Went here for the first time on Saturday night. Wife and I were the first patrons in the place around 6:30, and we sat at the bar. I’ve been looking at it online, but was a bit confused by the landing page http://www.matizshorehouse.com/ where the first things you see are “Latin American Restaurant - Bar - Lounge in Long Branch” along with a button that reads “Get Quote”. Hmm… sounds like more of a special events place, right? After talking a little with the manager, it does seem that they cater a bit more toward the later-night crowd. We were gone by 8:30, and a few more people came in, a few diners and some additional people at the bar, a few of which looked like they were dressed for a longer night (DJ comes in later on in the evening, there is a DJ booth). The restaurant is dark and the bar is pretty big, but it doesnt look like a club, it looks more like a restaurant.
Anyway, just because a place caters to a later night crowd, doesnt mean they cant do well with food too. We ordered: beef and chicken empanadas (decent, nothing special), guac and chips (standard), fish tacos (really liked these - small, but did not fall apart at all like a lot of fish tacos tend to do, unless double tortilla wrapped), shrimp ceviche with the spicy option (this was EXCELLENT, and the spice was habanero and it was HOT like they warned - and the plantain chips were great too), tamalito matiz (their tamale served with shrimp and some mildly spicy tomato cream sauce - very very good).
We did not make it to any entrees, but the Bandeja being brought out to other bar patrons looked really good. A columbian dish of skirt steak, fried pork, chorizo, avocado, arepa, rice and beans (topped with a fried egg). I will be trying this next time. And there will be a next time. Not too many places like this in the area.
