This is my favorite Italian restaurant in the area, next to Becco in NYC. The owner of the restaurant has been featured on the food network multiple times. The food is so fresh and delicious, I got the Raviolis and everyone at my table loved everything they ordered. The Special Pink Vodka Sauce is unbelievable. The inside is small but nicely done, I love an open view kitchen, and the service was good. I have heard you really do need a reservation for this place. Another bonus is that the restaurant is BYOB. read more

The food here is spectacular. We went here for my sister's birthday and we ordered a bunch of different appetizers and entrees. Everything was absolutely delicious. The calamari appetizer is not to be missed. It is one of the most unique and most delicious fried calamaris I've ever had. All of our entrees were delicious and the portions were huge. I had scallops with risotto. The scallops were perfectly cooked. The service is okay but the food makes up for it. It's also BYOB which is always a plus. read more

Not only is the food amazing so is the atmosphere. Love this place!! Always treated like family when we go there. The chef most certainly does not disappoint! Everything I have ever had there has been perfection. This is our go to place and love bringing new people there when we go. Sometimes it busy which I am happy to see, we want to keep Chef Anton and his wait staff around for a long long time!! Can't wait to go again.....see you tomorrow night!! read more

Very surprised to find this hidden gem. Started with antipasto salad, bread was delicious, risotto perfectly cooked and to top it off amazing desert of cannoli crepes. Prices reasonable, service superb. Reminder it's BYO (wished I remembered before getting there) read more

We went here on a Wednesday night and the place was maybe half full. My girlfriend ordered the shrimp risotto and I ordered the skirt steak and we had salads to start. The food all came out fine. Though my principal criticism of this restaurant is that they overdo the mashed potato. Its good mashed potato, there is just a bit too much of it and it takes away from the idea of fine dining. The service team seemed really off. There is an older lady who I think is the mother of the chef / owner. She just seems very cranky and abrupt. This is not new for her she was that way every time we visited this restaurant over the last year or so. The waiting staff seemed very nervous and kept messing up on water refills and replacement silverware. The owner Anton is way too loud in the kitchen. We could hear him berating his sous chef for screw ups and errors. That is not the intention of an open kitchen. Save the browbeating for when the customers are gone. We were there for a nice quiet dinner and did not need to hear the owner chef sounding off at his staff. The crankiness of the head waiter /mother just added to the unpleasantness of the whole experience. They are not new to the restaurant business and should know better. The junior waiters either were too new or too inexperienced or were just pure scared of the chef and his scary mother. But one of the waiters just looked like he was ready to pee his pants if he got another reprimand from cranky momma. Once again, the food was solid, if a little boring but they need to learn to put a smile on their faces and pretend that they are actually enjoying running a restaurant. read more

Great food. Dining room is small and a little too close for my taste, but it did not detract from our evening at all. We started with no appetizers to save room for dessert. One of us did have the Shrimp bisque soup, which was piping hot and had outstanding flavor and plenty of shrimp, while another had the Stracciatella egg drop soup. Both were great. For dinners, we stayed on the menu, although the specials were all tempting. Three had the chicken parm with pasta, one the grilled chicken with risotto, and one the linguine with white clam. Everyone was very satisfied with their main courses. The desserts, we had cannoli crepe and a blueberry crumble special, were all excellent, but a bit on the pricey side at $12 for the blueberry crumble. read more

My family ate at Axton's for Christmas Eve and it will be a tradition for the coming years. The food was amazing. It's obvious that the chef and staff put great care in every aspect of their food. The seafood is incredibly fresh and the pasta is wonderfully homemade. I would recommend Axton's to anyone. read more

I came here for dinner with my mom. I had very high expectations for this place and they did not disappoint. I love the open kitchen. Chef Anton makes sure to say hi and chat with all of his customers even as he is cooking. The food was amazing. I like how it's not your typical Italian restaurant. They have your normal Italian dishes, but they also have things that you won't find at other restaurants like risotto based dishes. I will definitely be back. (We had the apple mango salad and the shrimp and chicken risotto and it was perfect.) read more

Ignore the bad reviews, I have been here three times, the food is on point. Their combinations are interesting and well done. The steak, fish, chicken, and pasta are all done right and I have really enjoyed all of my dining experiences at Axtons. Do yourself a favor and give it a try, its a BYOB and the prices are so reasonable it's insane to think it's overpriced. The quality and flavors are absolutely excellent for the price point. Try it, you will not regret it. read more

Meh. Overcrowded, we had to wait a half hour for our 7:45 reservation. Then I had to stand and wait for a chair. Yes a chair. It took a half hour for our waitress to arrive, another 20 minutes to get an ice bucket that only had water. Then our waitress came to take our order again, after we had already given it to her. Food was ok, overrated. It was basically lots of over salted tomato sauce. If you do not like mushrooms you will only have about 3 options. Apparently Anton really really likes mushrooms in everything. It was worth a shot but I wouldn't go back for overpriced loud and hot for food that was just ok. One other thing he is way over proud of being yelled at by Gordon ramsey. read more

I was there last week with my husband, we tried pizza and pasta, food was ok. And BYOB restaurant which was good for us. Our waitress, Arlyn, was fast and friendly. We will back read more

Amazing flavors !! We started off with jekyll and Hyde calamari. The waitress Jillian was very helpful to suggest drizzle versus coated. The spice was just right and the flavors very fun. I got the cod for it was over risotto & broccoli Rabe. it was very good was cooked to perfection. My husband got the pork special which was shrimp and pork and mashed potatoes, peppers broccoli rabe capers ..so many different flavors and really was unbelievable. Can't wait to bring others to experience this restaurant read more

Ok so the words Rustic Italian will always get me running to try a restaurant, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised! My friends and I all agreed this was one of the better meals we have had in NJ. We started with the stuffed eggplant and the apple mango salad and Francesca ( who is Anton's Mom, Anton is the chef of course) brought us an eggplant salad on the house to try. The potions were very large. Oh and did I totally forget to mention they also serve u their house baked bread? All 3 dishes were outstanding. Stuffed eggplant is my thing and I pretty much inhaled it. Then we ordered the pork in a red wine reduction, salmon in a lemon wine sauce w artichokes and the Branzino w polenta. Omg omg and omg!!! We were literally stuffing ourselves bcuz it was so good. All the dishes had a lot of elements so if ur a purist it might not b your thing. And the sauces were rich and dense w flavor. We were too full for dessert but they have a cannoli dip and I am definitely going for that next time. read more

This restaurant is amazing. The food is delicious and the service is great. I can't say enough nice things about them. We have had dinner and just hosted baby shower there. It couldn't have been nicer read more

Axton's has been on my bucket list since they opened. When they opened, my DH and I wanted to try it. We went without a reservation and even though we were early, and there were empty tables, they would not seat us. It took a while, but recently we had the opportunity again. We went during the week. I totally understand the maiden voyage and not being seated with out a RSVP, the place filled up quickly. Because we were 2, we were seated at the deuce by the door and front window. I don't mind a window seat but as others have said, it was drafty and given the time of year, not much to see outside. Maybe once the weather warms, some planters would add to the visual. What is cool, you can see into the kitchen but we were too busy chatting to notice the magic happening there. A loaf of bread was brought to the table with oil for dipping. That was delish and I could have made my meal with this alone. I ordered the speidini, which I ordered based on reviews. I have never had this before. I don't want to insult anyone, but it's basically a grilled cheese sandwich with gravy. The bread was white bread and the mozzarella didn't seem fresh. The sauce was like a creamy beef, mushroom soup and was very good. My DH had a salad, what can go wrong there? I had the shrimp risotto. First, the presentation was stunning. Talking serious food porn here and the serving was huge.To me, risotto is a base that you can add anything to but this risotto seemed too complex. There were too many flavors going on. I think the cherry tomatoes threw it off and although there was one large shrimp on top in it's presentation, there wasn't a lot of shrimp throughout the dish, well not to validate the cost, $26! I didn't taste the bacon at all with exception to the piece gracing the top. The risotto itself was cooked al dente but seemed, dare I say, mushy. My DH had the Axton's pork chop. Not much to say here. It wouldn't be fair to review it on a sketchy memory. He didn't even comment on the chop itself. We were stuffed and forgo'd dessert. They seemed interesting, but I had to be rolled out of there. Like others have said, they are BYOB, but we chose to stay dry. They have soft drinks and iced tea and bottled Pellegrino, which is the route we took. Hey, we're local and don't want to chance tap. Our waitress was the chef's Mom and she couldn't be any more attentive, unless she was my own Mom. She was knowledgeable and the food was brought out timely. If you forget the byob, there is a liquor store across the street. There is a small parking lot in front of the building with limited spots. We had no problem parking. I'd like to try it again and order something else and leave room for dessert! read more

My girlfriend and i went there last night and we really liked it. We will definitely go back. It's a byob which is great. We had the steak and pasta and it was excellent. The service was very good as well. read more

Ate at this restaurant last night. Food was great but because of some unforeseen issue, it took them over an hour and a half to get our dinner to us. Even then one of the four dinners brought to our table was about 8 minutes later than the others so although the food was delicious the time delay was clearly unacceptable. I would give it another shot but if the time delay to receive food or Service is faulty again would have to leave it with just three stars. However I myself, would not return. The risottos were delicious. Clams casino a rather small serving. The calamari was interesting, coated with almonds, caramelized onions and apples. But I prefer the more traditional marinara sauce usually served. read more

Absolutely love this restaurant. It is the only restaurant that every single person I have recommended it to has loved it as well. The specialty calamari appetizer is delicious. As for the rest of the meal it is so hard to pick something to eat because it all sounds so good but you literally can't make a bad decision because every meal I've had here is better than the last! Cute atmosphere and amazing food. Can't go wrong. read more

We took a chance on Axton's as it was centrally located for our group. Delightfully surprised at the quality and quantity of the food. Service was attentive, pleasant atmosphire. All good. We'll go again! read more

I don't want to ever eat at another restaurant besides here. The Scallops Bisilico were outstanding!!! My husband had the Seafood Marcachieo (I don't know if I spelt it correctly) and he loved it!!! The staff was wonderful and friendly!! We will be back...probably weekly. 7/8 - went again tonight. Anther couple joined us. They loved it as much as we do!!! Amazing!!! Food and service were wonderful. Going again this week with another couple. Can't wait. I should probably order something other then the scallops bisilico!! I love it so much. read more

Axton Restaurant is one of the best restaurants i have ever been to-and I go out to eat every Saturday and Sunday, always trying something new. Their inventive GOURMET dishes are full of flavor and something you would expect from a 5 STAR restaurant in NY-minus the exorbitant prices. The atmosphere is cozy and romantic and definitely somewhere you can go and have a conversation. I had the RIGATONI AL SASSI and it was the most delicious, full flavored dish I have ever had. My friend had the penne alla vodka and let me tell you that is NOT your ordinary run of the mill vodka sauce, the flavor is amazing!. If you like your dish ask the chef to tell you how he made it, you will be amazed at all the condiments, preparation and presentation-straight out of a cooking show. I am going back New Year's Eve and will keep going back until I try every dish. 5 STARS PLUS! read more

New place in the area and I was excited to try it. Anton the chef is very personable and greeted us at our table. Mussels in sauce were excellent. Service was a bit slow, but I am attributing that to a new restaurant still finding its legs. The only issue I really had was the heaviness and amount of sauce in the dishes we had. While the food was well cooked, the sauces just overwhelmed the dishes. I think less is more sometimes rather than pouring too much on and overtaking the dish. I certainly hope they fine tune it a bit. I will go back soon to try it again and hopefully give it 5 stars. read more

My wife and I finally got a chance to eat here a little while back when we went for lunch. Food is phenomenal. She got one of the best looking chicken caesar salad's I've ever seen and I had the sweet mango pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. The pork wasn't ready yet since they were closed yesterday, so it was substituted for steak, which was more than fine. Excellent sandwich. The fries were very crispy without being overcooked, which can be tricky sometimes with sweet potato. The interior really is modern and relaxing, as nice as it looks in the photos. We just tried to get in on Saturday and called Friday evening for a reservation and they were booked. We were told that we should call on Wednesday. We were disappointed, but only because we were looking forward to eating there again for dinner. We just have to plan ahead next time. I hope this place does really well for itself in Pompton Lakes. read more

The jekyl & Hyde calamari is superb!! The best I ever had..All the dishes are extremely flavorful. Anton combines all the right spices and flavors together to make every dish mouth watering. This is a five star eating experience!! read more

Great local Italian place with outstanding portions and exotic flavors that excite the taste buds. Service was great with prices that are reasonable for the portion sizes. Ordered the pork chop special which was cooked to perfection not dry perfectly moist and like 1.25" thick. read more

This was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. As we were there to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary Two people never got their meals after the waitress got our order wrong. Francesca claimed she was confused and after 30 minutes came back and said their dinners were being cooked but they never came. She, after much argument took the meals off the bill and the manager told us to go down the street to the pizza place if they were hungry. Really????!! Overpriced overrated and terrible customer service! read more

We happened on this restaurant by accident and we were not disappointed. The food was fabulous. It's a great place to go for a night out. I don't think it's a place to bring the kids. Adults only. It's also a bring your own which we didn't realize as it was a last minute find. We certainly plan to go back and bring friends. read more

This place was amazingly beautiful. My boss chose this place for the company dinner party back in December and it was great. The food was great, host and waiter were on top of everything. Great place to have dinner with friend and family. read more

This Place is a joke. Walked in to an almost empty restaurant at 6:15 with three people and were told it was a 25 minute wait because of reservations. Hostess was very smug about it too. We heard the service at this place wasn't great, but wanted to try it anyway. Looks like that will never happen. read more

Stay home!!! Small portions, way way overpriced. My $26.00 Wolfgang Puck pizza was burnt and tasteless! My waiter had a skin condition and my date wanted to leave. Never again. read more

Had been to Axtons three times after it opened. Food was good, reasonable prices, but service was awful. Returned a few weeks ago after quite a few months. Service has much improved, but the prices were off the charts! Portions were half the size that they were before, and almost double the price! Three children ordered the skirt steak which was 32 dollars each for a 4 inch piece of steak. Most pasta dishes were in the 20-28 dollar range. Most fish or meat dishes in the 30 dollar range, and specials around 40 dollars. Salad used to be served before the meal arrived, but not anymore! They've seen our family for the last time! read more

Awful! Horrible service, took over an hour for apps, even longer for dinner. Ordered grouper- full of bones-couldn't even eat it- and this dish was "highly recommended " by our server as one of their menu highlights. Linguine with clams- FISHY! All entrees were left on the table. Cannoli crepes- bleh! Bland cannoli cream in a bland crepe. Needs something..... PB tartuffo- nothing special. Save your $$$$ and dine elsewhere. Restaurant is very small with only a handful of tables,so one would expect more and better given Tony's Touch of Italy's impeccable reputation. Maybe Tony should go back to making pizza! Although we had the highly recommended shrimp scampi pizza and it was gummy and bordered on raw. They need to get their act together- pronto. Oddly enough- sign in restaurant asking ppl to vote for them for fave restaurant- with spelling errors! So professional. Would give 1/2 star if I could. read more

We waited 10 minutes to be told that we needed a reservation, in a real snotty tone. If this gal is running the front of the house, I don't care if God himself is doing the cooking...people will not tolerate being treated like dog poop. read more

What a disappointment, the food was mediocre & the service was lacking.... We will not be returning...

First off, the wait staff is very delightful, attentive and accommodating. My gf and i made a reservation to sit at the counter, we were 10 mins early and were sat with no wait. What an awesome experience. Never thought one of those tv chef personalities would be so humble, friendly and accepting. We brought two bottles of wine (its byob) and received an ice bucket and glasses immediately. We were asked if we wanted to put our cell phones in a bucket to not only enjoy our date but the chef also donates money to charity for each phone placed as so. We glaldy accepted. Then we got the complimentary house baked bread with oil and balsamic Mediterranean herb infused vinegar...i would go back for that alone. Then chef Anton made us feel like family. We asked about his ingredients and influences, which he was more than happy to share, wich led into more personal stories of friends and family. From then on my gf and i were in a great mood. Our cell phones were out of reach and we enjoyed a good old fashioned date night, with the entertainment of our selves and the kitchen staff. It felt great to be facebook and instagram free for the night and create real friendships with new people. Then the appetizers arrived. Clams casino and jekyl an hyde calamari. If youre still sitting home reading this. Get up and go to Axtons now! Incredible flavors, cooked perfectly like you've never had before. Amazing spin on classic dishes. We were more than happy with our portions and almost full at this point. One problem tho. EVERTYTHING ON THE MENU SOUNDS INCREDIBLE!! So we pushed our selves to split two dinners. Chicken pamela and seafood marechiara. I wont go into detail bc you need to live for yourself. I will say one thing, if you decide to give this place a shot, there's a great chance you'll see my gf and I in there chowing down next to you. I've been using yelp for about 3 years and i have never written a review. That is how strongly i believe in this restaurant. Best food in Pompton Lakes, maybe even North Jersey, by a landslide. Total gem! read more

Wow!!! I did not expect such poor service and food quality. After reading all of the reviews and write ups in the local papers I thought I was going to find a new go to place. I'll never go back there again. I had the "Shrimp Risotto" seamed as if they need to be schooled on how to prepare this one. The smaller pieces in the dish(diced smoked bacon, caramelized shallots, roasted cherry tomatoes) were over cooked and hard. Several pieces of the diced shrimp had the shells left on. Extremely frustrating eating this thing. I tried separating the risotto away from the un-edibles but failed and I left. The old lady waitress with the poor attitude has got to go. Quite possibly the funniest review ever: Against my better instincts I ventured in once again because I was passing by and I was so hungry that I could eat my foot. Upon entry I was welcomed, somewhat dispassionately, by a woman who looked like the "Crypt-Keeper", Fanny possibly? Anyway I sat down and looked over the menu which was covered in a light film of something or other. I was given bread, pretty good. I ordered the Risotto Genevese-sorry I did. The blend of flavors sounded great when I read the menu, but the combination was an amateurish thrown together concoction that was wretch inducing. The base for the dish was risotto, nice try, it had the consistency of day old oatmeal. By the way in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is Genevese meaning he is from Geneva Switzerland. I knew there was something wrong with this place-it's not real Italian, but another faker. Any dish referred to in a true Italian restaurant would have been "Genovese". Maybe Chef Anton is dyslexic or not Italian, I heard he changed his last name to appear more Italian. Who knows?, he could be a Frankenstein fan, who am I to judge. I should have driven on by and ate my foot. read more

A good find in the area. The food was fresh and tasty. The service was good. It's a BYO but unlike most, it has a little waiting area at the entrance so if you need to wait, you can sit down and enjoy your wine at a bar height counter. Very nice touch. read more

Everything from the appetizers to the entree's and then dessert was outstanding. Three of us had seafood entrees and the fourth person ordered lasagna. Each one of us rave about the flavors and freshness of the food. The service could not have been better or more attentive. We went with another couple and each person said their appetizer and entrée was some of the best food that we have ever had. To finish a great meal was their specialty dessert with the crepes, bananas, strawberries and whipped cream...out of this world! We live in town and will be back and sure to spread the word. What a great addition for our tiny town! read more

Went to Axtons last night, very nice ambiance. We had Jekyll and Hyde Calamari, delicious appetizer only way to much sauce was swimming in it. I had Shrimp risotto, was absolutely delicious only to al dente for me. My husband had risotto on his Scallop dish and his was cooked perfectly. I think the place is nice and will go try again. Chef Anton has cooked for us at another restaurant and have always been very satisfied with his cooking. read more

I've been wanting to try this restaurant out since it opened and finally did. "Disappointing" is the word I would use for this establishment. I am not going to tear the place apart mainly because I think it has wonderful potential to be greater, but unfortunately my experience was just plain "disappointing." Front end of restaurant: I'm not sure if someone called out the night I went, if they are understaffed in general, or they have very poor front end management; but everyone was visibly scrambling and grasping at strings to keep the evening moving forward. I'm not quite sure why we made a reservation because we were sat 45min after it. I understand the restaurant dynamics and have no problem waiting, but the hostess did not even acknowledge our wait nor informed us they were behind. This is most likely due to the fact she was trying to run the front end, but was clearly sinking the ship. She was visibly and outwardly stressed. The food: Mussels were the best we've ever had... hands down. This left us highly excited for our meals. However, I ordered a medium rare veal chop special and it truly came to me well done and rubbery. Such a huge disappointment! I had to fight to chew it. I left unsatisfied and hungry. All in all, I am not sure if we went on an "off" evening for them, but it was surely a poor first impression. The only reason why we want to give it a second try again is for the mussels marinara. Yes, they were that good! But I will pass on the dry veal chop! And someone get that hostess a drink! read more