Stage Left
| Address: | 5 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA |
| Phone: | +1 732-828-4444 |
| Site: | stageleft.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 5:30–9PM 5:30–10PM 5:30–10PM 5:30–10PM 5:30–11PM 5:30–11PM 4:30–9PM |
Location
Photos 1
Reviews 6
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Kevin Hong
Service was great and attentive, with only a minor slip up with the bread rolls at the beginning. If youre looking for service, youre in for a great night. Decor, ambience and setting is soothing and top-notch as well. 5/5 Onto the food. We ordered the classic burger, with some parmesan potato thing as a side as well as the steelhead trout platter. The hamburger, as the reviews all state, was delicious...albeit messy. It was large to the point of being unwieldy (I dont like playing Jenga with my burgers) but otherwise excellent. Juicy and well made: lives up to the reputation. 4/5...maybe a 4.5? The trout was less impressive. For 37 dollars, you get a two filets stacked on top of each other on one end of the dish and a jumbled melange of various foodstuffs on the other end. Unfortunately, the portion size of these things remains somewhere between nibble and bite sized, so a real taste was never really aquired. Instead, I felt like I was trying out all the samples at Costco. One thing to note, however, was that the smoked monkfish was very good. The taste was just...incredible. Unfortunately, it was smaller than my pinky finger. 3/5 If I could describe with one word the Parmesan cheese/potato monstrosity that came next it would be "salty". Each patty probably contained over my daily allowance for salt. An overwhelming salt taste obscured almost all other tastes - those of the cheese and the potato - while bringing out the burnt taste of the bottom of the patty. I hesitate to call this "salty potatoes", because a better descriptor would be "potato-flavored salt". Nearly inedible. 1/5. Overall, this resturaunt hit my wallet harder than it pleased my palate. Come for the burger.
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Fernando Meta
My wife and I decided to have dinner at Stage Left, it had a good reputation and it was next door to the State Theater where we were attending a show. Two years ago I had a bad experience, I ordered an expensive wild Alaskan salmon and received an overcooked salmon with no flavor or texture. I decided to give it a second chance. The ambience is good, they have a good size room with a fireplace and it’s not too loud, you can have a good conversation. After looking at the menu I asked if they would recommend the Scottish Salmon or the NY strip steak, the curt response was “well the Salmon is a fish, it’s light. The steak is… a steak”. This didn’t help me but I went for the steak and I ordered a medium rare NY strip. They brought me a steak that was seared and completely uncooked. I asked if they could please cook it a little more to reach medium rare not rare, they came back in a couple of minutes with the same level of doneness, they just seared where I cut the steak. I politely remarked that and asked to make it medium at that point. They came back with the steak burnt on the outside with no change in the inside. One of the waiter made me notice that in high end restaurant that’s what is considered “medium rare”. He said in a manner as if I have never been in a nice restaurant and it was my fault. I am a pretty good cook myself, a food enthusiast and I ate in several high end restaurants across the country and internationally, blaming the customer for a self-evident bad meal was not a winning point. The conclusion: good décor, good quality ingredients, bad cuisine, poor customer care. High prices for an overall mediocre dining experience.
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A Private User
Hate to be so harsh, but when you go to a very expensive restaurant you expect decent service. Had relatives visiting New Brunswick, so we wanted to go the "best" restaurant around. We thought it was Stage Left, but it was not. After waiting over a half hour for our table (with a reservation) we were seated. We ordered an expensive bottle of wine and did not hear from another employee of the restaurant for another half hour. No wine, no order was placed, no one checked in, we just sat there wondering where our wine was. We were hungry and feeling really disrespected. It was embarrassing for us because we told our guests this was supposed to be a great restaurant. Now when you are spending hundreds of dollars on wine, at least $40-$70 on an entree we could not accept that level of service. Unfortunately we had been at the restaurant for over an hour and had not ordered or received the wine we requested. We stood up, I found a waiter and told him we had waited long enough and we were leaving. They seemed to understand and that was that. It really put a damper on the night. We did go across the street to Daryls Wine Bar, where we had a really nice meal with fantastic service for significantly less money. Not going back to Stage Left.
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A Private User
Dined at Stage Left on Nov. 6, 2011 with a party of 4 people. Loved this place as soon as I walked in. The decor is very nice, the service was spot on and the meal was incredible. They serve great cocktails and have an extensive drink menu / wine list. Myself and most of the members of my dining party had the Pre Theatre Menu: for about $35 dollars you get a choice of soup or salad and an entree of either chicken or beef, and a little dessert at the end. Everyone in our group enjoyed their meal. The wait staff were very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. That being said, this place is quite expensive and I would only reserve for special occasions or if you are willing to splurge on a nice dinner. Reservations are recommended. This is one of the finest places to dine in New Brunswick, in my opinion. I would definitely recommend this place to a friend.
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Larry Brewer
Horrible experience. Arrived at 5pm, had an appetizer, then waited an hour for the entree. Was told by waiter, entrees will be up in a few minutes. Ten minutes later, the manager/owner told me numerous customers showed up at once - of course they are right next door to a theater with a show that evening. Then I was told by the same waiter, they were short help int he kitchen. And the manager had a bad attitude - obviously other customers had troubles too. Too many stories. Wished he was honest from beginning. Then one of our entrees was RAW. They obviously rushed it. I guess they never heard of a cooking thermometer. They didnt even have the courtesy to comp a round of drinks for the inconvenience. Very poor customer. I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO STAGE LEFT OR CATHERINE LOMBARDIS - SAME OWNERS.
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Ted Stark
1) Bar none the best service you could ask for. 2) A true restaurant rather than just a way to make money. 3) Evey aspect of the restaurant syncs together like a Swiss watch. It is rare that the owner of a restaurant will help you determine what you would personally enjoy at their restaurant. Here both owners are very friendly and extremely food and beverages knowledgeable but also fun and approachable to all levels of customer. Everyone that works there is personable and fun to talk with and they know exactly when to leave you to your conversation. The bar 10! The food 10! the service 10! All aspects are made to go together in a way that makes 1 plus 1 equal 3 and is synergistic like a great wine pairing.
