Rola's Kitchen Mediterranean Grill — Restaurant in Wood-Ridge

Rolas would be a straight 5 star rating for food and decor. Each dish was extremely flavorful and unique. No two dishes tasted similar. We had a large party so ordered a range of dishes. The beef hummus was the ultra favorite, and very unique and different from the hummus appetizer. The kababs, chicken, lamb, falafel, cheese appetizers, burger and fries were all terrific and 5 stars. The effort in each dish and timeliness was very noticeable and greatly appreciated. I am not a fan of Mediterranean cuisine but Rolas made me a fan! I would certainly return again for the food, but only with a smaller party of four or less, as I felt the staff were overwhelmed with serving a larger party of around 15, and came across as rather brusque at times. We were initially told by the hostess/owner to wait before being seated although we had arrived on time, half the place was empty and my friend had made the reservation for us much earlier. Overall the space is small so I assume they wanted to wait for us to arrive before setting up a larger table. We were told to order everything up front, which we did, but the hostess taking our order was rather impatient throughout and my friend felt rushed and disrespected. We ordered a few water bottles so the hostess kept ordering the waitresses to pick up the glasses. I assumed she was nervous because there were two children, however it came across poorly. The children were well behaved and I’ve never seen a restaurant not allow guests to keep water glasses if they order water bottles. We later added some more orders which took time since every table was being served in turn, which was understandable. However during this waiting period there was something going on with lights on our side being alternatively dimmed then brightened every few seconds between the hostess and a waitress. The other half of the room had the same lighting throughout. A friend felt perhaps they were creating an ambience for the couples seated at other tables on our side. Some waitresses began picking up our plates although our new orders were still in process which irritated some members of our party. I assumed some of the waitresses didn’t realize that. We really wanted to stay for dessert that had rave reviews but by that time we felt it would be easier to go to another nearby cafe. I felt dismayed by the service as I had really rooted for our group to come to this place based off reviews...

HORRIBLE SERVICE – RUINED OUR ANNIVERSARY!

My husband and I came here for our one-year wedding anniversary with high hopes, but this place (mainly the waiter) completely ruined our night. We looked at the menu, and while it was expensive, we assumed we were paying for quality and service—WRONG.

We had a south asian lady as our waitress for the night and I asked if the mixed plate was enough for both of us, to which she responded no. I told her we’d think about it and let her know. After finishing our appetizers (which were overpriced and nothing special), I called her back and said we’d go ahead with ONE mixed plate since we were already getting full. She took the menu and walked away.

When our food came, she brought TWO plates. I immediately told her we only ordered ONE, but she had the audacity to argue with me, insisting that I had ordered two. I made it very clear that I never did. At this point, I wasn’t about to let her gaslight and bully me into paying for something I didn’t order. I called over a different server, who actually listened and took the extra plate back. But instead of letting it go, the original waitress came strutting back, chest puffed out, trying to argue again and recall our entire conversation like a courtroom transcript. I had to literally tell her to stop going back and forth with me and just take the damn plate back. After five minutes of this ridiculous power trip, she finally took it away.

On top of the awful service, the food was completely mediocre—definitely not worth $35 for a small portion. And to make things even worse, they forced a 20% gratuity on the bill for just two people! Absolutely ridiculous.

Do yourself a favor and DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE. If you really want good food and service, just go to Paterson. This place is a joke. NEVER...

I had ordered takeout out from here before and thought it was okay. This time, I decided to try it again but dined in. We stopped in on a Sunday at around 1:30 with a party of seven (including a stroller) for my Mom's birthday lunch. It was a little busy so luckily they were still able to accommodate the stroller. The inside space is very warm and beautiful, and looks like a nice spot for date night. For this lunch, we decided to order a bunch of things to share:

-Rola's Maza (Hummus, Baba Ghanouj, Mohamara, Lebneh with pita bread) - it doesn't come with a lot of bread, so you may want to order an extra side of it. The lebneh was my favorite -Fattoush Salad (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Radish, Mint, Red Pepper, Toasted Bread) - the dressing was good. I always like a nice, fresh salad to go with my Mediterranean food -Grilled Octopus - everyone loved this dish. It was served on top of some hummus. The octopus was nice and tender -Rola's Mixed Grill (Filet Mignon, Kofta Kebab, Chicken Kebab) - the filet mignon was the best. We ended up ordering just the filet mignon platter afterwards. The kofta and chicken were a bit dry -Mixed Shawarma - this isn't the shaved shawarma you're thinking of. It's just strips of beef and chicken, which was a little tough. It was disappointing since we were expecting the thin slices of meat -Falafel Wrap - this was mostly filled with lettuce and tomato and it didn't seem like there was much falafel inside. Served with french fries

Overall, I would say the food is still just okay - similar to my takeout experience. I was hoping that dine-in would be better. It's also a little pricey for what you get, so my last opinion still stands - If you are looking for really good/reasonably priced middle eastern cuisine, make the drive to...