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Jersey Food

December, 2004

Inside This Edition: Jersey Spin welcomes Jersey Shadow; Review: Bayberry Inn in Ship Bottom, NJ And Review: Acqua Ristorante in Raritan, NJ

 

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Jersey Spin Welcomes Jersey Shadow - December, 2004

 
Jersey Spin is pleased to welcome the Jersey Shadow.  Jersey Shadow is dedicated to bringing the most revealing and useful food reviews from eateries in New Jersey.  He has a lot planned for Jersey Spin so we now turn this announcement over to him because he is anxious to get started.

Jersey Shadow:  It's great to be here at Jersey Spin and to be given such an important and exciting role in the Jersey Spin future.  I believe that the most important element of any food review is honesty;  I hate to read about a place and not get a good clear picture of the food, service and environment.  So often many reviews are so biased that they become useless to the reader.  The existing reviews on Jersey Spin are quite good but they only write about their good experiences and simply didn't cover the places that weren't, well, not-so-good.  This year I am covering all experiences, good, bad and otherwise with brutal honesty.  Although brutally honest, my experiences will always be fair and objective.

I'm called the Jersey Shadow because when I show up to a place it's "anonymously," and the only time anyone will know I've been there is by visiting Jersey Spin.  It's going to be an exciting year coming up, and I look forward to serving you and hearing your thoughts and comments.  Just remember that when you sit down to a meal in a restaurant "you are the critic" and the only opinion that matters at that moment is yours.  I hope you find my reviews useful, informative and fun when deciding where to eat in the great State Of New Jersey.  - Jersey Shadow -

 

The Bayberry Inn in Long Beach Island.  Well...  the best way to describe this Jersey Shore restaurant is "bizarre."  When you sit down to a meal you are paying for, it doesn't much matter how a restaurant was the day before or the day after, all that matters is what it's like when you eat there.  When I showed up to the Bayberry Inn in a group of four, it looked nice and inviting and very rustic looking.  The server, dressed in a period outfit from colonial times, was very distracted and couldn't seem to get our drink order right.  Things in the kitchen didn't seem much better as our meals arrived after a long wait, but our collective appetites left when we all began eating.  The server also disappeared to the back somewhere making it impossible to get drink refills or even sour cream for a baked potato which was cold when she finally fit us into her schedule despite a largely empty dining room.  Bizarre is the best way to characterize this place because the food and service was lacking any hint of competency across the board, and the staff seemed oblivious.  It's never very pleasant to totally slam a place, but maybe just maybe there is hope for this place because when a dining experience is that bad, then positive change might be on the way.  It's important to note that my visit took place "off season" and while not an excuse, it could explain my rather unpleasant experience.  - Jersey Shadow -

Bayberry Inn - 13th St And Long Beach Blvd Ship Bottom, NJ 08008 Tel. 609-494-8848

I recently had the opportunity to visit Acqua Ristorante in Raritan, New Jersey.  The service was exceptional but unfortunately the food was only so-so.  The meal began with some nice assorted cheeses and olives brought to the table before ordering, always a classy touch.  I decided to order the Carpaccio di Manzo (beef carpaccio) which was outstanding.  At this point I was looking forward to my entree of Pollo Boscaiolo which was a grilled chicken breast with wild mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes in a wine sauce.  The entree was mediocre at best and it seemed quite odd that it would be so, considering how wonderful everything was up until this point.  All things considered the whole experience was okay but it could have been so much better and quite honestly might even be so had I selected another entree.  Everyone there couldn't have been more friendly and the atmosphere was warm and comfortable.  I would  return for the beef carpaccio appetizer on another occasion, and give this restaurant another chance in the hope that the chef was just having a bad night.  - Jersey Shadow -

Acqua Ristorante - 777 Route 202 Raritan, New Jersey 08869 Tel. 908-707-1777

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