Casserole Bistro

I enjoyed my lunch here, it is a small place food was very good. We had the yucca fries that were awesome and fish tacos. Staff was very friendly, we will be coming back for dinner.

I’ve been here twice and each experience was exactly the opposite of the other. The first time I was raving about the food and service. We ordered the tapas and had the young male server. We shared the small plates and loved everything — onion soup dumplings, cheesesteak egg rolls, crab cakes, yucca fries, and batatas bravas (seasoned, crispy potato wedges). I also had the pistachio goat cheese salad and my friend had the Caesar salad. The Caesar dressing was special and I’m not a Caesar salad fan. The service was hands on when it needed to be, and more carefree and hands off the rest of the time. We loved everything about the food and service and couldn’t wait to go back.
So, the second trip, we ordered actual entrees and had the female server. I had the Chilean sea bass with a blue curacao reduction as the sauce. I questioned whether the sauce would actually be blue and received confirmation that it would be, which gave me pause, but she assured me that it’s an excellent and very popular dish. It comes out and it was definitely blue and not good. Looked like a cross between a Dr. Seuss plate and something that would have been served on the buffet in Atlantic City in the 1980s. The fish was old as it tasted and smelled very fishy and the curacao reduction was barely reduced. I sent the dish back. My dinner companion didn’t like her linguine in clam sauce. It was such a disappointment because after the first visit I had such high expectations.
I probably won’t ever go back and if I do would stick to the small plates.

Its always a challenge to find a quality place to eat with our family friend Tom, who is a home chef. He is a TOUGH critic when it comes to restaurant cooking so for him to rave about a dish or an entire experience is huge! This place made the cut for him especially with a more crispy duck. Only observation, the waitress did not ask how he’d like it prepared so duck enthusiasts keep this in mind when ordering.
I had the Seafood risotto — full of all types of fish including squid, mussels, shrimp, etc The risotto was very buttery and cooked well. All the fish were properly prepared and seasoned to perfection. Only problem was I ate too much before my entrée so I didn’t have much room. We had calamari and stuffed mushrooms for appetizers — both very delicious. Mushrooms were juicy and warm; calamari were fried just right and came with a spicy red sauce, yum!
The waitress was very attentive and knowledgeable about all food items. Had a short conversation in Spanish to learn she’s from Ecuador — possibility that this is a family-​owned restaurant so might descend from Ecuadorean roots? Not sure but overall a good experience. Street parking is available right outside (metered) and possibly more on the side streets. Located on Broad near a lot of other neighborhood shops and down the street from my favorite bakery Gencarelli’s. Price is fair considering the quality of food. Definitely try it out and bring friends.

I was in the area on a Saturday afternoon and decided to give this place a try. We had an assortment of different appetizers. The cheesesteak rolls, yucca fries, stuffed rice balls and the French dumpling onion soup. Everything was good but what I really loved was the French dumpling onion soup. This was really good and I will definitely recommend ordering it. One of the best I have had ever. Overall I would give this place another try for dinner.

I have been meaning to try this place for awhile now. My husband and I live so close and what a better night to try than New Year’s Eve. We called for early reservations and everyone was so nice on the phone.
When we arrived our table was set with our name on the table. Right away the owner and server came to our table. Our wine was open and poured and delicious garlic bread was brought out.
We ordered calamari and chicken meatballs. The calamari was good, but could have used a little salt. The chicken meatballs were the best! They were so tender and the sauce was delicious.
For our entrees I ordered the petit filet and my husband ordered the pasta special. Everything was cooked well and seasoned wonderfully.
The dessert selection was small and we opted to share the lava cake — it was a small portion and very sweet.
Overall it was a great experience and we will definitely be back!

The first time my wife and I went to Casserole Bistro we were very impressed with the food.
The menu is interesting but also has basic items. We have been back twice since our first visit and have not been disappointed. The owner/​chef Johnny, is gifted in creating dishes that are prepared to perfection and beautifully presented. The duck, fresh seafood, and short ribs are amazing!
Also great is the crab with avocado appetizer and the yucca fries. Soups specials vary but have been consistently great. We will be returning there again!

Was pleasantly surprised by everything here. The waiter was wonderful. The dishes solid. Could have used a little bigger portions but everything was excellent. Priced right. I had the skirt steak, cheesesteak egg rolls and crab cakes. All well done!

Went back for the third time and was still on point! Crab avocado app is yummy and the mahi mahi was also delish which was a special.

I live not too far around the corner from this place and I’m ashamed to admit that, by the time I finally made it here for the first time, they had been open for almost two years. Clearly, I’ve been missing out.
We stopped in for a late lunch/​early dinner on a Saturday afternoon and were the only customers in the joint, but we were VERY early for dinner, and while eating, our attentive server was putting out reserved signs on the tables. Good sign.
We started with the pumpkin soup, split the rabbit-​stuffed arancini, then moved onto the osso buco as our main. Everything was delicious, including the complimentary warm, buttered bread, which was ideal for soaking up the remnants of the soup, which had the right balance between being too thick and too watery. The arancini were cooked perfectly and the osso buco fell right off the bone and paired perfectly with its sauce and sides.
All told, the bill came to $ 42 for those three things. Very reasonable!
Looking very forward to going back here to try more of the menu, especially the braised short ribs, the twice cooked duck and some of the pasta dishes.
BYOB!

Went for lunch, had the crab cake, fish tacos and my brother had pork tacos. A little disappointed that they were served on wheat rather than corn tortillas, but they were good. Service was slow considering we were the only people in there, the waitress kept disappearing into the back room and not coming back to the table. I had to call her for the check. Overall pleasant experience except that it made me late to my next appointment.

Amaaaaaaazing ppl. Great food. Ugh I’m in love with this place! !! They are my favorite Spanish food age my mom’s.

This is a little gem of place in Bloomfield .
Friends have been going there for awhile and to celebrate her birthday we went.
I read other reviews first all seemed good.
The restaurant is small yes. The décor is eclectic.
The waitress (owner) and the waiter EXCELLENT!
I had the Yucca Fries appetizer with Thai chili dipping sauce. Yucca wasn’t greasy or stringy. So good.
We also split the Buffalo Chicken Meatballs and the Bata Pravas delish.
I ordered the Braised Short Ribs, others ordered the Osso Buco and the Filet
My ribs were boneless and were so tender I didn’t need a knife. The Osso Bucco slipped right off the bone. The steak cooked to perfection.
Being Italian I took a piece of bread and mopped up the sauce for my ribs… If it wasn’t busy I would have licked the plate. Definitely going back.

Definitely get the batatas and jumbo stuffed mushrooms for apps. Delish. Service was excellent-​such a nice woman! Salads were great (ice berg wedge and pistachio goat cheese). Can’t get over what a find this was locally and so reasonably priced.

The stuffed mushrooms were incredible, but everything else was forgettable. I believe I had a fish dish, and he had the skirt steak… but neither was great. Service was okay, but uncomfortably awkward at times. The restaurant itself is lovely, with cool decorations. Sadly, we probably won’t be back.

We have been meaning to try this restaurant for some time and we finally went. We were extremely glad we did! Everything from the appetizers to dessert were amazing.
We started with the stuffed mushrooms and the mussels! They were both amazing and delicious. There was so much we could have stopped there and been satisfied but we still had our entrées.
We ordered the red snapper and the halibut special. This was my first time ordering snapper and I am a fan. The halibut was just as superb. Especially with the sauce that was on the plate. it was blue (I can’t remember the name… but totally worth it).
We will definitely be frequenting this restaurant!
The chef knows what he is doing ;)

Overall, not as enthused about this restaurant as many other reviewers, but I’ll start with the good, which is a lot of things: pleasant service, relaxed ambiance serving quality food, BYOB, GREAT yucca fries.
The not-​as-​good: relatively long wait for the entrees and some of the dishes, while prepared well, were just odd and don’t seem to blend together into one coherent dish. I tried the pappardelle casserole, which has a smattering of crab meat on top of what is otherwise a VERY earthy dish. It just didn’t seem to go well with the much blander tasting seafood on top. Not to mention they ran out of pappardelle so it was substituted by the much more boring linguini. And yes, the texture and pasta choice matters in this dish because of the overwhelming sauce.
We also tried the duck but it was cooked well done, not medium rare as we requested.
The restaurant décor was kind of cute, but the overall presentation lacks the sophistication that their dishes and price point deserve.
It’s not that I had a terrible experience, but it just wasn’t as mind-​blowing as some of the more enthusiastic reviews would have you believe. It could be that there is major variance between each entrée, so maybe I’ll go back in the future and give them another try.

Let me start out by saying this place probably has the best menu I’ve seen in a long time — twice cooked duck with potato croquettes with an orange and blueberry sauce, osso bucco, braised short ribs, skirt steak, tuna 3 ways and yucca fries.
They also have lots of typical Italian for the local crowd.
I went with the duck, and it was fantastic. Served with both a breast and a duck leg, it was moist and crispy where it needed to be. The croquette and the orange sauce with blueberries added to the experience.
The chocolate lava cake was a true lava cake where the inside is «undercooked» cake batter, as opposed to commonly served chocolate cake filled with chocolate syrup.
Service was almost perfect as the waiter was attentive right he needed to be. However, the one misstep came when our request for the ice cream that came with the lava cake to be served on the side. Someone from the back had brought out the cake with the ice cream served right on top. She even knew it wasn’t right and almost turned around. We even brought it to the attention of our server, and he basically just shrugged it off.
Overall, excellent food and very good service and atmosphere. I would love to try more items off the menu.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this restaurant!
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I was searching for a good place to eat. Thank you Unilocal for pointing me to this wonderful gem in Bloomfield!
The breakdown:
Food: DELICIOUS!
I ordered the stuffed mushrooms appetizer and it was absolutely mouthwatering. I wanted to order another plate — just so good.
As for the main course, I ordered the skirt steak entrée which came with fried plantains, rice, and the delicious sauce (I think it was chimichurri) and honestly the picture is not enough — it was so frickin good!!!
Staff: The waiter was so charismatic! Great personality and always attentive!
Atmosphere: Cute restaurant in Bloomfield!
Tip: Watch out for the door lol, I think you need to turn the knob or something to open the door — I don’t remember but I know everyone that came in had trouble with it haha
Bottom line: Fine dining in Bloomfield!!! Part of me doesn’t want to share this hidden treasure out to the world because I don’t want it to get packed like certain restaurants in the area but honestly this is one of the best restaurants I’ve gone to in the Montclair/​Bloomfield area.

Great, great and great!
I came here on a warm Friday evening. The service was instantly welcoming and kind. The atmosphere was simple and comfortable.
Started with the Cheesesteak Egg Rolls. My word were they great. Perfect consistency. Not too greasy and really delicious. I would recommend this for sure. As my meal I ordered the Pistachio Goat Cheese salad and Tuna Three Ways. The salad was so good I need to get it again ASAP! The pistachio and goat cheese was the perfect combination. The Tuna Three Ways was yummy as well. One was more of a tuna salad, the other a ceviche style and the last a ahi seared tuna. All great. My boyfriend ordered the special Orange Perch in light tomato sauce with Seafood. So, so delicious and fresh.

Sometimes I forget that dining in Bloomfield can be a pleasurable experience. Having lived in the next town over (Montclair) where people flock to have dinner, Bloomfield is immediately off my radar just because of the amounts of restaurants in my town. I had a great meal at Casserole Bistro last Friday for dinner. Unilocal had this place rated pretty high, so naturally I had to see what all the fuss was about. Thank goodness I did.
I had made last minute reservations to CB via Open Table roughly two hours prior to arrival and had no problems booking a table. When we had walked into the restaurant that early evening, a sweet lady approached my boyfriend and I and asked if we had reservations. Upon saying say yes, she instantly knew the name that it was under and immediately seated us.
There is something pleasant about Casserole Bistro’s «rough around the edges» appeal. It’s not your snuffy uptight restaurant, from the food, to the service, all the way to the décor. Steven, our waiter for the evening really set the tone for our experience. He was really welcoming, cool, and positive. He said that the overall menu would not disappoint. We were looking to have main entrees for dinner that evening, so the appetizers weren’t really on MY menu for the evening. I did want to try at least something, so we had settled for the RABBIT ARANCINI BALLS. My boyfriend and I both wanted a meat dish for the evening so I chose the OSSO BUCO and my other half, the BRAISED SHORT RIB.
Everything came within reasonable time. Our Arancini appetizers were tasty. I thought that the rabbit wasn’t really necessary, it would have worked with any type of meat, ideally something more gamey/​fatty. My Osso Buco for my main was HUGE!!! It was cooked tender fall off the bone like Steven had promised, accompanied with baby carrots, roasted potatoes sprinkled with just a little bit of blue cheese. Over the dish was great, but I had wished they gave me more sauce for the amount of meat that was on my plate, and maybe just a little bit more blue cheese so that it was present in all my bites of potato.
The winning dish of the night was the BRAISED SHORT RIB. The mashed potato that came with the dish was a rich orange from the smoked paprika, which nearly fooled me since I originally thought it was sweet potato when it was delivered to the table. The meat was even more tender than mine. Both dishes came with a decorative piece of plantain chip which I sort of wished there was more of for contrast of texture from first to last bite.
We were completely full from the rice in the Arancini balls, not to mention the amount of meat that came with our main course. Our bill for the appetizer and two mains came out to under $ 80, which I thought wasn’t too shabby given the portions.
Lesson learned — when looking for restaurants in Montclair, don’t forget to include Bloomfield.
FOOD — 4.0
VALUE — 4.25
AMBIANCE — 4.0
SERVICE 4.5
Oh yea, this place is BYO!