Palmer’s Crossing

We went on a groupon. 2 drinks each and 2 appetizers each. We were very impressed! It was a dead Thursday night — we were the only ones in the dining room. So it was rather quiet, But the food was great! We had nachos and wings (a tad over fried) and crab cakes (best choice) and calamari (over fried too!) All decent. for the groupon price. It was way too much for 3 of us to eat but we got a taste of the restaurant. We’re going back for their early bird special from 4 – 6:30 an entire meal from soup to desert with a glass of wine too for $ 20.16! Yes, it’s in the Clinton Inn Hotel but it was a nice surprise. We don’t live far. I came months earlier and had a filet that was outstanding. It can be pricey but take advantage of their deals (brunch buffet for $ 24) and you will be satisfied. Nice for elderly too cuz it’s quiet.

Five words: no pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving
In all seriousness, though, I was with a moderately large group for Thanksgiving dinner; this was the second opportunity for PC to impress me, after serving bland food and rock-​hard churros a year prior.
The service was largely acceptable. The bread that was served before the meal was hard. The meal itself was somewhat bland, but serviceable — better than the year prior. We got to dessert, and — lo and behold — they were out of both pecan and pumpkin pies. This is quite unacceptable for Thanksgiving dinner. I noted this to two people (who appeared to represent the dining room’s management team), and they both shrugged — no apology or anything. Overall, dinner was slightly better mediocre, and probably worth three stars; however, in light of the pie incident, I’m dropping to one star. There is no excuse for poor inventory management, and there’s even less excuse for management who is generally unapologetic for their own error.
Dinner was $ 40 pp. I’ll take my money (and my group) elsewhere next year.

«meh» food. Great staff.
We stayed at hotel and hit up the bar late night and restaurant for brunch.
Waiter at bar is very nice. He stays according to crowd and is very friendly. If rating was solely based on bar, it would be more stars.
My family met here for brunch on a Sunday and we had a lot of people. Staff was super accommodating and was able to set up for 17+ people. We had people coming in and even though they stopped serving at 11am, let us still order for them.
Food was not great. This is a biggie. People were only moderately happy, if at all.
It’s fine for a hotel but I wouldn’t recommend as a destination.

My husband and I went here recently for the first time, and were very impressed by experience. Armando, our waiter/​host, was the best! Very welcoming and friendly, knowledgeable about the menus and attentive. We really enjoyed everything we ate there — the crispy calamari, the 7 670 fries (the gravy made it awesome), scallops and the linguini!
Armando told us that they have a half-​off happy hour menu from 4−7pm as well as a buffet brunch on Sundays. We are definitely coming back again for the great food and service. Thank you!

I can only speak for the happy hour here, but it’s pretty good. The service is great, and the apps are tasty. You can’t beat half price drinks and the wine pour is generous which I appreciate. I think 3.5 stars would be more accurate, the food quality can be a little inconsistent and the menu changes often which can be frustrating if you’re looking for something specific (I’m talking about you fruit and cheese plate). The place itself has the décor of a hotel restaurant which is exactly what it is. I would recommend for a reasonable local HH spot.

We often stop here for the bar’s happy hour. Half price cocktails and apps. The view from the patio is not great, but well placed hedges make it fine. I’ve never seen it over crowded, we’ve been able to sit at the bar, in the lounge, and outside. This is a must when we are in the neighborhood.

Decent hotel restaurant at the Clinton Inn, with good pizza and drinks. Flying Fish beer was good, and the staff were all very friendly and attentive.

Prime rib buffet was horrible, they ran out of prime rib by 7 pm and tried to serve beef brisket instead. The chocolate lava cake was actually chocolate layer cake. Service was extremely slow. There is nothing Grand about this buffet. If I could give it zero stars I would.

If I could give zero stars to this place, I would! What an awful restaurant! Save yourself the trouble and find somewhere else to eat!
The ambiance was tacky, our waiter wasn’t attentive or helpful, and the food was garbage.
Strike one, the bread they brought out was completely flavorless and obviously frozen, then reheated in the oven.
Strike two, I ordered the Blackened Chicken Pasta which was supposed to have a cream sauce. When it arrived, it had a tomato sauce which I am allergic to. The dish I received was not represented well in the menu and I was forced to wait for a second entrée to be made.
Strike three, between the three up us we ordered: Salmon with shrimp and risotto which was once again frozen and perfumed with the taste of plastic. Polynesian ribs that were essentially one large slab of fat, so dry you could use it as a frisbee, accompanied by cold, soggy french fries. And a meat pizza made on a store bought thin crust that made Pizza Hut seem like gourmet dining!
When asked what everyone thought of their dining experience, my friend replied that the highlight of her meal was her tic-​tac she ate after she had given up on her salmon in plastic sauce!
Once again, I say to you: GARBAGE!

My wife and I went there for their Prime Rib buffet. The vegetables and salad were fine. The cut of meat was good but it seemed cold to me; the horseradish sauce made up for it but I like my steak a little better cooked.
The atmosphere was nice and the service was adequate although I don’t think the waiter came by that often. But it was buffet night. For the price I have had better but I would go back.

My wife had a
gift certificate and was determined to use it. So after sifting through a variety of restaurants, and checking their Unilocal ratings, I decided that we should check out Palmer’s Crossing. And, it was a great experience.
The staff was very friendly from the moment we arrived. They gave us a a nice table that we were able to place our baby stroller next to us.
The food was really good. My wife ordered the mushroom bisque soup and I had the calamari as an appetizer. Both were above average. For our entrees, she had the filet mignon and I had the Seafood pasta. My wife really enjoyed her meal. She mentioned that she would have preferred the filet to not include crumbled bleu cheese on top, but besides that, it was very good. Now for my seafood pasta, I couldn’t believe how the large size of the shrimp and scallops. The dish also contained a healthy portion of mussels and calamari. It was a ridiculous amount of food and it was extremely tasty.
For dessert, we got the chocolate lava cake to go and after trying it this morning, it’s excellent as well. It’s a bit on the small size, but after all the food they give you, it’s probably the right portion:) We will definitely come back!

Went here last night to celebrate a friend’s birthday with a group of other women. We were to meet at 6pm. My friends arrived on time; I was a half hour late. When I finally arrived, they had been seated, but hadn’t seen the waiter yet! This set the tone for the entire evening’s service experience. We had to flag down the waiter to take our drink order. We had to flag down the waiter to take our order. We had to bus our own tables to get rid of some of the extra plates so there was room on the table.
Food was meh. I ordered a burger medium rare. It lacked flavor and was overcooked. I asked for sweet potato fries, and got regular fries. (Our waiter did correct this.) My friend’s salmon was over cooked and dry. Appetizers were placed on table, but we had to flag someone down to get plates so we could eat them.
Waiter never asked if we wanted dessert or coffee. So after a very disappointing experience, we decided to go elsewhere for coffee.
Always wondered how this place was since Christiano’s closed. Now I know to never go there again.

This is a review of the bar area only. There are few bars in Tenafly so you have to support anything you can so long as they make an effort. For years this place limped along but in recent years the food, beer, and service have all greatly improved.
They have tipped their hat to the craft beer world by selecting NJs own Flying Fish and I wish like Grant St Café they expand in this direction. The food and bar menu has greatly improved and the pizza and burgers are great. Greg, Kelly, and Rick do a great job behind the bar too. Happy hour is very popular and they have half price bar menu as well which is a fantastic deal. The little patio has been a great addition too.

RUN and get the groupon thats being offered right now.
Went last night and the food was a pleasant surprise– we ordered the fish tacos and the teriyaki chicken (?) over fried plantains with curry and chutney — WHOA. its always nice to eat at a place with a real CHEF and this was it.
Service was great– the bartender was attentive and did not hover –he made a great dirty martini too– I would recomend they put together a small drink menu since they do offer a full bar– it totally belongs in a nicer place like this… also, we had no idea how much the drinks did cost until the end (groupoon aside, its good to know for the future)
I purschased the groupon and didnt show it to my boyfriend who proceeeded to order us top shelf martinis. they were kind enough to still honor it even though the offer was for house drinks — thanks manager! We would have paid the difference for sure! :)
Overall nice little gem in the Clinton Inn. Perfect for drinks and apps date night. We will be back!
PS — I always hate doing groupons bc I swear you get nothing but side eye from the servers — please always remember to tip on the full amount!

Bland food, limited menu and over priced.
I have never been to a restaurant before where I had a problem finding something to eat. I don’t eat red meat, so I was hoping for some scallops. Nope, not on the menu. Shrimp? No, not on the menu.
I finally decided on a caesar salad and the crab macaroni and cheese.
Warm rolls were served. Yes, they were warm, but that’s the only thing good I have to say about them. They were obviously pre packaged, and not flavorful.
The Caesar salad was disappointing. It was romaine lettuce leaves soaked in way too much dressing with pre packaged very hard and stale croutons.
The main coarse… Blah! Bland, bland, bland! The pasta had been microwaved. I could tell because of how hot it was in the middle. I asked for some parmasan cheese to try to give it some flavor. That didnt help. The bowl was huge, and I literally only ate a third of it. Quantity doesn’t equal quality!
Then, my waitress disappeared! I never saw her again. I literally waited an hour for the check! I wanted dessert, but nobody offered me a dessert menu. I finally had to ask the cashier to find somebody to get me a check! Apparently, my waitress went home!
The price for this bland food and disappearing waitress? $ 32 dollars! Save your money and go some place else or order out a pizza from a local pizzeria.

We ate here because my wife won a $ 50 gift certificate at a raffle. We went in around 6:30 pm on a Saturday and it was fairly empty/​quiet so I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised by my crab cake appetizer, duck breast and pork belly entrée and my wife’s salmon. Some more tables filled in as we ate.
Nice staff. Service seemed a little slow. I could see going back a couple times a year.

I ate here for Thanksgiving dinner, not for the buffet. We were seated near an entrance and bar. Freezing air blew on us when people entered and left, loud people circling around us from the bar. The food was ok, nothing special. The soup came out cold, the salad was ok. My main dish, the turkey, came out cold. It was missing the cranburry chutney. It was supposed to have mixed vegetables but had cauliflower, which I hate, so it got thrown out. My Mom ordered filet mignon cooked rare, it came out well done. Dessert was a skimpy piece of apple pie. Very expensive restaurant. I don’t recommend eating here. You may have better luck with the buffet in the hotel area.

We stayed at the Clinton Inn last weekend and dined at the hotel for dinner and breakfast. Breakfast is excellent, the eggs were over-​jumbo and cooked exactly the way I liked them, I like my toast light and it was served perfectly. I didn’t care for the cinnamon in the buttermilk pancakes.
For dinner, I had the filet and honestly, it was one of the best, most tender pieces of meat I’ve eaten in ages and the demiglace was perfection. My husband had the trout and thought it was dry.
Our son had several tapas style plates and he enjoyed them all.
Yes, we would dine there again. We stay at the attached hotel from time to time to attend family events, and the new menu is a breath of fresh air!

I went to a private new menu launch/​tasting at Palmers Crossing last week and was excited about some of the more ambitious items they’ve added to their menu (thanks to the new chef). The tender duck breast sliced and served over a gouda quiche w/​sweet-​tart cherry sauce was fantastic! They garnished it w/​fresh corn sprouts which I haven’t seen used by a restaurant at all this season. Corn sprouts are wonderful as they impart a fresh summery flavor which is much appreciated in the dead of dreary winter. I also loved the foundation for a new crab dish they’re launching — crab legs atop asparagus «flan» w/​a bearnaise sauce. It would have been a perfect dish had they used fresh crab instead of previously frozen. They’re also adding the ubiquitous «Asian nachos»; raw tuna/​wonton/​raw cabbage slivers/​wasabi dressing to their menu. I’m way over this dish, but, that being said, PC did a decent job with it. Most places tend to use too little tuna, too much gross sugary wasabi sauce, and too much greasy fried wonton. PC’s Asian nacho app. is actually not bad at all (they avoided the aforementioned common pitfalls)…I even went back for seconds.
We’ve eaten at PC twice in the past. The dinner we had there was pretty good — decent steak (good value) and a tri-​flavor crème brûlée that we really enjoyed (mango + green tea + lavender, each in it’s own tiny glass ramekin). The breakfast we had left something to be desired though which is unfortunate since they have awesome outdoor seating that’s perfect for enjoying a leisurely spring/​summer/​fall weekend breakfast or brunch. I don’t know, maybe we ordered the wrong thing but the pancakes were dry.
Some of the guests at the menu launch party were freq. PC happy hour patrons. They were raving about the happy hr. and insisted we should try it for the cheap drinks and tasty personal pizzas.
Overall, PC is a place that’s been hit-​or-​miss w/​me over the past 6 yrs. It’s close to home and housed in a gorgeous historic hotel… it really is a Tenafly landmark.
I appreciated the menu launch party and tried to provide feedback whenever possible. I don’t expect a restaurant to be perfect but I do expect them to care what their patrons think and continually strive to be the best… PC’s got that down!

Are you local to Tenafly NJ? Do you want to go someplace where you can sit with friends, have a drink, eat some appetizers or small meals and be able to sit there for hours without being bugged every 5 miniutes for more drink/​food orders? Want it quiet enough so you can hear the people at your table? Then this is a great place for you.
Honestly, I’ve never been to dinner here but I have been to the bar area with friends many times and we’ve always enjoyed ourselves. Palmer’s has plenty of tables and a reasonable sized bar. Many local people come here to unwind with friends and the place is perfect. The waiters and waitresses have always in my experience been excellent. Every once in a while my office invades the place — we’re a very tight group of people and we like to spend time together — to unwind and they manage to handle a walk in group of 20 – 30 people just fine.
So my experience here has always been positive although I’ve never had dinner here. However the food I’ve eaten from the bar menu has been fine.