Cross and Orange, Asbury Park

Regional Dining Discussions New Jersey
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I know someone wants to hear about restaurants outside of AP, but…

I’ve been to Cross & Orange, and I can see in one visit that they have MAJOR staffing issues. From the young woman who greeted us and said (female name) will be right over to answer any questions to the guy who finally became our waiter, they are sorely lacking in FOH staff. The guy was on drugs. There’s no other explanation for his extremely odd behavior and bad service. Just a lot of weird stuff, and frankly, that’s not the best impression to make on customers when you’re trying to get the place on track!

A few of us went on a Thursday night after reading about their 3 for $21 apps, 1/2 price cocktails, $3 (iirc) draughts, etc. We arrived to a bar/bar area that was about 1/2 full, and quickly realized that’s because the special deals are only available there, not at the tables in the main part of the restaurant. I can live with that. What I can’t live with is the hostess and waiter not being able to answer BASIC questions or know which menus to give us, or whether or not we could also order off of the ‘regular’ menu while seated up there. HUH? Is that really tough info to retain?

I will say this–the crew seemed capable of being friendly and paying attention, but only to/with each other. Our waiter and the hostess spent a good chunk of the night b.s.ing at the service end of the bar with the bartender–while drinks that needed to be delivered to tables all around sat in front of them. We watched one table get up and leave, and I can’t blame them–they were seated before we were, and they still didn’t have a drink so they gave up. /rant

The food/drink:

Cocktails were VERY good; I had a ‘Fashioned Italiano’ (okay, maybe more than one!), my friends tried cocktails (I know for sure one was a Corpse Reviver because there was GREAT confusion on our waiter’s part even as we pointed to it on the cocktail menu), and one had beer.

For apps, we HAD to have the wild boar tacos (the reason I wanted to go and the reason I’d go back), the short rib sliders, and…and…can’t remember. Dinners were their 60/40 burger (beef and bacon), a lamb burger, meatloaf, and…and…can’t remember, not because of the bourbon, but because we were all totally underwhelmed by our dinners. At the end of the night, one of my friends said he thought that if we hadn’t paid such bargain prices that we’d be pissed off have overspent for what we ate, and I have to agree.

This was a few weeks ago and I’d definitely go back for a drink and an order of those tacos, but without a major shift in their service issues, I don’t think I could take another evening there.

@seal Makes me look forward to getting over to Redemption all the more!

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Funny I just read a similar review on another site. :wink:

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so what’s the deal, should I abandon CH and just check this one from now on?

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Listen, that’s a personal decision you need to make for yourself. While I’m obviously here and trying to do my part to make this a success for all involved, I’m not going to tell you to pick one over the other.

I can tell you that personally I find this to be much more refreshing and more user friendly and focused than the latest version of our old home. I haven’t “abandoned” the other location, however this is my first choice to come and share my information now. The rest as they say, is up to you my friend.

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Sorry to keep dwelling on this, but how did the “migration” from the other site to here got started? Did I missed something?
I check the other one regularly and notice that there haven’t been too much activity lately, especially after the latest ‘revamp’. Then somehow I found out about this site and all the regular posters that I enjoyed reading in the other site are all here.
I am more of a lurker than a poster, so I am going to go where there are more activities.

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Well again, all I can tell you is my experience, I was actually a bit of a late arrival here. I had pretty much given up on Chow after the latest revamp, I tried, I honestly tried but the entire format was just to alienating for me. So I pretty much gave up and quit posting or even checking the site for about a month. Long story short, since I wasn’t posting on CH I didn’t check the email address I had on my profile (and this one) either, when I decided to check it, I had received an email from someone notifying me of HO.

Like you, I came over saw all my old friends and I jumped in head first, thankfully the water temp was just fine and I’ve been doing laps ever since. (FYI Don’t play Marco Polo with MZ, he’s never even in the pool when he shouts MARCO!!)

This is a new start-up only a few months old, I don’t know the exact date it started but I joined early Oct. and it was already established a month or so. Please continue to lurk, contribute and please share with any friends you have of similar interests. The success of the site will depend on our ability to get the word out!

If you have any other questions feel free to post them, or you can private message/email people on here if you prefer!

Good Luck and Welcome ycf04!!

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Reminds that the FOH discussion you guys were having is worth a more extended treatment. Thanks for the review, CurlzNJ.

@ycf04 Welcome - It’s good to see you! For what it’s worth, I came for the view, but decided to stay after I tried the chili cheese fries. Seriously, though, I prefer the features of this Site and am intrigued by the chance to create something better.

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