Zachary's — Restaurant in West Long Branch

EDIT: I have downgraded Zach's to one star. In my previous review the owner/mgr responded with the impression that the previous two star review I wrote was based on just one experience. That is not quite true. Over the past five years, almost every time my wife and I visited Zach's, there was at least one issue with our order, some bigger than others, but mostly small things like leaving out parts of an order like sliced tomato . Things too small to make an effort to say anything about.

Other examples of poor service. At least 50% of the time, the ribs are over cooked and tough. Most of the time they bring out the main course AND appy at the same time when we have only started salads. Who wants to sit and finish a salad or dig into an appy while their dinner gets cold?

This visit, I ordered a cheese burger cooked medium. Medium is supposed to be just a tiny bit pink inside, and still juicy. It was delivered to me overcooked, waaay past well done, and somewhat burnt. The cheese and roll were also burnt. The taste was absolutely disgusting, it can only be described as acrid.

I called this to the attention of the waitress to which we received a halfhearted apology (not that it was her fault, but still) and she brought it back to the kitchen.

When the second burger arrived, I cut it open before taking a bite. The replacement burger was burnt on the outside (cheese and roll again) and almost completely raw on the inside, which is very unsafe as that's how people can get e-coli. The gastronomic experience promised on their website almost turned into a gastrointestinal episode. This time I called for the mgr.

The mgr came over and said he would get another burger. No thank you, check please! By this time my wife was almost done with her slightly overcooked meal. Mgr then offered us a free desert. Again, no thank you.

This will have been our final visit to Zachary's. They've struck out. It's very sad because Zach's used to be a reliable place to have a good four star meal at a decent price.

We paid full price for everything except the burger. Way to make up a very bad experience to a customer. But, at least I could have had a free desert on an empty stomach.

This review is not a hit piece, it is 100% true. I sincerely hope the owner reads this and does something about the quality of service and product. I wish them only success in the future.

Last night, my wife and I had dinner at Zachary's. I've been eating there for almost two decades and normally the food is good, but not so much last night. Things were not going well from the beginning, I ordered a 7 and Seven and it came with seltzer, no 7. Okay, not a big deal and too tired and hungry to worry about it.

We were not half way through eating our soup/salad when the entrees came out.

I had a surf and turf type dinner. The steak was burnt on the outside and quite rare inside. I was not sure the clarified butter was actually butter.

My wife's meatloaf tasted like three slabs of meatballs. It wasn't unpleasant, but not what one would expect from meatloaf. My impression is they use the same recipe for meatloaf as they do meatballs. There was no texture to it and breadcrumbs were used far too generously.

Well, at least we had desert to look forward to. We always have the molten chocolate cake because it's so delicious. As the name suggests, it is served very hot and the aroma wafts like a 50's cartoon fresh baked pie. Well, I guess Zach's was on a roll this particular night. The cake was barely warm on one side and still cold on the other. The center, which should have been melted chocolate was nearly solid and tepid.

This review is not meant to discourage anyone from eating at Zachary's. Their food is typically very good, especially the pizza. My hope is that someone there will read this and realize they have a quality control issue. If it was busy that night, I could forgive the poor quality as a one off bad night in the kitchen, but it was not at all...

5/24/25 Yannis is a terrible manager! I recall having spoken to him some time ago when calling in to ask about what comes in the Greek salad. He was impatient on the phone about what was in it and I had a question about adding grilled chicken to it. I ended up terminating the call and telling him about himself because he was so rude. Fast forward to today (date above). My husband called in an order for grilled chicken breast (They gave him 2 decent sized, perfectly cooked pieces which we were giving to our newly adopted dog; a very picky eater.). My husband also ordered the pork chops which came with JUST rice. Nothing else. When my husband's order was taken over the phone, no one asked nor did anyone check the order upon pick up to provide the missing soup or salad. I called. I instantly recognized Yannis' voice but decided to just go with the reason for the call tonight and let my past interaction be just that; the past. I asked what came with the pork chops and rice, "such as soup, salad or bread and rice?" and he advised soup or salad. He offered nothing; instead asked for the name so, "We can take care of you the next time you come in". I responded it would be a to go order because we rarely go out to dinner there anymore and asked what percentage or discount would be applied to the next order since it'd be a "to go order". I also asked his "name so if when placing the order, I could advise with whom I spoke" and he responded that his name was "Yanni". In answer to my question, he responded, "I don't know, we'll have to see the next time you come in." I have managed restaurants AND businesses. HOW does a manager not only not know his menu and have to put the customer on hold on both phone calls but also have such a pompous and evasive attitude? I worked for a law group and we used to order from them a lot but our secretary used to get in trouble for the to go orders being so messed up every time, so this is obviously something potential customers should be aware of when ordering here. I've eaten there many times and the food was always very good and fresh. Needless to say, neither my husband or I want to open our to-go orders and confirm we not only received everything we ordered, but also, that whomever took the order on the phone knew what (else) comes with what. My sweet husband just assumed that the cup of rice and 2 (medium sized) pork chops and the 2 chicken breasts at $30+ was "IT". Having managed, I knew better, thus why I gave a call to ask. We won't be ordering take out again and I doubt we'll go there anymore because between too many strikes both at my former employer's office and two now on the phone, we'll eat elsewhere. Ignorance and arrogance will kill a business; hopefully the owner will address this but most likely, Yannis is family because he's consistently been awful on the phone over the years and I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed. That's why now the second negative interaction, I'm...

First time visiting Zachary’s. We went to visit a restaurant across the street and saw Zachary’s was PACKED on a Monday. We decided to see what the craziness was about. Staff was very nice upon arrival. We were given the opportunity to dine outside which we jumped on since the inside had a wait. We loved the deck as it had ample breeze, privacy and sun shades that made the experience pleasant. Once seeing the menu we realized why the place was packed. It was half off their famous thin crust pizza. And also prime rib special for $29.99. We ordered a pie to try and take rest home, my wife and I got the prime rib as we are always in search of good prime rib. My son ordered the chicken piccata and my daughter ordered a half portion Nacho. The pie: super thin, dark and crispy edges ( not burnt) undercarriage was a little floppy and the crust didn’t stay together for long. Cheese was good but needed more salt for our liking. Sauce was great as was the sausage and diced onions. I would order it again on a normal night to compare quality. The bread basket comes with soft rolls and pepperoni bread slices which was a great point of difference. The prime rib: huge portion, mixed veg on side was very over cooked and mushy but my broccoli was steamed and crunchy. (Opted for no potato) The cook on the prime rib was done very well and so was the seasoning. We ordered medium rare and it came out close to medium. But the cook was so good that it was tender and we weren’t bothered by the slight overcooking. My sons chicken was a decent portion and he said is was just ok. Side salads and soups were all very good. Now the nachos: our least fav of the night. under top layer was all crushed chips. Top layer was very soggy and she needed a fork to eat it. ( not as fun with a fork) All in all we made a great decision to stop here instead of our original location. We will come back. Be aware parking fills up quick and we had to park around the block in the residential neighborhood. They do offer other weeknight specials so...