Coda Kitchen & Bar

Yes I found a hidden gem ! Thanks Unilocal!So I stopped in for crunch last Saturday. Service was okay. Not great not bad. Food was OMG delicious ! My friend had the waffle and chicken and I went with the breakfast chicken and bacon sandwich and we both gobbled down everything on our plates ! I def will return. An Absolutely yummy experience

I really want to like this place. It has a full service bar and is right by the train. Unfortunately the food is not good. I’ve had several dishes here… the only two items that are bearable are the hamburger and wings. Please improve the food, it is wayyyyy too bland. Service is great and so is the atmosphere.

First review and only because they deserve it. I hosted a 28 person brunch here two years ago and it went amazingly — they have a great back room they let me decorate and the servers were amazing even though they know the tip would just depend on the price of food and drinks. I work in the food service industry, and let me tell you, these people work hard. I had gluten free, red meat free, pickiest-​of-​picky eaters invited and they had plenty of delicious options for them AND those of us who like extra calories with our gluten. Plus it came in FAR under budget. I’m still trying to figure that one out!
As a regular customer I come in a couple times a week mid-​afternoon and get a late lunch since I work nearby. For a couple dollars more than the local diner or lunch places around town, I get an amazing burger with all the works, impeccable service, a nice empty ACed comfortable seat by myself, and servers who know both my primary and secondary orders by heart. Dinner time it looks pretty packed and I’ve only been in a few times, but I can promise the peach Cosmo is fabulous.

The dish I ordered — grilled swordfish with a tropical fruit relish, corn pudding and sauted spinach with chopped chorizo — was decent enough. My major complaint was that the portion of swordfish was unbelievably small (less then the size of a deck of cards). When I complained, the waitress went back to the kitchen and returned saying that the chef had weighed the portion and it was 7 oz. — I’m a fairly experienced restaurant diner, home cook and food shopper and no way that mini piece of fish was 7 oz. We also ordered a side of broccoli and received 4 tiny florets (not stalks) — it looked like a portion for a Barbie doll.
When choosing a place to dine out I look for a combination of quality and value. The food here was good, but not so good as to justify the teeny portions I received this past Friday.

I am in an abusive relationship with Coda. I keep expecting more. It lets me down every time. And I’m only in it because I have no other options… here’s the thing. We are limited for dining options in downtown Maplewood. And I keep going in and giving Coda the chance to redeem itself. Therefore, I have no right to be shocked when the wait staff is, as ever, TERRIBLE. This is the first time I felt the need to write about it.
After we were seated, no one came over to us for 15 minutes. We sat there looking around, as a whole slew of servers were standing toward the back of the restaurant literally doing nothing. After a while, he finally came over and seemed beyond nervous and ill prepared. Almost like he himself had never been in a restaurant before. Since we had plenty of time to look at the menus, we were ready to order everything. We were starving. This was too much information for him. So we all had to give our drink orders and let him deal with that first. When I asked for a side of wheat toast to go with my omelette, it became a three act play. I was told they ONLY have white bread. What restaurant that serves breakfast and sandwiches ONLY offers one kind of bread? Then I gave in and said a biscuit to which I was told there would be an upcharge and it was really large. And they only had cream for coffee, no milk options.
The only reason it gets a star is because our breakfast came out correctly, which I didn’t expect. But ten minutes of searching for salt and pepper, which weren’t even on the table, is just weird.
Go here for a drink but nothing else and don’t expect much. For some reason, service at the bar is way more reliable. It’s almost as if you’re on a movie set. It looks good but it’s not functional. A horror movie set.

We were looking forward to trying this place as the reviews were largely positive. We were underwhelmed.
Most of the food was decent, but nothing we had was exceptional or delicious. Pretty basic fare but tasty. They do offer a ton of specials, which is nice. Started with the duck quesadilla and a half dozen oysters. Both were okay. Oysters could’ve been cleaned a bit better. Slightly grainy, a few of them were. Nothing special about the quesadilla. Too much going on in the dish to really appreciate the duck.
For dinner we had the swordfish special and the vegetable tagine. Both were good. My fault for ordering the tagine on a nice spring evening as it’s really a fall/​winter meal, but it’s their fault for having it on the menu to begin with this time of year. I’d eat it again regardless.
The bar made good drinks, but as it got busier – and louder; much loader – the bar got slower.
Service was meh. It’s a big pet peeve when the kitchen sends out the main course while we are still working on our apps. Even worse when we say we aren’t ready and the food runner looks at me like «well, what do you want me to do, stand here and hold these plates til you are?» Which is what happened here. He put the plates down next to our apps and walked away. If he mentioned anything to our server, there was no indication. No one came by and apologized or anything like that. Another annoying thing is that they also had to ask us every time they brought something over who it was for. I am surprised they don’t use seat numbers when they input the order into the computer so the food can be served a bit classier and without interruption as opposed to what you get at a Ruby Tuesday’s or Chili’s.
The apple crisp was fine. An apple crisp.
Four drinks, two apps, two entrees, one dessert and a coffee for $ 118. Not a bad deal. That said, it’s unlikely we will be back.

What an in place on a Friday night! We had a few drinks around the packed bar and then our table was ready. Very nice waitress who gave us honest opinions about certain dishes we asked about.
Despite our waitresses candid opinion, our appetizers weren’t the best, the wings were kind of soggy and not the best flavor, the tomato mozzarella on bread was disappointing too as the mozzarella had no taste and the bread was soggy. Coda redeemed themselves with the main dishes my husband had the jerk grouper which he raved about and I had the scallops which were plentiful and flavorful and the veggie salad with it was really awesome. We will probably be back for some main dishes and hip ambiance!

Stopping for a bite to eat with a few co-​workers here, and to the left there’s a bar, to the right there are seats and in the back seats as well. People love the Truffle fries (fried too hard for me) and the quesadillas, while their hummus was so so and the tacos were ordered by many.
I had each of the appetizers but also an octopus salad that was lite and flavorful, though too little for a dinner portion for me. Lots of refills and beer for the table. Food was good but a bit oily.
Simple layout and a fun local place to hang out. No parking but street parking or municipal lots. Server was good, and even warned us of his next table, but didn’t rush us to get out (though he looked nervous).

Coda’s food menu is diverse and very rarely disappoints. The sliders, salads, appetizers, specials of the day, have all been delicious in my experience. Cocktails are great, too. The place is pretty big and family friendly.

I guess this is my annual «how’s Coda» review… I think I’ve got something like 120 Unilocal check-​ins at Coda, and I keep coming back because the food and service is uniformly excellent.
I have to admit I’m more of a ‘regular menu’ guy, but the constantly changing specials list really is impressive… as is the wide selection of craft beers, not to mention the wine specials that appear on a regular basis.
Back to the menu though — of course they have salmon and steak and all the restaurant staples you’d come to expect… but some of the entrees are just amazingly complex and impressive. Again, it’s hard to get me to order away from the core menu (love that skirt steak) but whenever I do try a special I’m never disappointed. Execution remains high, and on the rare occasion when something goes wrong (as it did recently with a friend’s burger), the server replaced it very, very quickly and the result was yet another perfect meal.
I read some of the recent reviews with interest. As with most of you folks reading this, I find it easy to separate out the real reviews from the axe-​grinding nonsense. Unfortunately Unilocal makes it easy to take cheap shots for a variety of reasons… can’t do much about that. But the one thing I’ll comment on is the noise — yes, it is an EXTREMELY popular restaurant (and with good reason). Yes, that means it sometimes gets crowded (all those people are coming in for the high-​value food and the service). What can you do? To me it’s rarely an issue, certainly no more so than any other restaurant venue that serves alcohol.
If you’re coming in Saturday at 6:30 PM and complaining that it’s crowded and noisy? I honestly don’t know what to tell you — it’s NJ. I come during the week, on weekends, sometimes at lunchtime — always a different environment, but the food and service is always top notch. If you are claiming that the food isn’t good? Now I’m REALLY baffled… just keep reading the reviews and you’ll see that people who don’t like the food are in the minority.

First thing is first look at the menu, it’s so diverse and everything sounds unique and awesome. After trying the stuff on the menu I can confirm that everything tastes as good as it sounds.
Millburn may have a bunch of fancy spots but it’s missing that fun, hip place that isn’t overpriced (I’m looking at you Moonshine). Maplewood always comes off as a mix between fancy and still trendy. Coda has an awesome variety of food and the drinks are decently priced (especially compared to Martini Bar). If you want to go somewhere nice yet still casual with a bit of that «cool» feel Coda is definitely the place to be. They have a wall that separates you from the bar and play low but fun music creating a great ambiance.
For food, the oysters were pretty fresh not salty at all. Crab nachos are great and they didn’t go cheap on the crab. Seafood pot pie was okay, wouldn’t get it again but where else can you get something called a seafood pot pie? The salmon has a delicious maple glazed sauce. Definitely give this place a shot, especially if you want a trendy first date spot. With so many great sounding appetizers you can almost treat this place as a tapas without getting dinner meals.

Really good from start to finish! We had the Angry Shrimp, which was so interesting and delicious! We also shared the open faced steak sandwich The steak was able to be cut by fork and cooked perfectly. The cheese sauce for it was scrumptious as well as their perfect Caramelized onions! Also had the fried chicken sandwich, which had a non greasy taste, and perfectly prepared. Love that the sandwiches were served with a spring mix on the side as well as fries. We also had the chocolate brownie which was warm and awesome! I had a pomegranate mule cocktail too! Definitely visiting again!

Coda is my very favorite restaurant to go to when I am dining out in Northern NJ. The atmosphere is always hopping, the food always fresh and beautifully prepared, the menu varied and delicious. There is always something for everyone! I really love the feel of the place as well from the exposed brick to the beautiful artwork.
Maplewood is a great village to spend some time in and a trip to Maplewood center is always enhanced by a fun lunch or dinner at Coda!
Highly Recommended!!!

Went to the movies in Maplewood Saturday night and was famished afterwards. I guess if the small popcorn was a medium or large that might not have been the case but anyway, it wasn’t so we needed to eat. Took a brief walk down Maplewood Ave and stumbled by Coda. Menu looked interesting and the place was busy so we bit the bullet. And I have to tell you that the bullet was mighty tasty.
This is a great Saturday night restaurant with a cool vibe and excellent music to match. Anytime I have every single song they played previously downloaded in my iPod, I’m going to be very happy, at least auditorially (accurate spelling despite what Firefox auto correct says). But did the food and beverage add to the vibe and the music? The answer, my friends, is a resounding YES!
Ordered the small plates of ribs and a sauteed mushroom dish on the advice of our lovely server as well as a Bloody Mary she recommended that was made with a new small batch gin who’s name eludes me. Ba Bam, all three were excellent. On another note and totally unrelated to their excellent service, food and drink, I ran onto a friend of mine from college who I hadn’t seen in years.
I have to say that while Coda was not our intended destination for the evening, it certainly will be from now on, taking its place in a well deserved culinary rotation that seems to be ever expanding. So, if you’re looking for a hip place to have a nice meal with some great music and awesome company, I recommend you hit up Coda. We shall be doing so again very soon.

Decent bar scene but really only because liquor licenses are hard to come by in the area.
Food is terrible. Absolutely terrible.
This is really only a place for a drink while you wait for a table at another Maplewood restaurant.

The thing this restaurant has going for it — no competition. Please, I’m begging someone with half a brain and the ability to hire a chef that is half decent open a restaurant!
The food here is terrible. Have a drink but if you like good food, do not eat here. Wilted salad, other salty lukewarm mush etc… I have eaten here three times and tried each time to order something that was «safe» i.e. Hard to mess up — each time I was terribly let down. Hate to say it, wish it was better, but no.

Great vibe especially during happy hour & the food menu is especially great during the summer months.

Worst place to go to from atmosphere to food. I dined at CODA twice and was dissatisfied both time. Food is bland and unseasoned (typical white people tasting food) anything chicken needed extra seasoning and all I was left with was salt & pepper. Yay to my high blood pressure
Also place is very small, when it’s crowded it’s a hassle trying to maneuver out of there ONE walk thru aisle. Another thing that bugged me that when going to the bathroom you walk right thru the kitchen/​server station. That’s unsanitary in my opinion get a bigger place or at least shield the walk way to the bathroom from kitchen staff. Idk about anyone else but I do not want to be able to see all the cooks at work on my way to use the bathroom.
Drinks were okay nothing spectacular. All in all don’t waste your time. Short Hills mall isn’t that far away PapaRazzi Trattoria is a way better spot to dine & get good wine if you ask me.

We went for happy hour on Friday to check out the bar and happy hour menu. Really resembles a tapas type of menu with many choices between 5 – 10 dollars each. First, we got a caprihina and a ultimate margarita. The drinks were very good.
For food, we started with the angry shrimp and the pork empanadas. Both we good, not great. The empanadas had predominantly a cumin flavor and the shrimp were slightly spicy, but could have used some lime or possibly ginger to add another dimension of flavor.
Next, I had the beet salad. Nice portion size and very fresh. Then, I opted for the salmon sashimi. Awesome, just a bit on the salty side but great flavor and really fresh salmon. Finally, I had the tuna sliders. .3 small sliders on homemade potato bun with potato side. Very good. My bf loved the tri tip… nice portion with super tender meat in a flavorful sauce.
He opted for another caprihina and I tried the pear martini.yum. Our bill was very reasonable given the food and drinks. Funny that it was all listed as ladies night on our check. .
I do see how there can be negative reviews about the service. It was quiet the night that we were there, but the staff seems very close and can get a little chatty with each other at times. However, our service was very good and we really enjoyed our time here. Can’t wait to try more of the menu!!!

I visited Coda on a Sunday evening for dinner. I was impressed with the beautiful décor inside. This is a American style restaurant with wood, steel and brick design.
It restaurant was lively and boisterous. There were couple as well as the sporadic family with kids dining.
For starters I ordered Kentucky Burbon Beer. This amber beer was a surprising delicious, and mildly sweet beer with a bite from the 8.2% alcohol content. An immediate new favorite beer of mine. You must try if your a beer lover.
The Half a dozen Blue Point Oyster appetizer was very good. Fresh and no gritty taste. Served with cocktail and a interesting red vinegar, radish mixture that was really refreshing! Very refreshing oysters.
Entrees were the Pork Shoulder dish with polenta and root vegetables, and the Flounder with water cress, walnuts and root vegetables and an additional side order of brussel sprout topped with bacon. The Pork Shoulder was EXTREMELY tender and fell apart with a spoon! Damn this was some good Pork Shoulder! I was in warm, salty, fatty pork heaven. The polenta was a slightly sweet, with hints of cheese and corn. This was delicious and you won’t be disappointed if your a pork lover.
The Flounder entrée was lightly fried in a thin panko crust, two nice fillets drapped over moist watercress and root vegetables. The flounder was moist and delicate. Walnuts were incorporated and were a nice textured contrast to the dish.
The waiter was very polite, a sense of humor and attentive. He didn’t hesitate to offer his opinion on the dishes we were curious about. I will be happy to visit again.