Mocha Bleu Patisserie, Bistro + Mixology Bar — Restaurant in Teaneck Township

My opinion: The owner of this restaurant is greedy and acts in bad faith. Below are the facts. Decide for yourself if Mocha Bleu still deserves YOUR patronage.

The set up: Sunday, September 1, we invited family and friends to enjoy lunch at Mocha Bleu after my father-in-law’s unveiling service at Beth-El Cemetery. We told our guests that we would be hosting lunch, and asked them to identify themselves as members of our party as they entered Mocha Bleu. Three weeks before the event, my husband had corresponded with Naf, the owner, inquiring about a reservation for 17 adults and 5 children (at the time, the number of people expected), for arrival between 12 and 1pm. Naf and my husband agreed that our party would order à la carte, and that my husband would prepay for 17 people with “a minimum spend of $65 each, plus 20% gratuity.” We tried to pay an extra $750 to secure the party room but were then told it wouldn’t be available. A table for our party would be set in the regular restaurant space. For the “Prepaid Reservation,” on 8/15 my husband’s credit card was charged $1,452.53. Breakdown: 17x$65 + 20% gratuity + NJ sales tax + a 3.5% “service charge.” Nothing was said about more than 17 guests. Our understanding was that additional guests would be treated as walk-in guests, sitting at regular tables and ordering à la carte.

The dining experience: A table for 17 had been set up and a single server, Josh, was assigned to our entire party. Our party consisted of 26 adults and 5 children younger than 10. We were seated at 5 non-adjacent tables in the main room. No additional servers were assigned to our tables. Josh was the only one taking our orders, delivering orders, clearing tables, and refreshing drinks for 31 of us. Meanwhile, other parties who sat at tables next to us were quickly served by other servers. Josh started our order at 12:42 pm. Service was chaotic but he did the best he could. Food was inconsistently delivered. My raw tuna appetizer arrived at 2 pm after my husband, seated next to me, had finished both his appetizer and main course long before. The food was mediocre. My gluten-free penne was undercooked and inedible.

The aftermath: At almost 2:30 pm, after most of our party had departed, Josh announced that we hadn’t met the 31 x $65 = $2,015 minimum spend. He told us that we needed to order an additional $665 of food to take home, or forfeit that amount (plus 20% gratuity, tax, and an 3.5% service charge, a total cost of $863). WE BROUGHT IN 14 PATRONS WITHOUT A RESERVATION WHO SAT AT REGULAR TABLES AND ORDERED A LA CARTE. MOCHA BLEU TREATED THOSE 14 AS PART OF THE INITIAL PREPAID RESERVATION AND DEMANDED AN ADDITIONAL MINIMUM SPEND OF $910 plus $182 gratuity. THEY DIDN’T EVEN ASSIGN AN EXTRA SERVER TO OUR GROUP. My husband was apparently told, as our party settled in, that the minimum spend for all 31 guests would be $65, including the 6 young children. This unexpected last minute demand didn’t even register with him. And what choice did he have? Had we known beforehand that the $65 minimum spend would be demanded of all 31 guests instead of 17, we would have invited everyone to order a takeout meal. The few of us who were still there had a long drive ahead of us and needed to leave. We were not happy. Josh called Ayelet, the manager, on the phone. Eitan joined Josh in trying to resolve the situation. Our daughter told Ayelet that we’d be happy to pay for what we consumed, but that charging us more than that was unfair. Ayelet made no concessions. I tried to brainstorm. Could we have a gift card from the restaurant that we could pass on to friends in Teaneck? Negative. Could we treat other diners in the room to a free lunch, offering to cover their bill? Negative. Could we donate that amount to a charitable organization in the community? Negative. Josh and Eitan talked to the Naf on the phone. Final decision by the owner: order $665 worth of food now or forfeit $863.

1 server for 31 guests. Last minute $863 was added to our bill....

“Mocha” means “a fine coffee” and that is where this establishment begins and ends. “Bleu” is French for blue, a color marketing experts typically throw in when they have nothing else to offer. As is the case with this “Emperors new clothes” restaurant.

The ambiance is to die for. Or go deaf for. Especially with the screeching babies and everyone speaking over everyone else as my ear drums rattled. I could barely hear my date who seemed to be shouting at me. And we just met. The waiter was slower than the food and appeared once to take the order and once to deliver the check as he frantically ran around, in circles it seemed, while blowing a vape pen in a restaurant!

I was hoping for some “comfort” food, but when my salmon order finally appeared, delivered by a busboy who offered it to three other tables before approaching mine, it was so raw that I thought it might swim away. It appeared that they were feeding it, French style, with a tad of skewered vegetables and some bland white rice plopped on the plate prison-style. I don’t think I’ve sent anything back to the kitchen in decades of eating out. But my date insisted I must. Women like assertive men and so to impress her and overcome my shyness I caught the eye of another frantically moving waitress and gently asked her to cook the fish.

After starving and becoming deaf (my right ear is still ringing the morning after), the final insult to injury was added as someone BLASTED about ten seconds of music TWO TIMES within a half minute to let us know that they would soon be closing. Being prodded like cattle was unnecessary and rather uncouth for someone feigning to be a French restaurant.

Although the tiny portions (a spoonful of salad surrounded by eight sliced pieces of bread was 16 dollars) and extremely expensive priced main dish finally proved that I was in a French restaurant after all. They automatically add 20% as a tip. My waiter was overjoyed when I asked him to make it 25%. He deserved it for running in circles. But in truth, I felt happy to pay it as a...

The food is great but as a former owner of a Waiter service . The servers and manager must get some training. We come in on Monday labor day at 12pm for lunch . The place is half empty. Since there are no reservations allowed we are walk ins. The manager is looking around a empty place like where will the find a seat for five people. My wife said we would sit anywhere. He snapped I have to feed 400 people. I would have walked out but there was a block party on West Englewood. Then we have to flag down our server after twenty minutes no menus. With all the shows on the food channel about service with so many people looking for work. You figure they would get this right . This is like my tenth time there and it's always a hassle with the service. Not to even talk about we had house damage a year back and were holed in a hotel. I explained we have no other food . They made a Fettuccini Alfredo that no human could eat. For me I can eat anything I could not. We had a our dog with us she would not touch the food. I called the manager the next he answered ' what do you want me to do for you? " It's not my style to put a negative review as a very local business owner. But maybe the owner is not aware of this . If I were him I would send in a mystery guest.

Last night a family of 15 tried to reserve a table . When they called they said reservations could only be done online. They called to push off the reservation by one hour . When they arrived mocha wouldn't honor the reservation and watched a table of 15 walk right out to Dougie's which took them right in . I happened to be the one the grandpa vented to

The manager has not dealt with Orthodox people or had a bad day . As I see he told a family with a baby who sat down already that their table wasn't setup yet and made then schlep back to the front .

Again if you can tolerate all this the food...