Taste Venue

Another popular happy hour spot with my coworkers. Taste is right across the street from the Prudential Center, also next to Edison Ale House. It is 2 floors, but the upper floor is usually reserved for private functions, mostly business parties/​happy hours. I was never really impressed with the vibe of this place, it always feels really dead, and the bartenders seem like they don’t want to be there. The seating/​layout is also awkward, as there are a lot of small tables, which isn’t good if you have a group any bigger than 4. They should either have round tables or just reduce the amount of tables so that you can stand and talk. It’s like this place couldn’t decide if they wanted to be a bar or a restaurant. If you have a large group of people just go to Edison Ale House instead. Or even better, just go to 27 mix on halsey st.

Walked in pre event no greeting, sat at the bar where the previous customers trash/​left over food was still sitting there not cleaned up, the bar was disgustingly dirty, flies on the unorganized bottles of liquor. I asked for a drink menu & I was told they didn’t have one. Perishable items left out on bar (mint leaves, uncut fruit, etc). Not organized at all and very mismanaged. We would have walked out if we didn’t already order our $ 14 vodka & waters in Dixie cups. Horrible service, expensive drinks, and a waste of time and money.

I’m here more often than I check in. This is my go-​to on a Thursday and Friday night with the girls. Always friendly and attentive bartenders and wait staff only elevate the drinking and dining (and occasional two step) experience.
Food: The menu was more vast last summer. I remember ordering a dinner of oxtails and veggies. Options of this weight are no longer available however, they haven’t gone off the basic bar food deep end.
Maybe minimizing the menu helps to perfect the flavors. Well that’s what I assume when I’m handed a skinny, one sided menu that has wings, catfish bites, burgers and salads. Everything on the menu is good. That should make it easier for you to decide on what to get.
Oh, and if you want a Belgium waffle with icecream, you can have that too and yes, it’s good.
Drinks: They no longer have a drink menu either, which used to have some fun options. Now, you just order your favorites.
Ambiance: Look forward to kicking it with either a local executive, hockey fan or an around the way person at the bar. Always a great time and wonderful conversation.
The chandelier adds such height and posh to this duplex. The lighting here is interesting. It’s not too hospital bright but it’s not so dark that you can’t see your food in front of you. It’s a nice balance played well by the blue and brick walls.
Can you party here? Sure you can l. The upstairs area is often rented out for parties and social engagements.
They are one star short because parking can be limited/​expensive when there is an event at the PRU. Star parking usually blocks off the street. Tip: Park on Broad or Market after 6pm or Branford and just walk over.

Another solid pre or post event choice near the Prudential Center. Enough beers on tap to satisfy
all preferences and a good array of appetizers to enjoy while having a pint. Go with the lemon pepper wings or the bourbon glazed for a great flavor experience.

Excellent wings!!! Fall off the bone, tastiest wings I’ve had! Burgers good too! Nice selection of beers. Great place to go before or after anything going on at the Prudential Center. We were in a hurry and last time we were there was tough to get service, seemed like staff hadn’t all come in yet, but once we got a waitress she was excellent. Would definitely return.

Cool spot, nice crowd, great location. My bf loved the lemon herb wings and I enjoyed the spinach ragoons. Love that they have vegetarian options on the menu. 1 star deducted for the waitress who we had to flag down every time we wanted a drink.

I had their burger and it was basic. not great. kinda dry and too thick for my liking. but their fries were good.

I had low expectations going in considering I was in the heart of Newark, but this place is absolute garbage. First off, we walked in (4 of us) and the hostess just looked at us without asking if we wanted a table. We walked to the bar and ordered beers and a cocktail and paid NYC prices (remember, this is Newark). Then when we finally DID want to sit, the hostess was missing and nowhere to be found. When she finally arrived, we sat upstairs in the back corner tucked away from the rest of the crowd. There were no TVs and it was very dark. The waitress (scantily dressed with a bull ring in her septum; yes a bull ring, like what an animal should wear) came by after a few minutes and took our drink order, no issue there. When we ordered food, she didn’t write anything down at all. We noticed the man behind us had not received his drinks or food after a LONG time and he got up and left. After about 10 mins I asked her to bring fries as well. The fries came 5 mins later but without the rest of our food! The food literally came out 1 by 1 and we saw that the food runner f***ed up our order and laughed about it. When our food finally came out (30 mins later) we saw that the HOSTESS was bringing our food out! WTF! I immediately asked for the bill and paid. I then saw that the waitress charged me more than what the bill had shown ($ 33 bill, charged me $ 48).
So to sum it up, this place is absolutely the worst. The crime that occurs in Newark is more organized than this place. Cannot believe they are actually still in business. You would think a place right across the street from a pro sports venue would have its act together. NOPE. Stay away!!!

What can I say? If I could give Taste Venue 10 stars I would. From the atmosphere, music, food, drink selection this is most definitely the place to be. We had the oxtails, catfish nuggets, Mac & cheese, burger, Hennessy Wings everything was superb. Make sure to visit this establishment if ever if the area.

Along with great ambiance was good music and cuisine to match! Ordered fish and chips to accompany a few drinks half expecting bar food, it was everything but! Well cook, seasoned, and fresh, well done!

I came here before a Devils game at the Prudential Center or The Rock, whatever you want to call it. This place is literally within feet of one of the Prudential Center entrances. Taste is also located right next to Edison Ale House. Edison Ale House was mobbed, Taste was not so we went to Taste. It’s actually a pretty nice place. They have an upstairs and a downstairs with bars in both. We went upstairs and were able to grab a high top table.
We did not have any food. They have some very good drink specials which I was actually surprised to see given their proximity to the Rock. I guess it’s not just something that I’m used to. The service was fast and friendly. If I was coming to the Rock again, I’d have absolutely no problem coming back.

Great bar/​restaurant in the Newark area. Would give a higher rating but service leaves much to be desired on several occasions. Bartenders ignore you until they feel like taking another order and management does nothing to correct it.

i want to put 5-​stars on the food, but i’m putting 3-​stars to hopefully get the owners attention, and by all means i WILL come back here, and i’ve been here a few times in the past. we (2 of us) sat upstairs approx. 2 hrs. prior to the devils game on sun nov 8. i’m not sure if our waitress was new, overwhelmed, or whatnot, but i kept hearing ‘sorry, i’m sorry’, over and over. she didn’t write anything down. (the place wasn’t exactly packed, but there were plenty of customers, place was prob ¾ full), anyways. the bucket of beers was served to us, but no bottle opener, after trying to twist them off and nearly ripping my hand apart thinking how weak i was, i confirmed that these bottles were indeed bottle-​opener required, and after flagging her down (which took a while) ‘sorry, so sorry’.
we ordered wings and a burger. a short time after the order, she came to our table and said ‘sorry, no swiss’, and we informed her we didn’t order that (wrong table) ‘sorry, so sorry’. then our burger came out from a kitchen-​runner whom seemed to asked about 5 different tables if that burger was theirs, finally makes it to us, but no wings? after flagging our waitress down, about the wings ‘sorry, i’m so sorry’ (no doubt she completely forgot about the wings when putting our order into the kitchen, but really. we ordered a burger and wings. that’s two (2) items: item 1. burger. item 2. wings. how does that get messed up??)
watching the kitchen runner come out with order after order of food going up to every table asking if the food was theirs was kind of strange, and a bit uncomfortable to be around. seemed like a total free for all. watching the poor management of food order and delivery was quite frustrating. i was a bit blown away of how poorly mismanaged it was. had to ask for a fork and knife w. napkins too.
also no condiments on the tables. no ketchup. no mustard. no hot sauce, bbq, nothing. why not? i ask for ketchup, i get a tiny to-​go few-​ounce cup w. a lid on it. i think i can handle a bottle of ketchup, but no, i guess they didnt trust me w. the ketchup usage. i wanted to ask for other condiments, but was afraid it would take too long.
the upstairs TV’s behind the bar are hard to see when you’re at the tables (blocked by people sitting at bar) — and for some reason the bar-​designer thought it was a great idea to put all the beer-​taps directly in front of one of the TV’s — that’s just RIDICULOUS. who approved that?!
and on the topic of TV’s (everyone’s there watching NFL football) — why were the channels constantly being changed? much to the uproar of the customers, lots of yelling ensued whenever a channel was channel for no reason. and then they’d change the channel but forget to hit the ‘exit button’ on the remote, so we’re staring at the ‘guide’ over blocking the view of the actual game. random people yelling «hit the exit button» over and over. «come on man!»
the bathrooms are single-​occupant only. why would a sports bar have single-​occupancy bathrooms?! no one wants to wait in line for a bathroom! the vanity in the upstairs bathroom wasn’t connected to the wall, and the hand-​dryer machine on the wall might as well have been a cheap toy blow dryer. it’s 2015. get a turbo dryer. it’s 2015, get more stalls in the bathroom.
and what’s with the stripper pole in the upstairs great-​room? obviously you got some risky floozies hoppin’ up in that joint on saturday non-​game nights, but really? don’t you want for family’s to go to your place? «dad what’s that shiny pole for?!» or «get off that pole Danny!» — why would you subject family customers to this?
the stripper pole was surrounded by some nice lounge couches, but no way were we going to sit on them (and we wanted to relax and watch the games on the couches w. some beers) BUT, who knows what goes on up in there on those couches. kinda gross. actually, really gross. i suggest the stripper pole be removed for game days, and maybe the stripper lap-​dance couches taken out back and set on fire, the only way to kill whatever’s growing on them.
now don’t get me wrong, this place is clean, and the food is great. the grilled wings are some of the best wings i’ve ever had. they were great. burger was good too. the curled fries are great.
so.they got the beer. they got the menu. they sort-​of got TV’s. a little better management of connecting the dots, and things would be fantastic. again, i WILL come back here, and i’m writing this review to hopefully assist the owner in making it a better place.

Taste Venue is a local awesome bar. Although the cocktails are on the pricey side it’s a great bar with a nice clientele of young to middle aged adults. I would suggest a wider variety of drink specials other than that I have zero complaints. The service is phenomenal and the food is pretty good. I am what you would consider a regular! Very pleased of the thought that Taste Venue is my neighborhood bar.

Stumbled upon this place looking for something to eat downtown. Greeted by a manager who was very nice and friendly. We waited 10 minutes for a waiter. She didn’t bring water to the table and there were no glasses or silverware in the table, I had to ask. This took a few minutes. The brought my girlfriend the wrong wine. Disappointed but food came to table quickly. My steak was ordered medium rare because I expected it would come overcooked, which it did but it was fine because it arrived medium which I like. Past the disappointing food and service the décor and atmosphere we’re welcoming, I’d like to come here again and hope to give a better review as this place appears to have potential.

Stopped here before a concert on a Monday night. We were planning on going to Dinosaur BBQ but there was a line out the door and around the corner… so we found this place around the block. It was a little hard to find since it is down an ally way looking street.
We got a bucket of beer for $ 15 during happy hour, I was happy with that. The food was also decent. I got a burger and my gf got a buffalo chicken salad. The sauce on the buffalo chicken salad was to spicy for my gf and she wasn’t too happy with it. I tried it and that it was great, a little hot, but fine by me. The burger was also good.
This is a great place for a quick meal before a show/​game. I think that because it was a Monday it wasn’t that crowded… I can imagine it gets packed for Devils games.

The food is great, Vanessa the bartender is great !!! The drinks are over priced. The manger Teresa is a rude ! They have two floors. I went there after the Kevin hart show and they were charging to get in. I thought that was stupid !

I really enjoyed coming hear .it was just for a quick lunch with my boyfriend who comes hear on lunch and I fell in love with their BBq wings instantly. .Omh they fall right off the bone an taste like they been smoked for hours and they came out in less than 10 min… service was awsome. place is very nice an bartenders are so sweet an very presentable .I will be back

I really enjoy the Sports Burger, and the Steak and Cheese Empanadas. I also love the fact that before any Devils game I go to that there’s Arrogant Bastard Ale, and Stone IPA by Stone Brewery. One thing I’d recommend would be to get NJ beers like 902 Brewing, and Beach Haus would help represent Devils fans who are not just proud of their Devils but enjoy a great home grown beer.
Great place to go for a game day event. LET’S GO DEVILS!!!

Lots of beer, new place in an old place. Great for a devils pre-​game beer if you can find a spot to sit.
Lots of beer on tap. Not sure about the food. Yet