The George Inn — Restaurant in Vernon Township

The trip to this place was seriously like a Twilight Zone situation. We were trying to book a place in Warwick and couldn't get reservations so we began to look in the Vernon area. We were staying locally but had very good things about the place we couldn't get in to. After looking at the possible options in Vernon (and the Hawk's Nest being closed for whatever reason) we decided to try out the George Inn.

Arriving we saw that there was maybe 10 cars in the parking lot. This was 6:30pm on a Saturday night so we thought we were either extremely lucky or that the place wasn't going to be very good. We eventually heard from our server that they had apparently just been very busy and emptied out. We were greeted by a hostess who said she would clean a booth for us. While she was doing that (I would guess him to be) the owner saw us and started looking around somewhat frantically. My guess was that he was worried we hadn't been attended to, I was wrong. He was looking for someone to tell them that they should let us know there would be an hour long wait for food if we planned to stay. The server who told us seemed pretty adamant that she didn't want to make any more money that night. The hostess got us a different server and she assured us it wouldn't be an hour for food. Being a chef of 20 years and seeing a massive dining room with another side for their bar area, it was upsetting to see maybe 4-5 tables in the whole place and nearly everyone in give up mode.

The hostess was great, and so was our eventual server. Both kept checking on us and making sure we had things while we waited. They tried their best to get us drinks (not enough glassware to make their drink special in the proper glass more than once...weird) and when the food did ultimately take a long time, our server brought some chips and salsa to hold us over. If it wasn't for these two employees, this review would be worse.

We ordered wings as an appetizer so that we could get a little food quicker than they had told us it would be. 10 breaded wing ding style wings in hot sauce we figured wouldn't be that long. It was maybe 20 minutes. Better than an hour. The wings were good. They said the sauce was really hot, it was not, but had good flavor. They make their own ranch and blue cheese. The ranch had an odd addition to it, almost as if it was 80% ranch and 20% Caesar. The blue cheese wasn't blended well enough, huge chunks of cheese, but the liquid portion was nearly flavorless.

The actual food we ordered did in fact, take nearly an hour. After seeing their menu online and realizing they were trying to do FAR too much, we figured getting a large main plate item was a poor choice. We further added to that belief when we saw the typical diner style place settings at the tables (some of which had coupons that expired a year ago). We went with the tenderloin tips sandwich and 2 burgers.

The tenderloin sandwich was good, would have been better than good but the entire roll was wet with what I would assume was either the butter or oil they used to cook the peppers and onions that come on it. Fries were dusted with flour or cornstarch so they had a bit more crunch than some others, they were also good. Both burgers had good flavor and came on Kaiser rolls (which I like) however both temps were wrong. We were supposed to get a medium rare and a medium. We got a medium well and a well. After waiting an hour and realizing it wasn't going to get much better, we decided to keep them and just count our losses and head for the door.

Not sure if I'll end up in this town again but if I do, I'll be finding somewhere...

Talk about a local dive. I stopped here with some chums after the Stairway to Heaven hike this past weekend. They are not from this area and when they asked for post-hike food recommendations a few days earlier, I had to shrug - it's just not what Sussex is known for, with some very random exceptions. There's literally only one great restaurant I've been to in the entire county (Farmer's Daughter in Newton - absolute perfection if you're in the area), and it's probably 40 minutes away from here. So we came to the George Inn, which...could have been worse.

There IS a unique atmosphere here that you're only going to get at a locals-dominated, middle of nowhere bar/restaurant. There's definitely some history here, with a fascinating quasi-domed wooden ceiling that has a mock family crest in the middle of it featuring a mug of beer. I came in from the northern side and had to walk through a literal liquor store to get into the actual bar area. Fascinating. They don't make them like they used to. And absolutely we stuck out like a sore thumb - every other patron looked like they'd just gone through a few decades of winters in the northernmost part of New Jersey, and probably had.

I didn't want to get too adventurous here, so I went with one of my bar app staples, the tater skins ($10). Honestly one of the worst I've had in the past few years at least, which is a shame. The bacon wasn't proportioned well at all, and was basically this overcooked, thick, crunchy, tough layer below the cheese. Awful texture. As you can see from the attached, the cheese wasn't evenly distributed either, and was a little rubbery. I brought two of them home for leftovers but ended up throwing them away. Would not get them again.

I wasn't feeling optimistic about my plain hamburger entrée after that introduction ($12 or $13 I think), but it was the star of the show by a considerable margin. Stunningly (and I honestly can't remember the last time I said this), the bun was the star - super fresh and tasted like it was transported out of an Italian bakery in Newark or something. The bovine itself was fine. It was slightly undercooked - I ordered medium rare and it was closer to rare - but I prefer rare, so it worked out; I never order rare at an unknown commodity because the risk of mooing is too large. And it was appropriately juicy and not too greasy. This isn't Michelin-level by any stretch, but for a dive bar burger it's decent for sure. The fries were also really good. I thought they did need a little ketchup for flavoring purposes, but for the most part, they were just the right amount of crisp. Warmly received across the board.

The service was okay. We sat at the bar, so we probably got a bit more attention than the table-dwellers. Our food came out in a timely manner, and when we asked for the check, it was promptly provided. I was a little thirsty and would have liked a bit more proactiveness in refilling my water, but I also didn't ask and she did eventually do so after about half an hour. That to me cancels out though since I was being a lazy lump after a hike.

If I ended up back here at some point, they wouldn't have to drag me in, but I might try to convince whomever I'm with to keep looking a little...

Went here once when I first moved to the area this past spring. It was—in a word—awful. Once seated (there were maybe 10 people in the whole restaurant), we ordered drinks. Server forgot we ordered drinks. We eventually got them. When our food (fajitas) came, they were essentially inedible. There was some weird barbecue-style glaze on the meat which seemed pretty incongruent with the fajitas. Everything took ages, and after maybe 90m or so, I nearly made the waitress take my credit card so we could just leave. We had no intention of returning, but it’s close to where we live and decided to give it a go for a quick and casual appetizer. When we arrived (at 8:15PM), one other table in the restaurant and somehow two servers on) we ordered a Guinness and a Cape May IPA. As with last time, drinks took ages. The Guinness was undrinkable. I figured it’d be a safe move because it wasn’t a seasonal or something but the keg must’ve been kicked. When the food came (it wasn’t too long this time) the quesadillas were fried with shredded lettuce inside? Like… why? My girlfriend ate a few subpar ribs from a half rack before we mutually called it quits. Put my card on the table and when the waitress came by, I tried to make her take it without even seeing the check because we wanted to leave and knew they tend not to come back. She put her hand up and said “one second” and just kept walking. There’s literally no one else here. She came back maybe ten min later with the check. She offered us a box, but didn’t note the largely uneaten food and full beer. She asked if we were in a rush. As convenient as the location is, I guarantee I’ll never come here again. Truly the worst. We’re not talking filet here. We’re talking beers, ribs, and...