I’ve eaten at Et Al twice and went a third time to purchase their seriously yum homemade potato chips to go. Each visit was just odd. Owner not present. Unfocused behavior by the only employee in the front, same person each visit, as if she were new. Friendly but the visits took way longer than they should have as a result. Food is delicious and I love the atmosphere of their first location. I hope they’ll be successful in their new location.
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I don’t know if this has been mentioned upthread. In March, Guy Fieri and his DDD crew visited Surf, Turf, and Earth, in Somerville. The episode that includes this restaurant will air on Friday, July 8th, at 9 p.m.
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Alas, not news these days, but a reminder not to trust website prices: Big Ed’s combo lunch that was $20.99 on the website, was $22.99 when I picked it up. In fairness, when I ordered over the phone, they told me the correct total.
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Glad you added that last part, because honestly, I would find that to be deceptive advertising.
If I had to rank the worst possible places I’ve been thrown out of (there’s been a few) Bid Ed’s was probably my lowest one. lol Was this the Matawan/Old Bridge/34 location? I know they tried to franchise a decade ago, most locations closed or failed, do they still have any other locations open?
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Yes, the Route 34 location. It may not be great BBQ, but it’s only a couple of miles from us, and decent enough as food.
I purposely pointed out that they were trying to be clear on the price; I’m sure the person taking orders has no control over the website. He said they had heard this complaint before, and he would try to get the website updated. (Their paper menus were up to date.)
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I believe the flagship Big Ed’s in Old Bridge is the only location. We used to go there quite often, but that was ages ago.
Not exactly news, but since Crown Palace doesn’t have its own thread, I’m putting this here. There’s a discussion on my local NextDoor board about a restaurant that’s charging less for cash, and two people chimed in about their experiences at CP:
I noticed that as well. We were dining at Crown Place. Precovid, a pot of tea was $1.00, now they charge by person so the same pot of tea with 3 diners cost us $3.00. And I was asked if I would pay in cash rather than credit card.
Same experience at Crown Palace. Overall expensive and the food was mediocre. We got the lecture about cash 3 times before our dinner was served. We paid cash and our check was still expensive considering that we were only 2 people and not extravagant in our order. We ordered the family style for 2- One pick from column one, one from column 2 which included soup, eggroll, entre and dessert (which they didn’t have- yet no price adjustment for that! Wouldn’t go back.
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The pre-COVID consensus was that Crown Palace was good for dim sum but not for regular dining.
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Still true
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APP sez Citarella’s Market in Red Bank is closing…
After 121 years and down four generations, the deli, located at the intersection of Prospect Avenue and McLaren Street, will close on Saturday, July 9.
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Post COVID, it has become almost common practice now that you get 5% off for all Chinese run restaurants when you pay with cash - I have seen that pretty much in all Asian Restaurants in Edison and a few other places in Princeton area.
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Sad news. Purchased many a steak at Citarella’s and enjoyed friendly conversation each time.
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At the start of COVID, people didn’t even want to touch cash. Now they prefer it. Change is everywhere (no pun intended!).
From the restaurants’ standpoint, probably more to do with financial reason (saving on credit card processing fee, tax, etc) than health reason.
Not that I will be making the trip, but …
@seal If you were to make the trip to see Mr. DDD, you would be several weeks too late. They filmed the episode in late June. It airs this Friday, July 8th. (By the way, I posted about this upthread.)
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ATTN: @gracieggg
A friend who’s a big Semolina fan just reposted their announcement of their new Pasta Shop, “coming late summer 2022.”
My guess is they’re taking over the space formerly occupied by Sweetest Sin (an awesome bra shop w a terrible name, imo. They just jumped next door to a larger space.
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The Sprout and I were just looking at and talking about that post on Instagram. Semolina posted a picture and we definitely think they are taking over the Sweetest Sin space. We’re looking forward to a pasta and bra party one of these days. Maybe you and @gracieggg can join us.
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