Red Oak Diner & Lounge

This place is disgusting I went there once. The food was terrible. The bathrooms were dirty. Also, one of my friends went there to fix something in the kitchen once and believe me you don’t want to know.

Never knew they made such great caramel lattes! Such a nice surprise. This is our go to place when we have a large amount of kids with us or after a sports event and didn’t have time to eat. .always can find something you will like.

Two stars because the staff was so nice. This was such a good diner years ago, but they have obviously fallen on hard times. They have all kinds of events for their customers still. However the ceiling was leaking badly, and they were out of things on the menu. A rainy Saturday and no breakfast crowd.
I ordered a western omlette with cheese. The cheese wasn’t fully melted, it wasn’t even an omlette, but scrambled eggs with vegetables thrown in. The hashbrowns were tasteless. The toast was good. Pancakes were fair. Sad to say, it was so bad we will not go back. We use to love this place.

I like the Red Oak mainly for lunch. Great lunch specials that you get so much for your money. Breakfast omelettes are ok, if they aren’t well done. I’m a huge salad person and I’ve tried most you can’t go wrong there. Just stick to the basics because it isn’t always the best. Very inconsistent. It is also a fun place to go after the movies for dessert and coffee. All of us really like to do that as they have good desserts. They do have a liquor license. Service is also iffy, depending on who you get.
There are three sections, well four if you count the counter seating. The main area is mainly booths and some tables and the counter service is in this section. The dinning room is a little newer and feels more like a restaurant than diner, same food and is part of the bar area. Then there is a section beyond that where they have large groups and parties.
They do have take out and delivery service. Food is not great as a take out. However when someone in my family is not feeling well there matzo ball soup is descent. But again those melt in your mouth matzo balls are sometimes hard in the center. You just never know what your gonna get.

Umm this place is lousy… ok, so stopped by this place from a wedding where they barely fed us so we were starving. Anyway, I ordered the steak and eggs. The steak was alright and cooked to order, but my eggs were disgusting and tasted like old moth balls!!! Absolutely terrible! I also had an ice tea which I had to send back. It tasted strange like plastic… The other guest at my table ordered steak medium and rice. Her steak was good and cooked to order. The rice on the other hand was sour and terrible. Tastes like it had been sitting since the morning or a couple mornings ago. It was a mixture of yellow and white and smelled strange… She also ordered the matzo ball soup and apparently that wasn’t good either. The soup broth was very salty and the matzo ball was extremely hard. My other guest ordered a Ruben sandwich, which he loved. He had no complaints. This was my first and last time coming to this establishment! Never again!!! The one star was the service from the waiter.

The food has gotten a lot better and the waiters and waitresses are great but the men’s restoom is always out of soap and paper towels. I notify the manager everytime but this is unacceptable. It’s bad enough if customers can’t wah their hands, but what about the people who handle the food?!

When you walk in you feel the air on its big nice clean and the service is fast and the food is good as well

This place used to be great. I just recently went back after several years and I’m not sure if they changed ownership or what but it’s definitely not the same quality of food or service that I remember. The food was mediocre at best. Our waitresses disappeared after our meals were brought out and by the time we were finally able to flag another one down for the check we were told she was bartending a party in the back. I’m sorry but that’s just bad business. Somebody should have been told to cover her tables then. Needless to say I doubt I’ll be returning.

Not impressed. We just moved back to NJ after being in North Carolina for 13 years. I was excited to go to a diner again. Cold food, warm dining room, grumpy service and a chicken dish that looked like pure oil mixed with rice for the dinner special. We will keep on searching for a family diner that isn’t about gimmicks, but quality food and service.

The server was adequate and punctual. My wrap was fine. A little uneven, but fine. My fries, which I didn’t eat, smelled like semen. It’s a pretty specific smell. I’m not making an accusation, but I’m definitely not eating here again.

The soup was too salty to eat. The seltzer smelled like a toilet. The Caesar salad was inedible. Both dinners were sun par. There were 2 good points. Real Crayola crayons and the waitress with the tattoos is nice.

Yep, have to agree with other patrons, quality of food has dropped prices, high, temperature of food is never hot always warm or cold. need to revamp cook staff. servers are ok.

Food is very average (maybe below). But, they do have some good attributes. They always have special things going on. Karaōke night. Comedy night. Kids eat free on Tuesdays with characters and movies playing. They have a full bar. And they have a private room for parties.
All that being said. It’s a diner with mediocre food.

This place is utter trash. Beware.
Everything from food to service is lacking. Bread brought to the table was dry. Turkey sandwich was stale. They even screwed up the eggs-​burnt to a crisp! How does a diner screw up eggs!
Fajitas came out super late — when we asked about it the waiter was rude and unapologetic about the meat needing time to cook. Shouldn’t everything take some time to cook? Usually food coming out all at once is something that normal restaurants do right. On top of that, when the steaming meat finally did arrive, it was boiling — the waiter ran to our table and plopped the boiling steak on the table and the sauce was literally shooting off the plate and splashing all over my arms! He didn’t even stop — he kept walking away! Unbelievable.
Let’s say you got lucky and got a simple dish served right. This place has constant Disney movies playing. Great for kids but if you’re trying to eat it’s gonna be tough to dodge the little rugrats all hopped up on Frozen sing-​a-​longs and sprinting back and forth to the bathroom.
I had a lackluster experience here before and tonight was the last time. I’ve never been afraid for my safety at a restaurant and I’ll never come back here again.

The food at the red oak is simply not good. Borderline disgusting. I ordered a western omelet with cheese, toast and home fries. The omelet was greasy and tasteless. There was also something hard in my home fries. Gross. A diner in New Jersey should know how it’s done. As a long time hazlet resident the red oak should shape up or ship out! My advice would be, instead of focusing on their entertainment (movie night etc) plan a proper menu, get a professional decorator and get a new kitchen staff, or hire a real cook! Your making a joke out of a landmark.

This place has good food and good service. One of the best diners around. They have tons of TVs full bar and delicious deserts.

Red Oak Diner is a consistent go to in the northern Monmouth/​Bayshore area. Fair prices, tons of options (Including some inventive ones), pretty solid pizzas made onsite!
Unfortunately, I feel Red Oak Diner has gone down a bit over the last two to three years to the point I’ve kind of neglected them. There was a time I LOVED this place. I chose this over any other spot when asked where I wanted to eat one year on my birthday.
I feel the food portions have really shrunk from massive Greek diner style servings to more fancy presentation. Also, THE FRIES… Red Oak used to have beer battered fries that I’d dream about. One day, they switched to regular fries that are comparable to cold fries from Wendy’s. C’mon Red Oak.
Anyways, all that aside, I still support Red Oak and would recommend it as a comfortable spot to fill up.

I have been to this diner a handful of times before and have never had a serious issue. Staff is great, however this time my fiancé and I ordered salads and I happened to discover a LIVE BUG in my salad! It was slightly bigger than and resembled a tic, and was NOT a fly. I saw it moving before I took my first bite. The waitress seemed like «oh yeah, a bug in the salad» as if that was there norm. She offered to make me a new one but I refused and left. I hate to do this to restaurants but this was just disgusting.

The staff treat you like family
The prices are fair
The food is excellent
And if your lucky you can even run into Hollywood stars there
I have seen Spider-​Man my self
Another words it is great for business meeting
Family get togethers
Great for kids of all ages
And ask to see what. Shows they have coming up
Not to mention football night special
It is like my second home, my business office and my family get together

There has to be a mandate in NJ that all towns must have a diner. The eats tuck in nicely as the average diner fare. They have some event nights that are geared more to families with children. They create an atmosphere for sports games. This diner also has some serious realistate. There is a diner, a counter, a sports bar, and a porch all in one place. Finding a seat is a breeze.