Monticello at Red Bank Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Red Bank

I unfortunately had a terrible experience at this restaurant and I STRONGLY discourage anyone who has any food sensitivities or allergies from going to this restaurant. I have several food sensitivities, but I tried this restaurant since they advocated for having gluten free options, advertise being farm-to-table, and advised me over the phone that they could accommodate. I went there for dinner at 7:30PM and I was not severed dinner for TWO HOURS. I advised them that I wanted my food plain without any sauces due to sensitivities the sauce. When I asked if the food was coming, I was told that they were taking extra time because they had previously made my food incorrectly with sauces. Then, when the food finally came out, it clearly had sauce all over it and had no modification. After I sent it back, I was finally given food that appeared to not have sauce. I emphasized to them that I get highly sick if exposed to any foods that I am sensitive to and asked the waitress to confirm that it was made completely plain, which she confirmed. Shortly after eating, I felt VERY ILL and realized that the meal must have contained food that I was sensitive to despite emphasizing several times these sensitivities and them alleging that it did not contain any of these foods. I asked for the meal to be taken off the bill considering the two-hour wait and the disregard for my medical needs; however, they refused to make ANY adjustment. The manager was not even willing to come to the table.

I see that that the restaurant posted a response to this post, which unfortunately contained several lies and disregard for taking any responsibility for the events that occurred. I confirmed in advance that my meal could be offered without any sauce on it and after waiting for two hours, it came out with sauce on it, which I sent back. After getting the new meal, I was reassured that it did not have any cross contamination from foods that I am sensitive to; however, I got very ill. The manager refused to make any price adjustments or to even come to the table. As you can see by the company's response, they are not willing to take any responsibility for their complete disregard for my health and their completely improper service. Food allergies and sensitivities should be taken very seriously and it is very disheartening that this company has no consideration for customers' health, made no attempts to try to rectify the situation, and responds with lies about the events that occurred. This is also especially concerning considering that they are an upscale, relatively expensive restaurant. I STRONGLY DISCOURAGE FROM EATING HERE. There are several other restaurants in the Red Bank area that have great customer service and that will accommodate food allergies like- Buona Serra, Semolina,...

I have been to Monticello a few times in the past and always found the food to be delicious but the service a little on the slow/short staffed side. Unfortunately, last night took that to a whole new level. After being seated and waiting over 10 minutes for our server to arrive we were told they only had 2 servers on (one of which was training) instead of their usual 4 due to some unforeseen staffing issues. It became apparent very quickly that this was not going to be anywhere near enough staff for the full restaurant. It took ages to get the attention of a server and everything moved along at a snails pace.

It took 1 hour and 10 minutes for our table to get appetizers, and then an additional 50 minutes after that for our entrees to arrive. The appetizers were absolutely delicious, however unfortunately the entrees did not live up to their usual quality and taste. Two of us ordered the stuffed chicken, which I have had several times before and always loved, but this time both of them came out lukewarm at best. It’s obvious they must have been sitting at the window waiting for a server to bring them out for some time. Very disappointing. We could have said something and had them warmed up however no one ever checked on us after bringing us the meals until well after we were all done eating.

When it came time to get the check it took us asking 3 separate times and waiting nearly 30 minutes for it to finally arrive. It was clear from looking at the other nearby tables that they were having similar issues. All said and done it took 3 hours for dinner service and we didn’t even look at or order dessert to prevent it from dragging on even longer.

My suggestion to the restaurant is if you plan on being that short staffed then perhaps you should begin calling your reservations and either cancelling some of them or letting guests know it’s going to be a LONG night and letting them decide if they still want to keep the reservation. 3 hours for a dinner with no dessert and cold entrees just isn’t...

I am responding the the previous review that was left by a member of the same party of which I dined with last evening. I feel compelled to reply in such to the response from the restaurant as I would like to add a few facts that have been conveniently omitted.

First off, I would like to say, we were incredibly excited to return to this restaurant for our friend's birthday as we had a wonderful time and the food is delicious. Our reservation was at 6:15. We arrived at 6:17. What the restaurant neglected to address in the previous review is that by the time she approached us at 6:25 about the next seating coming, she accused us of being late for our 6:00 reservation. We told her our reservation was for 6:15 to which she argued that it was not. When my friend produced the evidence on her phone of our Open Table reservation, instead of acknowledging the error she instead in an aggressive manner retorted "AND WHAT TIME DID YOU GET HERE?" Which she said a few times. Which of course led us to feel like we were being attacked. Not to mention she made us wait when we got there, which is on her.

It's very unsettling when you go out to dinner and you just want to have an enjoyable experience. We were celebrating our friend's birthday. There is a thing called customer service and there is also a nice way to say things when there may be an issue. We are reasonable and kind people. We felt like the woman was our mom and we were being reprimanded for something we didn't do. It was actually incredibly strange. The table next to us was flabbergasted and felt uncomfortable about the altercation.

We didn't feel welcome in the restaurant and will not...