Spring House — Restaurant in Tenafly

Poor Management

I’ve dined at this restaurant 3 times, and unfortunately, the experience has steadily declined. The first visit was promising when they just opened — the food and service were solid. My second visit was disappointing: the food was so overly salted it was unbearable, and several of us felt unwell afterward. My most recent visit, on Mother's Day, was the final straw.

The restaurant was clearly overwhelmed by the holiday crowd. Service was slow, though the food itself was fine. The waitstaff was nice and apologized for some delays and confusion. However, since our entrees arrived quite late, we asked to take most of it home. Unfortunately, once we got home, we discovered that only two appetizers had made it into our to-go bags — all of our entrees were missing, and the restaurant was already closed, which was too bad because we paid a lot for the meal and had left a very generous tip but sadly did not get to eat the food we paid for.

I called the restaurant when they opened back up this morning. While the initial staff member was polite and tried to check if they had by chance stuck our food back in the fridge, the manager took over the call. He never answered my simple question and was so shockingly unprofessional.

Rather than listening to my concern and just apologize, he interrupted repeatedly and insisted the mistake was ours for “leaving the food.” There was no apology, no accountability — just a dismissive, condescending attitude that left me genuinely stunned. Perfect example of mansplaining. I literally had to yell at him over the phone and beg him to just be quiet and listen to me for 1 minute so I could even speak. I pity the staff who have to work under such an unprofessional person - what a total jerk. If he treats customers like that, I can only imagine what a tyrant he is to work for. He gives a bad name to Italians who usually are actually the loveliest when it comes to customer service - I know this firsthand.

Several different people warned me about the poor service here, and it’s clear the issue lies in the management. For a restaurant that charges fine-dining prices, the customer service falls short.

While the setting is cute, look elsewhere for a meal that’s worth both your...

I would give Spring House a 2.5. I looked into this restaurant to try something new for my father’s birthday. I chose to be seated on the second the floor of the venue as I was told it would be more private. The restaurant seems to have been formerly a house and where we were seated very much had haunted attic vibes. The overhead lights were not working so it was extremely dark and it felt like we were eating in a closet. They did do their best to make it lighter and provided us the only table lamp they had. Our server was very amenable, polite, and patient with our request for more light but the overall service was very slow. From start to finish it was a 3 hour experience.

The food was fine. We ordered the octopus which was well marinated but they left the slimy film (usually mucus secreted by octopus skin) on. The bread which is at an additional cost was ok…would have tasted better if it came out warm. It definitely was not freshly baked out of the oven. The chopped salad was soggy iceberg lettuce leaves dressed in olive oil and was bland. My family ordered the branzino which they did say was good. We all ordered a side of broccoli rabe which was aLao overdressed in oil and bland. My fries seemed like they were old and dry and had been sitting out, almost as if they had taken old fries and refried them. The eggplant parm was good and big enough to be eaten as an entree. My cousin ordered the steak and fries—he finished the steak which is a good sign and left the fries untouched for the reason I mentioned above. I ordered the chicken milanese which was nicely flavored but the chicken was chewy on the inside, not moist and tender.

The cocktails were delicious but did not seem to have much alcohol in them (my sister had a lychee martini and did not feel the slightest bit buzzed and she is someone who can only handle two drinks at most). They did have an affordable wine menu and we enjoyed the bottle we selected. The desserts were the best part of the meal—tiramisu was perfection and the basque cheesecake and chocolate cake combo was...

I wish I could express how my birthday dinner went, but it was cut short. We arrived between 4:45pm-4:55pm; not sure the exact time however upon arrival the restaurant was completely empty, only with staff. We were seated in a cute table nook and the server was very nice and attentive. We were a party of 4 and were waiting for our 4th person to arrive. In the meantime we ordered a bottle of still water and cocktails. The cocktails were delicious, hats off to the bartender! However at 5:22pm the owner or manager, not sure who the man was, but he approaches our table and states “you guys had a reservation for 4:45pm, it’s 5:20pm now. I need this specific table for a 7:00pm reservation. You guys are dragging it. Just letting you know we sat you here because it’s a birthday but we need this table at 7:00pm.” At this point we are appalled because not only did we already put in drinks, we also did not request special seating, the place was completely empty, and 7:00pm was more than 1.5+hrs away. Our 4th person had walked in as he walked away and we decided to close our tab and leave. We felt the approach was rude and unnecessary. I have dined in plenty of establishments and have also worked in the hospitality business and NEVER have I had someone approach us in such manner nor would I have ever treated guests in such way. We completely understand reservations after us, however there are different ways to approach situations. It was 5:22pm and he was talking about a 7:00pm reservation. We had recently sat down, the restaurant was pin-drop empty, and we were still looking through the menu before we were told “we were...