28 East Enoteca

Keyport, United States

3.7

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 732-497-0900
Website:
www.eastenoteca.com
Address:
28 E Front St, Keyport, NJ, 07735
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
350 ftBroad Street at Front Street
1.3 miNJ 35 at Cliffwood Avenue
1.6 miHazlet
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Accepts Bitcoin
No
Good For
Lunch, Dinner
Parking
Street, Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
No
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
No
Dogs Allowed
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Keyport) 00:37 Friday, 30 May 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Description

Specialties

At 28 East Enoteca, renowned chef, Dominic Abitino reintroduces small plate dining

with a modern twist. This style has been used in Europe for many decades and is known as cicchetti, or tapas. From its century-​old beginnings, this style has evolved into creative dishes that are all starter sized. There are a number of reasons why this small-​plate concept of dining is gaining culinary interest throughout the United States. Most importantly, diners can savor an array of flavors rather than being tied to one large main course. The haute-​cuisine tasting menu concept has now come down to the comfort of the neighborhood trattoria and brasserie, but with an important twist: our patrons may now choose what they want and in which order it arrives to the table. Due to his innovative small-​plate presentation style, Chef Abitino is able to express the creative flair for which he has become known on America’s East Coast. As a result, diners can revel in a diversity of flavors from flawlessly seared scallops to braised lollipop lamb chops.

History

Established in 2014.

At 28 East Enoteca, renowned chef, Dominic Abitino reintroduces small plate dining

with a modern twist. This style has been used in Europe for many decades and is known as cicchetti, or tapas. From its century-​old beginnings, this style has evolved into creative dishes that are all starter sized. There are a number of reasons why this small-​plate concept of dining is gaining culinary interest throughout the United States. Most importantly, diners can savor an array of flavors rather than being tied to one large main course.

Meet the Business Owner

Dominic A.

Business Owner

Whenever chefs cook for each other or their friends, they usually make them a number of small plates. Chef Abitino noticed that anticipation of the next dish created an excited energy among his friends. Chef Abitino believes it’s not about the speed of the meal but about the variety, which is the reason he has moved in the direction of small-​plate dining. Diners can experience more flavors, providing a valuable alternative to the typical restaurant experience In spite of Chef Abitino’s innovative vision, he could never forget his Neapolitan roots, so in addition to the eclectic mix of small dishes that will be served at 28 East Enoteca, there will be authentic Neapolitan wood fired pizza. With ingredients such as «00» flour, San Marzano tomatoes, and fresh homemade mozzarella, these pizzas will feel like taking a «passeggiata» on a

small via in Napoli. Make no mistake, the pizza will be authentic, but not limited to the typical flavors.

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20 reviews of 28 East Enoteca

No registration required
Place rating: 1
South Amboy, NJ
Went there on New Year’s eve and will not ever go back. It took over 2 hours to get our entrees. I ordered a special, Surf and Turf, and the lobster tail was overcooked, cold and the size of a jumbo shrimp. The filet mignon, which I ordered medium rare, was well done and looked like it was cooked in either a microwave or convection oven. It was not grilled. My broccoli was cold. I requested no pasta since I am allergic to mushrooms and was practically admonished by the server for requesting the potatoes instead. Awful experience. Avoid this place at all costs.
Place rating: 4
Little Silver, NJ
This restaurant reminded me of The LIttle Engine That Could. It has a lot of challenges to overcome, and through effort and attitude it surmounts them. The restaurant is small and cramped, it’s loud and hot, but the delicious food and festive atmosphere overcome that.
We had an 8:15 reservation on a Saturday night. By then the place was in full swing with a couple of large family parties and a table of 4 who could be heard above everyone else. Old and young, drunk and sober, starving and sated, it was qutie a collection of diners.
The menu is versatile and offers three different ways to dine: small plates, pizza, and full entrees. Salads and appetizers are also available, The ingredients are fresh and the restaurant makes a point of using local sources so, the menu changes accordingly, Check it on-​line before you go. I had the ceasar salad and the drunken tuna, both of which were excellent. In the short run, the restaurant could be improved by adding gluten free options to the menu and then adding some noise absorbing tiles or fabric on the ceiling. But don’t let that stop you from going, Just go earlier in the night or week.
Place rating: 4
Hazlet, NJ
Your quintessential hole in the wall with great food… And it’s a BYOB!
The food is always amazing. The only reason why they get 4 stars and not 5 is that the service is sometimes a little spotty. I have been there at least 10 times and will continue to return.
Place rating: 1
Jim Thorpe, PA
There are few places I actually review on Unilocal.But I felt compelled to write a review after this experience. Walking the restaurant was cold, feels like they were too cheap to turn on the heat. Sitting down we informed that pumpkin ravioli was missing and no pizza was available (basically there went half the menu). Secondly, the waitress was way too chatty and failed to mention a main ingredient would be missing from my entrée. It wasn’t until until I asked she told me a main part would not be in there (scallops). Wasn’t impressed that I had to ask. And then she proceeded to explain that it was because scallops were too expensive (why is it on your menu then?). I ordered the flaming figs and it was just okay. Not impressive. The figs were mushy and drenched in sauce. The granola tasted stale and the goat cheese tasted like the cheapest goat cheese ever. Not worth 12 dollars for the 5 drenched mushy figs I got. The waitress convinced me to stay with the seafood Sinatra even though the scallops were missing. HUGE MISTAKE. The pasta was dry, the sauce was bland (i tried adding tons of Parmesan and ended up just eating Parmesan cheese with a drop of sauce). Lastly, the part that turned me off to the dish finally was the seafood was over cooked! The shrimp was chewy, clams were dry and the crab meat was disgusting. The waitress did not even offer to bring me another dish. A minor compliant but the actual plates were ridiculous. Serving a pasta sauce dish in a shallow long plate, cmon. And serving mussels Bianca in a shallow bowl were sauce could slop everywhere? Not impressed. The waitress ended up giving me a coupon for a free appetizer with the order of an entrée only on certain days (I’m sorry if you are comping a customer you don’t put stipulations on the comp). I guarantee you I won’t be using the coupon because I won’t be coming back. Overall, the place was overpriced (28 dollars for an entrée I didn’t eat?) and honestly terrible.
Place rating: 5
Englishtown, NJ
My wife and I visited this restaurant for the first time today. The food was excellent! We took the advice of the server, who was a very friendly and helpful young guy, and started with the artichokes with pancetta. And I am glad we did. They were out of this world. For the main course I had the chicken breast stuffed with butternut squash and my wife had the pumpkin ravioli. They were both delicious. We also met a young woman who seemed to be running the front and she too was friendly and easy to talk to. We will definitely be visiting this spot again and will probably order just from the tapas menu so we can try a variety of things.
Place rating: 4
Edison, NJ
… This place is more than «a hidden gem». It is a unique dining experience when the chef is so meticulous and adheres to his own standards for quality and taste!
All fresh, no fillers, natural and organic … You know this because of how it tastes — not because of what anyone «tells» you.
First time here, best restaurant meatball ever. Unique cheesy chicken wings with a four cheese sauce. My girl had the carbonara with gluten free rotini.
Come here if you want a high quality dining experience at corporate restaurant prices. Service is fast, friendly and local style.
Place rating: 4
Parlin, NJ
My husband and I were looking for something different to try for our anniversary. We decided to try 28 East Enoteca after reading great reviews on facebook and seeing that it was a must try place to eat!
We samples the shrimp app-​It was spicy and sweet and the extra sauce was perfect for dipping the bread into.
I had the game sausage sampler for dinner. The sausage was perfect… the steamed veggies were Ok. Nothing too great/​to bad. My hubby had the 3 tenors (3 different sliders) and loved each and every one.
Its a plus that it is BYOB. I would make a reservation as when we went on a Tuesday evening it was pretty packed.
Place rating: 4
Monmouth, NJ
Ate here for the first time last night. Our Friday night regular spot (Prosecco in Middletown) closed up, so we went in search of a similar type place. Our quest led us to 28 East Enoteca.
Easy to get to, right off RT 36. There was plenty of street parking, at least on a Friday night. They honored our reservation promptly. The place was fairly empty (at 6:30) but it soon wouldn’t be.
Nice room. Not too cramped. Very comfortable.
It was Friday, and my wife and I were jonesin’ for pizza. They have a nice selection from their wood-​fired oven, but alas, none were available that night. The wait staff informed us that pizza dough wasn’t rising due to the humidity. We didn’t think it was all that humid, but… who’s to argue? So we settled on other things. There were plenty of appetizing choices, off the regular menu and being served as specials.
We split two DELICIOUS appetizers. The pork belly (served with pickles), and a hearts of palm salad. The former was the best pork belly I ever had. Flavorful, crispy, and not too fatty.
For the main course I had a pasta dish… Pasta a la Toscana. All the promised ingredients were plentiful in a satisfying portion. My wife had the linguini and clams, which was also outstanding.
We were stuffed. I couldn’t convince my wife to share a «lobster tail» pastry filled with crème (sort of like a cannoli crème). So I tried the old «I’ll order it and ask for two spoons» ploy, figuring she’d never be able to say no. She was resolute, so I ate the whole thing, and downed it with a cup of coffee.
All and all, I would have given five stars if they had the pizza. I probably will when we return. And return we will. We might call in advance to see if they can make pizza that night, though. Highly recommended.
Its BYOB, by the way, although they do have a small selection of wines available for those who don’t bring their own.
Place rating: 5
Holmdel, NJ
My husband and I tried this place last night and it was excellent. I had the Shrimp Abitino and the drunken tuna both were excellent. My only slight complaint was that the tuna dish the chef used whole peppercorns in the sauce which for me personally is a bit much but it was still very good. My husband had the cheesy wings and the sliders. I had to try the wings and there were outrageous. My husband seemed to like the sliders. The service was very good as well, our waitress was very attentive and had a lot of good information about the menu. I can’t wait to go back.
Place rating: 4
West Windsor Township, NJ
I came here one day when I was visiting a friend in Hazlet and as a group of 6, we decided to head here for lunch.
I originally wanted to try their pizzas, but apparently they were not available — I was a bit sad about that.
However, I got the Basil Spring Chicken and it was good! Both delicious and the portion was plentiful.
My friend got the spinach salad, and it was overall decent, but had a weird cheese in it that tasted off — it might be because my palate was too unsophisticated to appreciate it, but I thought it tasted strange.
Overall, this was a cute store!
Place rating: 3
Keyport, NJ
I ordered to go. The menu said that each meat dish is served with rice and veggies. I get my order and there is pasta with my skirt steak! What an odd combo. They did not ask me if a substitution was ok. I had to bring it back because of my gluten sensitivity. Otherwise the service was nice. If you are serving something and need to substitute at least let the customer know.
Place rating: 5
Brooklyn, NY
We went to their first Wine Tasting event. Food was delicious and different. A different wine from the New Jersey farms for each course and there were 6 filling courses. The price was fair for the food and drinks offered. Such a great night. Worth going again and again.
Place rating: 2
Union Beach, NJ
I loved this place when they opened in the fall. extensive tapas menu which allowed you to try many different things. every subsequent time we dined we had a laundry list of items recited to us that were «unavailable» each night.
final straw was in April when we came for our anniversary with my parents. down to like 7 tapas including two kinds of fried calamari (lazy). 7 entrees and then they tell us they had neither beef dish.
nothing else looked appetizing to me and my parents felt awful so we left. I have never in my life walked out of a restaurant before ordering.
maybe all those great reviews in the paper went to the chef’s head but it’s no good. also don’t give me an attitude for not having a reservation early evening on a Sunday when there are only 2 tables full. take it down a notch.
Place rating: 2
Keyport, NJ
I was disappointed in my visit here. It was extremely cramped. The service was terrible. He never brought bread after he said he would. They were slow to refill our waters.
Our entrees came out at different times (my pizza came out and sat and got cold for ten minutes before my wife’s steak came out). Also, my pizza was burned so I had to send it back to be remade.
Overall, the food was good. The calamari was good and the meatball tapas were good. My wife enjoyed her skirt steak. However, My pizza was very bland and had no flavor. It tasted like a frozen pizza cooked in a wood burning oven.
I would not give this restaurant another chance.
Place rating: 5
Eltingville, NY
The fried calamari was fresh and to die for. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and a pizza; it was perfect. Dessert was mini cannoli with fresh crème. OMG.
They have partnered with a vineyard and now supply their wine, but you can still BYOB.
Make sure you get a table when Ellen is working. She is a great server.
They also have free wifi, and we used it to run a memorial slideshow on my iPad while we reminisced. A Five Star experience for us :)
Place rating: 5
Keyport, NJ
Last night was our second visit. After the first we knew we would be back. Each dish was delicious and fun to share with friends. We had Lobster Thermidor, Scallops, Flank Steak, a very nice Arugula salad and Conch fritter. Everything was first rate. Being a BYOB is also a plus for us. We also thought the meal was reasonable.
The waitress told us that the menu changes with the season, which I like.
Place rating: 4
Freehold Township, NJ
This is one of those places that, even with a four-​star rating, I would hesitate to go back to anytime soon. Don’t get me wrong– the food was FANTASTIC. Our server, Will, made several recommendations which we followed almost entirely. My wife and I made five selections: pasta with mascarpone cream sauce, conch fritters, pork belly, scallops and sliced skirt steak «churrasco» style, with a pesto sauce. The portions were a bit larger than standard for tapas but not ridiculously so, and everything was plated well. We had two problems, however. First was that the food came out WAY too quickly, as in all five plates were served within 15 minutes without a pause in between. A tapas restaurant should space these dishes out over time, as courses, and if I’d known ahead of time about the kitchen’s speed I would’ve asked Will to slow things down. Second issue was that the service was actually TOO attentive. It was polite and friendly, but it actually made me very nervous to have four people always hovering around our table. An example– we ordered homemade cheesecake and affogato for dessert. No lie, one of the gentleman tried THREE TIMES to remove the affogato from our table before we were finished. Lastly, unless a table asks specifically to hear a server’s life story, there’s really no need to tell folks how you came to live in the area without being prompted to do so– doing otherwise is just oversharing unnecessarily. I’m not saying that to be mean, but I know many people that would be permanently turned off by that. We’ll be back, and we’ll suggest it to our friends, but I’ll give it a while to work out these kinks before going back myself.
Oh yeah, it was COLD. I can only imagine what winter will be like there.
Place rating: 4
Keyport, NJ
Just visited this place for lunch. We shared 5 tapas between 2 of us and enjoyed most of them. We were very impressed with the braised rabbit and the pumpkin ravioli tapas from the daily specials. Their ambi (figs and brie cheese) tapas was delicious as well. The skirt steak churrasco was amazing, but we were surprised by the size of the portion (too small) especially when compared with the size of the rabbit dish.
The only dish that did not enjoy that much was the grilled octopus lollipops. The kale and legume salad that accompanied octopus was great, but the octopus itself definitely did not spent a single second on the grill, was cold and felt almost under cooked. I should also mention that the bread served at the beginning of the meal was not exactly fresh out of the oven.
Overall, it was quite an enjoyable lunch, we will be back. 28 East Enoteca is a great addition to the Keyport restaurant scene
Place rating: 4
North Bergen, NJ
I randomly ended up here while visiting some friends for the restaurant’s soft opening. We didn’t have a choice of food so I was a little worried as I am a picky eater. They served us things like pizza (most of the pizza was good, one was not crispy enough) and conch fritters (never had them and thought I wouldn’t like them but they were quite tasty). There were several other items that were also good but I can’t remember them which is a shame. They were presented very nicely as well.
The restaurant is BYO which was great and they even chilled our white wine in the back for us.
The only negative that I have is that the place is small and it got very loud. I found that we were yelling at each other to be heard. Perhaps it was just the excited atmosphere of the night.
I would give this place another try when I’m in the area.
Place rating: 4
Keyport, NJ
Four stars with the very strong possibility of a fifth after I’ve been there a few times. To new to give five right off the bat.
I saw this place being constructed a month or two ago, started following on Instagram, and saw that they had their grand opening this past weekend. It’s located in the old Drew’s location, right down the street from the new one. I unfortunately didn’t make it to the free tasting on opening night, but I went the next day. Maybe we were the first paying customers ever?
I’ll start by saying that this is a GREAT ADDITION to the area. It’s fit a nice little niche in the Keyport restaurant seen. You have super casual (Burlews, McDonagh’s, etc) on one end and the legendary Drew’s on the other, and this is a great little place for go for a meal or snacks. We chose four tapas (three regular and one chef’s selection) from the very expansive menu — one side is all tapas and the other side is paninis, salads, brick oven pizzas, and some other things. I’d say maybe over 30 choices all together?
They unfortunately didn’t have pork belly or quail on this particular night, two of our original choices, but it was only their second day open, I can understand that.
We had the cannellini (sp?) bruschetta, skirt steak churrasco (amazing), conch fritters (also amazing), and «evolution», which were three eggs topped with either caviar, crab meat, or a shrimp. All were very high quality, with the steak taking the top spot. An excellent cilantro sauce and the slices were served sizzling hot. I could go for some right now, actually.
Very reasonably priced. Our bill was under $ 38 for all four and we had some leftovers to take home (two conch fritters that i am eating as soon as I get home today). BYO (which is great), but I think they might add alcohol in the future? It’s not clear from their website and I forgot to ask when I was there. I love BYO places, anyway, and the wine glasses they gave us were much better than the typical standard ones you get most places.
I hope they do some more promotion, because I think if the word gets out this will become a very popular place. So much variety, really something fro everyone.
Highly recommended if you are in the area.
Keep up the good work! My only recommendation is to get some little books for the checks. A place like this deserves a better check presentation.