Hopewell Valley Bistro & Inn

I had the best chicken schnitzel with spaetzle and steamed vegetables. The food was fabulous to say the least. This is definitely a great place to go for food and drinks. Hopewell seems to have a lot of BYOBs but this actually place has a bar. The beer was a little expensive but the quality was great.

A great local joint. Eastern European specialties — very authentic, very pleasant service, good beer and desserts! Take note the Crème Brûlée is not to miss… very delicate with perfect texture.

It is a real treat to find restaurants that serve Hungarian food. And any time I see homemade spaetzle on a menu, I have to order it. On the night that I dined here, with family, I ordered stuffed cabbage with spaetzle. Stuffed cabbage is a dish I have often avoided because it is frequently simmered in a sauce that is too sweet for my tastes. I prefer it savory. I had a hunch that THIS was the place for stuffed cabbage to redeem itself. It did. The spaetzle were perfectly cooked, though served straight from the pot (without an extra toss in a buttered hot pan or a sprinkling of buttered breadcrumbs). An array of beautiful homemade desserts are available for those who leave room. I look forward to dining here again. My rating kept waving between four and five stars. For the overall package — local tavern with unusual, solidly good fare, great desserts, and reasonable prices, I’m landing on the five.

I’ve never been there before but stopped there today just for a beer around happy hour time. The bartender didn’t know the tap beer menu so I had to step outside on the porch where there was a list on a small chalkboard. Much to my surprise they had Hofbrau Octoberfest, a real nice brew. So I ordered a pint and much to my disappointment it cost $ 7. I’m sorry but that’s too much in my opinion. call me cheap, but it should’ve cost $ 5 tops, and more like $ 4 during happy hour. C’mon, don’t charge that kind of $$ just for a pint of brew.

Great place for dinner any night of the week! Quality, homemade food, large beer list (including craft and local), excellent desserts, and outside seating in the middle of the quaint town of Hopewell.

I came here last winter in search of a good hungarian goulash, with spaetzle of course. And was very happy with the result. When you walk in here you can tell that this will not be upscale fine dining. But it is a warm and quaint bar and tavern, and if you are ok with that you may enjoy the experience. The bar actually has a good variety of drafts, but after coming from a tasting at a local winery, I just went with some house red wine, it was ok but reasonably priced. An order of pierogies with sauteed onions was a tasty appetizer, and appeared to be homemade. The restaurant also had a small but very fresh salad bar for a slight upcharge. We went for it and were very happy, certainly a blast from the past. My companion had chicken paprikash, it was ok according to her. I loved my beef goulash, and when I drive by here I say to myself that I will return. Desserts here are all homemade, and the pastry chef needs to be recognized. These are old school sweets, and looked so good it was difficult deciding what to try. We settled on a blueberry cheesecake that set the standard by which all cheesecakes should be judged by. This is the type of restaurant your older family members will probably appreciate more than your foodie friends. 3 and a half Unilocal

Man, don’t waste your money. Located on Hopewell’s main drag, and a holdover from before the yuppification of what was until 20 years ago a working class town and is now some sort of suburb of suburban Princeton, this place serves really poor quality food. Goulash stinks. CAbbage is OK. Meatloaf is yuck. Chicken dry. Good for a stomach ache afterwards. I wanted to like this is the face of the moneyed-​up outsiders flooding to this region of NJ but I just couldn’t… really one of the poorest tasting restaurants I’ve been to in the last decade. Sorry.

I’ve been here quite a few times and I’ve never been disappointed. My favorite things are definitely the Hungarian selections — STUFFED CABBAGE IS A MUST! & pierogies or potato pancakes are great starters. The drinks are always good and strong, and it’s especially nice when you can sit outside in the warmer months. And finally, the homemade desserts… by far, some of the best I’ve ever had. My favorites are the kremesh, esterhazy, and chocolate mousse cake — you won’t regret it :)

Friendly service, good bar food, nice beer selection, good prices. We stopped in on a whim and were pleasantly surprised by it.

Took my mom and daughter here for some Hugarian food. The service was Wonderful! The owner even came out to talk to us and offer us some homemade crepes for dessert. The apricot was my favorite. Stuffed cabbage, periogies, potato pancakes were my favorite. They have so many to choose from! We will definitely come back.

When you want a dry martini, a perfect cheeseburger with excellent fries, and a side of garlic sautéed spinach, plus an unbelievable home-​made Hungarian puffed pastry – where else can you go?

It was a gorgeous fall day so the hubs & I took a ride to Hopewell, hoping to go to Nomad for a great lunch. Little did we know they don’t open until 5 during the week. Oh well.
We walked down the street & I decided the Inn looked like a good spot. The front porch seemed inviting, so we went up & went into the bar area to look for a hostess. The bar area was dark & the bar itself takes up the majority of the room in an awkward way. There was no bartender or waitress, just some patrons who stared at us when we walked in. I popped into the dining room, but no one was in there, either. We should have left them, but a waitress came out of the kitchen area & I asked if they were serving lunch. They were so I asked if we could sit outside & she said something like «Yes, but I’m not serving tables on the lower level.» Uhhh, ok. Again, we should have left.
We ordered our drinks & food… iced tea, water, a cheeseburger & a chicken caesar. I originally wanted the smoked gouda chicken sandwich, but they were out of gouda. The waitress was thoughful enough to bring out some extra ice for my tea. The food took a while to come out, but it was nice out & relaxing just to sit. Now, you really have to try hard to make a caesar salad inedible. Here’s how they managed… my salad was in a bowl that was a little too small for the amount of romaine, so every time I tried to mix the dressing in & cut the chicken it would spill over the side. When I finally took a bite I noticed there was something «off» about the chicken. It was totally rubbery & tasteless, like it was pre-​cooked frozen, or just thawed improperly. I literally could not spear some pieces with my fork… it was that bad. I picked it all out of my salad because I was hungry & kept eating. The dressing was bland & I noticed the croutons were completely soggy, which is weird because the dressing wasn’t watery. As I ate the romaine I realized it was also watery, so I tilted the bowl & noticed a pool of water at the bottom. Not a little water from freshly washed greens, but at least an oz or 2. No wonder the croutons were saturated & disintegrating. At least hubs liked the cheeseburger.
The waitress came over & saw I had picked out the chicken & not touched my salad. I told her about the rubber meat & showed her the caesar soup. She apologized & did take the entire salad off the bill. It’s too bad. The building is nice, but food & overall appearance could use some love.

We love this place! Food is delicious, and service is great !! Since the first visit we coming back every weekend.

This restaurant is a solid 3 stars. First off, just getting inside was utterly confusing. There was a sign out front that pointed to the back, so we went around the back and ended up in the bar. If we would have gone in the front (which seemed to be blocked off with huge flower pots right down the center of the stairs), we would have ended up right in the dining room — which is where we wanted to be.
The food was good, but I felt like it was a bit overpriced for bar food. And, it is bar food. Albeit with a Hungarian flair. Honestly, it’s been less than a week and I don’t even remember what I ate. So, that pretty much sums up my meal — neither good nor bad enough to remember. I do remember that my Mom got a Hungarian Kolbász sandwich. The sausage was pretty good, but the accompanying kraut was just ok; It would’ve been better if it had been cooked with the sausage and not just by itself.
Also, the waitress, while nice, couldn’t tell us what the special «pork roll» was. Both my Mom and I are originally from Pittsburgh. We don’t have pork roll there. And, when my Mom asked, the waitress looked at her like she was an alien and said «Well, it’s pork roll. Seriously? You don’t know what pork roll is?». Awkward…

Review from 2÷15÷14 — So with the weather being colder than my ex-girlfriend’s heart I decided that the BEST food to eat this time of year is some authentic, hearty HUNGARIAN CUISINE!!! I had never heard of this establishment but my companion picked the place out because 1) she knew that I am a proud German/​Hungarian and 2) I love eating authentic food from both countries whenever I get the chance. So with great anticipation we chose to dine at this establishment on an icy Saturday night.
We chose to eat at the bar as there was nobody dining in the main room (odd at 8pm on a Saturday night). Anyway, I am cool eating at the bar. After all, that is where all the «characters» are and you HAVE to have some fun on a Saturday night. Anyway, I WILL admit that this establishment has some quality beers on tap including Long Trail, KANE, Dogfish Head and Victory so I was able to order a nice pint of Victory Golden Monkey to start my evening. The beer was fresh and served at the perfect temperature. Great start. We ordered some calamari to split as an appetizer. It was ok. The breading was light and enjoyable but I believe that it was just slightly overcooked as it was a tad chewy. The Marinara though was quite runny and had a consistency that was more like tomato soup than sauce. Also, it was bland. It lacked the pepper flakes that are normally in there to spice the sauce/​dish up.
Anyway, onto the MAIN COURSE! I ordered the Hungarian Plate which consisted of Stuffed Cabbage and Hungarian Kielbasa along with dumplings. The Stuffed Cabbage consisted of one HUMONGOUS cabbage stuffed with the typical beef/​pork/​rice mixture. I was slightly surprised by this as traditional Hungarian stuffed cabbage is MUCHG smaller in size (and this is from the way that my grandmother made it from the old country all the way to the stuffed cabbage that you get every year at the Hungarian Festival in New Brunswick from either the HAC or St Ladislaus Church or the Magyar Reformed Church). On the positive side, the meat was flavorful (yet a tad dry), the cabbage was surprisingly tender and the overall dish was just slightly below average (again, being judged against the «best of the best» that I eat at the Festival every year). The kielbasa was good but again, not great. It was dry and it crumbled apart at the slightest touch of the fork. The best part of the dish was actually the dumplings which had a perfect firm consistency yet melted in your mouth. That part of the dish they NAILED!
The service was… underwhelming. Our bartender (a nice average guy) was very pleasant when we first got there but seemed to forget us as the evening went on. Grated there were three women that came in after us and I too would focus more time and effort on them than a guy eating cabbage at the bar but there were only 7 people at the bar and we waited over 10 minutes for himn to notice that our pint glasses were empty (as he was more concerned with playing the juke box and getting the three ladies there drinks. This lead to us declining another round and leaving this establishment fairly early to move onto another place that was closer to home.
To sum it up, not a horrible experience but not as wonderful as I had hoped. Decent food, great beers on tap, «divey» feel to the place and below average service.

Went today for lunch and although we originally stepped into the dining room we noticed it competley empty and so we went to the bar, more our scene. The place is dark and has a large rectangular bar complete with old beer signs and paraphernalia. My boyfriend immediately liked this place. Heather the bartender was sweet and gave us enough attention even though her bar was full of her regulars. I ordered a beer and a southwest chicken quesadila with homemade chips and my bf ordered a chicken sandwich with smoked gouda. We both loved our meals and our cold beers (it was after 12, we were in the Tuesday clear). When we finished our meals Heather brought us two warm, just out of the oven cookies. We will be back for a nice local lunch, complete with day time tv.

I liked this place. We didn’t go in on Thursday because no one was outside eating. We almost skipped it today after a party, but hey, they serve beer.
It is not fine dining. We were not looking for fine dining. It is not superlative. We were not looking for superlative. It was sweet and dated. We knew that stepping in, and did not expect more.
The service was prompt and pleasant. I mentioned allergies, and those were noted.
There’s Hungarian food on the menu – cool!
Prior to seeing the Hungarian offerings, we scanned the kid’s menu and asked Monka what she wanted. A hamburger! Ok.
We ended up getting the Hungarian platter & a Schnitzel. With a burger.
My daughter told us the burger was good; it was. Not great, but good.
I’m used to breaded schnitzel, not battered, but it was okay. My daughter and I liked the spatzle; my husband doesn’t care for noodles. The Kolbasz tasted like good breakfast sausage. The stuffed cabbage reminded me of Chicago. The wine reminded me of college; the local beers were better.
I’d love to see a chef come in and revamp the menu, keeping the Hungarian treats, but updating everything else so it wasn’t so dated. I just remembered that the server forgot to mention the specials, like the watermelon-​feta salad, we saw on the chalkboard outside. Oops. The pregnant couple oohed and aahed over the desserts, made by the owner. The place is dated, but we really enjoyed ourselves.
$ 77 for lunch with the family

I was performing with my band at the ice cream shop down the street, and my family and I wanted to eat dinner first. We had never been in the area before, so we weren’t really sure where to go.
The first place we went to was not seating yet, so we came here.
Let me say I was incredibly excited when I saw they offered Hungarian food. I’m 50%, and you just don’t see stuff like this anywhere near where I live, so I was literally giddy.
The place itself is pretty dark, with pottery decorating the walls. To me, it reminded me of a lot of the places in Carteret-​area that my parents used to take me when I was younger. It could probably use an update.
They also have a salad bar, which was free with 3 meals, (we bought 4), but it was really nothing to shout about. I liked it because it had a hungarian flare-​cold salads with cabbage, etc. We also had pierogi for an appetizer, and if you like them (or make them) the way I do, you’ll love them, because they are not soggy and taste delicious. I would suggest that they don’t serve the sour cream in the «to go» cup. Really a waste if you are seated there and eating. I think it would have been easier to share if it were in a dollop on the plate.
Our food came out, and it was well portioned and delicious. I had the Chicken Paprikas, my husband had the Beef Stroganoff, my daughter had the Chicken Parm, and my son had a grilled cheese. The spaetzel was delicious and dead-​on. Really great comfort food.
Now for the bad! The prices were OUTRAGEOUS! Yes, the food was delicious, but it was over $ 100 for the four of us, with my one child ordering from the kids menu. We also had 2 drinks, but there was still no reason for the prices to be so high. I’ve gone to very high-​end restaurants and not paid nearly that for the 4 of us. We were pretty taken back. Like I said, the food was good, but it wasn’t worth almost $ 20 a plate.
Also, while I felt our server was pretty stressed, she could have been a lot more pleasant. I was very nice and complimented the food and the drinks, and usually received nothing more than a grunt as a response.
I would love to give this place more stars, but 3 is being nice.
We might go back-​but probably just for the pierogi and stuffed cabbage apps!

Oy, this place needs help. Hopewell is a growing town with lots of people actively seeking evening entertainment. This place falls short on almost every level.
Let’s go down the list:
1: Bar is awkwardly shaped (rectangle with little room to maneuver).
2: Import and Craft beers are overpriced. $ 8 for a pint of Dogfish Head? Really? That’s absurd! I can get a cheaper pint of the same beer in Philly.
3: Food is awful and lacks imagination. No presence whatsoever. The staff seem like they are just phoning it in — you have to set yourself on fire to get the attention of the bar tender, who won’t even give you the time of day unless you’re one of the aged regulars.
4: Décor hasn’t been updated since the Reagan administration, or at least that’s my impression.
5: TOO MANY TV’s in the bar! Really, it’s not a sports bar so why are there so many TVs?
6: Did I mention the awful décor? The bar is FILLED with crappy beer company swag (jerseys, cardboard cutouts, etc) and other nonsense.
Please, PLEASE, just try a little harder. This town is growing and business is lost because this place sucks so badly. I want to but this place only to gut it and turn it around as the landmark it should be.

Used to be dozens of Hungarian places in Central NJ; now few and far between. Food here is good; we liked the wiener schnitzel. Good burgers; good onion rings. Dessert disappointed; the cakes look better than they taste — based on a limited sample.
Service is good. Sit on the porch if weather permits. The dining room is OK but very dated.