Jenn P.
Yelp
We decided to try Avenue after seeing it on a list of 49 restaurants in NJ to eat at before you die. While some restaurants on that list are lovely, this one is an absolute insult to the rest of the list.
We made a 7:30 reservation but had 25 minutes of issues with parking so we were about 5 minutes late. By the valet, there is a huge sign that says Avenue - but they don't comp the parking for Avenue customers. It's TWENTY dollars. When we walked in, there was a huge line by the hostess' stand. The check in process makes the one at the DMV look efficient. When we finally got the hostess' attention, we told her we had a reservation, and it took several more minutes to be seated.
A different hostess took us to our table on the side of the patio. We asked her if there was any seating on the ocean side. She looked at me like I had five heads and walked away - although, to her credit, she came back and reseated us on that side.
Anyway, enough about the disastrous check in process. Onto the food, which was equally lackluster:
ESCARGOT ($12): I don't eat a ton of escargot but these were easily the worst I've ever had. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with them; they were just incredibly flavorless. Where's all the garlic?!
TUNA TARTARE ($18): This was downright confusing. It said it was with an avocado cream sauce and spicy sweet pea. My friend stabbed something with her fork, put it in her mouth, and said, perplexed: "I think that's an apple". There were various unlisted ingredients in this but none were identified as peas. Disappointing dish in general.
PISSALADIERE ($13): I liked this, and this is why Avenue gets two stars instead of one, *although* I could definitely see myself drunkenly making myself something similar. Basically a cracker with an onion spread on it, topped with a small dollop of goat cheese, 1 olive, and 1 anchovy. 3 of them in the app. Sizable at least.
CRAB MAFALDA PASTA ($31): Listed on the menu as pasta served with beurre blanc, crab, and bread crumbs. I didn't really see any bread crumbs but there were a ton of nearly raw diced veggies and half a pound of salt. I couldn't finish my half of this, and I've never left pasta on the plate in my life.
MUSHROOMS ($10): Mixed mushrooms and another half a pound of salt. An hour after this meal I chugged two bottles of water.
For all of this and two glasses of wine, I thought the overall bill was outrageous for what we got. Sitting by the water was really nice and our server was sweet, but not impressed.
PS: to put the icing on the cake, I got home from dinner and had an email from OpenTable saying Avenue told them we were no shows. Honestly, Avenue, get it together.