomfortable. I arrived around 5:00 or 5:30 PM, and at that point, I requested a refund for my purchase through the Clipp app, as I no longer wished to dine there. The waiter replied that they had no control over third-party purchases.

Ultimately, I decided to stay and ordered only calamari and wine, which took almost 12 minutes to arrive. Throughout my meal, the waiter repeatedly came back to ask if I would like to order an entrée. I explained that with only 30 minutes left, I wasn’t interested.

To add to my frustration, around 6:00 PM, a gentleman entered the restaurant alone, and he was informed he had an hour and a half to dine due to reservations. I found it unfair that he received different treatment than I did, especially since I was only given 45 minutes. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant and do not...