The Good Eats Experience

I'm reviewing based off of two visits. The place is nicely decorated and clean. The staff was always friendly. I didn't wait long to receive my orders both times. Yheir prices are reasonable. All the food tasted good that I ordered (Wings, Crabs, Rice, Green beans, Fish) except the Mac and Cheese honestly. That's one of the main soul food dishes that many people want, they need to get a different recipe for that. I ordered sautéed shrimp also, good but had no flavor.

This was supposed to be dine in since we walked there from our hotel in the cold and rain. After paying 100.00 for 4 plates of food; we sat in the restaurant an hour waiting on our order to be prepared! Yes, they had food ready. Yes, other customers came in after us ate or ordered and still left before us. An employee noticed that we still hadn't been given our order and eventually asked the other workers about it. We finally received our order, as my husband was going to ask for a full refund. Then after leaving the restaurant, because we didn't want to sit there any longer, we found we didn't have enough eating utensils in the bag to eat our long awaited food back in our hotel room. There wasn't really much good about our experience. The food was fine.

Well, well, well, we finally found a restaurant that knows how to cook some great comfort soul food, and not to say there aren't any others. I've seen them advertise a lot on social media, and with the name and pictures of their food, we were attracted to go there. When we walked into The Good Eats Experience located at 85 Mulberry Street in Newark NewJersey in a really nice neighborhood, we were surprised to see that the restaurant was tiny, but the aroma caught us. Drawings on the walls talk about who they are. To select your food, it's done online and was a little confusing as to where this and that was. Therefore, the person behind the counter had to help me. I was interested in their baked macaroni and cheese, so I asked for it as a side dish and let me say it was delicious. You could taste the variety of cheeses along with other seasonings that made this dish delicious. Along with that, my selection was jerk chicken, rice, and yams. I enjoyed their version of jerk chicken as it wasn't too spicy, but I couldn't taste the jerk seasoning, but let me say it was sooooo good. They manage to season the rice along with a sauce that enhanced it to another great level. Then there were the wonderful yams dripping with flavor. Perfectly cooked made them melt in your mouth. The next dish was primarily the same, but he wanted buffalo chicken tenders. However, his sides were the same as mine, but when we were practically in Jersey City Heights and we opened the container, they didn't include his sides. I heard this is a problem with their service. I called the restaurant, and the owner was very nice and removed his dish from the bill. Thank you very much, Jazzo. Overall, we enjoyed the food and the experience we had. Maybe behind the counter could look a little more organized to the eye, and gloves should be worn when serving food, but the overall look of the restaurant was very nice. The two gentlemen behind that counter were very nice, and the portions were great. Of course, they didn't know upfront why we were there, so I guess the portions were the way they serve everyone. I'm going back one day to see the improvements. I really enjoy going to The Good Eats Experience, and on a scale of 1-10, I give them 8.5. This is because two sides were forgotten and the tidiness of where the food was being served from. Would I go back and recommend for you to try their food, of course. Go and taste greatness and home cooked food at its best. Tell them Chef Rene Hewitt sent you.

This is actually my third time ordering from this restaurant and I wanted to wait to review based on the other reviews I’ve seen. Mainly for consistency. Now, I ordered through UberEats. I did not go in person because people have complained about the extreme wait time and bad service. Now 1st order, Mac and cheese was Mac and cheesing. They called for my “don’t put anything on my broccoli” request, which was great, right. Only issue was that they did not put sauce on the side, I HATE a soggy wing or any soggy food for that matter. The second order, still didn’t listen to my request for the sauce on the side and there was a puddle of sauce in the bottom of my tray, Mac was still Mac’in though. Third times the charm right? no… although they did listen to my “sauce on the side” request. This time evening was soggy because they aren’t using the sectioned containers (for whatever reason) so the broccoli juice did what….🤬 AND the Mac and cheese has left the building, it was highly under seasoned, which is a HUGE no-no. Consistency is key for me and when the food is not up to par all the time. It’s an issue. Went from good to nah, I’m not doing that again. Also did not receive my Jazzo lemonade… Will not order again or recommend to anyone else moving forward…

As a resident of Newark New Jersey, you guys have got to get someone else to make those sides. I mean, I can make mac & cheese tastier than that. The wings are good On some occasions. Please understand that no matter how long a customer waits or is angry because of the wait if the food slaps, they’re going to come back, no matter what so please put your energy into making your food slap, no matter what and I guarantee you will not lose customers. Customer Service as far as your employees yes they may need a couple of classes.

The honey garlic wings are so good I've been back 4 times. The yams are also really good. The mac & cheese, sexy wings, meatballs and fried corn are just alright in my opinion. Waffles were my least favorite. I've found ways to work around the slow service by ordering online. A few times my order has been ready earlier than the estimated time. I recommend calling to make sure they're open before going to the restaurant. Update: Food is still consistently on point but last week my wing and meatball combo had no meatballs so I had to drive back to the restaurant for them. I do recommend checking your pick up order before leaving.

Asked for sauce on the side and it was DRENCHED in sauce. Sauce was eh didn’t give garlic butter or Alfredo. My salmon was very soggy because of all the sauce and grease. Best thing on the plate was literally the corn. I expected more especially being someone who has followed the instagram page for so long. Food was made fast but it was not worth it at all.

If you was to ask me 2 years ago id definitely say this is the place to go to. But the food was not it. I got fruity pebbles waffles and honey bbc wings and Mac n cheese. And fried salmon yams and Mac n cheese . And some tea. Only thing I enjoyed were the waffles. The chicken had a sour taste nothing honey to it at all. The yams tasted like carrots. Didn't add nothing to it. And the Mac n cheese had to much of everything and not enough of real cheese. Tasted like cheese sauce . The salmon had no taste to it at all. Idk what happened to this place but please bring back the old chef if that's what it is . 😭

I ordered the salmon with macaroni salad and yellow rice through Uber Eats. The yellow rice was very flavorful moist and delicious though a touch heavy on the Old Bay. The macaroni salad was solid although I wish they read my notes where it said separate it only because I prefer it cold .... The salmon itself was nicely seasoned and tasty. Unfortunately, my lemonade was also left out of the order. If not for those small oversights, this meal would have been an easy 10/10. Still, the flavors were great overall, and I'd definitely give them another try.

The service is improving it used to be a hour wait. I get my order from Uber Eats in about 30 mins. The food is great ten out of ten but I only get honey garlic chicken yellow rice and Mac and cheese. The chicken plain is great as well. The store is nicely decorated they offer merch and drinks such as jazzo punch which is .

This used to be my fav soul food spot in Jersey but it's fallen off SO bad. The mac and cheese looks better than it tastes. It was dry and salty. And kind of cold. Def didn't hit like it used to. (sidebar: someone I know delivered a instacart order here and the order contained lots of ragu cheese sauce.) not sure if corners are being cut due to the cost of groceries but store bought cheese sauce is crazy! The meatballs also don't hit like it used to. They were okay but nowhere near as good as before. Also kind of cold. I saw them scoop my mac and meatballs out of the tray so I don't know how they were sort of cold if they came out the tray. Did the flame go out? With all that being said, I'm gonna come back for the sexy wings and macaroni salad, two of my fav items on the menu and HOPE that they still hit the same.

I was staying nearby and didn't want to go too far for dinner, so I placed an online order here. The receipt email said that it would be a 30 minute wait, so I timed it to get there 30 minutes from when I placed my order. My food was really well packaged. There was no possibility of spillage as the container was stapled shut. My order was for their wings combo. They had different flavors for the wings. I went with their lemon pepper. For my sides, I got the corn on the cob and yellow rice. Man, it might not have been the healthiest thing to eat, but dang, that was good food!

The food looks better than it tastes on Instagram and Tik Tok. I got the shrimp and chicken combo with Mac and cheese and yellow rice. The honey garlic wings and yellow rice were decent. The Mac and cheese was super bland and SPICY!! It looked like it was drenched in pepper. It would have probably been great without the spice. I've never had spicy Mac and cheese before. My friend ordered a wing and shrimp combo with sautéed shrimp. They gave her fried. So they gave her a plate of sautéed shrimp. The shrimp looked like it had no seasoning and looked undercooked, they literally just put Alfredo sauce on it to make it look edible. I won't be returning.

Amazing food. Amazing owner great service and a cultural ambiance. True to Newark. Make sure you stop in here. Jazzo has been serving the community and we love to see it! Thank you for everything, always.

The food was okay very pricey. I had Mac n cheese yams and salmon. The food was good Mac and cheese could have been better. Yams were great and the salmon was okay. It was different. The service was good the place decorated nice.

The broccoli was overcooked. As soon as I picked it up it fell apart and was very soft like mashed potatoes when chewing it. Nothing steamed about it. More like wilted and boiled for way too long. The meal was not worth $28 in my opinion.

My 1st time coming here is what brought me back. My 2nd time coming here is the last time. I ordered food, waited and waited and waited to then be told there was no more chicken, only after asked about me order. The staff is horrible. They are not hospitable and overwhelmed. It's a shame I have to leave this kind of review because I initially liked this place. I don't even want to tell people about this place (anymore).

I travel from NY to try out the food from the restaurant and was under whelmed. The staff had bad attitudes like they did not want to work there at all. When I asked for food on their menu the response was they did not have it. So I asked for an alternative and she kept asking is that all while I was trying to order. The food I received was too salty for to eat. I wasted time and money coming to this place. They were more polite before the store was established. I thought it would be a friendly atmosphere but was more hostile than anything else. I had to asked the cashier/ order taker to speak up several times because I could not hear her. The only this she spoke up for was the phrase "is that all". I expected the staff to be more polite and professional. Not a good experience at all.

The food is soooooo freaking good ! Omgeeee and the portions YES ! Service was amazing !

I honestly enjoyed the food to the fullest. I can't say anything bad about the food I ordered at all. I kinda want some now but they are closed on Sundays.

The whole experience was bad. Walked in to all the employees on they cellphones with Every table was dirty in that damn restaurant. The cans of soda even came dirty as hell. The food was so flavorless. The green beans and yams was the only thing worth eating out of all the food I got. The sauce on the wings were good but the wings them self were terrible. Undercooked. Big as hell and just nasty. Not crispy at all.. just soggy. The salmon was dry. Like I never seen my salmon textured like that. Awful. These pictures on INSTAGRAM really had us bamboozled Never again bro.

Had the service been up to par they would get a better rating from me. Ordered from here after seeing a viral TikTok, the food was delicious despite the fact that we ordered ahead and our food was over an hour passed what was indicated on their website. Employees serving food seemed so confused and continued to ask if I wanted alternatives because my order ran out but I also was given the option to wait for my missing side. One missing side took an entire hour. The yams were perfectly cooked, the honey BBQ wings could've been a little crispier & the Mac was just needed to be served warmer.

Absolutely not worth the hype. We waited over an hour for food that was extremely underwhelming. The Mac and Cheese was dry, hard and overcooked. The fried fish was limp and mushy. Looks nothing like what you see on instagram. Please save yourself the trip. I spent over $70 and was still treated rudely. I ordered a fish sandwich and after opening my tray realized there was no bread or sauce when I told the guy at the register he said, "Oh, we ran out of bread." I received no apology. All I got was a rude reply. Once the staff realized they were out of bread they should have let the customer know and offered a refund. This place is unprofessional, extremely slow and underwhelming. What a waste of my money and time. I wish I would have skipped this place and spent my money next door. Damn, Instagram strikes again. What a scam.

Service was great and quick but the food was not what I expected. The shrimp was so bland and had no flavor. It wasn't anything like in the pictures they have shown.

Saw this place while driving and stopped in because I love Alton Brown, without checking Yelp first, which I usually do. So glad I did. I can't believe it gets such a low rating!! I got wings, yams, mac and cheese and meatball. Everything was FANTASTIC and I thought the portions were great. The girl at the counter was nice too.

I had macaroni salad, yams and garlic chicken wings. I honestly wasn't impressed. The yams were not candied yams, they looked and tasted like someone just threw a baked sweet potato on the plate.. Macaroni salad was nothing special and chicken was ok at best. I'm giving 3 stars because I previously had their Mac and Cheese with broccoli and really liked it.

Nothing was good about Good Eats and experience was horrible. If you decide to go there, please make sure you pay your meter for over an hour. My friend ordered the same food as myself and received hers before me as well as other people. The food is extremely salty especially the rice. They candied yams needed to be more candied. Nothing was Swedish about the meatballs. It tasted like sauldsberry sauce poured over it. The wings are breaded with the sauce of your choice yet it took over 45 mins to prepare and the owner had the nerve to argue when informed about the poor service. The pictures on the wall are screenshots from their instagram post. They were not accommodating for any inconvenience. It's not worth your time or money. Severely disappointed. If half a star was a choice.

We saw this spot on our way to a concert and wow, the food blew us away! We ordered the chicken and waffles and Mac and cheese. The honey garlic sauce on the wings was unbelievably good. The Mac and cheese was extra cheesy and delicious. We had to go with the fruity pebble waffles which were the perfect dessert. The food came out quick and was just what we were looking for.

I was taking there yesterday for the first time at the birthday treat. When I tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by the deliciousness of the food, especially the honey garlic wings! The wings were absolutely delicious! Fresh tasting crispy and coated to perfection. Along with that, him I had the string beans and yellow rice. The rice could've been cooked a little longer, but it was still delicious. The greens were also delicious a little salty on both the rice and the greens but nevertheless, I devoured it all. The downside is the weight but I assume it is so because the food is made as you order it. The sides are premade, but the main course is made when ordered. My assumption. They have heavy foot traffic, and people don't mind waiting. The ambience is very modern very contemporary, very urban. It's not your plexiglass, but you speak through an opening. It's a full-fledged restaurant. Almost a lounge.

All I can say is the food is rocking!!! I had the swings with the sauce on the side, mac & cheese, yams, and collar greens. So amazing! I don't know why the reviews are so low!

The food here is really good. The service is not the best. Be prepared to wait at least 45min for your food. This is more of a takeout spot that anything. You can dine in if you want, but the dining area seems more like a waiting area. It's not that inviting.

Waited over an HOUR for food. No apologies or explanation as to why. The restaurant does not accept online orders nor does it answer its phone. Do NOT go here.

The Food Here was Disgusting in my opinion, very over hyped. Broccoli and my salmon was soggy and mushy. The yams had no flavor and they barely had any items to choose from.

My son has been telling me about this spot for quite some time now, but I finally took the plunge yesterday. AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING The soul food restaurants in the area don't stand a chance! Good eats experience is pushing out the best food & service in the area hands down!! And the portions are insane!! The person making the food should have their hands worshipped daily! I will NEVER walk into JUST FISH or CHESS HOUSE (both have shameful customer service and mediocre food) let me make a suggestion to you both, walk into this establishment maybe just maybe y'all learn something! Thank you Good eats for your exceptional food & customer service. The girls taking the orders are LOVELY!!! Young pretty and professional. Major kudos to you all!! You guys need to nominated for best of the best in Newark NJ!! Well done!!!!

Waited a whole hour for food @iamjazzo_ ..just for two white women to come in and get their food within 10 minutes.. and the shocker was a black woman (customer) advocated for the women to get their food first because that had a concert to go to.. The worker didnt even apologize once I voiced my frustration. I just got a refund.

Food tasted way better when she was in the crib.. it's still tasty though.. you won't be disappointed

Awesome place. Totally enjoyed the meal. Would recommend. Give it a try . . . small group or large

The good eats experience was NOT good. The instagram pictures really fooled me and my boyfriend. We drove 30 mins just to be disappointed. The mac and cheese was dry as hell and had no taste, the yams were dry and the wings weren't crispy. If you're looking for food that's just edible with no flavor go here.

The food is great but the service is horrible, I ordered online & when I got there they told me they didn't see my order & I had to wait 45 minutes for my food. This was around January & I haven't been since don't plan on going again

Food is on point and they are very friendly but the wait time is ridiculous. I was the only person in there and it still took me almost 20 minutes to get my food. I could see if it was being cooked on the spot but what I wanted was right in the serving trays.

Food was pretty good. I just wish they drained the green beans, it made my fried chicken mushy. I throughly enjoyed the Swedish meatballs, they were delicious. The Mac and cheese could use some seasoning.

This morning I stumbled across The Good Eats Experience on my Instagram feed and I realized that I drive pass that restaurant everyday (but it's always at night after they've closed, so for some reason I thought it was a space for rent) Well with it being an early afternoon on a Sunday I decided to try something new, black owned and in my community and boy was I surprised. Service was fantastic. A light skinned lady with blonde box braids answered all off my questions without frustration and even made recommendations and there was a darker skinned individual behind the counter with an apron on (tattoo on the neck) putting sauce on the food and packing up the containers (I'm sure their job entailed more but that's what I saw lol) She was very nice as well. The food took approx. 30 min which is fair cuz the place was packed. Food was just more then I imagined! Salmon was divine, not too salty and the cream sauce they put on it was perfect. Yams and Mac cheese on point as well. I was with my father in law who barely ever eats but he actually scrapped the plate! Definitely will be going back tomorrow!

Placed an order online at 2:37 it said it would be ready in 30mins I waited over an hour!!!

The pictures on IG made me skip cooking dinner & order. But honestly the worst $70 spent & i feel horrible saying this but i was so disappointed. The yellow rice was dry and hard, the collard greens were awful & the salmon was OKAY.. Sorry wouldnt order again. Smh

The food was disgusting and I mean horrible the worst food experience ever. The collard greens were can collard greens. The food didn't have any taste to it. It tasted as if he just put sauce on the meat. I posted a comment on his Instagram "imjazzo" letting him know about my food experience he deleted my comment. He never bothered to contact me. He's very unprofessional!

Food was great just know that when you go there there's no parking if you are going to park make sure you have money for the meter young lady with the blonde rock spades was awesome to get your food is a little bit of weight but it's worth the wait because the food is great

Honey glazed fried salmon was amazing the Mac and cheese horrible taste like Kraft with added cheddar and very salty not edible macaroni salad tasted like vinegar and too much seasoning I really had high expectations for this restaurant dessert was the worst box cake that tasted wet and way too sweet tres leche Oreo really nasty will not be returning this was my second time at restaurant the first I had whiting dinner with Mac n yams wasn't impressed said I'd try again second time was disaster giving 2 stars for the salmon it was perfect

over priced food and extremely long wait time. the food is good but be prepared to wait a long time. I ordered a Crab Tray. I ordered at 2:30 I was order #3 one of the first petiole to walk through the door. I waited over 1 1/2 hours for my food.

the food was honestly horrible i spent over $100 and none of it tasted good, everything was drowned in different sauces and so many different seasonings to the point that i couldn't even taste what the food tasted like. really disappointed because i drove an hour to get there and i was very excited to try this place out and it completely was opposite to what i thought it would be like.

We drove from NYC to have "The Good Eats Experience" and unfortunately it wasn't worth it. We ordered several meals to which none of them were exceptional. I placed the order approx 5:30pm (opens at 2:30pm) there was no Chicken Wings or Swedish Meatballs. I ordered two Salmon plates (w/sides) and Fried Shrimp (w/sides). I had to wait literally 40 minutes for the above order and to make matters worse the food isn't hot, it's WARM. The "heating station" where the food sits to be served is utterly useless. Let's start with the sides. The YAMS are DELICIOUS just enough cinnamon/sugar combination, however the COLLARD GREENS (I think it's canned) was extremely salty and unpalatable. The YELLOW RICE was decent - but the MAC AND CHEESE was a BIG let down. It didn't have much flavor, the cheese was bland and did I mention it wasn't hot? As for the SALMON, it's quite tasty, however we found scales on one of our SALMON which was unfortunate and The FRIED SHRIMP (we received 6/7 pieces) was breaded decently but again - it was VERY salty. Due to the LONG wait, the worker gave me a free macaroni salad to compensate, which was delicious but OVER SEASONED. For the quality of food that is being served - it's extremely OVERPRICED. Though our experience wasn't great - I still wish the restaurant much success with hopes that they make MUCH NEEDED improvements.

lack luster...don't waste your money,eat at home. been following the ig page for a long time and was finally happy I was able to get a meal from here but to my dismay I paid for one of the most lack luster, over hyped meals one could ever experience. mac and cheese had no flavor, waffle was hard, food was lukewarm, the Wings were the closest thing to a saving grace for this meal but it didn't make the cut. giving very much The Bad Eats Experience.