Good News Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Woodbury

Did not realize Carol Peck had sold the business when we ventured to my once favorite spot. I had raved all day how great the food and atmosphere (and Carol) were. First red flag was that they had ripped out the charming kitchen garden by the front door, then saw the interior renovations. Meh. They were nice enough, but lacking the kitchy eclectic charm the original Good News was known for. Always enjoyed the display of Bridgewater Chocolates, antiques and dessert selections. Was pleased to see the menu offered numerous delicious sounding options so figured I'd let go my disappointment that it wasn't what I had been expecting thus far. We each ordered soup (French onion and a lobster bisque). French onion was satisfactory, lobster bisque was passable although the lobster was insanely salty and rubbery, and there were several small bits of shell to navigate around. We also tried the Brussels sprouts appetizer. It was also decent. For our mains, we got a special (which was an app) of meatball bruschetta and steak tacos with a side salad. The meatball bruschetta was an embarrassing presentation. It was 2 small meatballs cut in half served on a slice of toast and topped with a drip of marinara, a large cold blob of burrata and a drizzle of balsamic glaze (which seemed not to fit the dish IMO). It was not at all restaurant quality. More like a snack you make for yourself if you were high at 2am and raiding the fridge of leftovers. The steak tacos were tiny, and there were only 2 of them served with a very wet side salad. The meal cost $100 with tip, which I can accept if the food is good. While we were at the table I just kept saying to myself "where is Carol? What happened to Carol? There's no way she'd allow this from her kitchen". That's when I googled it and found out she retired. I read that the new owners said they were going to try to keep it the same while making it their own. I am a farmer with a long list of former high end restaurant clients (I closed my business during Covid, and sadly Carol was not on that list just due to distance), so I ALWAYS want to see farm to table restaurants succeed. This one is failing to meet the expectations it's inherited name implies. It's on par with a chain you may find in a mall, not with that of it's namesake. I used the restroom before we left. The toilet would not flush. They were playing 50s/60s music, which I enjoy, but it was skipping so badly it couldn't be ignored. We mentioned it to our server, and he said he knew. It was a wifi issue they had always had. Perhaps if it's a known issue, you find another alternative rather than continue playing it at a rather high volume. It's those little attentions to detail that make your customer feel invited. Our server was friendly and attentive, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make us ever want to return. Good News Cafe is no longer my favorite special occasion destination. Carol Peck is missed. She made that place what it was. Now it's just a place you try once and...

Regretfully, the quality of the food has declined. It would appear that the original owner is now only a co-owner and the results are clear to see. The old tasteful exterior sign is removed and has been replaced with a rather unflattering substitute, lacking the former owners name. Enter the restaurant and the old main dining room is now a large bar with some tables and chairs. Many of the more complicated great dishes that were on previous menus have been removed. Some examples are the excellent and tasty sliced fruit salad, the Persian rice dish and the amazing chocolate mocha pecan pie. The food preparation was good and reasonably tasty, however lacking the zest and excellence that was a Hallmark of the restaurant under previous ownership. It would appear that the staff prefers to keep this ownership change information from public knowledge, and only when confronted with our knowledge of the new partnership, did our server fess up about the co-ownership. Please do not misunderstand me, the food is good, and our service was very good. It appears that the Cost Cutters and bean counters have taken over the establishment. Perhaps worth going for a supper if in the area. We do not live terribly close by and this establishment will not be on our short list of dining places. We wish them luck, and great success. However, there is a formula that every dining establishment should strive to develop and implement. I don't believe that their formula will ultimately appeal to the previous clientele base. It will be not easy for them to develop a new clientele base around their evolving concept and implementation. UPDATE 09.16.2020 The food is still quite good and the overall Dining experience is quite good. The service could use some improvement. There is no excuse for Waiting 20 minutes to place a dessert order after the dessert menus have been placed on the table. After 20 minutes of waiting, we just ask for the bill, paid it and left. Additionally, no one came over to the table and inquired about our needs after the main course was served. Courteous service but not...

Nice looking place inside . Great atmosphere. I love organic food and thought i would surprise my son. First I had to ask for the bread they had forgotten which would have been ok had they not brought out hard as a rock bread to start .... that was not sliced. No sharp knife to slice it...and no butter. They did apologize though and said that the girl had just started. My chicken was literally so dry that i could not swallow it without a sip of water to wash it down. The vegetables were just ok. The potatoes tasted like instant potatoes.I had originally wanted pasta which the waitress talked me out of. I have no complaints about the waitress or staff. My son and i agree that each of our meals were the worst we have had in years .My son is not fussy at all he is a teenager. He had a burger. It was just awful and the fries were hard as a rock and tasted stale. He ate none of his dinner but he did eat the mussels that i had ordered for an app. I only ate 2 bites of the chicken because that is all i could get down. The green colored mustard on my plate was discusting and tasted of wisabi the waitress said it was from St. Pattys day. In their defense maybe we went too late at night as everyone seemed to be scurrying around to close up.... They were closing in an hour. Realistically i would have never served that food to anyone. We did tell the waitress how we felt and she did offer us free chocolate to go... but we said no thankyou. I paid the wasted $85.00 and waited to see if we were on candid camera and this was all a funny joke with actual fake food. Nope it was real. I've always wanted to go there and was beyond...