Al’s Charcoal Pit

.. This place is real real good… We wake up and rush to eat family sunday breakfast every Sunday. We go in with breakfast and love it … Stop in if you want a nice cozy family atmosphere diner…

This was the very first restaurant that we visited when we moved to the neighborhood. We read some reviews & liked that it had great ones. It seemed to be an icon for this area by the way the costumers interact with the owner. There are plaques on the walls with newspaper clippings of people that eat here and their stories which include the restaurant, which are entertaining and interesting to read.
We love the environment, the friendly attention and the food is great! I love their burger & fries!
This has become our place to go for a burger & the best thing is that the owner now greets us and know us and our personal lives. A great place to eat & converse.

Recently moved to the area and have been trying to try different places around and decided to try Al’s and was grossly disappointed in my experience there. Had the bbq ribs and they were awful. Tasted like really old Chinese food style ribs that were still on the bone. Even the baked potato was over done.
Needless to say, I will not be returning.

After Louis’ Charcoal Pit closed down a few years ago (a decades old installment in this town), one of his cooks open up this place across the street… what a downgrade. The food was simply OK the first time I went. And completely disgusting when I ordered for take-​out and found pubic hair in my sandwich. Yes. You read right.
They returned all of my money, but they completely lost me as a customer.
I spent the rest of the day rinsing, brushing, flossing, and wincing.

I joined my friends here for breakfast due to a late opening in school. I was hoping for a delightful breakfast experience– we decided to forgo IHOP in order to support local businesses. Along with that, the low prices just couldn’t be beat. My friends ordered the eggs and pancakes. There were no complaints from them. I however, ordered the French toast. It was sour. I don’t get how French toast can be sour but it was. I’m very sad right now because I was really looking forward to it. I will now go to school on an empty stomach, $ 5 poorer, and without the nutrients to start my day right.
UPDATE: I spoke to the waiter about the French toast and he didn’t charge me for it since I didn’t eat it and told me he will check up on it. We expressed our gratitude and he was very kind about it. I will amend my rating since the service was excellent and they did use fluorescent bulbs which appeals to my environmental sensibilities.

Al’s is the best. He started a new Friday night ribs special. We’ve had it the last 3 Friday’s! It’s that good, and for a great price!
Al’s has specials every day. You can’t beat his prices. We come here several times a week, and it never disappoints.

I came here with colleagues for lunch time. It’s alright. It is a small style like diner if anything.
I had gotten the lunch special of buffalo chicken sandwich, which was just dry grilled chicken with hot sauce on it on a bun. Nothing special at all. I just ate the chicken and left the rest sitting there.
The best part were the fries and the matzo ball soup that came with it. And it was about $ 10 only, which isn’t that bad. But not great if you’re not interested in eating your meal.
The staff was nice enough but I don’t know if I’d be clamoring to return anytime soon.

A’s ant no real beauty. That being said the food is really solid and good. The turkey club and tuna salad, amazing! Just like Louie’s. French fries crispy perfectly cooked. The hamburger had a great sesame seed bun just like Louie’s. Old school good. Great place to stop after $ 5 movie.

I wanted to like the place. Cedar lane needs a place like this. The food is just meh. Spinach in the omelets is obviously frozen. Potato on the side is pretty good but nothing special either. Chopped steak is bland and their onion soup doesn’t have a ton of flavor either.
Overall just left the underwhelmed.

Went to Al’s Charcoal Pit last night for the first time after searching Teaneck for a decent, well priced menu. After trying to make a last minute decision we settled on Al’s. I ordered the Tuna Melt which is a closed sandwich, which I wasn’t sure I would be happy with, but it turned out to be delicious, the bread was grilled just right as in a grilled cheese and the French Fries were perfect. Evenly cooked with not too much salt and fresh coleslaw and a tasty pickle. My girlfriend had a Turkey Burger, made with lean healthy turkey meat, noticeable in the color of the meat. A side Greek salad was basic but made with fresh crisp lettuce, food Feta cheese and decent grape leaves. We will be back!!! Soon!

I let the nice sign and good name fool me. Burger was your basic frozen patty, fries were the same. Run by foreign dudes that act like they care. I ordered a burger with bacon, lettuce, onion, pickles and a root beer. I got bacon lettuce tomato and a warm watered down ginger ale with 6 – 8 melted ice cubes. And I was the only customer in the place at 11:45am and he still screwed it up.

Ok so me and a friend came here after we went to world of wings and our kids were starving. I was looking for a place that had burgers since that was what they wanted this place received pretty high ratings so we gave it a try. So I would have given the food & the cleanliness 2 stars, but our waiter was so nice I gave it another star. The kids stuck with the kids menu Mac & cheese and a burger. The burger was ok. The Mac and cheese was right out of a box and lumpy. The waiter was very nice and knew we weren’t happy with the Mac & cheese the minute he put it on our table and gave us extra fries. The kids wouldn’t return it because they get embarrassed. My burger was ok. Nothing great at all the place seemed clean but the cups were dirty we had to get new drinks. I will not be coming back based on the food and cleanliness but the waiter did do everything to try to please us.

Our family gets together often to enjoy great food and great service at Al’s Charcoal Pit. Al makes our dining experience a great one! Stop by you’ll love it!!!

Al’s is a fantastic addition to Cedar Lane. Order the roasted chicken or chicken kebab and you will love it!

Tonight my husband and I decided to try out Al’s as a takeaway. He had the porterhouse steak and I had the Al’s burger and fries. I have to say we weren’t disappointed, extremely reasonably priced the order arrived in about 20 minutes in a large box with my husbands selection in separate boxes. His steak with mushrooms was separated from the carrots and mash and was good and hot.
Portion wise both meals were huge, his steak was big and my burger was a massive handful. To say they filled us up is an understatement and both were properly cooked, especially the steak which arrived medium rare.
If we had any complaints, it has to be the mash and carrots were either canned, frozen or dried… But it didn’t spoil the meal.
We will be using this place again and would recommend to others.

Nice, friendly atmosphere! Al goes out of his way to make you feel comfortable and ensure you get exactly what you want to eat. Food is prepared for you, not early in the morning and reheated. The pot pies, chicken kebobs, gyros, roast chicken and fish are all great!!! If you’re in town, you should definitely give it a try! You won’t be sorry!

Friendly service, Chicken Pot Pie is a treat. Rice pudding is the best. Great addition to Cedar Lane.

We’ve had good and and not so great here so far (burgers and cheese steaks seem to be what they’re best at). Great menu, nice people. Welcome them to the neighborhood with your business!