Reservoir — Restaurant in South Orange

I went on a weekday for a late lunch. It's a quaint and cozy atmosphere. I sat at a table by the window which was nice. There was only one other party in the restaurant so of course I was seated right away. The waitress was polite and friendly.

(Read to the end for an opposite observation of another staff member/owner)

I ordered a single slice of pizza for an appetizer and the spaghetti with meatballs as my entree. (Already knew Id be taking food home). The pizza was delicious. Thin crust, scrumptious cheese & sauce, The spaghetti was served with 2 large meatballs. The meatballs were slightly loose for my taste but still okay.

I was only able to eat one of the meatballs and certainly had enough spaghetti and sauce to take home for 1-2 more meals.

As I mentioned there was another party in the restaurant directly across from me. Not sure if it was the owner or chef but he came out and made conversation with this group. Small talk and nicities were exchanged. The conversation went on for 5- 10 minutes. I expected that once he was finished he would walk over and acknowledge/greet me. At least ask how I was enjoying my meal. He did not. It was as if I was invisible. Keep in mind the dining room was empty besides myself and the other party. Not only was this unprofessional but it was very rude. Furthermore, it leaves me to think that this person might have ignored me because of my race. I hate to call the race card but blatant behavior such as this does cause me to consider that being the reason.

A good dining experience requires more than good food. Perhaps at some point in the future I will return to observe. That will determine whether I add this restaurant to my local list. Or, never return,...

We took a 75 minute ride to come see what this was all about. We got there just as they opened and were the first people in the resturant. We stood there for a good 5 minutes before someone sat us down. 5 minutes later out came a loaf of bread. Noone took a drink order or let us know the specials, put the bread down and left. Finally, the waitress came over and we gave our order. We ordered a pizza for the appetizer, Chicken Murphy for my husband and chicken cutlet with fresh Mozzarella and French fries for myself. My sandwich came out first, then the Chicken Murphy with his spaghetti. I had to ask for my fries and the pizza which was supposed to be the appitizer came last. Waitress never came back to see how we were doing, if we needed more to drink or if everything was OK. Horrible service!!!! With that being said, Chicken Murphy, their signature dish was delicious. Alot of flavor and plenty of food. This was the best dish we had. Chicken cutlet was plentiful. Cannot say it was fresh Mozzarella. It looked more like a sliced Mozzarella but it wasn't bad. French fries were fries and the pizza we didn't feel was something to write home about. We had to get up to go to the bus boy to get more to drink and ask for containers to pack our stuff to go. Very disappointing as we were hoping the resturant was worth the hype. Pros: Chicken Murphy was tasty and plentiful definately get this dish if you are to visit. Hope others have a better experience...

Had an awful experience tonight. Sat down at 5:45pm and ordered a pie, plain pasta with butter for my kids, shrimp marinara over broccoli, and penne vodka with chicken and mushrooms.

By 6:45pm, nothing had come out. We asked a few times to check and very nicely asked if there was any way they could bring the plain pasta for the kids, but the waitress barely acknowledged us.

The pizza and pasta finally showed up around 7.

By 7:15 we just had enough so we asked them to just pack everything to go when it was ready. Meanwhile, two tables that sat after us had already eaten, paid, and left.

At 7:30pm we finally got our food packed up and headed out. Unfortunately, instead of shrimp marinara, we had a container of plain broccoli. No shrimp, no sauce. I walked back in and showed it to the woman at the front who refunded me and told me to keep the broccoli.

When we got home, we also found the penne vodka had no chicken or mushrooms. I went back again for a refund, and the old man at the register told me the dish costs the same with or without chicken and I should just deal with it. I told him that I didn’t get what I ordered and would like a refund, so he threw $20 at me and told me to leave.

Look, I can understand being busy. I can understand kitchen mistakes. I can even understand tickets getting mixed up so other tables get served first. But what I can’t understand is rude service.

With all that said, the pizza is very good. Everything else...