Nassau diner — Restaurant in Princeton

Once again, the Nassau Street property managers have impressed with their ability to host resteraunts that not only utterly fail to conform to their college-student clientele, but also fall short in delivering an acceptable experience.

To start, my party of 6 was hit with a 30 minute wait time to be seated even though suitable tables were visible and ready for use. I gave the waitress my name (a simple, short, biblical name) to which she responded "Too complicated, you'll just be the letter 'I' now". Fine by me, I didn't need the Starbucks experience from this new diner.

Once seated at the back of the resteraunt, an astute member of my party noted that the all-marble ambience of the diner was off-putting, and he would rather have had an actual jukebox in the room rather than several black and white prints of old school diners and the accompanying accoutrements.

Now, the food; my party ordered 5 different menu items, and the diner took this opportunity to show their impressive flexibility and ruin the dishes in 5 unique ways.

The two omelette dishes were served with several ingredients missing, and when the wait staff were asked to remedy this, our table was brought a small plate of three Kraft slices of cheese, somehow both burnt and completely unmelted at the same time.

The hash browns were oversalted to the point where you would think they were pickled if not for their bone-dry appearance, and a single forkfull of the stuff left one's mouth devoid of moisture.

The "Israeli breakfast", or shakshouka, was simply not a shakshouka, but rather an overcooked egg atop blandly seasoned tomato paste. One of the least offensive dishes on the table only because it didn't leave the taster with an uncomfortable mouth feel.

The chicken and waffles, perhaps the worst offender at this diner, was advertised on the menu as "chicken and waffles, served with maple syrup and hot sauce". What was served was four chicken tenders atop an incredibly soggy waffle, all doused in a pepper impregnated hot sauce that left us coughing and sputtering after one bite. When asked by the owner how our meal was, we described the dish as "a little bit spicier than promised" to which the owner apathetically joked, "well, it IS Nashville style chicken" -- something that was not made clear anywhere on the menu. The owner proceeded to apathetically promise a "40-42% decrease in the spiciness next time" before leaving to awkwardly help the bus staff carry dishes in a manner that only added to the chaotic feel of the establishment.

The "Upper west side" breakfast took the prize of being the best dish on the table, only because it was simply a bagel and lox platter, where nothing on the plate required preparation from an actual cook.

The meal ended with a 20 minute wait time to pay, after which we left as fast as we could. 0/10, take your business to any other hole-in-the-wall diner in Jersey run by high school students and you'll get food better than you would at the...

UPDATE: after discussing the situation with the restaurant manager it is clear that they are as troubled by this incident as I was. They do not tolerate fraudulent billing and they have quickly addressed the issue. Running a new restaurant can be difficult and reaching out to address a problematic situation is a huge step and a sign of responsibility.

We were seated and waited a long time till finally we asked the host to tell our server we were ready. He came over and took our order. He came back with our order missing sauces and condiments that were supposed to be included. He did not ask us if we wanted anything else. He placed our food quickly on the table and walked off without a word. No one ever came by to refill our drinks or ask us if we needed anything else. The next time we saw our server was when we had to ask the host again to let our server know we were ready for the check.

Unfortunately, the food was also pretty bland. The chicken was breaded and fried well but it had no seasoning of any kind and was very dry.

Now, please keep in mind this is only the second time I’ve not tipped at a restaurant in my entire life, as I know from experience the restaurant industry can be tough.

I decided it was not appropriate to leave a tip and thought the young server would see it as a lesson. Unfortunately, he did not and attempted to charge my credit card an additional 20 dollars even though I clearly did not leave a tip, especially not an 80% one. I called the bank and they disputed the charge. Fortunately, the restaurant did not attempt to charge us any further. However, I wonder how many other patrons have been unwittingly overcharged and didn’t notice. So if you ever eat here check your bank statement...

What a beautiful spot right across the Princeton university gates! Given the beautiful location and refurbished interior space, it is quite a disappointment that some of the staff were incredibly rude. From the moment that my friend and I entered with our 2 toddlers, we were met with rudeness. It seemed like we were not welcome. The man at the desk made his annoyance at my toddler quite obvious. When I said that I was sorry for my toddler throwing things around as I was repeatedly getting up to pick those things off the floor and the waiter was too (Bottle, straw, menu) the manager said “yeah, I see”. He wasn’t very kind and was cold. I instantly felt bad for being there. When it was time for us to go, he placed the bill at the counter. Everyone else seemed to receive them at their table. Not once did a waiter come to ask us how everything was or correct our order. We were somehow expected to leave our toddlers at the table and walk up to the desk to pay. We left feeling very confused about how we were treated in such an unwelcoming manner. Rest assured, you won’t be seeing us again. While the food was delicious and the ambience was nice, the lack of warmth and kindness and UNDERSTANDING towards two moms with their kids was enough to make us never want to...