I don't know what happened to this place. I went there years ago and it was packed. So my girlfriends and I decided to go there for dinner. We made a reservation, which was not necessary being we were the only people in there on a Saturday night. We ordered champagne which was served to us in plastic glasses. The service was terrible, the waitress didn't write anything down, than would come back because she forgot what we said. We expected it to be fantastic since we were the only people dining in there. The only positive things were our apps. The crabcakes were really good. The entrees were terrible. I ordered the steak, it tasted like it was heated in a microwave, it was like chewing rubber. Our bill was ridiculously expensive, almost $300 for 3 people. I will never go back. Not sure what happened to this place, what a shame, used to be great.
Review Source:Blend just doesn't work. Â First, there is a cover on many nights. Â We don't mind paying a cover, if the music is good. Â Unfortunately, Blend's idea of a good band is something I'd expect to hear at a bad wedding reception.
The drinks are no better. Â Most times I've come to blend they serve me drinks in plastic cups. Â That watered down plastic cup of a margarita cost me $10. Â On top of that, for $10 I'd expect real lime juice instead of Rose's fake lime syrup.
The music is bad. Â The drinks are bad. Â I cannot recommend this place.
The decor and vibe was cool. Â The menu looked great, loved what was on the tapas menu. Â
Then came the terrible service, and the terrible treatment for my bday dinner. Â Food was ice cold, and some items were forgotten about.
The music was good, but because the service took so long, we only had a 1/2 hr left on the dance floor before the 1:30 kickout. Â
Will NOT be back.
UPDATE...Let me start off my saying that I have eaten here before, now it was back in 2009 (I didn't think it was that long ago...WOW...how fast time flies) and it was a great experience. The food and serve was great - that is why I gave it as one of my recommendations for my friend's 30th (surprise) birthday party. It had the vibe and food that she loves - so I thought it would be a good pick. And that is where the story begins.
The party was on a Friday night - we opted for 8 PM - but I actually got to the place at 7 - just to make sure everything was set up correctly. When I got there - no one else was in the place - and I mean no one. Kind of strange for a Friday night at 7 PM, but I figured it was still early. Everything was set up and ready. Good sign - but then as people started to come in and we started getting drinks - we noticed that half the drinks we wanted to order - we couldn't because they didn't have the ingredients. Now I would understand if they place was packed - but no one was there - so how do you run out of stuff if you're not serving anyone. Not to mention - there is a supermarket right down the road - send someone to get what you need. The place is dead - it's not like they are needed right that second. Anyway..
So since it was a surprise party, I went to the front and asked if there will be someone escorting people to the back of the restaurant later that night. I explained to them what was taking place and the bartender assured me that he would be at the bar and would tell my friend and her finance to go to the back - because if you have never been there before you wouldn't think that there was a restaurant in the back. So when 8 PM came and my friend came and was surprised - A that there was a restaurant back here (I guess there was no one at the front) and B that we threw her a surprise party.
Soo we hung out for a bit all catching up and sat down no later than 9. We had two waitress at our table and they were running between our party and another party . So needless to say we didn't get to put our order in until 9:30. It then took a whole hour to get our appetizers. Really?!?! An hour for appetizers. I asked the one waitress what was taking so long and her response was "Well it does take a long time to cook for 17 people you know" Again - Really?? We are one of the only tables in the place. A real restaurant could hand 10x this amount .. No problem. And not only did our appetizers come out so late - but they were either cold or overcooked. Some people didn't even get theirs.
Sooo after the appetizers came out - we waited another hour for our dinner. And again the dinner was horrible - some of it was cold, some of it didn't come out on time and some of the orders were mixed up or wrong. Not to mention - they forgot to give us steak knifes for our steak and brought out the sides 20 minutes after the meals came out - we actually sent some of them back since we were already finished eating.
At this point I am extremely pissed off, so I went to the owner to complain. It was appalling the kind of food service and treatment we received. The owner really didn't care what was going on - she was just going to shut me up with two free bottles of champagne. Nope - not good enough - I told her that we deserved that and something else. I asked for our plate charge to be waved for the cake we brought in and for a couple of the items to be taken off the menu. After a couple of minutes of going back and forth (and of her realizing that I was not leaving until I got what we deserved) she finally agreed.
Soooo at this point it's now 12 midnight and we are finally getting our cake and the two free bottles of champagne. The cake (thank god we got it from an outside place) was the best part of the whole meal. The champagne tasted like warm apple juice that someone threw up in. Basically no one drank it because it was so disgusting.
Sooooo it's 12:30 and we get the checks. Now mind you, I did tell the waitress beforehand that we would all be paying separately (based on couples) and she said no problem she could break it down at the end. She didn't need to do separate checks. WRONG - she completely messed up everyone's bill. It took her three tried before she got it right. Now it's 1 AM and we finally done with dinner. CRAZY.
Soooooo we go on the dance floor for only 30 minutes before they turn on the lights and say last call. Now I thought last call meant that you could get your last drink and hang out until the place closed at 2. WRONG AGAIN. It meant it's 1:30 - so chug your beer and get the heck out. They were literately throwing us out of the place.
I have never been so outraged in my life. This whole experience was HORRIBLE and I feel so bad that it was for my friends 30th birthday. So learn from my experience, don't ever EVER come here - not unless you want to waste your night being treated like a second class citizen as you waste your money on horrible overcooked, cold food.
I don't get why so many people complain about the $10 cover charge in Ridgewood. It's Ridgewood! If you can't pay $10 to get into a classy place, you should stay home in your 12 bedroom mansion.
The place is gorgeous, looks like it belongs in soho or something. The bars all have friendly bartenders and the dj played everything from usher to michael jackson. Got the crowd moving and yes there were cougars, but they looked better than some of the young chicks in there.
As a Latina, what I want is to see some diversity and strong drinks. That's what you'll find here, as well as some cute bouncers. So pay the $10 cheapasses, it's worth it.
If you are looking for a good hangar steak and a cougar, this is your place. I was down for the steak, not the cougar. Unless forced to patron for a friend's bday or event, I take my business elsewhere.
They do have good live music on a occasion, so I've had some fun on the dance floor. ....but, I also got my purse stolen once. The crowd can get more than a bit sketchy/sleezy.
A Â nice lounge. It was a pleasant surprise find. The dirty fox martini is one of the best I've had. Tapas menu is a good selection also. Went more during a happy hour time ( there is no happy hour on this random wed I went) but atmosphere is very nice! Friendly staff.
I would love to visit this place for the nightlife because it has a large dancefloor in the back.
What happened to the free-to-enter bar on a Saturday night with only a cover for the awkward nightclub downstairs? My friends and I showed up here to enjoy a couple of cocktails together and arrived to a bunch of drunk 40-something ladies hitting on some guy walking down the street that looked more like he was in my age range, a 20-something. I was all about giving Blend the benefit of the doubt for the poorly skilled cougars out front and went toward the door only to find out there was a $10 cover. A $10 cover in the Jersey burbs? No thank you. Skip this place and pay the $8 for the GWB and head into the city for some real nightlife.
Review Source:I was not at all impressed with this place. I went on a Saturday night, not too late, before 10pm, and had to pay a $10 cover to get in. There was nobody in this place- the bar had very few people, there was a stage and a band was setting up, but other than that, nothing was going on. The place was empty.
We went to the second bar closer to the back, which is where the restaurant was. It was pretty, had a nice vibe to it, and there was a birthday party going on, so there were a number of people in this area. The music was good. We decided we wanted to enjoy the nice summer night weather, so went out to the outdoor patio.
Again, empty. But not just that, there was no music playing at all. It was kind of weird and quiet out there. A server came by to give us menus, two minutes later asked us what we wanted to order (we asked for a few more mins to decide) and then he NEVER came back.
Weird.
Once we got bored of outside, we went back inside and the place had definitely filled up. Demographic? You name it, it was there. There were 20- somethings and 60- somethings on the dancefloor, checking each other out. There were older women picking up anyone who would make eye contact with them. I guess if I had been totally smashed I wouldnt have noticed all of this, but it was definitely odd.
Needless to say, it was an experience.
The bartenders are pretty attentive so it doesnt take too long at all to get a drink. The decor of this place is pretty cool too. It looks like it could be very successful in the city. But as for Ridgewood...I just dont know...
This is a review of the nightlife, not the food as I have not dined here.
The place is a mixed crowd. It gathers people of all ages from Mid twenty somethings and up. It seems to be more heavily focused on the late 30s to and 40s something ladies trying to pick up men.
It is nice for a drink with the girls.
Omg, this place is so creepy!
That was my wife's first and last reaction to the new Blend.
We went for dinner so this review doesn't take into account the bar/club/lounge scene.
We entered the establishment and you enter into a bar and beyond you can see a stage and some booths. Â On a Tuesday night there were only two people at the bar. Â The rest of the place was empty.
The maitre de eventually approached us and asked if we had a reservation. Â My wife and I gave ourselves that look and asked if we needed one. Â We were told no. Â
We were then lead through the bar, through the lounge/club/stage area, through the next bar with some tables and finally twisted around to a room that had maybe 12 dinner tables. Â There were only two other tables occuppied when we arrived. Â The maitre de awkwardly handed us off to the waiter and we were seated.
One of the reasons that we came here was because it was Ridgewood Restaurant Week. Â Blend is a participant and the menu seemed like a really good deal for $20.10 Â They offer a complimentary glass of wine, cocktail or domestic beer along with an appetizer, main course and dessert.
Our waiter explained which wines and domestic beers were available tonight. Â I went with the Flying Fish beer. Â My wife asked if she could have a Cosmo. Â The waiter mumbled something about it being okay as long we understood that it would be served in a standard drinking water glass. Â Now mind you this place is supposed to be some kind of trendy bar/lounge. Â I questioned the waiter why it couldn't just be served in a standard martini glass. Â He really had no explanation. Â The friggin' drink arrived over ice in a standard water glass with a straw. Â This just baffled us. Â Strain the friggin' drink over ice and use a martini glass. Â It is simple.
First course I had the soup du jour. Â Corn chowder. Â It was bland. Â It was really bland. Â I am the guy that never adds salt to anything when I eat out but had to use salt to eat this soup.
Wife had gnocchi with wild mushroom sauce, spinach, and shaved parmesan cheese. Â It was bland. Â It was really bland. Â
We decided to supplement our prix fixe with the grilled chicken arepa appetizer. Â On the menu it is described as grilled chicken breast, corn salsa, crispy jack cheese corn cake, roasted pepper coulis, avocado wasabi puree. Â The chicken was cold. Â The crispy jack cheese corn cake was neither crispy or cheesey. Â It was awful. Â Especially at the $11 price.
My wife's entree was the pecan crusted tilapia filet with roasted shallot orange butter, grilled vegetables and homestyle potato. Â Let's just say that she enjoyed the pecans.
My main was the grilled hanger steak with an ancho chili brown sugar rub, grilled vegetables and horseradish mashed potatoes. Â The steak was slightly overcooked and very bland. Â The mashed potatoes tasted like they had been cooked a few days earlier.
Dessert, which by the way we had to order at the start of the meal, was flourless chocolate cake for her and panna cotta for me. Â Wife says the cake was as bland as the rest of the meal. Â It also came with some type of non dairy topping...like a cheap Cool Whip. Â Argh. Â I had one taste of the panna cotta and started searching for where the new Crumb Bakery was located in Ridgewood.
Tea, which by the way we had to order at the start of the meal, was served prebrewed poured in a cup but without a tea bag. Â No clue why. Â At this point we just wanted to leave and were tired of getting fruitless responses to our questions.
The chef at Blend is one of those people who seems to have no concept of what good food tastes like...or maybe they just ran out of salt.
I will not be back.
Gawd was this place dead as a door nail on their Thursday Ladies Night. I mean when you see four lovely girls sitting at the bar ALONE..meaning nobody was there when it's supposed to be pretty happening, you know this place sucks balls lol  I know, Ridgewood, NJ is not exactly the place you go for happening night scene.  I only did it as a friendly gesture to my friend who actually lives near here and she swore it would be fun.  Well, we had fun, but not because of the crowd..there was none!  lol  Martinis were WEAK but the food was good, at least what I ordered was (the crabcakes) and came as a special for their ladies night thingy. You order an entree and you get one free dessert or free appetizer.  Martinis were $5 a pop so I wasn't totally devastated that I went home completely sober on my long as train ride back to the city.  Oh well, I won't be back here again..this girl couldn't pay me to go back out here again lol
Review Source:I've been here a few times and been unimpressed. Â The last time I stopped in for a martini. Â The bartender made me a Sapphire martini with a LIME! Â You must be kidding. Â Then she said "I'm not used to putting olives in gin martinis". Â As part of the bar prep, she was hoisting a big container of pre-made mojito mix, mint infused rum I'm guessing, onto the bar. Â I'm always skeptical of places that won't take the time to muddle for their mojito. Â I guess that is NJ in a nutshell. Â Anyway, the drink was much too big. Â They could use glasses half the size so I could finish my drink before it was room temperature, but I guess they want to get everyone smashed before hitting the road.
The space is split into four parts. Â A bar in front, a dining area behind that, then another bar and dance floor, and finally an outside patio. Â It sounds like they are looking to open the basement as an additional separate admission music space. Â On the weekends, the dance floor is filled with the usual uncivilized drunk guys after some. Â The bartenders must be chosen for their looks, all the girls behind the bar have the same toned abs, bare midriff black shirts, and black pants with their signature bottle opener tucked in the waistband, presumably so I'll forget how bad my drink is.
Two stars for a bad martini. Â That is hard to do these days.
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