The Original Portuguese Grill

Horrible. It took 45 minutes for our appetizer to come out. That was only after our waitress finally came back asking how it was. Shortly after having our meal come out, one in a small portion, the other charcoal to a shoe leather consistency. After trying to eat it because we were starving I finally had to tell a different waitress that it wasn’t good. After she left our actual waitress came over to argue and refused to take it off the bill but would have something else cooked. umm yeah sure I’ll wait another hour get ignored to have you bring another tbone steak that was thinner than a white castle burger! After her arguing with us it finally came off the bill. Total let down! Poor customer service. Poor meat quality. Just don’t go.

Food was very very good. It’s finally good to have a different style of food than just Spanish or Chinese. I am definitely going back. As for Portuguese I don’t have to go up north to eat Portuguese food. As a foodie it’s about time different cuisines are moving south

5 stars. Very very good. Not large portions Pricey. Only a handful of good restaurants in this area. Now I don’t have to travel up north for great food. I don’t mind pricey because it’s excellent!

Went here for a Thanksgiving Dinner with my family. We had fried calamari, paella, and pork & clams. For dessert, we had the choc mousse cake which was a tasty end to a solid meal. The bread was solid, but was not quite up to Newark standards. Everything considered, the food was very good and on par with most Newark restaurants we have frequented. The only real differences were the portions were a little smaller and slightly less expensive. It is BYOB, which also had a positive effect on the overall bill. All things considered, this is a very nice option for authentic Portuguese in southern Jersey.

Exquisite food for discriminating palettes. A whole chicken can feed a small family. Comes with rice and pickles vegetables.

Went here for lunch today.
the food was amazing.
I had a steak with a fried egg on top and fried potatoes it was wonderful as good as anything I had in Portugal.
Karen had a dish of clams monkfish
And rice that really tasted like Lisbon to us
we just got back from Lisbon 2 weeks ago and believe me this place serves authentic Portuguese food

Went there for dinner last night. The place had a very relaxed romantic feel to it. We ordered the Rib eye Steak. Our meals were out of this world. Even the vegetables were perfectly seasoned and just delicious. We love Portuguese food and since we had a nice coupon we drove from Toms River down to Forked River to try this place and it was well worth the trip. Will definitely be going back. Pays to advertise!!! We wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for the appetizing picture on the advertisement.

I’ve eaten here a few times and the food has always been excellent. They are pricey, but I’m a firm believer that you get what you pay for.

Originally I only gave 1 star after an extremely bad experience here. I decided to give it one more shot because my mom absolutely LOVES it here. The food was exceptional and the service was great. I hope we have more experiences like this here. I’m glad I gave them a second chance!

I’m still not sure how I feel about this place. I went with my boyfriend about a week ago and the experience was alright. The restaurant was empty upon arrival and our server was really friendly.
BYOB so. byob.
I ordered a chicken dish and my boyfriend ordered a fish dish. We were told we had a choice of soup or salad bar so we both chose salad bar and… well, I kind of regretted that. The salad bar was just a few take out containers filled with Romain lettuce, onions, tomatoes, carrot shavings, cucumbers and balsamic dressing. That was it. There was no other options and I was really let down. I love salad but I’m kind of picky with the greens and I much prefer spinach. I also like a little options when it comes to dressing :)
Bread came out, and bread was. bread. It was pretty good but really just a basket of bread.
Food came out and I was just IN LOVE with the vegetables. Broccoli and carrots and garlic, just SO GOOD. There were these home made potato chips too that were really good, unsalted I think, which was great. My chicken dish was pretty good but it was a little chewy. and I don’t really like chewy chicken. It had tomatoes and eggplant on top with cheese and tomato sauce which all went really well together, and it was a pretty big portion.
My boyfriend’s fish dish didn’t look too good to me, which is why I didn’t order it, and after watching him pick bone after bone after bone out of his mouth I was even more glad I didn’t order it.
We stuck around for dessert and had flan and the house dessert which was A M A Z I N G. some sort of pudding-​ish dessert with graham cracker crumbs or something. it was incredible. I’d go back for it alone.
Overall I’d like to give 2.5 stars based on chewy chicken, lame salad bar and fish bones, but I can’t so three stars it is!

If I could, I would give this a 3.5 stars, but because there is a 1 star rating I’ll round up because I don’t think it is a 1-​star restaurant. Went here a few nights ago with my family after coming down to the area for a funeral. Arrived at 8:30 on a rainy Tuesday night and we couldn’t tell if the place was open or closed. Walked in and it was literally empty other than the staff. That’s sad to see for me because you know a Portuguese place has to be family owned.
This isn’t the place to come if you’re looking for a small quick bite to eat. Other than appetizers, the menu is made up almost entirely of $ 20 entrees. We didn’t want to spend that much, but there was no turning back now.
They start you off with an enormous loaf of warm bread (photo posted) with butter. It was some of the best bread I’ve had before a meal. After that they served us salads that came with our entrees. Good, but nothing worth elaborating on. Then came the entrée. I had to get the paella being that I don’t always get to go to Portuguese restaurants. The price wasn’t bad at $ 26 I believe. It was served in a large bowl filled with all my favorites, scallops, shrimp, mussels, clams, and a beautiful half lobster. All of which were sitting beautifully in their shells. (There is a photo posted, but everything was deshelled first. Sorry!) Taste was great. The seafood wasn’t too overcooked or anything either. Really enjoyable.
My dad got this shrimp dish that looked great and he enjoyed and my mom got these two big pork chops with hers. Both came with sliced potatos, rice, and veggies.
Overall, it was a good experience. Food was good, service wasn’t bad, the restaurant itself was comfortable and well decorated. I’ve already recommended it to family in the area and would definitely go back again. Give The Portuguese Grill a shot! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Where do I begin? Should I start at the fact that they didn’t have enough menu’s for all of my friends and I when we sat down? We had to share one menu between the 4 of us. Then it took 20 minutes to get us our drinks, we found out that there was only one waiter working on a Saturday night.
The food was less than satisfactory. I approached the owner and told her that my Salmon was extremely fishy and tasted horribly. She then asked me if I have ever had salmon before in my life. I found that incredibly rude. Instead of trying to help the situation she made it worse.
When it came time for the bill she charged us for every refill we had on our soft drinks and then some just to push the bill up. Please save yourself the time and DO NOT GO HERE! Go somewhere else were the owner’s welcome customers not steer them away.

The Original Portuguese Grill
Looking for authentic Portuguese Cuisine, look no further. The Original Portuguese Grill, located in Lacey Township New Jersey is as real as it gets.
Anna Pereira and her son Louis opened this quaint little establishment in 2007 and have been going strong since. This being their first time in the restaurant business they did it right. With generations of family recipes together with Executive Chef George Bautista (originally from Seabra’s & Iberia of Newark for 15 years) they are bringing the Portuguese flair, flavors, and spices to a small town and to the table in a big way.
Entering through the front door there is a warm and cozy aura about this place. Rich wood accents, warm colors on the walls with a contrast of burgundy, linen covered tables with napkins fanned out of the drinking goblets and traditional Portuguese music playing in the background.
The dinner menu is vast, with a wide variety of appetizers and many entrees to choose from including House Specials, Seafood, to the Charcoal Grill.
Deciding on the traditional Chourico Assado (Grilled Portuguese Sausage), Fried Calamari, Sauteed Shrimp, and Clams as appetizers with the Braised Chicken Breast in Red Wine Mushroom sauce and the Grilled Rib Eye as entrees.
The Calamari was delicious! Tender Calamari rings lightly breaded then fried to perfection, Traditional Chourico was just that, clams that were cooked in olive oil, garlic, cilantro and white wine were little gems of goodness and Shrimp that was sauteed in olive oil, garlic, paprika and other spices that Anna says, she would never tell. That’s ok, just as long as they don’t ever stop making it. Beleive me when the Shrimp is gone the sauce that is left on the dish you will be dipping bread into, «that’s how good it is».
The Braised Chicken, one of the House Specials, was a thick boneless chicken breast smothered in a red wine and mushroom sauce with a burst of flavors traditional to Portuguese cooking. The Rib Eye which was cooked on the Charcoal Grill was out of this world, full of flavor, juicy and cut like butter. Both entrees were accompanied with Spanish Rice, Home Fries which in Portugal are thinly sliced potato’s that are fried to a crisp and mixed sauteed vegetables.
Open seven days a week, a lunch menu that consists of twenty two selections that range from Soup of the Day, Fish Filet Sandwich, Chicken Breast in a Garlic Sauce, Paella, to even a Steak sauteed in wine then topped with Ham and a Fried Egg, a wonderful Dinner menu, take out is also avaliable and Catering on or off the premises there is no reason not to add a little Portugule to your life. All you need to do is bring the
SANGRIA!!!
The Original Portuguese Grill
44 Manchester Ave.
Forked River, N.J. 8 731
603 971‑7100
Open 7 days a week 11AM-​10PM
Call ahead seating is avaliable
Casual attire
BYOB
pricing: reasonable