The Plum & The Pear

From start to finish a great experience every time. The food is so nicely presented & delicious. The Chef does a great job and the staff, settings and service are impeccable. The owners are so gracious. And it’s a BYO.

Went to Plum & Pear the night after the blizzard. It was a great night out. We had an early reservation for 5 at 6pm. The place was empty (football & blizzard). We had 2 appitizers, the short rib tacos (I could have those as an entrée– they were great). We also had the fried calamari, that was also very good. Different from the usual, served over an arugula salad.
The adults ate, Chilean Sea bass, potatoes crusted snapper, and the rosemary brined pork chop. Everybody really enjoyed there dinner. The 2 children had cheese ravioli and the short ribs with mash potatoes… they loved it.
We had the French toast bread pudding first desert, and that was great as well.
The place is BYOB, which is great. I would definitely go back there again, and would recommend it to friends.

I love it here. The food is among the best in Bergen County. Especially the tuna and escargot. The atmosphere is nice to very nice. However the reason this is not a 5 star restaurant is the service or lack there of. I guess if you know the owner, it’s a little better.
Of my five visits here, the service has not been up to par with Café Panache or other top notch restaurants in the area. That being said, i’m still a fan.

Split rating here: Came here with a group of friends…
Appetizers/​Salad Very good, — excellent house dressing. Fried rice balls also good… tasty and leaves you wanting more. Bruschetta not bad… plenty of good flavor, nice freshly chopped ingredients — great inclusion of olive oil. Fried Calamari was also tender, had the perfect crisp factor and delicate. Nice job with the appy-​s.
Here’s where it goes south: Main meal way below average. Shrimp scampi tasted like it was triple cooked resulting in lost pizazz. Couldn’t even cut through any of the shrimp without them bouncing back at me. Salmon also overcooked and entirety unappetizing.. Major fail. Sorry, but should’ve stuck with just appetizers!

Had a fabulous meal at The Plum & The Pear! The food was excellent; my mother & grandmother both thought their short ribs were outstanding and as a vegetarian I had a very good selection of both appetizer & entrees. The deserts were also delicious (pumpkin tartufo, warm brownie a la mode & Napoleon with fresh cream & berries) We were all impressed by the freshness & quality of the food from start to finish. Really looking to coming back soon with my husband. The atmosphere is lovely and inviting. We were treated very well by all the staff & the owners were so friendly. All made us feel very welcome in the restaurant. Happy to have found such a delicious BYOB close to home :-)

The waiter was not the most attentive and not very receptive to questions. The owner was warm and greeted us. The food was good but the waiter was a turn off.

Fantastic meal. I was surprised to see it not more highly rated here. The staff was warm and attentive. The owner warmly greeted my party upon arrival. The food came quickly and was quite delicious.
French onion soup was great, followed by a delicious steak. Scallops calamari and Caesar also got rave reviews. A good addition to the food circuit in Wyckoff

Hugely surprised at the few negative reviews. My wife and I really enjoyed the food and the service. Warm greeting when you arrive by the owner and then great waiter service by the main waiter and good follow-​up by support staff. I had the short ribs. Very nicely presented and was delicious. My wife had the pasta special. She was very pleased. We both had the shrimp bisque special. Very flavorful broth and generous amounts of shrimp. Great experience. Reasonable price for a nice dining experience!

First time to this restaurant, I thought it was great! They serve bread with an eggplant tapenade, it was out of this world! Had the lobster quesadilla, it was amazing!!! Definitely get that! Also tried the calamari, it was good but a little too salty for me. Main course, had the short ribs, they were great! But the best part was dessert. Homemade Napoleon, it’s a life changer! Will definitely go back! The service was great, very friendly and on top of things!

Visited for lunch with my wife and three old friends. Some had the lobster/​crab quesadilla, one had the vegetable ravioli. All agreed that the food was very good. Peach cobbler also good as was the coffees. Even though we dined close to their closing before the supper seating, we did not feel rushed as we lingered over our coffee.
My wife was there previously with some girlfriends, and had a similar pleasant experience.

My husband had a dr. Appointment in the area so we stopped for lunch here. Never had been there or heard of it.
Long story short, it was the BEST hamburger I have ever had. Thick, juicy, with your choice of cheese (I chose assagio) cooked inside the center, and topped with mushrooms sautéed with wine,
I can’t wait to go back and try other things but don’t know if I can pass up that angus burger.
My husband had a very nice salad and soup. The soup was in a very small bowl and although it had Spanish sausage in it you could hardly fund it. That is why I take one star away.

We really enjoyed our meal at The Plum and The Pear. The dining room is small so reservations in advance are suggested, especially for a Saturday night. The spacing between tables is generous which we really appreciated. It’s so nice to go out and actually hear the people you’re dining with without having to yell or strain to hear them! This is a BYOB which is also nice (there is a wine store around the corner if you get stuck).
Soon after we were seated we were approached by the owner who opened our wine. Moments later we were brought a basket of bread along with olive oil and eggplant tapenade which was delicious. Then we heard a list of specials and were handed our menus. Everyone from the owner to the bussers were really nice, attentive and on their game.
For starters we had the Caesar salad and the calamari salad — both on their regular menu. The calamari was lightly breaded and very flavorful. The Caesar salad was perfectly portioned and prepared.
For our entrée we had the braised short rib over mashed potatoes and the fettuccine with lamb ragu. The short rib is on their standard menu and was cooked perfectly. The meat barely held together and it was so tender and there was hardly any fat which was a first for me. At other restaurants I’m usually served a mostly fatty piece of meat but here, there was barely any fat which I assume was due to cooking it for so long. It was served over mashed potatoes, string beans and carrots with a healthy amount of burgundy sauce. The fettuccine was a special this evening and was definitely worth getting. A very large portion of thin fettuccine with plenty of lamb ragu.
For dessert we got the crème brûlée and the peach cobbler. Both were outstanding. Again, very generous portions — I’d say the crème brûlée was about an inch thick by about 6 inches long/​4 inches wide.
Overall summary:
Ambiance: 5
Service: 5
Food: 5

Went late on a Saturday night. Was very crowded and loud. Our immediate waiter was fantastic but the other servers were not as pleasant.
Food was surprisingly really good! Moderate prices and unique menu. We will definitely be going back.

Went here last night. We had 6 pm reservations for a party of six. They sat us down as soon as we checked in. The food in one word AMAZING. The service in two words friendly & FANTASTIC. It’s a BYOB but it’s a little pricey. The bill for six of us with tip was $ 435 we all had apps and entrees. But absolutely worth every penny. I WILL be going back again & again & again.

This was my second time at this restaurant, and I wasn’t planning to go back after the first (staff was great, food was terrible), but the party I was attending wasn’t planned by me and I went for the group of people.
The food was all arranged in advance (party menu, which was pre-​printed for us and available at each place setting), though we had a choice of entrees.
Just like my first visit, the bread was rubber. These people either keep serving older or humidity-​exposed bread or just don’t know how to bake it.
The table got plates of appetizers to share: There were these fried balls that smelled cheesy but tasted like absolutely nothing. I actually asked a waitress what they were & she said she was going to find out for me (how did she not know?) but never came back & told me. I still have no idea what I ate with that one. It seriously had no taste at all.
The bruschetta was eh. It was chopped tomatoes on little slices of bread. No added spices or flavor, just tomato on bread. It looked like bits of parsley may have been on the tomatoes, but you couldn’t taste anything.
The calamari was surprisingly NOT rubber bandy. It was actually pretty good.
And the eggplant rollatini was straight up good. I was happy with that, because it’s one of my favorite things.
Not sure about the other entrees offered to us; I ordered the pasta primavera. It was whole wheat pasta, which was NOT indicated on the party menu that was printed for our group. That’s bad, considering the fact that while I happen to not mind whole wheat pasta, I know a lot of people who hate it. And it’s not really my preference, so had I known I might not have ordered it. It *was* properly cooked al dente and the veggies in it were good, but that’s a huge omission.
The coffee was surprisingly decent, which means they actually clean their pots, because I was able to drink it black.
The tiramisu my friend and I both agreed it wasn’t worth the calories (which is saying a lot for me, considering how much I love dessert and ADORE tiramisu), so I had two bites, ate the berries off the plate, and left the rest.
The problem is there’s not enough really good there. This is an area with a lot of REALLY good restaurants; two seriously EXCELLENT Italian restaurants on the very same street, a very short distance away. So if you can’t pull off bruschetta? You shouldn’t be there.

I was hopeful for a new local restaurant, but I left disappointed.
Positives, friendly professional owners/​hosts. Creative menu. Average prices for Bergen County and BYOB.
Negatives, a waitress with little comprehension on the creative menu and poorly executed details from kitchen on meals, especially on sides.
I would recommend the Rare Seared Tuna, and crème brûlée. Other items were average or worse.
If you do go insist on sitting In beautiful front dining room, back dining room is awful.

Had to get on here right away to review an outstanding night at The Plum and the Pear. We chose to go here for my mom’s birthday, despite reading some iffy reviews. We saw some better ones on another website and since it’s close we thought «Why not?». Well there is definitely no «Why not?» from now on. We will definitely be going back.
Our service was awesome. Our waitress was polite and friendly and really made us feel welcome. Owner came by a couple of times to see how we were doing and pointed out some of his favorites.
Started with lobster quesadillas (FRESH and amazing), arugula salad, butternut squash soup (delish!), and a wedge salad with pork cheek bacon. Even the bread and spread was fantastic!
My parents had the braised short rib and the homemade pappardelle with short ribs and mushrooms. Simply delicious!!! By far, the one of the best short ribs I’ve tasted! And I’m very picky about short rib because I hate fat on my meat. LOL. I had the fish special which was Artic char with a sriracha sauce and black rice/​slaw and it was very good as well!
And of course dessert!!! Peanut butter chocolate crème brûlée!!! YUMMY! And fresh whipped cream in a «Napolean”-like treat! And even some whipped cream with a candle for my mom!
I can’t wait to go back and try some other menu items! You definitely need to try!

I also had a very good experience at this restaurant. My husband and I went with four friends, two of who seemed to be remembered by one of the owners, when they owned «Ill Villino».
The décor was very warm and inviting, we were seated to the center of the room but had plenty of room around us. I had these incredible tasting lamb chops for an entrée, while my husband had a special fish dish which he also said was extremely good.
Don’t know why there were negative remarks because this is a restaurant I think would be enjoyed by anyone. The owner greeted us at the door and the wait staff were «on their toes»
We will be visiting this restaurant again, its a «Keeper»

A friend and I stopped in for lunch today. So glad I ignored the weird Unilocal reviews posted previously. This was excellent!
I will go back and will recommend to friends. We shared the fish tacos off the regular menu: wonderful flavor and dressing. I ordered the arugula salad with grilled shrimp. This was good, too. 3 grilled shrimp, but they were huge. The salad looked small but I could not finish. The bread basket was just ok. We split a delicious blueberry cobbler thing for a sweet at the end. Glad we did. Very special. The prices at lunch are definitely small. Lunch for 2 was 60.00 including nice tip for pleasant efficient waitress. All the service was attentive and professional. (I don’t want names. I want service.). BYO wine.

Really do not understand the negative reviews. Greeting was warm and friendly, waiter introduced himself and was polite, professional, nice. Bus staff, other waiters, all attentive. My entrée, a special — yellow curry salmon — was outstanding. Hope to see many more like that. Tuna appetizer very tasty also. I will be back. For those with less exotic tastes, there were many Continental type offerings on the menu — Cesar salad, steak, chicken, fish, etc. along with some more unusual plates. Something for everyone, in other words.
The brothers who run this place are complete professionals and it shows. Décor was lovely, I thought. As for «La Serra» being a «debacle», I had a very nice meal there as well. Diff’rent strokes, etc., I guess. But I am happy that the former owners of Il Villino have opened up again with a different type of restaurant.