To rephrase my question - is R&B’s doing a decent business or is it crickets in there? Are they filling the seats or not?
{{ crickets }} from my personal experience as noted above, they had 1 table in the dining room during the 2 hours of my visit. I pass the place fairly often and have never seen it “busy”.
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I have some friends and family who live in the area and nobody I know has been there more than once, if that.
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Someone named Nicole reached out to me this morning. I’m at work and missed both calls. Called from a restricted number so I cannot call her back. Will hopefully catch her next call.
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Just got off the phone with Nicole, one of the owners of Russell and Bette’s. I can report back on the following information:
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Jen is no longer employed with R + B’s. She has not worked there since April. The owners of the restaurant have read through this thread as well as other threads concerning this issue. They do not endorse, now or at the time of her initial responses, anything Jen has said on this forum. Additionally, they are puzzled as to why Jen is posting about the restaurant and still giving off the vibe that she works there when she has not been a part of their business for four months.
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Marilyn is no longer affiliated with R + B’s. She left to focus all of her energy on her Asbury Park properties.
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Nicole wanted to stress that she felt the initial review of R + B’s that kickstarted all of this back-and-forth was fair and didn’t see the need for both sides to go at it the way they did.
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Lastly, Nicole said it is a different business now still evolving and changing.
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Greg, thanks for this, kudos on your dogged research here. Just an odd experience all around. Based on your info I think I might actually try them out now, maybe for the Wed Burger and Beer night. IF this is indeed the case that Marilyn is no longer involved they may want to get that info out there to people as it may spur some to come check them outnow.
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I’m also applauding, Greg–thanks! It’s obvious to me that Marilyn is a lovely PERSON who does great work for communities (she really does), but that she’s not hiring the right people to run/work in her restaurants. It’s a shame.
Fwiw, I recently ate at McCloone’s (AP) for the first time ever. While it wasn’t spectacular food, it was completely acceptable (burger), and my friends were happy. THE thing that stood out to me was how terrific our waitress was. So it can be done–even down the shore, even in a place that’s got average food.
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Interesting and thank you for doing the heavy lifting on this one. A couple of things I walk away from this with:
Did Nicole offer any explanation for @coldbeer70 experience of not getting served? (One would think it would only be prudent to address since that’s apparently what set Jen off)
Did she make any mention to who is the manager or Chef now?
Do they have anyone monitoring their social media?
Lastly I would bet dollars to donuts Jen is no longer working there because she followed Marilyn and is still employed by her.
@gcaggiano Your mission if you chose to accept it is to call Langosta Lounge and see if Jen is still employed by the Marilyn “brand” of restaurants. This is your mission, this post will self destruct in 30 seconds.
(Greg, google Mission Impossible tv series to understand my message format)
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per website chef is Peter O’connell who went to CIA (so should have some chops at least)
I will answer these as best as I can. She did not offer an explanation. Only thing she said in regards to this whole thing is that the business is aware of all posts made about them. I imagine they will still be reading through this thread after speaking to me, so I will say here that I implore them to reach out to the posters in question under their own volition to rectify the situation. Our phone call was solely about Jen and the representation of their business. Nicole was at all times pleasant and understanding.
She mentioned they have a “new” chef and the restaurant is getting to a more positive vibe.
I do not know about their social media. They have a Facebook and Instagram so they definitely have a presence.
Perhaps I will take you up on your mission. 
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apparently he got a good write up for the Times in 2011 for a place, Dauphin Grill in Asbury and had owned Pasta Fresca and has worked for Marilyn in the past.
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Excellent job Greg! Your second assignment is to figure out why Putin has canceled his trip here and now wants the POTUS to go to Moscow.
This is a Joke, please do not respond with any political commentary
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if they did indeed make a clean break from Marilyn they should really publicize that somehow as her joints don’t have a rep for the best food and are more of a “scene” I gather. Perhaps that would erase some of the ill-will replacing WYB and get people more interested. Just a though if anyone involved is reading…obviously this little community is a bit skewed, but the WYB scrubbing was a big deal.
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While you are correct this is a “little community” however we do have a fair representation of the immediate local area. If any of you are like me, this incident has crept into your off board conversations. The ripple affect of a little community can result in larger waves. They are fooling themselves not to understand this.
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oh- def agree…just meant that maybe we’re all a bit more restaurant focused than the normal person (and we obviously have different goals/expectations than Marilyn would for a restaurant experience should deliver), but the exponential reach is larger.
Didn’t mean little in a pejorative sense.
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Ok, just wanted to clarify before I had to introduce you to “my little friend”. (@gcaggiano google Scarface to understand this reference)
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Was just trying to be funny…like a clown…to amuse you (just to keep the classic movie references flowing)
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It’s interesting…I moved down here from NNJ and the only MS restaurant I was familiar with was Market in the Middle, which was one of the only places in AP years ago (along with Bistro Ole and Taka). My friends and I loved that place–until it rather quickly went downhill. I knew nothing about Marilyn or her other restaurants until I moved here a few years ago, and I hear the same thing over and over again from longtime Monmouth residents–that SHE is lovely but shouldn’t be in the restaurant business. I admire the fact that she has survived in spite of that reputation, but that doesn’t mean I’m spending any of my $$ with her group!
Edited to add that there’s a long thread on our local Next Door site about Langosta and their ban on straws–written by someone who was there with a party of 13 people who left without ordering dessert because they were so put off. The post wasn’t about the fact that they don’t give you drinks with straws, but about the attitude of the server. MS chimed in and said their staff has been educated about why they’re not offering straws any more and asked for a description of the staff member. When I had an issue with a manager at LL who SCREAMED AT ME (don’t get me started), she responded similarly–but it’s obvious that things don’t change much there.
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She has to still be working for them, at a different place as mentioned. There is no way a someone comes to pick a fight at 6:30 in the morning without a motive.
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File this under; " You can’t make this stuff up" - “Oh Marilyn will you never learn” - “You can’t fix stupid” - “Here we go again” …go ahead you can add your suggestions.
There wasn’t a Langosta Lounge thread and I wasn’t going to start one just for it to be a " bash - a - thon" I don’t think that would be fair, so I dug this thread up since it also contains some similar PR by the Marilyn group!
Moderators Hat On
Yes I am preemptively moderating my own post. This post and this conversation is NOT ABOUT POLITICS. Please leave your individual political leanings at your keyboard and DO NOT TYPE THEM HERE. This post is about an incredibly stupid decision by management who now want’s to put the worms back in the can, of their ill fated decision. Very similar to Marilyn’s engaging us here, she came here made rather inflammatory comments (as well as her staff) then they wanted to cry foul over the reaction they received to their antagonism. Again please keep the conversation about her poor decisions NOT ABOUT THE POLITICS BEHIND HER DECISION…Thank you
So seriously WTF were you thinking Marilyn? I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who creates this kind of drama for themselves.
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