Haven't been here in a while-not sure why! Drinks were good, service excellent and food amazing. It was super packed on a Tuesday night too! The brushetta appetizer was yummy. read more

Honestly meh. The history is cool. The building is so beautiful, the french onion soup good, meatballs ok, but the rest of the food 'meh'. My chicken was prepared a ling time ago and dry. Worst part was the service really. The bartender has a REAL bad attitude. It seems like she prob only likes locals. Bo one comes to check on you after you get your food. I won't be going back. read more

We love La Taverna! Great atmosphere. Friendly waitstaff. Very cool interior. Their Burrata appetizer is just great - never had better. So is their pesto oil. Great burgers, artisan pizza, pastas, entrees - all solid. So much better than the chains that surround them... read more

This was the 3rd time we where there. This time there was only 2 people seated in entire restaurant, it was 4:10 Pm. The waiter asked owner where to seat us, he looked at us and he said no seats, there was reservations coming in. We can sit in the bar area. We weren't happy about that. The bartender was very nice and understood that we weren't happy and the waiter also was very nice. He came back and said people who where waiting for others to come didn't show and he could seat us in dining room. We had finished and got up and saw that only 2 other table was occupied, and the waiters where just standig around not busy. We did not feel welcome from the owner and won't be back. There are many other great restaurants in the area, and you would think the owner would have been more welcoming. read more

Excellent food cocktails and service . We've been there twice in a month and will keep going back!

Food is delicious. What makes this for us is the outdoor dining. Although it is only the corner of 2 busy streets, it does not feel that way. Great place to eat outdoors. read more

A very cool pub with alot of character. But beware - menu is overpriced and mediocre quality. Stick to burgers, sandwiches and pub type appetizers. I ordered the Taverna steak rare, which I had several times before and was very good. Tonite, it came out tough and medium and the server told me it was rare because it looked "glassy". not to be a snob but I know what a rare steak is. Also my wife ordered the filet mignon special and it was cooked to order, but tough. No offer to take my steak off the bill or offer something to replace it. Again, a cool place to hang out, but avoid entrees. read more

Friendly service and staff. Great food whether dinner or just some bar snacks . Great atmosphere

I love this place! A little old home turned into a restaurant. Great spot to meet friends.

Came here for a business lunch. Ordered French onion soup, grilled salmon and tiramisu for dessert. The food was great and I'm glad we came here. Our server was attentive but messed up a co-worker's order. The food took a long time but it was the lunch rush. Prior to coming for much, I had heard their Chilean sea bass was very good. Unfortunately they don't have it on the menu anymore. Would love to try their happy hour menu. read more

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Atmosphere is adorable. Food just ok. I say that because I ordered a burger medium and it was literally pink. I got take out so had to recook the burger when I got home. read more

Awful food. Even the bread was stale. My husband got flavorless, dry salmon, that we had to add sauce to, in order to make it edible. I ordered scallops with mushroom risotto - which wreaked of a fish smell and also had no flavor. Scallops had no char on them - despite being pan fried. Risotto is hard to ruin - but they ruined that too. And to boot, our meal was quite expensive. read more

Every now and then I put so much weight in a low Yelp star rating that I end up missing out on someplace that's actually very good. Case in point: La Taverna. This place is in my backyard, literally less than 10 minutes away. And yet I've lived here for almost two years without ever trying this place. I don't know if was a few negative reviews I read or the fact that when I drive by here it never looks open. Probably a combination of the two. The weather was awful the other night and my wife and I didn't want to go too far so I finally said let's just drive over to South Brunswick and try La Taverna. I sure am glad we did. La Taverna was excellent -- almost 5 stars. As we like to do, we ate at the bar. The bar scene was bustling with all sorts of crazy random event generators, and I for one love meeting these kinds of wacky people. Moreover, the food was very, very good. We started with the roasted peppers and fresh mutz, then moved on to the arugula salad with apples and blue cheese, and finished things off with a ginormous bowl of penne vodka. It was a ridiculous amount of food for the money. The girls behind the bar were awesome and a great time was had by all. If you're like me and you've been thinking about trying this place, definitely take my advice and get over to La Taverna. I am looking forward to coming back again soon. read more

Service was fast. Fettuccini bolognese was good with the fresh pasta. However, Chicken parm was overdone and sections of the chicken dried out, and sauce was kinda bland. Wanted to give 2.5 rating but cant give fractions. read more

We were really looking forward to trying a new restaurant but were very disappointed. I ordered my favorite meal, chicken parmigiana, but it was drowning in jarred sauce and nearly inedible. My husband ordered the braised short ribs and they too were dowsed with gravy. Sadly disappointed. read more

Great outdoor setting, great place to go in covid times. However I would say the food is average. I think it's typical bar food quality. But I will definitely be back due to the outside setting and not be inside during covid. Drinks are better than the food, and service is great. The staff is super helpful and attentive. read more

Interesting place. Nice old-world decor with exposed brick. Service was fairly horrible - almost a whole star lost because we couldn't get drink refills and nobody checked on us after our food arrived. I had asparagus ravioli with the brandy mushroom cream sauce, which was pretty good. Would have liked more sauce...and mushrooms were from a can. Dinner size had 6 ravioli but I was totally full because dinner came with bread & olive oil and garden side salad. Husband had fish & chips, which were sadly from frozen. Decent flavor but total bummer from a Jersey tavern. The Brunswicks remain a culinary desert, in our opinion. Addendum: we were overcharged for $5 Saturday martinis (they rang up $9 each). And one more ugly update: Our credit card was charged $5 more than the total amount that was signed for. We won't be going back. Check over your bill carefully! Started out with 3 stars, down to 1. read more

La Taverna - Fish and chips from frozen. - Italian Near Me - Dayton, New Jersey

This was our first visit to LA Taverna. The food was delicious. The service was fantastic. I would definitely return to this neighborhood gem. The only downside is when you are presented with your tab at the end of the meal there is a $5.00 credit card fee. Ordinarily it would not be a big deal, but when your are spending well over $150.00 on dinner for two, and there is no notice of this ridiculous surcharge, it kind of makes the whole evening kind of sour. When I voiced my opinion, the server even said it was "tacky". When I spoke with the manager he said it was "due to the pandemic". And the other choice was to "raise prices". Honestly I would rather a slight raise In price than a tacky credit card fee. Very disappointing. read more

Comfy, local restaurant with a diverse menu. Everything tastes great. Good service, decent prices.

2 of our 4 dinners were bad, ravioli was not fresh as stated on menu. Alfredo sauce was more like broth than a sauce. Chicken francaise that was not on the menu but server offered to make was below sub par. Half a chicken breast pounded out and the sauce was just bad. Bring out the lemons. 8 dollars for a piece of cake is ridiculously high. Never again read more

I've never been here before, but a friend of mine highly recommended. . My BF and I stopped in last week on Sunday for the two football games...barmaid was friendly told us it was a Cheers type bar even introduced us to a few regulars...food was average... happy hour is half price appetizers..but that means half the size...so a little dissapointed..we had to order more then two...all in all it was a fun place to be very pretty building...bar is a little small but we had a seat!...we would love to come back on a Friday when there is musicz! read more

Fun times, busy on a Friday and spot for locals. Seared salmon, breaded, over spinach and cherry tomato, good flavors. Branzino with mash solid. Meatballs were tasty with marinara and red/orange peppers. Oysters were tasty. Good drinks. Nice service. read more

Went to La Taverna at 5 PM New Year's Eve after my girlfriend called in the morning to make sure they would be open. No one ever suggested that we had to make a reservation for a 5 o'clock seating - we have been here many times and were quite disappointed that we were told that we could not be served because they were all booked up, this being said while the restaurant was half empty. We live less than 2 miles from the restaurant and wanted an early dinner with a another couple and be home well before any of the general New Years craziness. Since the owner would not seat us anywhere in the half empty restaurant we instead went to B2 Bistro in North Brunswick where we happily accommodated despite no reservation! We had a wonderful meal and our service was awesome - next time we will just go there instead of La Taverna - plain and simple. read more

We have gotten from La Taverna quite a few times now and every time we order is a hit or miss order, for example the most recent time we got food from here, we enjoyed the food and had linguine and clams which were pretty good and they gave us a fair amount of clams. Another time we got the fish on the mothers day menu and the fish which was a small dry little piece that tasted horrible and it was $30+!!! So I wouldn't order here too much but it is ok. read more

Went to dinner here and all the food was excellent and the server mike was very attentive to our table. Will definitely come back

We have lived a mile away from this restaurant for 25 years and it has changed hands a few times. For some reason it never appealed to me and we ventured in only once about 10 years ago. It wasn't a good experience and we never went back. Today, we went there 'on the rebound'. Our first choice happened to be closed and we were getting really hungry. What a surprise! We were welcomed warmly and shown to a pleasant table by a window. Everything felt cozy and friendly. The menu had much greater variety than we remember from our previous visit with many more vegetarian options. The cocktails arrived promptly along with a small complimentary salad - very fresh and flavorful. The shared garlic bread came shortly after that - baked to perfection. This was followed by our pasta main courses - mushroom ravioli and fettuccine al pesto. I had customized mine and asked for the pasta to be well done - the chef didn't disappoint! We were having such a good meal and the atmosphere was so conducive to conversation that we had to prolong the experience with dessert and coffee. The banana cake was to die for, the tiramisu not so much - but it was fine. That's the most enjoyable lunch experience I have had in a while and I plan to repeat it often in the coming months! Well worth the $50 per head (including generous tip). read more

Great place. Food is delicious. A little pricey depending on what you get. The ravioli is amazing (we tried shrimp). We went for st Patrick's day and were able to grab a bar table. Live music was great - loved the musician that night! read more

La Taverna - Fish and chips! - Italian Near Me - Dayton, New Jersey

Went to have dinner with my extended family for Christmas. Very excited since my Aunt and Uncle love it here. Our experience was not a good one to say the least. Our server didn't seem like he wanted to be there and he wasn't very friendly. He rushed us through our ordering and didn't take the time to describe certain parts of the menu. First, they forgot to being out my Uncles soup, and when our main course, came it was very disappointing. We ordered our steaks medium rare with no bacon or blue cheese and they came WITH bacon and beyond well done!! =( The chicken parm was so overcooked, only a few bites were taken and the rest was left for the restaurant to keep. Never came to ask us if we wanted more water. Took our plates before we were finished eating. We will not be returning. Very upsetting since it was my first time here and hoped for much more! read more

Food is pretty good. Unfortunately, we will never go back. We have visited four times and each time the host was extremely rude and unpleasant. Not worth the aggravation. read more

My wife and daughter (6) decided to visit La Taverna this evening. We've driven past this place several times since we live in the area and have always meant to check it out. We entered and were immediately greeted and brought to a window-side table on the lower floor. The ambiance of this place is great - it feels like you're stepping into a piece of history and adds to the whole experience. They had a children's menu with plenty of variety for our daughter and the main menu also had plenty to chose from while keeping it concise. I can't stand "Italian" restaurants that have a menu a mile long with times ranging from pasta to burritos! This was mainstream Italian (pasta, chicken, veal and fish) along with a steak selection as well. We ordered lobster ravioli (my wife) and chicken parmigiana (both myself and my daughter) for the main courses and had the tomato and mozzarella as an appetizer. Everything we received was excellent! Flavor, portions and price were great. The only negative comment I can say is that the salad (complimentary with dinner) was a little too oily. Nothing unbearable but definitely noticeable. The wait staff was attentive and prompt. The timing from order taking to appetizers to main entrees was very good. Not rushed but not too long. It's evident in the food that the meals are all made fresh to order. For example, the chicken parm was crispy throughout despite having mozzarella on top and being served on top of spaghetti with sauce. If it were pre-made and sitting in a pan it would have been soft and mushy (like a couple of other nearby places that I won't mention here). My wife also loved the lobster ravioli. All in all an over great experience. We've found our "local Italian spot" and it was sitting right under our noses all this time. As an added bonus, they are a participant in restaurant.com certificates. Restaurant.com is a website where you can buy dining certificates for a discounted price. We had $25 certificate that we bought from the site on sale for $4! (Yes FOUR dollars). Our total bill including appetizer, three meals and drinks (one beer & two coffees) was just under $50 before the certificate. Highly recommended spot! Happy Dining! Dominick read more

I have had 4 private parties here in the past 2 years. Most recently, we had a baby shower. Andreas works with you to make sure everything is as you want it. The food is superb -- and that's the BANQUET food! Chicken Abruzzi is to die for as is the veal Marsala, salmon scampi, chicken Francese, calamari, and cheese and peppers appetizer. The Italian bread (rustica) is the best I've had -- I can NEVER pass it up. Holly and Pascal were our servers yesterday and they were outstanding -- patient, welcoming, accommodating. The ambience is warm and comfortable as is the service. I HIGHLY recommend La Taverna for your next private party or dinner out. read more

Outstanding. We have been coming here for years. Each time the food is perfect and hot each time. Thank you read more

La Taverna - Italian Near Me - Dayton, New Jersey

A mentor of mind suggested we meet here and I loved it! It was in the MIDDLE of Dayton, and anyone in this area has passed by it at some point. It has an adorable gazebo near it. Inside is very "Tavern" feeling but with an classy flair. I just had salads but the light airy balsamic dressing and slight changes they made to it at my request (field greens instead of romaine... etc.). It was very good. It's not the cheapest considering one regular salad and one seafood salad with two sodas came up to $26... but it has great ambiance and every dish that I saw hit the table looking amazing. I liked the pesto olive oil they left on the table for the bread. Service was friendly and the restaurant crowd was a nice one. PACKED at around 1 PM Friday afternoon.... I believe I saw a full parking lot and there were 40 spots or so! Very impressive. My husband used to live in this area and I always passed by thinking we should stop by before we moved together! Now, I know we should have definitely done stepped in a long time ago. Will be back for dinner sometime when I'm in the mood for Italian. read more

This place is a hit or miss. Last night was a good dinner but the pasta special, tri-color pasta with shrimp and scallops was really bland /: the scallops were cooked perfect though they were very tasty. The pasta fagiole soup was delicious and the Caesar salad was good too. Next time boil the pasta with salted water and use a little more butter and white wine in the pasta and add salt... read more

This place is the Cheers bar of South Brunswick. The bartenders are great people and the French onion is the best I've had in jersey. I make this a multi weekly stop. read more

Local place with a wide array of menu options. It's not bad for a last resort but it's not a place you'd go out of your way at all. The good is that the bar is pretty solid, the menu is expansive where you won't find an issue to accommodate all tastes, and the food isn't half bad. Some flavors are plain but for the cost I'm not going to complain. The bad : nothing special about the menu, nothing is 'great', I don't think there is any 'item of choice'.. Also the service has been awful for all three visits. First visit: waiter was kinda creepy, kept flirting with my girlfriend. Whatever, he's being nice, right? Then he starts to creepily find reasons to touch her. He got really.... Weird. Second visit: I think our waitress forgot about us. We were upstairs waiting for someone to remember to come up for an obnoxious amount of time Third: once again, waitress totally forgot about us. Even tried waving her down, nothing. It's not even busy here!! read more

Recently moved nearby and I visited the restaurant last night with my fiance around 8pm. We stood by the front desk waiting to be seated....and waited....and waited...and waited. No one ever came by, so I started walking around the place looking for a waiter or someone. One waiter looked me straight in the eye and turned away! My fiance took a business card from the desk and called, telling the person that picked-up that we were standing inside waiting to be seated!!! The person repeatedly asked where we were. We left We may come back someday...hopefully they will be better-staffed then. read more

Excellent Italian restaurant! If you are looking for "fine dining" at cheap prices than this is not for you. If you are looking for quality homemade food with a great staff at low prices than this is your place! The pasta dishes are very good. Excellent flavor and a taste of freshness. They also have a great alcohol selection. They have more expensive wines, as well as cheaper house wines. If you are not a dinner person they have a good bar crowd and are known for their happy hour. Overall, we were very pleased and will be back! read more

Waitress was missing the whole night. Lemonade tastes awful. Cold fries and burger was burnt.

This place is a wonderful neighborhood gem, that I will say, after living in the area for a few years, is in a level of quality above the rest of the places nearby. Unless you are going into Princeton for a nice dinner, this place can't be beat. The ambiance is beautiful, with a preserved decor of an older, cozy house. It is quiet, so you can hear the other person talk to you. I highly recommend the sausage pasta. As far as the food at the bar, this is more greasy style cooking, and not so great. However, as far as restaurants go, I would highly recommend it. read more