It’s funny what you say about the “soul“ of the place… The one negative comment my crew had was about how cold it was—from a decor perspective. But the service across the board and the warm welcome from Ada and her husband tells me it’s the space, not them.
Overall, I didn’t object to the pricing, but it had been a long time since I’ve been to the Long Branch location and I guess I still find most restaurants in/around AP to be cheaper than or comparable to the spots I frequented when I lived in NNJ.
I hate to be a party pooper, but upon further thought…I think for me, personally, Ada’s kinda… isn’t that great any more.
So when Ada started off, she bought the restaurant from a Dominican guy along with his recipes. IMO her Dominican food was never as good as the original deal, but perfectly worthwhile in a diner setting with diner prices (good food, great value).
When Ada’s became special was when she started serving very good Ethiopian food at the same diner prices. Along with the intimacy of the venue, it was a really wonderful and unique restaurant experience going there.
The new place has the same diner-quality Dominican food and very good Ethiopian food at full price. It’s just not special any more.
Here are the new and old menus:
https://adagojjo.com/menu
http://www.adalatinflavor.com/menu.html
The meat platter for 2 used to be 19 bucks. Granted that was some criminal level underpricing, but on the new menu the cheapest meat combo is 49 dollars. Not only that, ordering the combo is actually more expensive than ordering the items individually!
On the Dominican side, the bacalao went from 12.50 to 18 bucks, as a random example.
From what I’ve tasted, the food is exactly the same.
Like I said, I hate to be a party pooper but why exactly would anyone who used to frequent the old spot be excited about this new place? The food is the same, you lose the ambiance and prices have gone up quite considerably.
If I didn’t know Ada personally I might say this place is yet another mediocre Asbury restaurant with jacked up prices. I mean not exactly, but that’s just how the change feels right now.
That right there is why I’M excited about this place. I’ve been living in AP for 3+ years and haven’t gone to Ada’s old spot in Long Branch once, having driven down from NNJ to try it many years ago with people from eGullet. Her Ethiopian (esp) food is wonderful, and in my experience, that type of food isn’t ever inexpensive (see: Mesob (Montclair) and the place in New Brunswick that’s now closed). I’m excited to have something INTERESTING to eat around here. It’s not another Italian place, it’s not another “look at our creative sandwiches” place. It’s different AND it’s delicious. That’s enough for me!
@joonjoon I get where you are coming from. I’m not sure the old Ada’s would work in AP. I doubt the old place would attract the “new” AP locals. The place needs to be the kind of place where you can linger over your meal - something not really possible in LB.
My biggest worry was that with the move the quality of the food and service would deteriorate. Too many restaurants fall apart when they go from the owner doing everything for a few tables to a full waitstaff and lots of tables turning all evening. That hasn’t happened at Ada’s - at least not yet.
