Lenape Valley Grill

Food sucks!!! Bad management.. Rude owner!!!! more

Perhaps one of the worst diners in NJ. My wife and I used to frequent Lenape Grill when it first opened. It's close to our house, breakfast is a hard meal to screw up, and the food was always decent. The place was usually fairly crowded on weekend nights. Over the past year or so, we noticed the crowds have disappeared. IMO - diners need a consistent crowd so the food turns over regularly. If not, they try to stretch the life expectancies of their food to generate a profit. Net result is that the food served becomes questionable. We went for dinner early 2011 on a Saturday night at around 5:30PM, and we were the only people eating in the whole diner. Right around the time we were asking for our check, another couple showed up. Thank God. I thought maybe the place had been quarantined. The food and service that night was absolutely horrible. The High School kids that waiter there seemed 1/2 drunk and thought they were in the middle of a keg party. Can't blame them, they had nothing better to do as there were no people to be served. The management was rude and arrogant, as we finally realized was always the case. I mean come on, this is a diner, not some fancy well-respected restaurant. Listen, if you're looking for a great meal at about the same price plus a few bucks, head over to Portobello's across the street. If you're looking for diner food, I would recommend the Burger King in front of the Shop-Rite before I would go to the Lenape Grill again. more

This is a "diner" in search of an identity. They call themselves the "Lenape Valley Grill". The name is taken from the Lenni-Lenape Native Americans who inhabited the area before the Europeans arrived. The decor is somewhere between French countryside and Mediterranean village kitsch. The food is adequate, diner style fare without much creativity. My turkey burger was an obvious frozen pre-packaged piece. The slaw was gritty and overly sweet. My companion's crab cake was more bread crumb than crab with everything ground and not much texture. The problem comes from the attitude of the wait staff. Cold, uninterested, uncaring with a touch of discriminatory disdain. Our server was more interested in complaining to other staff about her pay than paying attention to our needs. When I mentioned to one of the management what I felt was an obvious improvement to a menu offering, I was told (in no uncertain terms), "This is the way we do it. If you don't like it go somewhere else". That is what I intend to do in the future and I suggest that everyone else does the same. When business drops off, perhaps new management will be brought in to create an enjoyable venue. more

An old friend & I had breakfast at LVG. We had eaten & were chatting over our coffee. Time passed quickly btwn 2 old friends & we had been there for over 2 hours. Well, apparently the owners told the waitress (who had been very good to us, helping my 46 yr old friend w/her walker)to tell us we had to LEAVE bcs they needed the table for lunch (she was tripping over her words, so she must have been embarrassed)! Well, we were shocked but we got up to go. Then we realized... the restaurant was still HALF EMPTY (by this time it was already after 12:30pm)!! Their rude manner was downright UNNECESSARY!! We thought we'd found the nicest place, just about halfway btwn our homes, so we could meet for breakfast on a regular basis. But, we should have known it wasn't going to be the friendliest place, when we saw the owners standing at the front counter as if they were 'guarding' the place. more