I was there today for lunch.
I had the clam chowder & roast beef sandwich.
My friend had the wings & steak bruschetta.
The chowder was average. Eh. Could have been from a can for all I know. The roast beef was, well, roast beef on a toasted roll. No sides. Just roast beef. Roll. That's it. For $12.
Now folks, I know this isn't SUBWAY. I'm not expecting my $5 footlong. But I was, well, expecting something MORE. How about fries? How about chips? Nope. Nada. How about maybe swiss cheese on the Roast Beef? Nope. Just roast beef on a toasted roll. My opinion? Tasted like they took pre-sliced roast beef out of the cooler, microwaved it and slapped on a toasted roll.
The wings we good, not great. Not amazing. Good. I would order those again. They had a nice kick afterwards and were meaty wings.
The steak bruschetta was very good from what I was told. I didn't have that myself, but as my friend told me he would "absolutely order that again".
I'll go back and try more things. So far, I am underwhelmed. Also adding insult to injury were these two key things:
1. When we sat at the bar, we weren't acknowledged for a good 6 minutes. It was lunch and there were 8 guys at the bar. One bartender. I worked behind the sticks, and I guar-an-tee you that I wasn't the fastest bartender, but I at least made eye contact with people and would say "Hi, I will be with you in a minute" if I was busy. Nothing. I was like she didn't care we were there until finally we are looking at each other and muttering that she came over to us. Again - 8 people at the bar. It's not like she had tables and a bunch of orders flying in. Gotta get better at that.
2. We closed our check without looking at the bill - just handed our cards and had her run it. The bill was $34 each. We tipped her, walked out and while walking away we did the math in our heads and realized there was NO CHANCE we just ate $76 dollars worth of food. We walked back and asked the bartender for the itemized bill. She looked it up and OOPS - she ran our cards on the wrong bill. What. The. Fuck. She voided it and re-ran our bills and it was $23 each.
I understand the "new business kinks" that need to be worked out, but that's just pathetic. In all my years as a bartender and a waiter, I KNOW that I haven't seen such crappy service by someone behind the bar - ever.
This place won't be in business for very long if it keeps up.
Also another last issue I have is with the prices on the dinner menu. I'm all for paying good money for good food. I go out to NYC restaurants and will pay NYC prices. But if Danny Tattoli wants to have people in Hoboken pay $28 for a filet mignon, it better be something comparable to New York City. I mean, I take the PATH to Christopher Street, eat at Wolfgang's or Raoul's and pay $6-10 more for one of the best steaks in 100 miles.
I will try it a few more times and write a final review in a bit. But right now...i'm on the fence. I think one thing they can do fast for the bar menu is add fries when you order a sandwich. 99% of all restaurants at least give you a side to nosh on with your sandwich. Nothing at CBH except beef & bread for $12.
