Winberie's: A Tale of Two Restaurants

Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar is like the Cheers of downtown Summit: popular, well-established, and part of a larger chain of restaurants. Immediately upon entering, diners have a full view of the polished, curved bar, the comfortable, big booths, and the black-and-white tiled floor. All that’s missing is someone calling out, “Norm!”  So imagine my surprise when I visited Winberie’s on a recent weekend and had one of the worst meals of my life, followed by a fairly enjoyable dining experience at the same place the very next evening.

The cause for this Jekyll and Hyde split-personality? I had strayed too far from simple bar food, which Winberie’s delivers very well. Try anything out of their comfort zone, however, and you will be sadly disappointed.

My Saturday night meal kicked off badly from the start. The hostess directed us through the fairly empty restaurant to a booth table all the way at the back, adjacent to the kitchen pass. It was possibly the worst table in the house. Giving Winberie’s the benefit of the doubt, I wondered if the hostess thought a booth would be more comfortable than regular chair seating, even if we had to listen to the kitchen din and watch a parade of servers go in and out. But whatever her reason, that was just the beginning of a thoroughly disastrous dinner.

Our server, who had only been working there for a few weeks, rushed us through the entire ordering process from drinks to meal to dessert. There was no bread offered—and not enough time to eat it anyway—before our two appetizers were swiftly delivered to the table: Dynamite Sticks ($8.95) and a half-order of Cajun Macaroni & Cheese ($10.95).

The Dynamite Sticks were advertised as “crisp flat bread stuffed with seared Gulf shrimp, Applewood smoked bacon, andouille sausage, red peppers, and a four cheese medley, fried crisp and served with a spicy tomato cheese sauce.” Unfortunately, what they turned out to be were long, spicy cheese-filled taquitos. After dissecting the appetizer in search of the dish’s promised components, I was able to locate only a few of the dime-sized shrimp, none of which had been seared, amid the sea of cheese. Needless to say, the last thing the Dynamite Sticks needed was a cheese sauce accompaniment.

Slightly more appealing was Winberie’s Cajun Macaroni & Cheese. The cavatappi pasta was overcooked and mushy, but at least there was a variety of textures going on between the Panko crumb topping, the chicken breast pieces, bacon, scallions, and andouille sausage.

We had barely broken the surface of our appetizers when our server announced the entrees were ready. She offered to “keep them warm” for us if we wanted to continue with our first course—which in the case of steak, would cause a medium/well result rather than our requested medium/rare. Opting for the lesser of two evils—and frankly with not much desire to ingest more of our starters—we asked that our meals be brought out straight-away.

Winberie’s Chicken Pot Pie ($11.95) is an abomination of a dish. I can certainly forgive the chef for taking a puff pastry top short-cut which many restaurants do, but there is just no excuse for lazy prep work. The dish was served with a spoon, and yes, it did include pieces of carrots, celery, onions, and red bliss potatoes. Also buried at the bottom of my bowl was a full chicken breast (see photo). How I was supposed to eat this with a spoon, I’ll never know. Chicken Pot Pie is one of my favorite things in the whole world, and I have never before seen the likes of Winberie’s.

The 10 oz. Grilled Flatiron Steak ($17.95) was riddled with veins and either not trimmed properly or was just an inferior cut of meat. I did enjoy the pat of horseradish butter on top, but unfortunately that was the best part of the dish. The steak fries were served on the same plate as the steak, and grew soggier and soggier in the steak jus, making any kind of review of them difficult. None of the dishes were plated with garnish, and the steak especially looked a bit sad. A bright color hit of parsley wouldn't have killed anyone.

Our ever-too-efficient server popped up again to ask about dessert, which we happily turned our attention to. Along with its standard-sized Key Lime Pie ($5.75) and Fruit Tart ($5.75), Winberie’s offers “A Little Something” ($3.25) which is a smaller version of one of their daily selections. I’m happy to say the best part of the entire evening was my mini Toll House Pie, which was served with vanilla ice cream, roasted pecans, and warm chocolate fondue. It was the perfect light, sweet note to end an awful culinary evening—even if we were delivered the check at bite #2.

Knowing how crowded Winberie’s can get, I knew the restaurant MUST have something edible on its menu and I gave it another go the very next night. This time, we were seated at the front of the restaurant by the bar where a friendly rivalry between Red Sox and Yankees fans was taking place, creating more of that Cheers atmosphere I had expected. Our drink orders were taken by the manager and delivered by a different server who gave us ample time to relax, chat, and have a nice, casual dinner. Bread magically appeared, and I have to admit we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

The Bistro Burger ($10.95) is an excellent half-pound burger, cooked exactly the way I ordered it and piled high atop a toasted challah bun with lettuce, tomatoes, melted Brie, bacon, grilled onions, and Dijon mayonnaise. One bite in, and I then knew why people come to Winberie’s. Although the cole slaw was bland and needed several more grinds of pepper and a lot more time in vinegar, Winberie’s Asian Chicken Salad ($12.95) was another bright spot. The salad featured soy-glazed chicken, mixed greens, cucumbers, red onions, scallions, tomatoes, red bell peppers, cilantro, sesame seeds, and a sesame-plum chili sauce dressing. Simply put, the salad’s flavor combination and variety of ingredients all worked.

Even better was the fact that our server knew we were sharing plates and had taken the time to halve each dish for us. Her attentiveness was definitely appreciated, as was the fact that she gave us a chance to actually enjoy our food which I’m happy to say, we did.

Winberie’s offers several fun-sounding daily drink specials such as the Razzle Dazzle and Banana Split Martini ($8.95), themed food nights such as “Monday’s All-You-Can-Eat Pasta Night” ($10.95, with salad and bread), and a Sunday brunch buffet ($19.95 for adults, $1 per year for children up to 11 years old). They have a fully stocked bar with wines by the half-glass ($2.75-$4.75), glass ($5.50-$9.95), and bottle ($21-$70).

At Winberie’s, more does not always mean more. It was amazing how differently the second visit played out. I had spent more than twice the amount of money the first night and was completely underwhelmed. While the local bistro offers a complete dinner menu that includes seafood, pasta, and steaks, one would be wise to stick with the burgers, sandwiches, and salads which Winberie’s does a solid job with. In this case, less is definitely more.

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Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar

2 Kent Place Blvd
Summit, NJ 07901
Ph:   908-277-4224
Fax: 908-277-0579

Hours of Operation:
Lunch - Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Dinner - Monday through Thursday, 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 4:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Sunday, 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Brunch - Sunday 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted.

Family-friendly.

Outdoor seating and private dining room available.