Dish (Red Bank) - Closing

Sad to read today in the APP that Dish is closing this Sunday. I’ve linked the article below though it may be behind a pay wall. I used to dine there pretty regularly but stopped as of late due to the fact that their menu never changed (an affliction affecting many restaurants in this area). Otherwise, the restaurant was one of the pillars of good food in Red Bank and I am sad to see it go. I am hoping whatever replaces it is a good addition to area. Wishing the chef and owner best of luck in his future endeavors.
https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/dining/2018/05/22/dish-restaurant-red-bank-closing/632007002/

Sad to hear this as well. We went semi-frequently for a few years but exactly like you said, the menu never changed. We haven’t been in several years. It was also super tight and loud. Very difficult to have a relaxing dinner.

I only recall going once, and similar to old Sam Reno or Via 45, although I liked the food the space was a bit too tight for me. If I recall correctly we had an interior table and I was rather uncomfortable and I don’t think we ever returned for that reason. (although Via 45 it was a communal table that I really didn’t enjoy sharing my table with 4+ strangers)

We only went once. Certain I had posted about it on CH, I searched to see if what I recall of the experience was accurate despite it having occurred so long ago. And so it was.

I had the hanger steak, and the kitchen goofed. Instead of cooking it medium rare as I requested, it came to the table practically moo-ing. In addition, the menu described the accompaniment as a “root vegetable mash,” but what turned up on the plate was essentially regular smashed potatoes with no hint of the taste of any other root vegetables, at least to my palate. I sent the plate back so the steak could be cooked more, and when it came back, it was medium rare and very tasty… My husband had excellent fries with his superb strip steak au poivre…

I also found the seating to exceedingly cramped, the noise level became hideously high when the room filled up, and there was no place to wait comfortably until our table was ready. Those are most probably the reasons we didn’t go back.

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I liked this place but unfortunately I only got there a few times. They did have a nice short rib dish.

@bgut1 you may want to post this info in the red bank redux thread. That thread ranks quite well on Google, so hopefully if more people see that, we may get some new members on here.

Hopefully Dish is replaced with some type of coal pizza/Italian joint! We need more of those around town :slight_smile:

I think viking and Sebastian Bach are working on getting the liquor license as we speak. I heard they may call it Skid Row Italian Coal Mine.

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The menu hasn’t changed in 13 YEARS.

Not me. Old and tired.

Wait, make that old and tired and cramped. And it was REALLY LOUD too.

The short rib was the only good thing on the menu, other than the $ 34 twelve oz NY strip.

Dish was kind of fun when it first opened due to the novelty. Unfortunately it never lived up to its initial promise. A new American bistro with farm to table limited menu is really what we need around here, instead of another red sauce and dough place.

I will bet most of us haven’t been to Dish in years, like at least 5. I know I haven’t. When’s the last time somebody posted a killer meal shot from Dish on the board? Like a quarter to NEVER ago…

So to say it was good or that we will miss it is a little disingenuous.

And yet again, no liquor license. Which seems to be required for a “successful” restaurant around here.

My bro Sebbie called me, he is too busy on the quarter to NEVER tour looking for his lost KISS pinball machine in the Swimming River.

So unfortunately the opening of the Smoking Italian Coal Heap will be delayed. Indefinitely. As in NEVER.

No liquor license for YOU !

I’m thinking a Thai Mexican Uzbek Sushi joint called “We Will Move You” instead.

With a killer, and I mean killer, Oaxqueno Poke Bowl.

Because at our age movement is a good thing.

Don’t forget under the rim !

@NotViking - I assume you are speaking for yourself and not me. I don’t believe there was anything I noted in my post that would give the impression that I was not being completely honest or sincere.

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Well when is the last time you actually went to Dish?

No thanks @NotViking. You can go troll someone else.

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Not trolling, but making a point.

Maybe if you went there more often, and missed it a little less, they would still be in business.

And I will share that I have not been there in at least five years. Maybe more. It was old and tired then.

Peace and love to you.

Lol, we basically have that with Via45 but a lot of people here don’t appreciate it for various reasons. Farm to table sounds good as a concept but when ingredient prices basically double for a dish, wait for the whining that their small pork chop had a menu price of $25.

I agree with you, Via 45 is one of the few places I think is serving decent food in RB. Unfortunately it is always booked 2-3 weeks in advance, so it’s not the kind of place where you can go all of a sudden if you don’t feel like cooking.

As far as a farm to table new American type place goes we don’t really have anything like that around here, so it’s hard to say if it would work. I suspect if the food is good that it would be railed just like Via 45, especially during the summer.

There is just a dearth of decent places to eat in Red Bank that aren’t serving Italian or elevated bar food.

Very fair, and true, comments. I did not know about Via being railed all the time. Good for them, admittedly it has been a couple of years since I’ve been there.

I will say B2, when they opened, was putting out some interesting stuff. (slow roasted pork, chicken liver beignets, nicely curated charcuterie, aged burger, etc) Not cheap at all, especially for “bistro” food, but very different for the area and tasty. My last trip there unfortunately turned me off and I haven’t been back in a while. So you guys may have been right about that one from the get go :smiley:

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We haven’t been to Via 45, but I just looked at the menu, and I would not describe this restaurant as “American bistro” since the cuisine is so obviously Italian. It’s actually labeled on the site as “rustic Italian, so Italian trattoria might be a more apt descriptive? As far as “farm to table” goes, these days, that description tends to be thrown around indiscriminately.

I absolutely despised B2 on my first visit and never returned, but they appear to be doing well and getting a ton of love from peeps. Hey, to each his own. I’m finding that “gastropubs” and I just don’t get along in general in NJ. I have enjoyed them just fine while traveling though.

No doubt it’s solidly booked Friday, Saturday, and perhaps Sunday. However, if you are willing to dine midweek (in this case Wed. & Thurs. since they’re closed Mon. & Tues.) and are flexible re: time, acc. to OpenTable, reservations are available.

It’s interesting that you bring up B2 because that’s the place that’s most like Dish left in Red Bank in my book.

Except, of course, B2 have the liquor license.

I kind of think of B2s food as elevated bar food. Nothing remarkable, everything trendy.

It is also dirty and really LOUD. No sound proofing, no tablecloths, hard chairs. I don’t like restaurants where you have yell to be heard across the table.

I don’t think they change the menu much either. It always makes me wonder if they hire the executive chef to design the menu, then leave the execution to the illegal kitchen staff.

Otherwise it’s gotta be boring as hell cranking out the same dish the same way night after night.

B2 is really close for me, but I never consider it for a casual meal as I do with Brothers. There is just something with a atmosphere that off-putting. And the staff generally have a problem too, kind of snotty when they are basically working in a big bar.

Well congratulations you just graduated Restaurant Management 101.

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Agreed, which is why I used the “basically”, to mean that it wasn’t a red sauce joint and adhered to a relatively seasonal slow food/farm to table concept,…but didn’t explain myself well enough.