The Purple Pear

Having eaten lunch here twice it was OK but nothing to write home about
It is a little noisy but then again when the place is busy what can you expect.
You have to ask for water and napkins.

I’ve been here at least 6 times and always enjoyed the food. I have had the best baked ziti here, bar NONE, of my life. If you can make *that* red sauce without meat– more power to you!
Did I mention I’m a Gentile? I have a lot of places I can eat baked ziti in Rockland. But this one is the best.
My boss likes the fish and chips, and the sushi. We both like the soups and desserts. Cinnamon rolls!!! Brownies!!!
Waitstaff– well, I have been told that kosher service is expected to be hit-​or-​miss. Which I don’t understand. Having said that– I know certain staff is better than others and I pick my night out accordingly. We’ve never had *bad* service– just slow or out-​of-​synch, which may be the kitchen, and not the waitstaff.
You see, my boss is Jewish and we eat out a fair bit. He’s not strictly kosher, but he likes to support local places. And we both like this place because, besides the food, it is an interesting intersection of various sections of the community. And, that should tell you something.
If you eat here, you will be cheek-​by-​jowl with members of the Ultra-​Orthodox Hasidic community; Modern Orthodox Jewish and some few Gentiles like myself. You might even meet the lone Orthodox Jewish Police Officer in Spring Valley– as this is the closest kosher place (along with the BBQ at the opposite end of the plaza) he can get to while working. And, probably a few other patrons that are not on my radar. That tells me I am in the right place– because everyone comes here to *eat*.

Normally the service is pretty good, and the food is great. But this evening, my food never came out to the table. I was out with my husband and Father-​In-​Law for a treat and when they were nearly finished eating, I cancelled my order.
I don’t think I will be walking in again.

I’m not sure what it is that kosher restaurants can’t operate like non kosher restaurants aka «normal». No I do not want a restaurant that offers every cuisine at the same restaurant, no I don’t want my food one plate at a time with 5 to 10 minutes in between each person getting their food, I don’t want to see the food «expediter» eating ice cream behind the counter as he serves my food, and I don’t want dessert that is pre-​made in a case to take 10 minutes to get and be the wrong order. The food was ok at best but the place is packed go figure. Hubby and I both had salads… nothing great. My daughter’s pizza looked good and my father in laws eggplant parm looked fine. The bathrooms were atrocious paper every where and urine all over the floor and toilets. I had to put paper towels on the floor just to get to the toilet safely. It was also pricey for what we got.

Bright, colorful atmosphere. Delicious fresh greek salad. Yummy slurpies. Funky dishes.

Finally a classy dairy restaurant in Monsey. While I am not a classy diner, I do have a wife to take care of…
A little slow on the service compared to fast food, however they are restaurant (with fast food options?) and the waiter service is ok. (They take their percent whether you like it or not!)
Large portions, stylish, full price dishes. Too loud for a shidach date but ok for a casual one. All in all I like the place.

Very very average food and service

Okay, I have to update y’all on what’s happening at Purple Pear.
Yes, it’s just as cheesy as before and the service is a very … impersonal … experience, but the food got better, I think.
There’s a new menu that has a lot of new offerings and overall I would say the menu really has been cleaned up – it looks much more restaurant-​like than cheesy kosher we-​serve-​everything style. Bravo!
I got the Hot Taco Salad, which was a bed of greens topped with brown rice, spiced black beans, corn, cheese, salsa, and taco chips. I got mine light on the cheese and sans taco chips, and it was absolutely to die for. The weird thing? The greens were spinach leaves, which I didn’t think was going to fly, but it actually was delicious.
I have hope for The Purple Pear. (Note: My companion at the meal got very sick shortly after our meal. I hope it wasn’t the food … because I feel fine!)

The Purple Pear is the perfect example of a place where the food looks much better than it tastes, that doesn’t seem to deter the droves of young married women that come in to eat wraps and sushi and the young men that come to stare at those women and the cute waitresses that the Purple Pear tends to hire.
The Purple Pear menu is overwhelming, I recommend to stick to their pastas and paninis. I say this because the fish dishes are ridiculously overpriced and never very good. The soups pain me, because they look so good but fail to deliver — the French Onion soup in the bread bowl lacks any real flavor, the salmon terryaki is dry and seems to try and use the sauce to overpower the lack of taste.
The Purple Pear has some bright spots, their sun dried tomato and spinach panini is very good. Their pasta is very good, their eggplant parm fails when compared to Al Di La — down the block, their sushi is good as well.

During a random road trip to Monsey, my girlfriend and I were looking for a quick bite to eat. We are trying to keep kosher more and more, and having a kosher restaurant around is incredibly exciting. We decided to stop at The Purple Pear because we heard other people mention it previously.
There were so many options on the menu it was hard to think about what to eat. I wasn’t in the mood for anything super heavy, so I decided to go with eggs. Their eggs, unlike most places, come with an Israeli salad instead of potatoes. They did however have the first option being a bagel, which was really awesome to see.
When the waiter FINALLY came over, after a long wait, he did my biggest pet peeve about dining out, he took our order without writing it down. Waiters seem to think it makes them look more professional, but it doesn’t work. It means you will forget something and the order will get messed up.
I ordered my coffee and I saw the coffee station set up near the door, so I assumed me would get a cup and we would go up and help ourselves. Nope the waiter prepares everything for you, without asking how you want it. He brought over the coffee with milk and sugar in it, which I hate. The taste sugar gives coffee I cannot stand, how can they just assume that’s how people want it?
Then out came my food, with the Israeli salad on it, instead of the French Fries like I ordered. Once again proving why the waiter should write down the order. I mentioned something to the person who brought the food who did not respond. No comment what so ever. I eventually had to track down the manager who had a fresh order of fries at the table within 30 seconds.
We did ask if since they had to go cups set up if we could make our own coffee refills to go, which they were nice enough to allow us to.
I really wanted to love this place, but they made it very tough. Maybe some other time I will try it again and have a better experience, next time however I will try elsewhere first.