Mediterranean Chateau

Awful does not express how bad the food is… do not get pulled in by the 2.00 dollar beers… happy hour and bar food is worse than horrible..

Went New Years Eve.
Food: Nothing special.
Price: Reasonable.
Service: Friendly and efficient. I was surprised they were able to handle this holiday night so well.
Atmosphere: Not exactly casual and not exactly upscale.
Drinks: Full bar.
I was impressed with the service, but the food wasn’t good enough to return. But since it’s not far I might come back.

I would not recommend this place if you are used to good Portuguese food with large portions. We ordered take out on New Year’s Eve (probably our first mistake) and were extremely disappointed. Requested two orders of the octopus special with the shrimp in garlic sauce appetizer. Paid $ 61.00 for small tray of food that was just ok. Definitely not enough for two people. Will not be eating here again. Very disappointing.

I really wanted to like this place as option is limited in our area, even the greasy chips didn’t deter me at first. Then comes the muddy seafood paella with barely seafood in them. When we told the waiter about the mud situation, he said, it’s the nature of seafood. Then followed with a question, would you like that bagged to go?
Enough said, not that desperate & will not be back.

I do not understand why there are so many bad reviews on this place. Its one of my go to’s!!! I understand it is a lil bit pricey, depending on what you get your bill will be $ 80-​$ 100 for 2 people. But its so goood! Red Sangria is always a must when you come here, as for a meal i normally get beef short ribs or «costela de vaca» its served with rice, veggies and these home made potatoes chip things (they’re my favorite part of the whole dish!) My husband typically will get some sort of seafood dish which he always enjoys. We typically get desert after and i recommend the Almond cake, it’s so good!

A two star review is generous since I don’t give one star un less something really outrageous happens. This was just bad food, we went there for paella. Kids order a filet mignon to split. Should be decent right? …terrible…, so Bad that I didn’t say anything I just wanted to leave and write this experience off. I was upset that I had to pay for it but I am not the type to make a large issue or a scene or have an argument in a restaurant while other people may possibly have been enjoying themselves. The paella had lobster in it that looked like it was cooked a week ago and reheated three times. Fillet mignon was either the cheapest quality or wasn’t filet mignon… chewey. if I was the server for my table I would’ve asked what happened and is everything OK because we asked for the check and she asked if we wanted to wrap the food and I said no… we left tons of food on the table doesn’t that give you a hint??? Isn’t there a manager that sees the poor quality of the food that we left behind and asks themselves the question why? I will not say more, I will definitely not go back. What ever happened to the great Spanish and Portuguese restaurants that we used to go to when I was a kid, I remember those meals …

I love Portuguese food. Having lived in Union County, I was spoiled with having so many great places in close proximity from the fancy Valenca’s in Elizabeth to the corner bbq spot Stephanie’s in Roselle Park. Not to mention all of the fantastic places in the Ironbound. So, I guess you could say I «know» good Portuguese food. This restaurant was a huge disappointment.
My boyfriend and I passed by a few times and decided to stop in for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. I ordered the bbq chicken (standard Portuguese fare) and my boyfriend ordered their Portuguese sausage sandwich. The chicken had no flavor/​seasoning and tasting old. My boyfriend said his sandwich tasted funny and lo and behold he had terrible FOOD POISONING for the next 36 hours. And we ate the exact same things up until that point, so we know it was from this place.
Not only can they not serve decent food that resembles anything authentic, their food cost us the rest of our weekend due to illness.

When we need a Sangria fix, this is our local favorite. The skirt steak with chimichurri sauce is delish. Although potatoes, bread and iceberg lettuce salad are bland. We get the seafood paella to split. Love the saffron rice flavor but sometimes the seafood is overlooked. Always have great service though!

Being Portuguese I have a pretty good taste for real authentic Portuguese food and this place is on point. Great atmosphere, great sangria, and the food never disappoints us! Since my grandma lives in Portugal, whenever I am craving Portuguese this is our go to spot!

Delicious food, great value for what you get (big salad with your meal and always leftovers!), excellent sangria, nice atmosphere. This is one of my repeat Saturday night dinner spots.

Just came home from dinner here.
One word. Terrible. I only give this 2 stars because the sangria was tolerable and one meal chicken and rice was edible. Yes the salad is terrible and has 0 flavor. Not even oil and vinegar. We had appetizers of shrimp and garlic and stuffed scallops. The worst i ever had. Watery tough shrimp, so salty. One cast iron scallop like tray with stuffing with the worst tasting bay scallops ever. Paelha Valenciana=disgusting. Rice was ok, seafood dry, frozen seafood killed 10 times disgusting. Gross pork, gross chourico, gross chicken. Whoever says their seafood is fresh is lying! Lobster so dry it turned into that nasty saw dust material in the claws. So gross. Will never go back, ever ever ever.

I went here on a soggy Saturday evening (⁰⁶⁄₂₇) with my boyfriend to celebrate his uncle’s 65^th birthday with family members and friends. We had a separate room, away from the other diners, and strategically placed near the restrooms.
I decided to order the broiled salmon, which came with roasted potatoes (minus the skin) and steamed vegetables (mostly carrots and broccoli). Here is where I must subtract a star, sadly: the salmon had some tiny bones along one edge. Fortunately, I was able to remove them without accidentally ingesting them. Other than that, the fish was cooked exactly to my specifications (I asked for medium rare), and the vegetables were steamed enough that they still had a nice texture and flavor. I also enjoyed the white sangria; it had a delicate, fruity taste that wasn’t overly sweet.
We had two main servers who tended our large party throughout the evening, and although I didn’t catch either of their names, they were friendly, polite, and well-​versed in menu options. I was pleased they offered a variety of hot teas with dessert, and I had a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey with a surprisingly rich bowl of vanilla ice cream. I’ve grown accustomed to vanilla ice cream being rather bland and/​or watery, but this had a buttery taste to it and was very filling. I couldn’t finish it, although I wanted to.
Overall, I enjoyed myself at the Mediterranean Château and wouldn’t mind coming back for a second visit.

Had the worst experience in this restaurant. Came to celebrate my friends 32^nd wedding anniversary. It’s Friday night and 91 degrees outside and this place has no air conditioning. The waiter told us it had been broken for a couple of days !!! We were sweating into our seafood and when we said something, we were told at least we didn’t have to work there. WHAT?

This was our first visit. We used to go to Charlie Brown’s in the same location; we watched as the old place was renovated. Different fare entirely, to be sure. But a bit less homey.
We dropped in on a Friday evening when our other choices were packed. The restaurant is pricier than our other choices, so we’ve tended to shy away.
My Portuguese chicken and rice was in a large bowl that could easily have served two. At $ 16, I think it was the cheapest item on the menu. The main courses were almost all over $ 20. They add a $ 4 sharing fee, which could ease the impact of their prices on your wallet.
The chicken was juicy and cut in chunks. The rice was nicely seasoned and had picked up some red color, perhaps from tomato. But what can I say about chicken and rice?
The waiter tried offering wine with dinner without producing a wine menu. Perhaps he wanted to be our guide, but he just ended up irritating us.
No doubt we weren’t their ideal customers and you might very well enjoy yourself there. But I doubt we’ll go back.

Beware of the prices. Service is mediocre. AN EXTRA PLATE IS $ 4! Outrageous price. Food was decent but 73 bucks. Gotta think twice before coming again

The chicken château is amazing. Service is top notch and the cream brûlée is fantastic.

I measured my expectations before dining at Mediterranean Château to take into account not only location but also it’s primary customer base but even that was not enough.
Divided into a casual dining/​bar area and formal dining room, this relatively new Portuguese restaurant was a bitter disappointment as the food was bland, amateurishly plated, uninspired and expensive.
Seated on a Friday night without a reservation and waited on by a very attentive and professional waiter, we were immediately brought a bowl of watery ice berg lettuce topped with a wan vinaigrette and a basket of Sysco dinner rolls that needed 2 more minutes in the oven to actually be baked through… Not an encouraging start but…
We forged on…
Bacalhau Portuguesa
.Grilled salted cod in a tomato, white wine and garlic sauce.
The cod was flaky and grilled well but other than the immediate salty background this dish was under seasoned and quite shy of garlic.
The sculpted baby potatoes was a nice touch but rather tasteless as was most of the dish.
Paella Château.
A half filled bowl of rather unattractive, soupy and salty rice with some interesting but over cooked bits of shellfish scattered in but this entrée needs a firmer hand with the seasonings and some more time on the fire to cook the rice through. Would a little garnish of Cilantro or Parsley or a splash of medium sherry be too much to ask to elevate this dish from bland to almost edible?
Crème Brulee.
Obviously refrigerated and tossed into a warm oven before serving but the caramel top was rubbery, not hard and crisp as a traditional Brulee and didn’t so much break but stretch, the custard while quite good was still cold in the middle.
Sagres Lager on tap and a decent sangria was not enough to redeem this disappointing meal.
Mediterranean Château’s needs a desperate menu and Chef redo as what emerges from it’s kitchen is an embarrassment to Iberian cuisine… or perhaps the bus boy was behind the stoves last Friday.

This place has grown on me over the last 2 years. The 1^st few times we came, we wound up having a drink and leaving. No real reason, just didn’t get a good vibe. Maybe the lingering memory of the previous establishment in this location which was absolutely hideous. Our bad because now we come in a couple times a month.
We always sit at the bar where the service is great. We haven’t been particularly adventurous with the menu, mostly sticking with safe bets like the Shrimp in Garlic Sauce and Chicken and Rice Portuguese Style. Wifey had the filet mignon last time out and it was fantastic. Nice piece of meat, very flavorful and cooked perfectly.
Overall good place and pretty consistent as well.

Well, here we are, 18 months later & while Château is still up I running, I am a little surprised that not much has changed. Service was mediocre, food was a solid 3 this time around (as opposed to a 5 when we first went — may just have been the dishes we ordered this time), Sangria was a full 5 stars. The only reason we went back was because we had a Groupon & we were on a date, so we wanted to stay close to home.
We did make a reservation, & while we were seated quickly, we were not greeted by our server for almost 20 minutes. That’s a LONG time! The busgirl did bring us bread & water, & we were enjoying each other’s company, & luckily we’d made our reservation for 2 hours before going to the movies, so we weren’t pressed for time, but got out of there only 10 minutes before the start of our movie because everything was SOOO slow.
At any rate, we’ll only go back with a Groupon, but at least we’d go back, right?

Went for dinner last night on a Groupon. I have to say, after reading other reviews here, I was a little skeptical about this place.
We had a pitcher of red sangria – not the best, but not the worst either. I had clams on the half shell and the paella château. The clams were very fresh. The paella was very tasty, but could have had more seafood in it.
My beau had the stuffed scallops for an appetizer, and the stuffed fillet of sole. Both were very tasty and nice portions.
Rolls were also fresh/​good, and the salad was fresh although lacking dressing.
The service was very good unlike the experiences I’ve read about here. It was pretty packed, but our server was very attentive, and the food was nicely paced.
Would definitely return (was looking for a place to replace Costa Verde over in South Amboy, and this is definitely a step up).
I agree with others though in that although it’s ‘good’ it’s definitely not comparable to the Newark Portuguese restaurants.