Just had my first meal there tonight. Loved the ambiance, and the staff was nice, but the food was just... off. Caesar salad was fine, my wife liked her shrimp and corn cake, but the pacu ribs missed the mark - interesting, but not worth having again. The St. Louis ribs had very little meat on them, and the sauce wasn't good. Plus, they clearly grilled them after the sauce was applied, which burned the sugars giving an off taste. Cole slaw side wasn't crisp or tangy. The fried chicken was in small pieces, and while still tender, just didn't have the right crunch or peppery bite it should have had. Mashed potatoes were fine, and green beans were very good. The duck was good on its own, but the sauces were not good at all. Desserts were very good all around though. Unfortunately, while lunch reviews are positive, I would not go back for dinner.
Review Source:The mixed reviews on here are accurate. The menu is enticing, the styling, architecture & decor are geared towards 'upscale', but the restaurant misses the mark just slightly.
The portion sizes were varied and inconsistent between dishes, my salmon was overcooked. The fish tacos were tasty though!
Let me start off by saying my review is solely based on the food. Â The service/decor/location were all excellent!
Their New orleans/Cajun menu looked really yummy and I was expecting fresh seafood with local greens and real authentic flavors. Â The clam chowder I got for an appetizer was lumpy and looked and tasted as if it was out of a can. Â The salmon entree I got smelled so overwhelmingly fishy that I gagged everytime I tried to eat it. I never send food back but this time, I physically couldn't eat it. Â They were gracious enough to replace my meal with the crabcakes which were better but no way up to par. Having high hopes for dessert, the chocolate cake that we ordered looked and tasted as if it were from a gas station deli. IT was cloyingly sweet/ artificial tasting and definitely not homemade.
Despite the phenomenal service and wonderful ambience, I don't think I will be coming back
It was my first time here, and after reading the reviews, I wasn't sure what to expect. Overall, I was pleased. As others have commented, the decor is *very* nice. I'm surprised they don't have more pictures on their web site. I started with the mussels in white wine sauce appetizer and loved it! It gave me very high hopes for the main course, the B&W steak... unfortunately, while it was a very nice piece of meat, it was overseasoned for my taste. I'm not sure why some have complained about the serving size, I found mine to be fine... maybe slightly small on the veggies, but I took some of the steak home. I'll definitely return to try some of the other offerings. Final note... the staff did seem very young, but the service was good and they were very pleasant.
Review Source:This restaurant is needed in the area. Comfort food at less cost than some of the other nearby venues like blue bottle and brothers moon. All in all this is a good restaurant, but overall lacks a wow factor......except for the ribs. We started with the shrimp and the fish tacos. Tasty enough but portions a little small. The rib entre was outstanding. Probably the greatest rib sauce I have had in New Jersey. Perfectly cooked in addition. However my wife's crab cakes were so-so. Her mash....and my slaw....we're slightly on the bland side and again portions quite small....and on big plates. No complaints with the fries. Cheesecake nice for desert....but again quite mini. All in all very pleasurable but I feel portions need to be larger if going for the mid-price southern comfort food market.
Review Source:In my opinion, there's not much going on here besides the decor.
Beautiful decor. Â Friendly, but inexperienced and unprofessional staff. Â Lackluster food. There's potential due to the decor and the menu; however, much improvement is needed in both the service and *especially* in the flavors and execution of the meal.
My wife and I had a great lunch: a few crispy shrimp on a corn cake, the crab cake with truffled mashed potatoes, spareribs with zucchini slaw and french fries [the fries were wonderful], finished with a cappuccino chocolate mousse cake. Â Everything was scrumptious and excellently prepared and presented. Â The service was great.
Review Source:Wonderful dining room with stylish accessories - like silverware, S&P, oil jug, etc. Couldn't wait to see what the food was like. Turns out it was very good. Did not try my table-mates' dishes, but the ribs with french fries were yummy. Espresso cake very bland though, and no real espresso available. Seems a shame. The dense chocolate cake on a friend's plate was rich and delicious. Icecream seems the best bet here though - the flavor on offer on the night we visited was dried cranberry (sounds awful, but was creamy and tasty). Weird triangular waffle served with it though. The main dislikes: no espresso, and a VERY tacky flat screen TV attached to a pretty brick wall - playing, of all things, internet music. YUCK! Â The bright TV light coming from that dominated the room - even worse when they dimmed the restaurant lights as the evening wore on. Suggestion to Bell & Whistle - REMOVE that TV....as soon as you can get a ladder! And DO NOT bring in live music (which they said they planned to do). I want to EITHER listen to live music OR enjoy a good dinner with friends. I can't do both. If you bring in live music I will go somewhere else (tons of other choices around) that does not have it. Your choice. If you take down the tacky TV and keep the place live-music-free.... I promise I will be back.
Review Source:This place is a great addition to Hopewell which has numerous yummy places to eat. Â The ambiance is unlike any other in the area; very chic, stylish and warm. Â And the food is delicious! Â My husband and I have had both lunch and dinner here at least a dozen times since August; our girls beg to return for the kids' menu.
The grilled key-lime/cilantro shrimp app is awesome, along with the ribs, salmon, shrimp po-boy, salads -- all fresh! Â I've tried all the desserts and they're delicious and the ice cream is made on the premises by the chef -- last night the flavor was lemon-lime and it was sweet and bright -- loved it!
Everyone should try it for the first time, or if the experience wasn't great, try the Bell and Whistle a second time; I'm convinced it'll be worth it!
Close, but no. This place is absolutely beautiful, the dining room is small, but the gorgeous wood ceilings and paintings do make up for thar. The decor (even on the tables), artsy silverware, and beautiful plates and china left me hanging on the edge of my seat.
We ordered the gumbo, shrimp and steak skewers, roasted vegetable salad and fish taco. When the gumbo came out, I was still flying high on the decor and gorgeous plating of the gumbo, but when tried, there was a lot to be left wanting. It was warm, not smoking hot, the powerful punch of the spice was ok, and the shrimp were way over cooked. Then came out the rest of out lunch. Everything was still served beautifully, but every rose does have it's thorn. The fish taco was not good; the salsa it was served with was made of plain tomatoes and onions, no spices or seasonings, the mahi-mahi had no seasonings as well, and it was doused in cheese. The shrimp and steak skewers were served in a especially small portion, the steak was tough and slightly burnt, and the shrimp were ok. The chutney/ sauce felt felt very out of place ( tomatoes  and basil) was under seasoned like the taco, and the best part was the fried onions on top, so that's not very good. The salad was interesting. The "roasted" vegetables were more grilled, limp, and the dressing tasted like it was straight from a bottle.
The deserts looked very good, but who knows!
It was too bad, it could of been amazing if the food was executed better.
I went there for a lunch with family and had the caesar salad for starters. Â Very tangy and fresh salad, with generous parm shavings. Â I had the shrimp po-boy for my main course. Â The shrimp was perfecfly cooked, crisp and bursting with flavor. Â Remoulade sauce was great, and the sandwich roll set things off perfectly witha nice crunch to the crust and soft interior.
The decor is beautiful and service is great.
Highly recommended and very reaonable prices for what you get!
We'll be back!
The ambiance & decor were nice but it got a little loud at times (which didn't bother us.) The service was very good. Â
My husband had the fish taco appetizer & said that he could double it and make a meal from that. The pico de gallo looked very fresh. He also had a caesar and it looked great with large parm shavings. His mushroom stack entre was clearly the most amazing part of his dinner. Although he finished with NY cheesecake which he enjoyed.
I had a house salad and their blue cheese bits and homemade balsamic could not be better. My cedar planked wild Alaskan salmon was really good but could have been cooked a little less. Their pineapple jicama salsa was a great complement to it though & I sure wish that I could make Texamati rice to come out as perfect as theirs. My bread pudding was also very good.
My teenager loved his crabcakes & the white truffle oiled mash potatoes that came with it were delicious and left the rest of our table in envy. His midnight layer cake was ok but he preferred my dessert.
The only disappointment was kid's entree. When the mac & cheese arrived, I thought it was a very small serving (it arrived in something that looked like a gravy boat). It was ok that it was small, cuz he took two bites and said that he didn't like it. (My teenager finished it for him, LOL) Â Kid was quite forgiving though since I let him get an excellent apple caramel blossom for dessert (in addition to the cupcake that he got with his kids meal that DH ate and said was delicious.)
Finally, the bread and olive oil that they started us with was also top shelf. My final assessment -- Best service, dinner salads, & adult entrees in Hopewell Boro. (Best kids' entrees are at Brothers Moon.) Good desserts (but best desserts in HBoro are still at the Blue Bottle.)
If I could I'd rate it 4.5 stars, but the adult dinner entrees were 5 star!
The price was also a pleasant surprise. Appetizer, 2 dinner salads, 4 entrees, 4 desserts (plus frre cupcake!) and 2 sodas (the adults had BYO) totalled about $110.
We will definitely return, but next time I think I'll leave my kids home & bring another bottle of wine and adults friends. Â A great evening!