Taste

I have been to Taste a ton of times over the years… but mostly to support a friend that was performing that night, or because a colleague had chosen it for drinks. January 8^th, was absolutely my LAST visit. The food is mediocre, and the staff is worse. No matter how dead the place is, I’ve always had trouble getting someone to acknowledge me at the bar in a reasonable amount of time. And when they do, it’s with an air of irritability. I have been a bartender in the past, and my favorite bars now, are the ones with a great, friendly staff… Taste is severely lacking.
So, Jan 8^th, I stopped in with my boyfriend around 8pm to catch a friend’s band. Plenty of open seats at the bar, and 3 bartenders in sight. Walking in, I saw a sign, that their credit card machines were down, so I took out a bill and had it in my hand — that is a good sign that we’d like to order a drink. The bartender closest to me was making drinks right in front of me, so I waited patiently. I saw her look directly at the bill in my hand… but would not make eye contact with me. I figured OK, at least she knows I’m waiting. Little rude though, I would have always acknowledged a waiting customer, and let them know I’d be right with them. She serves at least 3 other customers after walking away, at least 2 appeared to be people she knew. She comes back, right in front of us, and makes more drinks — not even acknowledging our presence, but again looks down at the money in my hand. She serves the drinks she just made, then disappears from the bar. There is now only 1 bartender left, way down at the other end of the bar. My boyfriend and I are literally in shock at this point. We waited patiently for at least 10 – 15 min, and nothing. We moved to a hi top table (still without any drinks) to enjoy a couple song from the band, then left.
Went to my favorite bar on the other side of town… the bar was 2 customers deep, and we got served in 5 min or less. I suggest the owners/​managers of Taste send in secret shoppers. Most people I talk to have had at least one bad experience with a rude bartender at Taste.

Space has potential but the lack of attentive service was disappointing. I’ve never waited at a bar for so long when there was hardly anyone there to get service. In the end, a neighbor of mine who was more assertive than myself ended up getting us drinks.
Also, music is way too loud for what the place is. It’s not a club but a bar that folks want to talk and meet at, not rave to.

A large atmosphere with an intimate setting.
Recently taken under by new ownership, Taste is a great place to stop in for some late night dining and drinks with a small gathering of friends or for an intimate date setting. The bar style and layout is very earthy toned with a brick façade, looking similar to an alleyway enclosed by French doors on the street and parking lot sides, with an open back patio area during the warmer weather seasons. It’s a very spacious room where sound can travel very well and you don’t feel like you have to yell over each other to have a conversation. The bar area is very large and open, offering many bar seats and options to gather on small tables attached to the columns in the middle of the room. They used to have TV’s lining the bar area as well, but it would seem as though they may be moving them or removing them with the new owners as they were taken down when I was there.
Taste offers a large selection of cocktail options, with a couple craft brewed beer selections as well as domestic bottles, and a fine wine selection. There menu offered light affair options, though may be changing with the new owners, but mostly consisted of little bite options that would go well with a drink at the bar or an simple Italian-​style meal.
Located right next to The Melting Pot housed in the same complex, Taste is a type of place you would go afterwards to finish the night off with a fine nightcap. When it gets crowded, it can become difficult to get to the bar, but once you make your way there the bartending staff is very friendly and quick with a drink. The bartending staff has always been very good at keeping a close eye out for those needing to place and order and only seem to slow down a bit when it comes to putting the orders in the system, not the cocktail creation itself. Wi-​Fi used to be free, but again, with new owners, it may not have been set up yet. I hope they do continue the free Wi-​Fi as it is a dead-​spot for phone service due to the building size and structure.

Disappointed in their wine and beer selections. Cocktails were mediocre at best. Food wasn’t impressive either.

Nice place to meet with friends for drinks and appetizers. The happy hour has nice drink options. The chicken nachos were simply delicious and enough to share with a few friends. I really enjoyed sitting out in the patio area. Friendly wait staff and good customer service so I will definitely visit again.

just joined Unilocal to write a review of this place. we went here last friday– the 13^th. i enjoyed it. I used to come in years ago and always kinda liked it– btw wheres amanda?!- it had started to go downhill and they never used to have the food or beers that were listed on their own menu. anyway, heard from a red bank towny that the place changed and was sold so i gave it another go the other night but its the same exact place, same menu, confused as to why they said it changed.
Sat at a round table, there were five of us. service was great from a nice, cute waitress Jackie (looks like the actress penny on big bang theory! she was funny like her too. its ironic because she’s a bartender in the show. the wives loved that… I digress.) with an impressive memory, she didn’t have to write anything down of our huge food or drink order, joked with us. food and drinks came out fast. unfortunately she was the only one on the staff doing any work and running around waitressing and bartending while the other staff stood around we felt bad for her but she didn’t seem to mind. i offered to help her and she turned it into a funny joke amongst my group telling us what drinks she needed us to get for each table when she walked past us. i love waitresses with a sense of humor like that, made our night.
Anyway we were going to go somewhere else for drinks but wound up staying, a band started playing. the singer had a great voice, Taylor Tote and Rob Dyes. Very good.
Still same awkward vibe in the place that other commenters mentioned, the place itself needs some love but the drinks and service and entertainment made up for it. same food menu from years ago, all good stuff sliders are great. they had all the beers in stock that we wanted to try so thats an improvement. will definitely return soon, great service and snacks!

great place to catch a game and a beer (great happy hour)
great atmosphere and it was easy for our group just hang and enjoy the music

Decided to go here from a coupon advertisement. The restaurant is located in a really interesting building. We were the only people in the dining room, so the service was great! The food was also very good. The place definitely had a vibe that I imagine attracts a younger drinking crowd, so we will definitely return early enough to miss that aspect :)

Was not good — the crew figured out they didn’t have vegan after trying to make the order — substituted it with a veggie burger and charged me extra for a side that the waitress hinted would come with the dish —
Burger itself had too much lime

Second time here and probably the last. Although the bartender came over right away to take my drink order when I arrived (and the drinks were reasonably priced and decent sized) it took 15 minutes after I finished my first drink for anyone to ask if I wanted a refill. The bar wasn’t even that busy — the bartenders literally stood together like a clique of high school girls doing absolutely nothing. By the time one came over to ask if I wanted another drink, I had already made up my mind to leave.

I think the food overall is pretty good. Service is just OK. Try not to go when there is a singles lock and key event.

So my fiancé and I got a gift certificate to Taste. We went here at 8pm on a Friday night. We knew what building it was in, but wasn’t really sure where. First thing wrong was the entrance. The sign for the place was misleading, like it could be here, or it might be here. We walked in to a big empty dining room with a few guys setting up for a band. No one greeted us, so we were wondering if we were in the right place. We walked in more and saw a bar with a few people sitting. The vibe was just weird. We sat down and had to ask if they served good bc we still didn’t know what was going on. There were 4 bartenders working and none of them had a clue what they were doing. Probably just needed one or two good bartenders. No hostess and saw no waitresses. We ordered food. No complaints about the food. It was good, a little pricey, but good. So while we were at the bar we noticed several couples that walked in, looking lost like we were, and then walking out. There were high top tables on an elevated platform looking at the street. Really cool spot, but they were not using it. So it comes down to just a very bad set up at a great location. Tons of potential. They need a makeover, clean house with the staff. Keep the chef and cooks. Hire some a manager that knows what’s going on.

Nice atmosphere, had drinks and appetizers. Food was very good so was the service.

I can’t say I’m a fan of Taste. I’ve come here three times, once with co-​workers for drinks, once with a small group for a meal/​drinks, and once with a larger group for meal/​drinks and all 3 times were a mix of lack-​luster and disappointing. Twice when I’ve tried to order something on the menu, they’ve been out — and it’s such a small menu to begin with. It’s not even that we’ve shown up late either, both times were between 6−8pm. When I came here with a large party, the staff was completely unprepared even though we had made a reservation for the exact number of people that came, we had to set up the tables and chairs ourselves in order to get it done.
Overall, Taste is good enough for drinks, but I wouldn’t plan on much else.

I will need to update this review later. I made a reservation here and when I showed up with my party, like 16 of us, the staff was completely bewildered. It didn’t seem like a restaurant type-​place either and the band was incredibly loud, so I wonder why they even took my reservation? We stayed for one drink after hanging around for what felt like 20 minutes to get seated. After one drink my group wandered over to Tommy’s and we ended up there.
It seems so trendy and fun but I was disappointed and frankly embarrassed by what happened. I see all the great reviews so I will need to try it again at night, with friends, I guess after dinner. Hopefully the music will be softer. I usually don’t complain as I love going out and dancing and bar hopping, but the volume was literally painful, and rendered dinner there pointless since you wouldn’t be able to hear each other even if you were screaming.

Went here for a couple drinks on a Saturday night and it was a decent place. There was a live band, which I usually like, but the band was way too loud and it was nearly impossible to speak. It was also really tough to move near the bar, there were too many tables and chairs right next to the bar. Drinks were decently pricey, but that is expected for the area.
The best part of the bar was the wide selection of microbrews. These are definitely worth a try.

Went to this place with my wife on Saturday, after getting a $ 25
certificate. It is located in the famous Galleria shopping mall, on Bridge Ave, across from the Wawa.
We walked in and had to seat ourselves. It felt really weird to walk in and have people staring at us. We decided on sitting at the upper seating area, near the windows, on bar stools. The mood was trendy and nice, with a good amount of people.
We were finally approached by the waitress with menus, who seemed friendly. I immediately had her fire (ask for) an order of buffalo wings. About ten minutes later, we gave the rest of the order. We figured that the wings would arrive fairly quickly. Being in the food service industry for many years, I cannot have patience for food that takes a PAINFULLY long time to come out of the kitchen.
Other than the wings (really good), we ordered the shrimp & cilantro quesadilla (gross), pulled pork sliders (nice), & beef empanada (good).
For dessert, we ordered the tiramisu, which we ate there. We also ordered the cheesecake with pecans. The latter was amazing. The tiramisu did not have lady fingers (it had chunks of those sugar cookies that you get at CVS, that at first resembled small croutons). Wow. It was just 3 scoops of coffee ice cream with some chocolate sauce and those crushed cookies. Disappointing. Tiramisu? hardly…
Just order drinks and we are sure that you will be satisfied. Be VERY patient if you order any food. It is just a place to chill and have some ‘upscale’ bar food, for patient people.

The food at Taste was great, which is why I gave 2 stars, however the staff were horrible.
The bartenders/​waitresses were so nasty when they did show their faces. We walked in and were ID and then stood there kind of confused as to whether we were supposed to seat ourselves or whether someone was going to seat us– it became obvious no one was going to seat us. We picked a high top, eventually someone brought as menus and said she would be back. Almost 30 minutes later we flagged her down and she said «you could have gotten anyone» and we said oh well you said you would be back” had we known… and anyway who else was there to get? So we were only able to get one overpriced martini as she never came back to the table again– the rest of the bartenders — well they only time I saw them they were doing shots behind the bar.
There was a duo band there singer/​steel drum Caribbean combo– so loud we couldn’t talk to each other at the table … so we sat in silence ate our food which was great and left. I wouldn’t go back.

Hmmm. I’m only giving this place four stars despite it being one of my favorite bars in Red Bank these days. That title used to belong to The Downtown before they became Red and then Danny’s which I find the bar menu to be a little too limited (although I still love Dannys).
So I thought about it quite a bit and my conclusion is that I have to summarize it this way: in most towns, as far as places to eat, there are bars, there are restaurants, and then establishments that are both.
Bar menus are usually reserved to the selection of fried garbage typically inhaled in large quantities late at night in an effort to absorb the alcohol that will eventually make you puke it all up anyway. Utensils are usually frowned upon and meals are never of the healthy variety. In fact, just watching people eat this crap will drive anyone to binge drink even more… and probably eventually order the disco fries as well.
Restaurants, however, are the total opposite. Your food is served on an actual plate, and licking marinara sauce off your greasy fingers is even more disruptive than when done in a place with a simple bar menu. You also don’t usually have to endure listening to a group of girls in a bachelorette party drinking through penis straws and singing «Sweet Caroline» while you eat either.
I hate that song. Especially while I eat.
Now sometimes you have those establishments that are the best of both worlds. These have dining climates for either situation… you can totally sit at the bar and smash a basket of onion rings while dripping ketchup all over your dopey football jersey, or if you don’t care to eat next to these cretins, you can enjoy a much more elaborate dining experience in the next room with your only contact being when you have to endure some shithead’s drunken monologue about how fucking awesome Guns and Roses are while you’re both standing in line to the bathroom waiting for his friend to finish puking.
Taste would fall somewhere close to this last example because its basically a bar menu but the food is like ten notches above your standard bar menu fare. However, I wouldn’t go here expecting a sit-​down dining experience. I call the menu «gourmet bar food.»
It’s a very diverse menu with tons of options and the portions are sized to share plates if desired. This is what I like, because they’re small enough that I don’t feel it’s as noticeable how disgusting I am when I eat three plates myself.
In addition to the food, I really like the vibe of the interior. It’s got that old warehouse/​industrial element to it that I love. It’s got TVs everywhere if sitting at the bar with a giant foam finger and a football jersey is your thing. Of course that sort of thing isn’t for me, but sometimes I stare at the games when I’m pretending to listen to my wife.
And the service at the bar is great. The bartenders are personable and pretty attentive. However, if you sit at the tables, just order at the bar. I don’t think the bartenders even know there are tables there.
Ok so now the things that suck.
Music. I’m a big music guy. I like cool music, and of course what I like is «cool.» Everything else is pedestrian bullshit. I don’t know how you would classify the music at Taste, but «bad» seems to be pretty descriptive. I think they would do well getting a good dj to play some classic funk or more alternative music that can be easily enjoyed by those who give a shit, but also easily tuned out by the guy in the football jersey.
Also, if you like The Melting Pot, you’ll love the bathroom of Taste, because it’s the same one. It’s like they live in the same dorm. Weird.
Anyways, Taste, just fix the music and get a more consistent vibe. It’s what the Downtown used to offer and what it did well. Fill that void please!

Went here on Thursday afternoon after a day at the beach with our dog. they were very welcoming and accommodated us outside since we had brought our dog. they brought us a pincher of water so we could fill his bowl, thoughtful… Although we sat outside, Inside was impressive… and has an open floor plan
Drinks special rocked, they had an extensive beer selection which was great since we love to try new beers. We enjoyed the PALM on draft the most.
I had the scallop sliders, held the chipotle mayo and added basil pesto. FANTASTIC
my husband had the coconut shrimp with thai chili sauce, wowzers! both were reasonably priced!
Our server was Cleo, who is friendly and has a great personality! We will be back but next time with friends!