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    Da Pepo

    4.1 (89 reviews)
    ModerateItalian

    Da Pepo Photos

    DA PEPO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Classy
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Da Pepo

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    Lobster arancini! Oooh so tasty.
    Dragonlady L.

    Daily specials and unique offerings keeps us interested and surprised each time we go. The menu changes and choices keeps us coming back for the next taste bud adventure! It's inventive and tasty and dining indoors and outdoors is always fun. Indoors you might feel a little cramped. However, it's such a fun and interesting space in that it is right next to Watchung Booksellers, which is our all-time favorite Bookstore. But you can also walk straight over to Town liquors and wine shop on Watchung Avenue. In this warm June evening, we sat outside and enjoyed the warm summer breeze and watched passersby coming from a special event at the Children's bookstore nearby (it was an adult event). We enjoyed our beautiful lobster arancini with the creamy corn sauce and chipotle aioli and especially loved the limonata nonna cake for dessert. The pastas that we had were good and fairly standard, but I would've loved to have a little more kick or flavor with the Shrimp pasta. The meatballs were delicious. Overall, we were happy to dine outdoors in this neighborhood gem and look forward to the next time dining again here! During Covid, they had wonderful family special meals and takeaway was brisque. They do take reservations but you can also just walk-in! Call ahead to ask about the wait time.

    Dinner Menu
    Lauri P.

    We were looking to sit outside on a lovely evening and wanted Italian. We picked Da Pepo as we had not been there since last summer. The positives are that the food is always good here. Location in Montclair in Watchung Plaza is charming. It's a BYOB so that's always a plus. Now for the lowdown on our actual experience. We went this past Monday night and we're seated outside. Our server brought the dinner menus. My partner ordered a chicken panini, as you can see in pic of menu it is a dinner option. Server said 'we don't serve paninis for dinner'. I said 'but they are on the menu, no?'. She said, with a very nasty tone, 'we are out of bread. We can swap it out for a platter' The platter is the chicken on a bed of lettuce instead of bread, so he ordered that. This is not on the menu. While eating dinner we looked over and our server was standing near us making out with her husband while working. I mean, to each his own, but seriously...... When she brought out the check there was an $10 up charge for this item swap. When we questioned her about it she got really nasty. My friend asked her to please adjust the price since we weren't told about this nor was it our fault they were out of bread. She grabbed the check and left then came back. She threw the check at my partner and didn't say a word. We were just shocked by the lack of professionalism. I will never return. They have such good food and ambience but there service has always been questionable and they are always out of different items on the menu. Consistency is key.

    Rosa R.

    The food here is just plain good. Everything tastes more fresh and less greasy than other Italian places. Came here for lunch and although I was the second party there, it quickly filled up. Service is pretty good and timely. Definitely going to try out their dinner menu.

    Madeleine A.

    This is the best kept secret in Montclair. Well, upper Montclair to be exact, featuring some of the best Italian food I've had outside of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. All the pasta was handmade and each of our dishes was delicious. We each got a dish off of the specials menu which I highly recommend doing. Service was great. It is hard to get a reservation since the space is so small but 100% worth it. Only regret is that we didn't get to try the tiramisu - they ran out! The entire experience is so incredibly and homey, I will definitely be bringing more people back here to discover this wonderful restaurant.

    Remnants of penne puttanesca and the green salad
    Sophia P.

    Good, but not blow-my-socks-off-good Italian in Montclair - nestled inside the Watching Plaza bookshop. The service and ambience are top notch. We were there on a Saturday evening without a reservation, but they accommodated us anyway - which was very sweet of them given how busy they were. The penne puttanesca had the right amount of gutsy, fishy saltiness and was delicious even if some of the penne tubes were still stuck together; the green salad with grilled peaches was the winner, but the kale pesto pasta with mushrooms and truffle infused ricotta promised a wee bit more than it delivered (still good though). All in all, a lovely night out for a couple or a family - the vibe is relaxed but polished enough to accommodate both types of diners.

    Rob D.

    Great intimate gem in Montclair. The staff was very friendly. The food was very good especially liked the meatballs which is a tough one to usually like "out" anywhere. Will return.

    Patricia A.

    Wow! Such a great ambiance and even better food! It's a cute book store and italian restaurant all in one! We ordered the da pepo panini which is made with amazingpesto mayo. It is the next panini I ever had. We also had PENNE ARRABIATA which also was delicious. Dessert we had a donut with Nutella and salted caramel ice cream. Prices are great! Does not break the bank. I highly recommend this place. Will be going there again.

    Interior

    A very pleasant lunch spot. Good decor and ambience. I tried the grilled eggplant & burrata app- I was pleasantly surprised by the nice smoky grill flavor. It was enormous and easily could have been my lunch. I also ordered the special salad of the day - grilled apricots, beets, goat cheese, arugula, pistachio and it was wonderful. Portions are big for lunch. I loved being able to grab a book and enjoy a pleasant lunch. A glass of rose would've hit better, but I guess it is BYOB. The menu is a bit limited. The issue was the service. There was only one waitress working the day I popped in. It is not her fault! But it definitely is the management's fault. I had to sit there for over 15 minutes before even getting a glass of water and menu. The poor lady had 10 full tables and was flying solo. And I went on a mid-week, off hour. I popped into the bookstore and there were at least EIGHT employees on shift. For a tiny little bookstore, that most owners would staff with 2 employees. Eight. Then go next door and there is ONE waitstaff, running around, probably ready to quit. I am so tired of going to places that are understaffed lately. Everywhere you go, it is not just here. All these businesses don't want to pay more to attract more staff, and want to keep doing things they way they were done 3 years ago. Times have changed, and they have to adapt. I want to see the place succeed, and it will fail if continued to be understaffed. If throwing a potential wait staff an additional $100 bill at the end of a shift, but you bring in more paying customers - then that $100 made $400. And more customers will come, and the tips will be higher. I came within minutes or leaving, and would not return because of this. There are lots of well staffed restaurants in Montclair, even down the block.

    BRUSCHETTA DEL GIORNO, butternut squash amazing must try.
    Abi P.

    I went with two of my girls. We all loved it. Small spot with good tasty food. Will be coming back. Servers are super nice and on point. Byob!

    Lorena R.

    We stopped in early evening yesterday for the first time. So glad we did, because this tiny place is a gem. There was no one there when we arrived but it quickly began to fill up. Heads up, there are literally like 6 or 7 tables.. make a reservation! Also, BYOB. There's a liquor store nearby though. We started with the mista salad, stuffed zucchini blossom special, and the meatballs. Everything was delicious. We came for the blossoms, but the meatballs were a nice surprise. In the top 3 best meatballs I've ever had, if not the top! I'm not much of a red sauce girl, so it takes a lot for me to say this. For entrees, my husband ordered the baby rigatoni genovese special, I had the shrimp campanelle special with a delicious pistachio pesto. We were lucky to score the last tiramisu in the dessert case - not sure how, because we were the first diners of the evening, but I'm glad. It was a little different than any other tiramisu I've ever had, but in a good way. Service was great. The place is cute. It's connected to a little bookstore which I regret not checking out before the restaurant filled up. Parking was easy. All in all, a great little neighborhood spot. I don't live in the area, but would definitely come back!

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    Page 3 of 3

    Ask the Community - Da Pepo

    Are they BYOB?

    WE have always brought our own wine.

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Sapori Ristorante

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    The atmosphere was very nice. There was a violinist playing during dinner which made the ambiance…read moreeven better. I didn't have time to pick up a bottle of wine but the restaurant had a local store that delivered directly to our table, which was super convenient! My friend and I ordered appetizers and a main course. The food was plated nicely but was really underwhelming. I ordered the tuna tartar. The tuna was fresh but lacked flavor. It really just needed some salt or something. I also had the 14oz steak which was pretty good because it had some salt on it however the steak came out precut and did not look like a $58 steak. My friend hated both of her dishes. She had the burrata and the lasagna. She said they both lacked flavor. We paid over $200 for our meal and I was actually disappointed that I paid so much money for such mediocre food. I gave 3 stars for the atmosphere and service. Our server Julian was very nice and attentive.

    Went here for a birthday dinner and the ambiance was very nice and festive…read more For appetizers, we got the goat cheese with nuts and prosciutto, the burrata, and the calamari. The calamari was by far the best. It was crispy and thick and seasoned well and the sauces were delicious. There were some fried onions in it that were flavorful too. The goat cheese was okay, it felt like the flavors did not all go together. The burrata was very fresh and the starter bread is great too. For dinner we got the pork shank which I think was a special, the mushroom ravioli, the eggplant pasta with red sauce and the branzino special with veggies and a sauce. The mushroom ravioli tasted a little like mush to me and I was not a fan of the mushroom flavor. The eggplant pasta was delicious and it came with burrata that melted nicely into the pasta. The pork shank was tender and delicious. The branzino was the star for sure, it was flavorful and delicate and paired well with the sauce and the veggies. For dessert we got the pistachio tartufo and the tiramisu. I didn't think the tiramisu was very special but it wasn't bad. The tartufo was okay. It tasted like a pistachio chocolate ball inside of pistachio ice cream. It was also incredibly small for the price. Our waiter was fantastic!!! Great person who made our experience extremely special. I don't know if I would come back, maybe for the calamari and a drink. Some of the food is amazing and some is not that great.

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    pastaRAMEN

    pastaRAMEN

    4.0
    (543 reviews)
    1.3 mi

    Quality food! It is on the pricey side but the food did not disappoint!…read more Service could have been a bit better, however, I would still recommend! The food is absolutely worth it. Presentation was amazing! It was a whole vibe!

    Let's start by saying our server Matthew was incredible. He was observant, on top of everything,…read moreand had high awareness of the kitchen being behind and slow. We really didn't care about that as we were enjoying our wine and each other. Matthew alone 5 stars! This was our first time eating at pastaRAMEN and we had heard a lot of mixed reviews. The pictures on-line make it look like a fancy place so we did dress up. When we arrived we quickly realized it's not what they advertise and what's in the pictures as it's actually a small run down dive spot. The biggest attraction must be its BYOB as the line was out the door with people holding 2-3 bottles of wine and beer. We were really hopping for the food to be great! Unfortunately we were disappointed causing the 2 star review on food alone. The quality and freshness was poor and everything was soaked in multiple sauces. We had the Cucumber salad that should have been called the pickle salad as there were more pickles than cucumbers. Also the calamari which is hard to mess up but they somehow did with 3 different sweet sauces on it. Next we had the Ramen which they are known for and it had Fried Chicken in it??? It was frozen store bought chickens they warmed up. The last thing we ordered was the black cod, this could have caused us to get food poisoning!! One bit each and we both had to take a sip of wine quickly to get the taste out of our mouths. We couldn't even take a second bit. They did give us free dessert because everything took so long which was very nice but that was our great server Matthew. Dessert was good! Another side note the bathrooms were absolutely disgusting with pee on the floors and all over the toilet in both bathrooms. We did have a good night because we brought a very nice bottle of wine. Too bad they didn't give you real wine glasses. It was more of a plastic cup. I don't see us ever going back.

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    Da Pepo - italian - Updated June 2026

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