Raven and The Peach - Fair Haven, NJ

Regional Dining Discussions New Jersey
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Again I can’t believe there hasn’t been a thread dedicated to The Raven and The Peach, however I searched and couldn’t find one so here we go!

This restaurant has been a mainstay in the area for the entire 25 years I have lived here. When we first moved here there was Fromageria and The Raven and The Peach for true fine dining in Monmouth County. (This far pre-dates Nicolas) Fromagerie as well all know is no longer, well no longer the Fromagerie of old, and The Raven and The Peach continues on. I have had a love hate relationship with this place for the last decade, I would be kidding any of you if I said it was as “good as it was”, but it does tickle my memories enough it keeps me coming back.

When Blu Grotto couldn’t accommodate our reservation change on Saturday night for my birthday dinner I called the Raven and they were able to accept so the change of venue was made. Although it remains unchanged for the 25 years I’ve been dining here, I do find the Raven’s dining room to be one of the nicest since La Fontana in New Brunswick. It is the perfect combination of tropical and formal with the palm tree’s and large fans…plush chairs and booths. Live piano player in the background truly gives this my favorite setting for any restaurant(s) in our area.

Over the years the menu’s change, the food goes from excellent to average to rarely sub par (only because of their price points, you expect things to always be EXCELLENT, so an average dish is rated sub-par by me because of price point) Service for how hard they try is also hit or miss, they certainly do not have an adequate training policy for their servers, I’ve had way to many “bad” nights, similar to Saturday to blame it on individual servers rather than a lack of competent management.

Even though “they know me” here, the service still lacks. Few examples, although we were brought butter we never received bread. (until we requested it about 10 mins after our butter arrived) I ordered a steakhouse wedge salad, the menu describes it with bacon which is how much wedge salads are prepared. It came without bacon. The 2 “Raven” salads were served without goat cheese as described in the menu, this wasn’t discovered until after they were half consumed.

The food in general was very good, they have done away with the steakhouse menu and have consolidated everything into one menu again. Overall it was a great night and I do truly love this place, but at this price point it should deliver exceptional service and food every time. Sadly they are hit or miss at best, which is sad for a place that’s been around as long as they have.

I will go back, but not until another special occasion.

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We haven’t been to Raven in years, but I totally agree with you. That dining room is my favorite. I feel like I am in the movie Casablanca! Not like the real Casablanca which I went to last year and it was grimy, loud and a bit sketchy.

Was it busy? How was the crowd? We have been the youngest people basically ever time we have been.

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Believe it or not it was the most crowded I have seen it in recent years. Pretty much full, clientele were the “local old money” crowd which has kept them in business over the years. Well that and Richard the owner owns that building so I’m’ sure it’s probably rent / mortgage free. The average age of the typical Raven customer will remain 60+.

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That’s great they were busy but that would be alarming to me if I owned Raven. How can they become relevant to the 30-60 yr old demographic?

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Knowing what I do of Richard the owner, he doesn’t care! That’s what Nauvoo Grill around the block is for!

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I think that is what red rock is for lol. That place has a young crowd…mixed but young.

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Ha, Nauvoo Grill. We went there a couple of times and the last one was terrible. I don’t remember the specifics honestly. Is it any good? I remember really liking the interior of this restaurant too.

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I’ve only been there a handful of times over the years and it never stood out to me. It is however the “younger” crowd than Raven, well also a different price point as well. As you said the building is beautiful Chalet style.

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We went to Nauvoo Grill for a birthday party at the end of December. I had had a nonopinion about the place, which is beautiful. (Dined there several times over the years. It’s fine, but never pops in my head as a place to get back to.) I was very impressed by how well they took care of us–a chatty crowd of about 70 that never took our seats. Wine glasses never empty. Servers were highly competent and also not obtrusive. The buffet that they set up was a solid B+. Vegetables super fresh and didn’t have the nutrition cooked out of them.

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10

Apparently Nicholas is now closed on Sundays, or so we found out this past Sunday night. Sadly realizing that Surf BBQ was out of the question, I suggested we drive up to Raven and The Peach so we could get food that we all would eat. It really is a beautiful setting and they do serve drinks.

I was honestly surprised that my 20 oz rib eye was so good. It was perfectly medium rare throughout and well seasoned. Score one for the oooooold school.

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Believe JR is big fam of steaks here if I’m not mistaken

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I’m very glad you enjoyed! They were doing a separate steak house menu which uou could bank on. My last visit they did away with the two menus and settled on one steak heavy menu. I’ve rarely had a problem with their steaks outside the bernaise sauce. (Such problems) Service has remained an issue, how was it for you?

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Service was not bad, although they were only about a third full on that Sunday night.

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Took my daughters bf out for his birthday and this was the chosen location. (my daughter might have influenced his decision) I’ll be honest in as much as I love the Raven it’s been a bit of a dysfunctional relationship over the years. Last night luckily was a better than average experience.

We had 6:30 reservations and were seated immediately and were in fact the only table till 7pm. Service was excellent by Chris who has been there for 13 years and always does an excellent job.

Quick summary we all had salads, no apps, salads were fine. The Romain in my Cesar was chopped which I don’t like but the dressing etc was fine.

Entrees:
Pork Chop - this was mine and since Semolina I’m on a bit of a pork chop challenge, this one was good, very good but still not Semolina. It was served with homemade corn fritters and a peach reduction which was very tasty. Also perfectly prepared baby carrots as another side.

Scallops which were my wife’s were actually very good, just about on par with Semolina whose scallops are excellent.

Lobster roll (sushi) my daughter’s long standing favorite at the Raven, it’s actually an app she gets as an entree.

Strip Steak for the birthday boy was devoured without a complaint.

No desert as we passed Nicholas Creamery on the way home and made a quick stop.

All in all a lovely meal at one of my long time favorite spots in Monmouth County.

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Um…INFO, please?? I may need to get back there this weekend for this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BysmIahAh9o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

nicholascreamery

*Treat the guy in your life (Dad!) to a Purple Glaze Donut Kentucky Dreaming sundae… we are serving it up for Father’s Day weekend ONLY. *
We are bringing back a super small batch of our beloved Kentucky Dreaming ice cream (@oldforesterbourbon! brown sugar!), topping it with a FRESHLY MADE apple cinnamon doughnut from @purpleglazedonuts and pouring on spoonfuls of made-from-scratch blueberry sauce. Next up is whipped cream and a cherry and good lord…your dad will be hugging you tight for the sweetest gift ever!!

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I’m really liking the char on those scallops! I’m glad to hear you had a great time.

@CurlzNJ. Please eat one of these for me! :smile: I’m out of town this weekend but I think this will be a winner.

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17

Ummmm listen believe it or not, for someone my size I’m not really a sweet tooth guy, so my perspective on places like this might be a little dulled. It’s very good ice cream, it’s my second time here and both were very enjoyable, I just had small cups of peanut butter flavored ice cream and sure it was good. This is coming from someone who would say Friendlys Reece’s pieces is the ultimate sundae so take it for what it’s worth.

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Like you, I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth either… But I love good ice cream and I was really blown away by the ricotta/olive oil that I tried last weekend !

Also cookies. Even a bad cookie is still cookie… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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19

Wisdom spoken.

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Just showing some love for one of my old fav’s. I’ve been back about 3x’s in the past 2 mos and each visit has been good. It seems the Raven has found it’s grove back the menu is recently updated and the kitchen is putting out some quality food in one of the best ambiance dining rooms around. No service issues lately, which sadly had become a recurring issue.

So if you’ve ever wanted to try the Raven, or if you are a fan like me but have had a bad experience, now is a good time to go back and enjoy a great meal there.

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