The food was alright, but as we found out, this restaurant and ownership is completely untrustworthy and will take you for everything they can. Â I do not understand how it is possible that our total bill for 4 people AFTER a $50 certificate came to $212 with tip that they calculated after tax which is not the proper way. We ordered a few entrees off the specials list, which was a mistake. Â Since prices were not listed, or even given upon request of prices, they had much room to upcharge us. Â During the course of the evening, I had asked him several times how much a certain dish costs or how much the bill is coming to, just to be ignored. Â We were smooth-talked the entire time. Â We ordered 3 salads, and he would insist on 4. Â I would have to demand only 3 salads is what we ordered as he would walk away. We ordered a cold antipasta dish that we thought we would share. Â The contents and quantity was not given in the description. Â The waiter took it on his own to decide that we had ordered 4 of the appetizers and they were individual helpings of one piece of mozzarella and tomato. Â This came to $44, for cheese and tomatoes, that we only had requested one dish of. Â After the dinner, I was still unsure if we hit the $100 needed to use the certificate. He didn't answer and smooth-talked his way into everything is alright and order some dessert, so we ordered thinking we might be close to $100. Â The bill came, Â and the final cost came to $212.00 AFTER the $50 certificate. Â Amazing how he did this. Â If i wasn't in the belief that we were short of $100 required to use the certificate, I would have more aggressively demanded him to tell us the costs and total of where we stood. Â They must be going through hard times with the economy, and only two other parties dining that night, but it is never acceptable to take advantage of your customers and try and order things they didn't request and then ignore their concerns. Â Funny thing is, he would call the Greeks crooks, and we found out, he was quite the hypocrite.
Review Source:i'm not really familiar with restaurants or places new jersey  but since my boss rave about this place and decided to have a thanks giving dinner party here- so on thanks giving day- me and group of 20 people got a chance to come to Il castello, this is a nice and cozy italian restaurant located in NJ,
we basically had the place by our self. the owner and server are really accommodating to all of us...
We got 5 course meal and a lot of wine-
the service is friendly and top knot~ even thought they only have one server and the owner there but they make sure that everybody has been taken care of.
the food is excellent-
we got a 5 courses meal
-prociutto with tomato and mozzarella for starter
-pasta salad with pesto sauce taste really good
-green salad- arugula and mix green with vinaigrette dressing
im not crazy about the dressing though.. i think it's a little bit too sour..
anyway, the main dish taste delicious!!
-broiled fish served with sweet potato and vegetable .. the fish is well cook and everything in the plate tastes really really good
i skipped the dessert though..
but we have the wonderful times- great food and great service.. Â
will definitely come back again when i'm in NJ..
The original review that I wrote of this place was taken down for reasons that they wil not tell me. Â So if you want to know what i REALLY think of this place, send me a message and I will send you the uncensored review.
Anyway..
This place is a culinary embarrassment, a disgrace to the proud tradition of what Italian-American Cooking is all about. Chef Boyardee probably makes better ravioli than this restaurant (I have to admit, as a kid I loved Chef Boyardee LOL) This is without question THE WORST RESTAURANT I HAVE EVER BEEN TO IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!
This place is beyond a Gordon Ramsey style intervention. This is not a kitchen nightmare! This is a kitchen tragedy, a tale of epic disaster worse than any Kevin Costner movie of the last 10 years or anything Lindsay Lohan has ever done. This place might as well serve deep friend dung. It might be an improvement.
Anyway, here is the breakdown
Food: 1/2 star: (For the Marinara)
The Waiter brought soda and starter bread, which stunk. The bread was cheap semolina that was a day old. The soda was flat all 3 times. I would have said something but to be honest, I was so angry, I just wanted to leave. Luckily, I had wonderful company with me.
I had the tortellini in brodo as an appetizer and it was bland and uninspired. Furthermore, the tortellini was from the frozen food section at Pathmark. I know because I used to cook them and they had a distinctive flavor.
My girlfriend had the strachiatella Romano that frankly was offensive. Real Strachiatella is not a bunch of frozen spinach in broth with a little egg. The Spinach has to be mixed with some parmesan and on a much thinner consistency to achieve the desired flavor. This was awful in every sense of the word
For our entrees, I got the Veal Parmesan that was ok at best. The marinara sauce was decent and the veal was cooked well but so what? Aren't you supposed to cook things correctly? Do you get a gold star for not getting someone sick LOL? It came with Broccoli, which I don't like, and this odd potato croquette thing that was frozen and came from a box. My girlfriend and I looked at each other and couldn't believe they served us this crap.
My girlfriend got the pollo principesa, which was bland but also came with that awful potato thing. She was happier with the dish than I was.
Service: 1 Star.
The waiter was ok at best. He brought everything out in a timely fashion but had the personality of a cold fish.
However, the owner was the worst. First, he sits my girlfriend and I in a near empty restaurant near loud people. Bad start. Then he has the nerve to verbally correct my girlfriend's pronunciation of an Italian dish in an arrogant and condescending manner. It was enraging.
The owner had the look of a man who was burnt out, who wanted to be anywhere else but here. It was like watching someone die right in front of your eyes and feeling a little schadenfreude (Pleasure in someone else's pain
(Confession; Many years ago I had a severe anger management. Through therapy and having the greatest girlfriend ever, I have been able to control it in most situations. Last night was the first time I almost lost it entirely. Tried to hide it from the girlfriend but I think she knew how pissed I was)
All the while, he is being phony with these older women next to us that was so unfunny and pathetic. It was charm being ignored.
Atmosphere: 2 stars:
The restaurant on the outside looks condemned. The inside is clean and has a traditional feel. It can be a little tacky but considering everything else I went through, the atmosphere is the only good thing in this restaurant.
Conclusion
I do think that their restaurant needs to close ASAP. It's the only way that they could restore any honor to themselves if they even have any left.
Quite disappointing!
The boyfriend and I had a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurants.com&s=92a32e879a8bc9bad14f389149e0a62a99ba27f54b2dca87b4d713cffa7973a9" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurants.com</a> coupon and gave it a shot. Â He was even more let down by the experience than I was.
The restaurant looks like a dump from the outside. Â Inside is clean and lovely, very touristy-Italy. Â We were greeted by a man who we believe was the owner. Â He was kind and efficient but seemed bored with his job and almost judgmental. Â Oddly, we were seated directly next to the only two filled tables. Â We were immediately brought beverages and bread shortly thereafter. Â The sole waiter in the restaurant was equally efficient and only slightly warmer.
The bread brought to the table was fresh enough I suppose, but not warm and not that right-out-of-the-oven fresh that a good restaurant brings. Â We ordered soups for appetizers - his tortolini in brodo was not bad (although he said the tortolini was not fresh), my strachiatello romano (spinach and egg drop soup) was bland but full of bright spinach.
For our entrees, we ordered veal parmigiana and pollo principesa. Â Although the marinara on the veal was decent, the rest of the dish was lackluster. Â The chicken was cooked properly but was also bland. Â They were accompanied by broccoli (lovely) and a weird potato thingy (odd and the potatoes tasted fake). Â
Everything is edible and you won't have trouble getting a reservation. Â The dishes arrived timely and were nicely presented. Â However, it's not worth the money!
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