The Turning Point of Manalapan

Their No Wait app lies. When I attempted to check in before arriving, it said that there wasn’t any wait. So, when I arrived 15 minutes later, I was told that there was a 20 minute wait. I decided to check the app to see if the wait built up during my drive and saw that it still said that there wasn’t any wait. We had a pretty friendly server whose name was Larissa. Daughter ordered the The Caprese which was chilled fresh mozzarella, sliced tomatoes and nut free pesto on a toasted focaccia roll served with a side of balsamic vinaigrette. It also came with a side of salsa. She also ordered Pam’s Half and Half which was half lemonade and half iced tea. She liked both alot. I had the Tiramisu Stuffed French Toast which was thick sliced egg bread stuffed with cinnamon coffee scented creamy mascarpone filling and topped with an espresso chocolate drizzle. It was delicious. Larissa was very friendly and even gave me a cup to take the rest of the coffee to go. Will definitely return in the future.

Knocking this place down a couple of stars for two reasons. The last few times I’ve gone service has been pretty meh. And the host/​hostesses at the front are just awful with predicting wait times. One time we were told 40 minutes and it ended up being over an hour (we figured we invested so much time at the point there was no turning back). Our last wait we were told 15 minutes but it ended up being 35. There call ahead is a joke too because people kept walking in saying they called ahead but for some reason none of these people were on the list. So either someone’s really bad at their job or people just lie to get their names bumped up on the list.
I still really enjoy their OMG French toast but I’ll have to figure out a dead time to go enjoy.

The Turning Point is definitely the go to place for breakfast and/​or lunch. Food is always fresh and delicious and service is excellent. Fresh fruits and vegetables. The only problem is I can’t decide which dish to get, I enjoy them all!

Review for this location only… overall I’d give Turning Point as a concept 4 stars, but this location isn’t as good as the other ones. I’ve been here many times over the years and the food is fresh like it is at all Turning Points, but there are some flaws with this location. The first one is it is frequented by rich housewives and spoiled young adults and the staff has a hard time controlling them. Case in point, wife and I were waiting at the register to put in our names behind another lady and multiple people go up the hostess’s clipboard and start leafing through it to find their names. When the hostess returns, she makes no effort to figure out who was next and the people who were third in line started putting their name in until I stepped in and set things straight. We are told it would be a half hour for our table and it ended up being more like ten minutes, good thumb we didn’t wander away. Waitress was nice and got order in quickly but food was slow to come out. I ordered the turkey chili and the food runner tries to tell me the spoon is on the plate as she spills the chili on the chips and sprints away. There was no spoon and no salsa like I asked for to have with my salad. I had to flag down the waitress to come to the rescue.
Wife liked her salad and waitress hooked her up with an extra iced tea to go which was nice, hence three stars instead of two for this location. I’m going to stick to the Lawrenceville, Brick, Westfield, Holmdel, or Hoboken locations in the future when possible.

Perfect place for brunch! The food is absolutely delicious and the service was amazing. This place is packed… even for a Tuesday! I ordered the Wilbur Skillet with the Tropical Breeze Iced Tea that was unsweetened but it came with a side of simple syrup. I definitely recommend the skillet and the iced teas! My friend got the french toast and the House Specialty Shake and she loved it! Also, I suggest calling in advance for a table because the place does get crowded!

Been a fan of this restaurant since they initially opened. Food is almost always great, and the waiters and waitresses are friendly and helpful. My absolute favorite there is probably the Wilbur skillet.
There are a couple of hostesses who lack customer service skill though. Today was a good example, I had called in a to-​go order, and I went there I saw my order behind the counter waiting already. I spoke to her saying I’m here to pick up my order, and she told me that she will check on my order for me. She spent the next five minutes working on the guest list on her iPad. Realizing she doesn’t care whether I got my order or not, I interrupted her colleague standing next to her and asked her to get me the order (and sure enough the one sitting there is for me). Meanwhile, this initial hostess is just standing there, ignoring the conversation and transaction. Poor customer service on her part, and she’s lucky that the good food coming out of the kitchen keeps me going!

Forgot to post my review. Went here a few weeks ago and loved it. Called ahead and we were seated right away. Very friendly staff and cute interior. My husband got the banana waffle and I got the corn bread French toast. Both were de-​lush! Give this one a try

Best brunch in town. All the food is great but specifically the eggs benny and blueberry pancakes are amazing. Only con is there is usually a wait but i cant knock them for that, they do their best to keep things moving.

Best option for breakfast in the freehold/​Monroe/​manalapan area. Big selection of omelettes, French toast, pancakes, and skillets. The French toast options are super indulgent and the skillets are very tasty. Service is always impeccable.
Only complaint is the skillets never come out well done on potatoes despite my always asking.
Setting is cozy with nice fireplace.
Get there before 8:45 on a weekend or you’ll wait.

I absolutely love the Turning point. Years
Later I still love going there. They have a great open clean environment always looks nice, great service always friendly and a pleasure. But their food is just the best breakfast food. I always get the basic skillet igh so good. They have amazing French toast and the caprese sandwich is to die for.

Excellent breakfast. Was very tasty and extremely good, even for takeout. I would love to go in and sitdown and try some more things. Place is very nice.

The food is superb. Their menu covers everything you could need and want and they’re very flexible with what you can put on your food. The portions are also a generous size.
The wait is always around 40 – 85 minutes. Calling ahead will cut the wait to just 10 – 15 minutes.

Food quality is good and portion sizes are pretty generous. Nice brunch place I think. Interior décor is cozy and casual.
Side note: the hueva rancheros comes out on a tortilla wrap. Now, I’m not an English major, but wrap tends to mean wrap the food in this context. So after I ate some of the rancheros, naturally I wrapped it up and started eating my breakfast burrito. Waiter gave me a thumbs up and said no one ever eats it like that but it’s a great idea. How did no one do this??? Burritos are delicious. If you give me rice and a giant piece of seaweed, I’m gonna make a giant onigiri and chomp that sucker down. What makes you think a breakfast burrito would be different? Wraps are basically edible plates! Delicious and makes cleaning easier! The dish washer is probably a bit thankful that my plate is easy to clean and kinda impressed I ate the whole thing. Anyway, the hueva rancheros are good.

Best brunch in the area. THey could use a coffee upgrade though.

way above average breakfast and brunch food and the ambiance is nice. This place tends to be freezing all the time, and the last couple times seemed to be kinda messy too, despite quite a large number of wait staff.
Menu definitely caters to adult females, and the clientele matches.

This place really is great! I wish they would expand and make the place bigger because there is typically a long wait on weekends. The french toast is super yummy and service is always on point!

I love The Turning Point and am already craving it just thinking about it. It’s a VERY solid brunch spot with a huge menu, but doesn’t cut any corners; it’s not just a typical diner with run-​of-​the-​mill dishes that you can get just about anywhere or make at home. I highly, highly recommend it and would be there every single weekend if it wasn’t for the long wait.
P. S. — Don’t forget to try the drinks too! They’re just as great as the regular menu options.

I love this franchise — great brunch spot. They never disappoint with their service and variety of food options. I am not really a «breakfast» food person, so I enjoy coming here with family and friends because everyone can get anything they want. I was able to enjoy a lunch item while my mom had her omelette.
Per usual, there is always a wait here so get here early if you can or plan something to do while you wait. We knew we needed to go to Homegoods, so we put our name in, learned of the 45 minutute wait and then shopped while waiting — win win!

I understand this place is a franchise however I must say everything at this place is simply amazing. This is the best Brunch place I have tried in a long time. The corn bread French toast is a must have and the eggs Benedict here are better than any other place I have been to. Get here early as this place gets busy but it’s definitely worth the wait.

I really love this place. It’s my go to when I want to get some brunch. I don’t even mind the long wait during peak times because it’s worth it.
I usually get the Wilbur skillet with either scrambled eggs or sunny side. It never disappoints and very filling. All the food is really fresh. Last time I was there I got the lobster Benedict and it was so amazing.
I haven’t ordered lunch there yet because all of their breakfast options are too good to pass up, but they look good also.
The coffee is good and all of the other drinks are on point. It’s a little more costly than a diner but I think worth it. They have opened up a few around NJ so definitely check it out of you are in the area!

Needed to satisfy my brunch craving and this was the best looking spot in the area. I was skeptical at first because it is nestled in a shopping center consisting of HomeGoods and Target, which are quality stores, but nonetheless not where you expect to be eating brunch. The place was PACKED!!! Mostly housewives and college students considering the restaurants limited hours. We were hit with a half an hour wait, for which we ended up conveniently strolling around the aforementioned shopping stores. The food turned out to be delicious! I ordered the veggie wrap and the balsamic dressing that came with the order is something I will never forget. The tropical waffles we ordered turned out nice too. We also had the turkey soup, but I did not try that one. A final note is that the service was phenomenal. I highly recommend this place to those who enjoy everything that is Brunch!

Not happy with the service been their several
times very crowded and felt rushed. Long wait times. Prefer long branch location !

Loved the lobster quesadilla. It just hit the spot for the perfect Sunday afternoon meal I was craving. Service is excellent too. We overstayed 45 min beyond closing time, but the staff was very gracious.

I like this place a lot. It’s nice we have one here in Manalapan and the location is great. It does get busy so call ahead just in case. Good place to bring the whole family and they even have little snacks for the kids while you wait for food to arrive.

My sisters and I had brunch here. This place was packed. We got here around 11am on a Monday and we had to wait 45 mins for a table. They have a great menu with interesting selection of brunch items. I got a s’mores hot chocolate and it was very good. A bit sweet on the bottom but it is expected with hot chocolate. Everything we ordered was very good and good portions. I would definitely eat here again but I think try to go earlier so we don’t have to wait that long for a table. I took one star off because of the wait time.

This is my new favorite brunch place that is coincidently close to home. The quality of their food is amazing and it’s all fresh. You can customize your own meal by trading different kinds of meats in different dishes.
The wait time to get seated can get rather long do I advice calling before to put your name on the wait list.

This is my family’s go-​to place for brunch. After trying a number of places around Philadelphia and New York, I am beginning to wonder if it’s simply due to the lack of brunch options in the area.
Nevertheless, the service is always incredibly warm and friendly, and the food is pretty solid. I always opt for the egg white frittata (I’m sad they no longer serve it with red pepper coulis), which is filled with fresh veggies and served with pita bread. My sister enjoys the pesto scramble, and the rest of my family has tried the paninis, sweet waffles, and french toast. The bottomless coffee is always nice, and I like that you can as for a to-​go cup. The lunch combos are a pretty good deal, although some of the soups were disappointing — definitely stick to the salads and bowls!
They take call-​aheads so be sure to do that since the wait can get pretty long on weekends!
FOOD: ⁴⁄₅
ENVIRONMENT: ⁴⁄₅
SERVICE: ⁴⁄₅
VALUE: ⁴⁄₅
OVERALL: ⁴⁄₅

I really wish it was easier to eat here I really do. The wait is always over and hour on the weekends and the service is slow. The food tho? Amazing… the Coffee? amazing. I wish I could get up, drive over walk in and be eating right away like any NJ diner but its just not the case. You gottta wait. I think I will be back again may times but maybe during the week.

So typically Turning Point is a favorite breakfast place. Usually everything is good. We went several weeks ago and I had a delicious latte for starters. Their menu is filled with some many great things but since I’m watching what I eat these days I ordered the «NO YOLKS» ABOUT IT OMELETTE which in theory should have been delicious but wasn’t. For some reason the eggs tasted very funny to me. They were either from a carton, or powdered, I know this because I make egg white omelettes with real egg whites and they taste nothing like that. My fruit and english muffin were good though. My boyfriend got the BIG EASY BENEDICT and he described it as marvelous. The waiter was helpful in helping me choose between two dishes I was debating on (even if it wasn’t good). We will definitely be coming back I will definitely be ordering something different so as not to have the egg white experience again.

Got to give it up for consistency. My mom loves this place and whenever she comes to visit back home she always wants to go here. The place can get packed but they always deliver in terms of food and service. There really isn’t much that isn’t good, and everything seems to be or feel healthier even if it may not. I’m always debating on breakfast or lunch but you can’t go wrong either way. My go to for lunch is the Full Monty. I love the strawberry reduction and it comes wit plenty of fruits!
Overall honest rating: 4.5 out of 5

We recently took a ride to NJ for a quick errand and stopped here for a quick bite. In a shopping area so plenty of parking. Wait wasn’t too bad on a Sunday around 9 – 930 when they opened. Definitely a popular place.
FREE COFFEE UPON ENTERING ALWAYS A PLUS!!! Very good customer service.
Food was good not the best breakfast I ever had but– then again, I got something, as my husband would say– is boring. 2 fried eggs, hashbrowns and English muffin. He got a fancy egg dish which he said was good. They use liquid egg for their omelettes so I deduct a point. Service was lovely and fast. Coffee was nice and fresh.
THE POINT DEDUCTED IS DUE TO THEIR LIQUID EGG FOR EGG WHITE OMELLETES. Not sure if their regular OMELLETES are liquid egg or real egg.

Hands down my favorite place for breakfast food. The servers here are so friendly and the food is on point every time. I definitely would recommend the big easy benedict with cornbread, i enjoyed every bite! They do put a lot of green peppers in this dish so if you’re not a big fan, ask for less or without them.
My only complaint is the wait time. you still have to wait 25 – 30 min (with reservations) on the weekend.