Lemon Mediterranean Restaurant

Fantastic restaurant. Five people in my party and five, «mmmm this is really good» my 8 year old loved her pasta with vodka sauce. My rack of Lamb was perfect. They also made sure everything I ate was gluten free. Guiding me on what to order. Even said when I come back to call ahead and they will make me some special items. I usually feel like I’m annoying waiters when I ask for help ordering gluten free. Not here. Thank you to the staff you were all so fantastic Making us all feel so welcome.
If I had to give a con… I would have never found this restaurant if it were not for Unilocal.Their sign LEMON looked to me like the franchise lemon tree hair salon from years ago. I would have driven by, never knowing it was a restaurant. The exterior of a store has to inform and invite. So thank you Unilocalers for your reviews.

An outstanding and underappreciated gem in an otherwise boring strip mall in Freehold, NJ. This place serves high end, absolutely delicious mediterranean cuisine. Its got a great menu covering a range of meat and vegeterian dishes overseen by Chef Ash. We’ve been regulars here for many years, and cannot recommend this place enough. Amongst my favorites are the rack of lamb, the homemade gnocci (which is super soft and tender), and the farro salad. Everything is always fresh and prepared well. Their rice balls are excellent and my kids inhale them every time we come here. The service is usually good, and there is almost never a wait. Chef Ash is usually around and takes his craft extremely seriously. He’s very friendly and often delivers extra treats for my kids and wife as part of the meal. The décor is very nice and the prices are good for what is a most excellent meal. Chef Ash also offers cooking classes which are a lot of fun. My wife regularly attends these with friends.

It was getting late the Sunday before Memorial Day, so I called ahead and they told me that the kitchen is open to 9. So I pick up a bottle of wine & arrived around 8:15.
The wait staff is very young, and, while polite, amateurish.
Anyway, I ask the waiter what exactly «Mediterranean Cuisine» means and he proceeds to explain, as he spills some of my wine opening it, that it is an ocean surrounded by many countries like India, and the serve samplings of cuisines from those countries. OK… that’s the comic relief for the night.
On to the food:
I inquired if I should order the Lamb Tagine or the Beef and Chicken Koftes. The waiter said the Tagine was a better choice, assuring me that it was «excellent».
I order and go to the restroom to wash my hands. I’m out in a couple of minutes and there’s a (I assume) clomplimentary dish of hummus along with pita bread. The pita was store bought, so that kinda dampened my expectations of having an «excellent» dinner. The hummus, however was quite good.
I barely have time to dip two pieces of pita in the hummus, and out comes my entre. WTF! How do you make a Tagine less than ten minutes? I’m not unfamiliar with Moroccan cuisine, and one of the characteristics of tagines is that they are baked. It came in a oblong bowl with couscous, not in a tagine. So much for the presentation.
The lamb cubes are all eerily uniform and bland. The sauce is bland and nauseatingly sour. I get impression that this stuff called «Lamb Tagine», must have been some kind of stew sitting around for a while, and they threw it in the microwave just to get rid of it at the end of the shift. I have had frozen microwave dinners better than this. And it cost $ 22!!!
So I call the waiter over and tell him how bad it is and ask if it had been microwaved. Which he denies, but I don’t believe. He asked if I’d like to order something else. I reply no, and proceed to leave as he is profusely apologizing.
I hate to go to a place just before closing, and this experience just further reinforces that. However, regardless of what time it was, that dish should never have been allowed to leave the kitchen.

A friend and I stopped in yesterday for lunch. They have a small but excellent buffet. Hummus and pita (good), a farro salad (outstanding), a greek salad, roasted chicken with caramelized onions, chicken with olives, capers and artichokes, eggplant caponata, steamed veggies, and rice pilaf. Biscotti and baklava for dessert. A great value for $ 10.95. Service was friendly and we were not rushed. I’m looking forward to trying some items on their dinner menu.

Came here today with a big party. Food and service were amazing. The rice ball appetizers were so good. I could have ate like ten of them.
The waiters were right on top of everything and always refilled everything. Would def recommend

I thought the place sucked!
Short ribs were full of fat. The fish (Branzini) was dry. The hanger steak was cut in cubes and, I thought was tasteless.
The temperature of the food was all Luke warm.
The rice ball was ok. (Not hot enough)
On a positive side, the staff was attentive & courteous.
I thought they were over priced.
Sorry, it’s off our list. (Two thumbs down)

Food and service were fantastic! Definitely worth the drive down to Freehold. We went in for the Mothers Day Prix Fixe dinner because it was my Mother-in-Law’s choice, and it was definitely a top pick. My son had the lamb merguez sausage appetizer and the lamb tagine dinner. Hew as impressed with the blend of flavors. I had the Sicilian rice balls and the rack of lamb served with a port wine reduction. It was the best lamb I’ve had in a very long time! It was deliciously medium rare, definitely not overdone. The polenta & cranberry served with it was great, too.
My husband had a vegetarian moussaka appetizer and branzino for dinner. I stole a taste and it was delicious. My daughter had the rice balls and had chicken for dinner, she wound up bringing half of it home.
Even though full, we had to try the desserts and coffees. I ordered the baklava & it was very good, My husband had a chocolate pecan pie that was excellent, and my son had crème brûlée. My only extremely minor quibble is that the whipped cream served with the desserts was wayyyyyy too sweet. Let cream be cream, don’t kill it with sugar, it’s not necessary.
Seriously, though, this meal was fantastic.

what am I missing? Rice balls were cold and small. Branzino overcooked. Short ribs were fatty and portion very small. Desserts avg at best. 4 ppl. 1 appy, 1 entrée and 1 dessert each. Bill was $ 240. Oh maybe the cup of coffee (cold too) was $ 100. Yikes. And a byob too boot. I don’t get it. Ratings from friends and family maybe
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees. what am k. Kissing.

I love finding a great BYOB restaurant! Despite the outside ‘strip mall’ appearance, the inside of Lemon is delightful and elegant. The light blue table cloths and glass reflecting candlelight was serene and calming after a hectic day. Try the rice ball appetizer! The lamb shank entrée was mouth watering and fall off the bone tender. We couldn’t have asked for better service either! I think all 4 or 5 servers came to our table at one time or another to ensure we had a fantastic experience. We’ll be back! And don’t forget BYOB!

This place and food is OK. Quite expensive for a Mediterranean. This restaurant used to be half Indian/​half Greek but I guess the owners decided to focus on the Greek side.
Give it a shot if you like Mediterranean food and let us know if you agree with my opinion.

This is a delicious food spot in the middle of Freehold!

We always drive by and wonder how this place is … finally we got a chance and what an experience it was! Staff was very friendly ash came out to speak to us and as soon as we had appetizers we knew the rest was going to be good!!! Everything we had was delicious ! We def would come back again and who ever drives u should stop in and have a bite it’s definitely worth it! !!

Very very good!
We really enjoyed our meal here, from start to finish.
The service was very friendly, and the setting was intimate and pleasant.
The octopus appetizer was THE BEST octopus I’ve ever had, anywhere. Absolutely perfect. We also got the bosc pears stuffed with crab and gorgonzola… AAAMAZING. I would go back just for those two appetizer dishes.
The entrees were also very good, the special of the day lamb shank was definitely the best. The kefta dish was also very tasty, wonderful israeli couscous and a great spicy tangy yogurt sauce.
Gnocchi was just ok. Same for the pita
The desserts were SOOOO good! The special dessert of the day was a lemon pound cake… I would have ordered 2 slices had I known it’d be that great. The bourbon pecan torte was also very good.

If you’re looking for an exquisite dining experience at an authentic Mediterranean style restaurant, Lemon is the place for you .
My friend and I walked in and were promptly greeted and seated by the highly professional waiting staff. The menu options are concise and laid out in a simple fashion which does not overwhelm the reader. The Owner and Executive Chef, Ash came out and took our orders himself! I started with an apple butternut squash soup as an appetizer. The soup was fresh and the flavors melted in my mouth. A light and simple house salad (tasted excellent) was served before the meal. My entrée was a seafood special that consisted of escargot, octopus, muscles, clams, and shrimp served with a tasty sauce over a creamy bed of risotto. The dish, although seemingly small at first, surprisingly had me stuffed by the last bite. We were served sensational tasting almond biscotti as a light dessert.
Throughout the duration of the meal, we were attentively catered to by the seasoned waiting staff (not in an obsequious way) who kept our glasses full, empty plates off the table, and requests promptly fulfilled. In summation, if you want to impress your date or are just in the mood for superb cuisine and a fine dining experience, Lemon is a refined pleasure worth indulging in.

I have been here several times for the lunch buffet. It is an absolute bargain at $ 10.95 and always features a soup, salad, and 2 proteins in addtion to the other sides/​salads/​appetizers.
The Sicilian rice balls and fried feta cheese and zucchini cake are my favorite starters. I have usually seen one or the other on the buffet at lunch. There is an amazing almond biscotti for dessert.
Buffet is very neat and maintained during lunch service and items are replaced promptly. Service is friendly and they keep your water glass refilled, and empty plates cleared.
Try it out, you can’t beat the quality of the food he serves for this price.

Unethical or is this the norm for Valentine’s dinner at Lemon? I’ll let the audience decide.
Made reservation for 4 two weeks in advance. We studied the menu and read all the fantastic review of what to eat and what to try. When our party arrived at the restaurant we were seated to our table and were handed a Valentines «pre-​fixed» menu. The price were for $ 45 pp including 1 starter, main entrée, and dessert. The «pre-​fixed» menu was a shocker as two of us have food allergies and the entrée that were being reviewed were not on the menu. We proceeded to ask our waiter about the menu and were greeted with an attitude. He proceeds to ask the executive chef and owner Ash to help us. Ash came out and did not introduce himself but with a blunt question of «what do you want»?
Fine. We made the best of it and continued to enjoy the dinner. Our original waiter never came back, nor did Ash, even to check in how our meal turned out. Instead a few new hires for the night assisted us. They did not have any idea about the menu or anything Lemon related. The staff over poured our wine and poured wine over one of our hand.
Starters were good. The entrees of crab cakes and branzino were left to be desired. The braised short ribs was terrific and the hangar steak was edible. One out of four desserts was good. The rest were terribly sweet.
Now the best part. Our check came out and the total was $ 40 over. One honest mistake was the added cappuccino when none of us ordered cappuccino. The other charges were for additional charges to each main entrees. When ask about the additional charges, Ash proceeds out twice to explain, that certain items cost more he had to pass the extra cost to the diners. We were charged an extra $ 5 for the crab cakes, $ 7 for the branzino, $ 3 for the hangar steak, and $ 8 for the short ribs. We still did not understand why we are paying extra for a «pre-​fixed» menu! On top was also a 20% gratuity for spilled wine terrible staff.
So my original question unethical or Lemon Norm?

A BYOB restaurant —
I drive up and down Route 9 all the time and for the longest time I did not even know this place existed. The sign for the restaurant, although bright yellow, almost blends in like any other sign on a strip mall. The restaurant is very unassuming from the outside. Had it not been for the reviews I would have never considered this for a Saturday evening dinner date with the Hubby.
My husband is a huge fan of lamb and is always looking for a place that serves a nice lamb meal. Before we even went in he knew what he was going to order off the menu. He almost changed his mind after hearing the specials but stuck with his initial choice of Lamb Tagine and did not regret it. I got the crab cakes which did not disappoint. The orange beurre blanc that it was served with was strong with the horseradish which I loved. We got the octopus and shrimp bisque as starters. The octopus was so tender! Reminded us of the fresh grilled octopus we had while in Greece. The shrimp bisque was a little brothy than a thick bisque but was tasty nonetheless. Everything was slightly under salted which we prefer so it worked out for us. The crème brule was a little soft and could have been flambed more but wasn’t bad. I definitely want to go back and try more stuff off the menu.
The service was excellent. All the wait staff look after all tables which I thought was excellent. Very attentive without being over intrusive. The place was really busy but the service was fast. We never felt rushed.

Lemon was a great experience and something different for a change. Living in the area you can get very accustomed to eating classic American food, or American-​Italian food.
The best part of Lemon was absolutely the service. We had two servers, who both were fantastic. They were able to answer every question we had about the dishes. Also another man who seemed to be a manger or owner, came over to ask us how we liked everything. I could tell he genuinely wanted to make sure our experience was a great one.
Instead of bringing out the normal bread and butter, you actually receive pita and home-​made hummus. The hummus had a lemon hint to it, and was very refreshing and tasty. The pita was really warm which made it even better.
For my main course, I ordered the sea bass that came with a warm tomato and garlic side, and risotto. The risotto was super tasty, however I was disappointed with the sea bass. It was a thin cut filet and slightly overcooked that made it a tad dry. However, I won’t judge the restaurant off of this because my mom’s order, the lamb chops were cooked to perfection. My dad ordered the paella which was also superb.
For dessert we had the baklava with homemade whipped cream. The baklava was great, but the whipped cream was to die for.
I will definitely be returning and definitely recommend the restaurant for people who want to try great food and something out of the norm for the area.

Came here for dinner with my fiancé and his parents. They have a coupon in the coupon book and so we came to try it out. We started with a Pistachio Goat Cheese Salad and Sicilian Rice Balls. I was very impressed with the rice balls but did not try the salad. We all ordered two orders of the Black Angus Hanger Steak to share. The steak was great but we wished the portions were a bit larger. We finished our meals with coffee and fresh berries with whipped cream. The atmosphere is cute. They have instruments and pictures on the wall to make it look authentic. The owner came to check on us and was very nice. Would definitely come here again.

Angelo was a great server. Knowledgeable, and attentive. Most of all honest. If he didn’t know the answer to our question he didn’t shoot from the hip rather, he sought out the answer and we learned together. Destiny was observant as well. That’s great service.