Old Man Rafferty’s Gourmet Shop

The space: gigantic. You walk into the take out deli area and there is a large dining area to the right.
Atmosphere: the place is dimly lit and has a pub meets deli vibe. There take out area is stocked with «healthier» versions of chips and snacks as well as artisan chocolates.
Staff: the deli counter employee did not know the ingredients in all prepared foods, which can cause a headache for allergy sufferers. However, he politely admitted this and had a chef come speak with my party. The chef was very informative as he pleasantly shared his recipes. The take out was pretty slow so I’d call ahead if you’re in a rush.
Food: this was a good deal. The sandwiches were average I think they excel at the prepared salads and sides: chili-​stuffed potato boats, Mediterranean farro pesto salad, roasted potatoes. My fav was the garlicky (farro?) vegan stuffed pepper

I’m here at least once a week for lunch as my office is upstairs. Daily soups are always tomato basil, chili or French onion. All good. I usually choose options out of their prepared food case. Sometimes their options get a little stale, but for the most part they change it up. My go to is blackened salmon and some sort of vegetable. Great for catering lunches in a pinch too.

Last Sunday night I got out of work late and my date and I had to rethink our dinner plans. We headed up to New Brunswick to see what we could find open. We started making some phone calls and finally ended up calling Old Man Raf. The person who answered the phone seemed as though he may not have ever answered one before. He picked up and after several prompts of hellos on my end, he finally said hello. I asked how late they were open and when they stopped serving. We didn’t get a definitive answer but Unilocal said they were open until 10:00. So we quickly drove over and found a parking spot directly in front. BONUS! When we walked in there were no servers to great us so we hurried up to the bar. We asked the bar tender Dan if it was possible to still get dinner, and he politely assured us if we got our order in by 9:59 we could still eat. My companion chose the hanger steak with baked potato and steamed veggies. I chose the Chilean Sea Bass off the regular menu, not the special. The food order went in around 9:40 and we were entertained and fawned over by our own personal waiter for the evening– the bartender. He was superb and made us feel as if we arrived at a normal time. We did not feel rushed or awkward which was really awesome because this single mama needed a night out and some relaxing adult conversation over great food. The hanger steak arrived, cooked to medium rare perfection. The veggies were steamed and seasoned with some garlic. They tasted perfect! Best steamed carrots, broccoli and squash I’ve had. My sea bass was interesting. For the circumstance, I couldn’t dare complain. It was good enough. The curious thing was the pairing of oddities over the fish. It was cooked right, and tasty. But there was a mish-​mash of corn and mushrooms and green scallions sprinkled on top. I’d love to come back some day and try it again at an earlier hour. It almost seemed like what ever prepped veggies left over from the evening were lightly sautéed and tossed on top. It wasn’t bad, just not clear what I really ate. And I was so hungry it no longer mattered. I had my left overs for luck the next day and it was palatable, just different. I highly recommend this particular Old Man Raffertys to groups (which I enjoyed with my Unilocal friends over the summer) and for intimate dinners. If you get the chance, say hello to Dan the bartender. He made the whole experience very special!

I love the actual dine in Old Man Rafferty, the cake shop on the other hand is just decent. The cheesecake is very good and their cookies are delicious. Everything else is just ok. The cupcakes especially isn’t as good as it looks. The staff on the other hand is always helpful and nice to their customers. The places aways smells good and immaculate.

I have been a regular customer at the deli for the past few years. But recently the quality of service and food has gone downhill. Two of my last three meals weren’t heated up properly and the chicken was cold in sections. The other time I decided to order the new menu item the double decker gourmet grilled cheese sandwich. First the guy asks me what cheese I want on it. When I ask him to make it how they usually make it he said he didn’t know what they usually put on it. So I had to guess what they had and pick what cheese to use. Then as I looked behind the counter to see why my order was still not ready when others that ordered after me had gotten their food I see the guy microwaving my cheese and then putting it on the toast. I mean a gourmet deli basically made me a microwaved cheese on toast. Finally i get it and even though the menu board said it had tomatoes… There was nothing but cheese and bread. Needless to say for $ 8… I felt ripped off and disappointed at the mediocre sandwich that in could have made better at home. I used to love this place but am considering giving up on it completely.

I’ve eaten at Old Man Rafferty’s a bunch of times but I’ve never ventured into this place until recently after a dinner nearby. This place is like walking into Willy Wonka’s house. You’re surrounded by everything from cookies to cheesecake, carrot cake and candy. It’s a bit overwhelming as you don’t know where to start unless you came in there with something specific in mind.
I got a piece of carrot cake and it was pretty amazing. Icing on top and just overall delicious. They had a bunch of pretty interesting banana and other fruit type cakes that looked pretty sick as well. But that carrot cake was out of this world. Plainly said, this place is awesome.

I am a regular customer at the gourmet shop. I always get the salads to go for lunch and they have a lot of options. I wish they had more options for vegetarians but other than that I can’t complain. Their desserts are the bomb. I usually grab a slice to go and eat it at Starbucks, along with a cup of coffee.

I have never gone to OMR just for the desserts because I enjoy the food as well, so why not kill two birds with one stone? But after dinner, I always walk over to the Gourmet Shop to take a peak at what I might possibly be craving.
They might have other cookies and brownies or whatever but my eye is always caught by the delicious cakes! I never really get passed that part and the cakes are always AMAZING. I love love love all of their cakes, well all the ones I have tried. There are so many to choose from: assorted cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, red velvet, vanilla cakes, fudge, big ones, small ones. I love it. It is always hard to make a decision.
If you’re looking for some dessert and that’s it, this is a good place for a big slice of cake.

This is my go-​to place for lunch when I feel like spending money. The options are great. I usually get a chicken quesadilla and some soup. My only criticism is the price. It would be nice to walk out of there for less than $ 8 every time just for take out.

We flew out here to attend a friends wedding in New Brunswick this weekend. We decided to stop at Old Man Rafferty’s Gourmet Shop before heading to the Big Apple. Nice little deli shop with cheese, cakes, pastries, and other deli items. To celebrate our travels to the big apple, what would be more appropriate than an apple turnover?
We took this one to go and had plans to eat it while waiting for the train. First bite was decent. It had a warm and flaky, yet moist crust with a sweet frosting drizzled on it. Now it’s time for the second bite. What was this sour taste? When the hell did an apple turnover contain a dark fuzzy ingredient? OMG! I just ate mold. Apparently the warm, moist turnover was a perfect breeding ground for these spores to propagate.
After spitting out what was in my mouth and a hot water rinse at the train station bathroom sink, back to Old Man Rafferty’s to have a little chitchat with the management.
The guy who took our order asked if everything was OK with the apple turnover. After explaining to him, he apologized and immediately called the manager and the general manager to speak with us.
Next, the Manager came out. We asked if the turnovers are prepared fresh daily. Ms. Manager stated they were. I will call your bluff and raise you the deed to Old Man Rafferty’s. There is no way that if the turnover was made today, there would be that much mold inside. What was with this attitude?!? Sorry Ms. Manager. We have all the right to be pissed that your establishment was selling mold infested food. I did not ask for penicillin in my turnover. They decided to check the other turnovers and what do you know? More mold! Ms. Manager then proceeded to give us a refund, but fell short of an apology. Wow. Talk about failure to do some damage control.
Looking out for the health and the well beings that most Unilocalers are, we felt compelled to let a customer drooling over the cakes know what they might expect since Ms. Manager failed to do anything about it. So we showed them the moldy turnover. Ms. Manager came up to us and said «This doesn’t help the situation.» Wow, Ms. Manager. Please let me know what you are doing to help the situation. Offering us a refund and giving us an attitude doesn’t do squat for us either.
We were left waiting for the General Manager while he was tending to a Rutger’s Graduation party. The Deli Manager came out who was very apologetic. We asked the same question that we asked Ms. Manager. He stated the turnovers were made two days ago. That makes much more sense than «made fresh daily». Although we don’t entirely agree that these were only two day old apple turnovers, Props for an attempt at damage control, but we still want to talk to the General Manager.
Finally, GM came with a sincere apology. We asked him how this could happen. His reason was that the cake display case had problems this morning and was at 60 degrees instead of 40. With the right temperature and the amount of humidity in the case, mold spores thrive. Understandable, but how come there is no policy on discarding all the food in the display case and thoroughly cleaning it per the
website regarding mold.
Let’s hope Old Man Rafferty’s Gourmet Shop changes policy to protect not only their business but the health of the customers.

I ordered two sandwiches from here once, and the guy making them seemed like he’d never seen the menu and he didn’t know where anything was. They took forever to make and neither sandwich bore much resemblance to the ones I ordered. Actually I’m not convinced he really worked there. Maybe he just got tired of waiting for OMR’s indifferent service and decided to make himself a sandwich.
But they do have Koeze’s Cream Nut peanut butter! And a few other overpriced goodies that are nice to have access to downtown.

This is the little brother of OMR with all your favorites to go i.e. tomato basil soup. I like their soup and sandwich lunch combo for $ 6.50. They also have a nice salad and antipasto selection made fresh daily. Definitely worth a go.