F & J Pine Restaurant

THIS REVIEW IS SOLELY ON THE MANAGEMENT TEAM.
The dishonesty, sneakiness and rude behavior I experienced with this restaurants management staff is appalling.
Upon making my reservation I faxed in all of my information and reserved for a party of APPROXIMATELY 30 guest with a deposit of $ 150.00 which was only to HOLD the reservation. Unfortunately some weren’t able to make it, we ended up having 26 guest.
We had a great time. The waitstaff was attentive and the food was good. When it was time to pay the bill we were directed to speak with Danielle. This is when it all began. Danielle for starters lacks customer service, her presentation and demeanor are way below standards for someone who is handling the cash process from a then satisfied customer. As soon as my aunt, my boyfriend and I sat down she proceeded to tell us we had signed a contract for 28 guests and that’s what we were to pay. Cold and all. I’m sorry? Can you ask us how our party is going? Rude! She gave us about 3 different grand totals and kept insisting it was what the «system» was showing her. So, what you’re saying is that your system is a scammer? I see. After going back and forth for about 15 – 20 minutes she said she couldn’t charge us for only 26 people because Anthony would get mad at her in the morning and he’s lost a lot of money. I didn’t know this was a tell all. Does a customer need to know all of that information? Our final quote was $ 1385, as if she was doing us a favor. How did total go from mid $ 1500s to $ 1385. I wonder how? Oh! A week later I know how!!! The «holding deposit» was never refunded to my account! Sneaky? The only reason why I know this now is because after my aunt contacted Danielle she said they deducted my «HOLDING DEPOSIT» from the grand total without my knowledge. I’m sorry, but that is called THEFT.
I called Mr. Anthony to further discuss, after being interrogated by 2 staff members on the reason for my call, I’m sorry Mr. President, I was told he wasn’t around. Of course I have not received a call back. I do hope Liz gave him my message.
You just lost a great customer, who by the way is very well connected.

This place never lets me down on taste or service. Their waiters are always professional and on top of your every need. In the 16 years I’ve been eating here, I’ve never had a bad experience. One time the waiter brought my wife the wrong order, after he grabbed a different order by mistake but he quickly rectified the situation and let us keep the wrong dish for free. (which was amazing!) We love and recommend the big seafood appetizer platter. (Bring so much good stuff) The old school ambience will make u feel like your in an old Godfather movie.

The food here is amazing!
They have huge portions, so you can definitely expect to have plenty of left overs! They bring salad and bread, which is awesome!
I wish I could give it more stars, because I would love to give it 4 or 5.
I came here a few weeks ago for my college graduation dinner with 5 family members and my boyfriend. The server, who appeared to be Italian in his mid 20s (I think), literally yelled at me. He was so rude I could not believe it!!! My boyfriend and I ordered drinks and I went to tell the server what both of us wanted… he cut me off and yelled at me, «I think he can order for himself!!!» And went over to my boyfriend and got in his face saying «you can order for yourself, right?!» And completely ignored me until everyone else at the table ordered.
I understand if someone is ordering for someone else and not letting them speak, My boyfriend and I were servers for years and that is frustrating. However, we had discussed our order before arriving and the server was completely out of line for being so immensely disrespectful.
Honestly, if it had just been him and I and my family wasn’t there, we definitely would have just left after that.
They’re doing great with the whole restaurant, however I truly believe that customer service really defines a restaurant, so I cannot give it more than 2 stars.

This place is close to home, great food and the best service. Go to the bar and ask for Marissa! She is sweet, knowledgeable and will not steer you wrong with regard to your meal or beverage choice!

Came here with my boss for early dinner. The place was almost empty. We got a table right away. The staff was friendly and very responsive. We started with a cold antipasti platter. The platter was filled with cheeses, olives, meats and roasted peppers.
Got the lamb chops. The plates showed up filled with lamb chops. Very generous portion. Chops were well prepared and services on a bed of potato cubes scented by piece of two pieces of broccoli. The also came with a side of pasta covered in alfredo sauce. There was so much sauce I felt like I was eating Alfredo soup.

I love this restaurant. When I think Italian in the Bronx, this is definitely my first go-​to. The food is fantastic, portions big enough to split or take home, and the ambiance is relaxed but nice enough to go on a nice date or for a special occasion. It can get busy on weekends since, of course, everyone wants in! I definitely recommend it for lovebirds as well as for groups. LOVE their lasagna and the complimentary bread before your meal. So yummy…

I’m so thankful this place is in the Bronx. They have great food w/​HUGE portions that is consistent. I always have the antipasto Caldo to start off and usually go w/​a penne vodka or seafood medley. I definitely recommend to try this spot and fun you like wine; Wednesday is half off on the bottles.

Waited 2 hours for a table, to which we never got. I feel sorry for those who had reservations, to celebrate their kids graduation’s. The restaurant failed on this day to accommodate the patrons. Overbooked, long lines, misleading the Patrons, and turning people away that had reservations… They blew this night!!!

I’m here parked outside of F&J Pine trying to figure out what other place there is to eat. I stood by the hostess stand for about 15 minutes and no one approached us or came to the stand to seat us. I understand it’s Mother’s Day but I would think that would mean they would be a little more attentive to customers. Very disappointed to say the least. They have great food but I’m just not very happy with the service. Maybe coming here on a dead night would be a better idea…

I am a long time customer of this restaurant. I even had my wedding reception there. I was very disappointed there today. I called 2 pm today and asked if i could make a reservation for 530 for 5 guests the person i spoke to said we do not accept any reservations for partys under 10 just come in. Well it was my wifes sisters birthday we came in and they told us it would be an hour or more wait. So we left and i will never return to this restaurant again. We went to another restaurant had a grest meal i do not think it is fair that a party of 5 can not researve a table in this place
I will also tell all my friends not to come here

Meatballs ⁵⁄₅ especially with the marinara
Veal ⁵⁄₅
Regular beef was ³⁄₅ kind of flavor less though
Chicken parm sliders were good but kind of let me down
Ala vodka pizza was perfect
Desserts
Oreo zeppoli ⁴⁄₅
Nutella agnlotti ⁵⁄₅
Crème Brulee ⁴⁄₅
Canoli ³⁄₅

Had a great time here last night. Was driving through the Bronx and stopped for a late dinner. we started with the fried calamari with sauce. Great start. we had 2 waiters, both were very attentive and courteous. we ordered a bottle of Chianti to have with dinner. we ordered Penne alla vodka, calamari fra diavolo and franks meat ragu. each dish was huge, could feed 3 people. the food was delicious both to the smell and taste. finished off with cappuccinos and cannoli. great dinner, great experience, highly recommend for a good meal. Bill came out to $ 135 with tip. not bad at all.

The food here is good, but who ever answers the phone is rude and doesn’t know the menu. :-/
Heros are really big and good and penne vodka is delicious. Sometimes I rather go some where else just not to deal with horrible parking and rude employees.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. I absolutely love it, I am italian and the one thing i hate is super fancy «foofy» italian, this is not that, its down to earth amazing food and i have been back every week since ive found this place!!! OBSESSED! There orichette with brocolli rabe and sausage is to DIE FOR.

I was completely disappointed with this evening’s visit to one of my favorite Italian restaurant. I’ve been a regular at F&J for years, celebrating family moments and also entertaining clients and grabbing a bite to eat with friends.
Before tonight the last time I was at F & J was probably early summer 2015. I believe the prices went up which I didn’t mind since I thought I was getting good quality food. For appetizer we had the fresh mozzarella & tomato with basil. I was completely disappointed since this is an appetizer I was fond of at F & J. The mozzarella was falling apart and looked as if it was a scoop of vanilla ice cream. My nieces meals were fine and I had the Margherita pizza which was ok.
My other disappointment was when I had the margarita on the rocks with salt on the rim. First, let me explain that I have a pet peeve about my drinks being served in their appropriate glass. They served this so called margarita in a regular tall glass, as you can see from the picture. Margaritas are served on margarita cups or small glass. I mean you wouldn’t serve wine in a beer glass, get my point? Also, the drink was just margarita juice, no wonder it was served in a glass, where’s the Tequilla?
I cannot complain about the waiter because he was okay for the most part although it took us a while get our food.
I am sad to say that I personally will most likely not return unless it is a business event. I’m saddened as this was one of my favorite restaurants in The Bronx.

I enjoy the one in Queens so while in the Bronx I figured why not… It was Saturday night and we had some wait. Finally we are at the bar! Food was ok nothing special and my friend had to send his back for being way undercooked !!
I hope this was just a fluke because I have heard great things about this spot. The one in Queens certainly is very good !!

In the past I loved this place, I had not visited in a while and chose to do so on Valentine’s weekend last year.
We were very disappointed in our waiter who barely acknowledged my husband and I upon arrival. He did not seem as if he wanted to serve us. We should have complained, but we decided to let the tip compensate for his lack of interest.
The food was great as always, we will definitely attempt to visit again and enjoy our experience entirely.

These 5 stars are based solely on functions I’ve attended here through the years in the private rooms.
Recently, I was here for my sister’s baby shower in the large room that was just renovated. Minus a complication on the colored napkins my sister was happy with both of the coordinators that deal with the rooms. I believe there are 3 types of packages you can choose from based on your budget. She chose the buffet but for another function I had another package also.
The rooms themselves are awesome. I’ve been in the large room before/​after the renovation and one of the smaller rooms for a promotion party. Clean, simple but nice. Keep in mind they don’t allow you to hang up anything on the walls. Our room had a bar inside of it, which she chose to make a cash bar (but you can include it in your package). There was also a space to go outside from the room to smoke etc.
Staff: EXCELLENT! All very curtious, helpful, and service with a smile. From getting all the pans at the end of the night &helping to pack food up to helping my friend to her car w/​a big floral arrangement. This was not only this past weekend but over YEARS of me attending events here.
Food: That guy below mentioned the calamari is too crispy but it was awesome to me! A fav of a lot of ppl also. To ME, good calamari is crispy, not rubbery and the coating stays on w/​each bite. Not saying it was the best in my life but mmm pretty damn good. The following which were all good were served buffet style: Salad, tomoato & mozz, stuffed shells, penne a la vodka, salmon, bread, ribs, calamari, and chick parm. Also white & red wine included in package.
Overall, I would HIGHLY reccomend doing a special event here if you are looking for a place. I have been here for dinner as well and my main issue was being cramped here with a big group (not fun). However, for special events they get my 5 stars because of consistency through the years across the board. Thank you for making my sister’s special night awesome. Can’t wait to come again!

I have been here many of times and wanted to give it 5 stars, but couldn’t. Arrived at 230 pm on a Sunday we were a party of 5 and walked right in.
Dirty martini ’ s and a tap beer, all good.
Salad and bread, all good.
Appetizers, mussels, claims casino and shrimp cocktail, again all good. Mussels was the best, clams casino was good, but only 6… plenty of other places gave us 8.
Stuffed pork chop, excellent, hugh order, best deal if you ask me
Chicken scarpiello, very good, nice big order.
Veal marsala very good
Individual pizza very good
Now the problem, veal Romano, a few bad pieces of meat, not edible. No problem returning it, no charge, but 20 min wait for a new dinner? ?? Waitress needs to get chef to make it a priority, maybe not 1^st, but a priority. She tells us many orders ahead of us? Free glass of wine after we asked for one given delay.
This won’t stop us from going back, it happens, but it prevents me from giving it 5 stars, maybe next time.

The Pine is a Bronx staple — it’s been around for as long as I can remember and over the years I’ve attended functions and parties where they have catered. I attended a work dinner here tonight so I finally got to put a name with the face.
The restaurant is a decent size and semi-​compartmentalized. The main dining room sits center with the bar in a separate room and a private party room with an outdoor seating area in the back. The restaurant is decorated nicely. The main dining room has the most charm with exposed brick and pictures hung throughout.
We started with a number of family-​style apps which included eggplant rollatini, caprese salad, fried calamari, and stuffed clams. We were then served a garden salad and a choice of pasta (I went with rigatoni alla vodka). For my main I decided to go a little adventurous and went with salmon scampi over rice, only to be served shrimp scampi over rice. I was confused but in retrospect it was probably a good thing — when I think about it more salmon scampi doesn’t sound too appetizing. For dessert we finished with coffee and Italian pastry.
Food was just okay; there were moments of greatness, but it’s the little things that I felt could have been better: the batter on the fried calamari was overly crispy, the rigatoni was cut into small pieces and the vodka sauce just wasn’t up to par. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt for dessert, I don’t think I had a true sampling of what they had to offer. Service was friendly albeit a bit slow.
The Pine is good for what it is. I would return, but I’m not running back.