La Taverna

Excellent Italian restaurant! If you are looking for «fine dining» at cheap prices than this is not for you. If you are looking for quality homemade food with a great staff at low prices than this is your place! The pasta dishes are very good. Excellent flavor and a taste of freshness.
They also have a great alcohol selection. They have more expensive wines, as well as cheaper house wines. If you are not a dinner person they have a good bar crowd and are known for their happy hour.
Overall, we were very pleased and will be back!

This is a rather pretty place, a little over priced and with OK service. We came in at 8PM on a Sunday, and there was no host, the waiter who seated us did not greet us, just sort of grunted at us and led us to a table. Our waitress was a little better, she kept my drink full and served us quickly — which of course we expected, since the placed was set to close at 9. The food was OK, I had a veal dish in a very lemony sauce. Seriously, all i could taste was lemon. It completely overpowered the rest of the dish. My husband had the eggplant ravioli. The ravioli was advertised as handmade, but I’ve never seen green stripped handmade ravioli before… In my opinion it was was OK.
Our entrée did come with salads, which were a little bit on the overdressed side.
We were also brought bread. The bread was cold and also a bit on the stale side. We are foodies, but we could not tell if the bread was like a bruscetta, and that was why it was stale? But wouldn’t that come with a tomato sauce instead of olive oil?

The food is excellent here. The appetizers are great too. I’ve never had a bad meal here. The building is a landmark so it’s not a roomy modern restaurant, but the character is great. The barteners are awesome too. I highly recommend La Taverna.

Wasn’t expecting much based on the reviews, but we had a good time here. Drinks were good, food was tasty, service was maybe not stellar, but perfectly fine.
The building is old with a cool character, nice for hiding away on a snowy night. Actually, with the amount it had snowed, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get out of the parking lot, but yay for my gutsy Corolla.
So we have our new local pub, which is cool, as it’s just around the corner from us. Give them a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

While my husband and I always enjoy the food, until recently we only formally dined there. We now go, when just the two of us, to the bar area where Jess makes and remembers our drinks, and we eat. If before 6pm starters are half price and an excellent value. Love their French onion soup. Last time for a lite dinner had an iceberg blue cheese bacon and tomato salad — and added grilled shrimp. Finally a good local bar /​restaurant with good food and service.

…just had Lunch here. No Customers but me and an Associate. The Calamari was like Rubber… undercooked so as to not be that golden brown and was warm, the marinara sauce was luke warm… The Special I had sounded good but fell short of my expectation. Tuna and Shrimp over Caesar Salad. The waitress came back after taking our order to ask how I wanted the Tuna cooked, I said Medium Rare, then I said Rare to Medium Rare hoping it would have had some red to pink but it came out very overcooked. After 10 minutes the waitress made it back to the table… never did she ask how everything was. I had to
tell her the Tuna was over cooked… she mumbled a few words… the shrimp was tasteless and overcooked as well and the Romaine was terrible.
My associate pursuaded me to go here today. I tried eating here for Lunch before but walked out because I could not get waited on… I swore I’d never come back… that was 2 months ago. I gave it a second try.
Never will I come back or recommend this restaurant.
My rating is a — 4.

Local place with a wide array of menu options. It’s not bad for a last resort but it’s not a place you’d go out of your way at all.
The good is that the bar is pretty solid, the menu is expansive where you won’t find an issue to accommodate all tastes, and the food isn’t half bad. Some flavors are plain but for the cost I’m not going to complain.
The bad: nothing special about the menu, nothing is ‘great’, I don’t think there is any ‘item of choice’.
Also the service has been awful for all three visits.
First visit: waiter was kinda creepy, kept flirting with my girlfriend. Whatever, he’s being nice, right? Then he starts to creepily find reasons to touch her. He got really… Weird.
Second visit: I think our waitress forgot about us. We were upstairs waiting for someone to remember to come up for an obnoxious amount of time
Third: once again, waitress totally forgot about us. Even tried waving her down, nothing. It’s not even busy here!

Best food in area friendly courteous service, place to go for a great time. have ate here many times never disappointed. What more can I say… try it you will like it.

Very nice cozy, local place. Food was clearly above average, drinks well made and reasonably priced. Large beer selection and pretty good, if average, wine choices. excellent, but relaxed service, so sit back and enjoy.

I have eaten at this place numerous times and never had a bad meal. Everything is always fresh with great sauces! The hot wings are amazing and I get them for lunch often!

I really wonder how these people are still in business after providing such a pathetic service. The owner, who wears glasses is such a dahm snob. Makes you feel very unwelcomed. Always has a sad face and smiling for him is like nun having a orgasm. never see it!!! There are better options than this place. no wonder they are mostly deserted.

I like in town and have been here twice: once with my boyfriend and once with a female friend. Both time I got the gnocchi gorgonzola, which was good both times. The sauce is very strong, so get it only if you realllly like the taste. Many times my water was empty for most of the meals. Once the waiter was refilling my drink and gave me an iced tea instead of water and my friend sprite instead of iced tea. Waiters are kinda hard to understand. Also felt like the waiter was hitting on my friend and I.
If you can, ask to be seated by the windows. It looks onto Georges Road and is nice at night. There is a bar inside and can get noisy. When you go inside and don’t see anyone (I hate when restaurants are like this), walk into the next room.

Had a business lunch here with 2 others. If you order an entrée, it comes with a rather nice green salad. A healthy portion of bread is also placed at your table. I had the salmon entrée, which was served over roasted vegetables… excellent taste! Salmon was grilled to perfection. Potions for lunch are not big. Service was on the slow side, but acceptable overall. This place has a cool atmosphere and is decorated nicely.

This place is a wonderful neighborhood gem, that I will say, after living in the area for a few years, is in a level of quality above the rest of the places nearby. Unless you are going into Princeton for a nice dinner, this place can’t be beat. The ambiance is beautiful, with a preserved décor of an older, cozy house. It is quiet, so you can hear the other person talk to you. I highly recommend the sausage pasta.
As far as the food at the bar, this is more greasy style cooking, and not so great. However, as far as restaurants go, I would highly recommend it.

My then-​fiancé (now-​husband) and I moved to the area a few months ago and decided to try out La Taverna, since it was so close.
Our first time there, we had a hard time finding the main entrance, as it’s not marked clearly. We went inside, only to find what we assumed was a hostess stand, but for all we knew, it could’ve just been décor. (Again, they’re not that great at communicating what’s what.) There was no one at the stand, so we assumed they’d be back momentarily.
After we waited more than five minutes to be greeted, my husband set off to find someone. He wandered around the restaurant only to find one waiter who made eye contact, then turned around and walked away. In the meantime, I picked up a business card and called the restaurant from my cell phone. I told the person who answered that we were standing inside the restaurant, waiting to be seated, but from his response, you’d think I was speaking Greek. After a minute or two of a frustrating, mostly one-​sided conversation, I hung up and we left. That was a good fifteen minutes (or more) wasted.
A few months later, we decided to give La Taverna another shot. We walked in and the restaurant was deserted again (only two tables were filled), but it still took a few minutes for us to be seated. It was at least another ten minutes before our waitress even greeted us, another fifteen before she took our order, then about twenty-​five minutes for our appetizer, and another half hour or so for our entrees. Meanwhile, I think someone only refilled our glasses one time.
The food was no better than the service. The appetizer (mozzarella sticks) seemed to be frozen and reheated, served with a lackluster marinara. My salad was so overdressed, I couldn’t eat it. My husband ordered a pasta dish that he described as «Meh.» I ordered lobster ravioli and could not have been more disappointed. Nothing was fresh; everything seemed to be canned or frozen.
In the end, whether I’m talking about the service or the food, I have absolutely nothing good to say about this place.

Recently moved nearby and I visited the restaurant last night with my fiancé around 8pm. We stood by the front desk waiting to be seated… and waited… and waited… and waited. No one ever came by, so I started walking around the place looking for a waiter or someone. One waiter looked me straight in the eye and turned away! My fiancé took a business card from the desk and called, telling the person that picked-​up that we were standing inside waiting to be seated!!! The person repeatedly asked where we were. We left
We may come back someday… hopefully they will be better-​staffed then.

This place is the Cheers bar of South Brunswick. The bartenders are great people and the French onion is the best I’ve had in jersey.
I make this a multi weekly stop.

Had dinner here last night. The décor is a little dated but clean. They sat us upstairs which I would not let happen again. The service was slow and I am sure it was because we were upstairs. Now for the good part. The food was very good. I had the baked clams for an app. YUM! My wife ordered the fried zucchini which was great (very large portion.) We split the arugula salad and that was fresh and delicious. he fish of the day was whole branzino and I loved it. All in all I will come back again but this time I will ask to be seated downstairs. I am sure it is better service on the first floor.

Every now and then I put so much weight in a low Unilocal star rating that I end up missing out on someplace that’s actually very good.
Case in point: La Taverna.
This place is in my backyard, literally less than 10 minutes away. And yet I’ve lived here for almost two years without ever trying this place. I don’t know if was a few negative reviews I read or the fact that when I drive by here it never looks open. Probably a combination of the two.
The weather was awful the other night and my wife and I didn’t want to go too far so I finally said let’s just drive over to South Brunswick and try La Taverna. I sure am glad we did.
La Taverna was excellent — almost 5 stars.
As we like to do, we ate at the bar. The bar scene was bustling with all sorts of crazy random event generators, and I for one love meeting these kinds of wacky people. Moreover, the food was very, very good. We started with the roasted peppers and fresh mutz, then moved on to the arugula salad with apples and blue cheese, and finished things off with a ginormous bowl of penne vodka. It was a ridiculous amount of food for the money. The girls behind the bar were awesome and a great time was had by all.
If you’re like me and you’ve been thinking about trying this place, definitely take my advice and get over to La Taverna. I am looking forward to coming back again soon.

A mentor of mind suggested we meet here and I loved it! It was in the MIDDLE of Dayton, and anyone in this area has passed by it at some point. It has an adorable gazebo near it. Inside is very «Tavern» feeling but with an classy flair.
I just had salads but the light airy balsamic dressing and slight changes they made to it at my request (field greens instead of romaine… etc.). It was very good.
It’s not the cheapest considering one regular salad and one seafood salad with two sodas came up to $ 26… but it has great ambiance and every dish that I saw hit the table looking amazing.
I liked the pesto olive oil they left on the table for the bread.
Service was friendly and the restaurant crowd was a nice one. PACKED at around 1 PM Friday afternoon… I believe I saw a full parking lot and there were 40 spots or so! Very impressive.
My husband used to live in this area and I always passed by thinking we should stop by before we moved together! Now, I know we should have definitely done stepped in a long time ago. Will be back for dinner sometime when I’m in the mood for Italian.