Buona Sera

This is the most amazing place I have been to. The service was impeccable. The lobster ravioli was absolute delight. Pretty much everything we had, all the way from food to dessert was absolute heavenly. The waiter took real good care of our entire group.
Highly recommend.

Gnocchi was subpar (I recommend Anejlica’s in Sea Bright or Il Porto in Brooklyn). We had a large family dinner here and were seated next to a speaker in a back room. We couldn’t hear each other and kept going back and forth with the DJ who kept increasing the volume while we asked our waiter (who was wonderful and fought for us) to lower the volume. We were sitting right next to each other but had to shout. Do not highly recommend.

My first visit here a few weekends ago for dinner with family. The space is quite large, décor is OK, nothing spectacular.
Service was average, they didn’t do a good job of clearing out the dishes in between courses, no pre-​bussing so to speak. We had to keep piling the dished on to one side to get them out of the way.
Food was average at best, everything had wayyyyy too much sauce on it, and having experienced real Italian food in Italy, that’s not how it’s done. Foot was rather tasteless.
Not impressed.

Haven’t been here in years and kinda wish I made the trek into the city instead… The waitress was adorable but could not remember specials and resorted to iPad. Nbd but I was expecting 10 or more– there were 2app and 2 entrees. After placing drink order, we waited. And waited. It came– all wrong, including not getting my drink which I mentioned. That was another 15 minutes for a simple glass of wine that was actually hot. Food I have to say was amazing except our entrees were brought out while we were eating our app. And then we were informed they were out of bread– we wanted to dip in the fra diavolo sauce:/… How do u run out of bread? Overall, no reason to search for our waitress or a bus boy– on 4 tables full inside and maybe 3 more outside. Cannot recommend to friends even though the food as I said was great.

Should have learned my lesson the first time. Giving this restaurant a second try was a horrible mistake. The owner was a rude, condescending, pompous jerk. AGAIN. Our waiter was pleasant and made recommendations for our dishes. The food was good and full of flavor. We had just finished dinner when we were told we had to move our table because they were moving the tables to make room for the dance floor. Ummm. Ok. Im still in the middle of dining but whatever. I DO NOT RECOMMEND GOING HERE.

Great atmosphere and descent food however on Saturday nights when they clear the tables in the back bar area and it turns into a dance «club»…watch out for those cougars. it’s a straight up meat market… Fun but not too classy…

Great place, went for happy hour and it was great 3 dollar beers and 5 dollar apps. the bartender was awesome very friendly. Only complaint was some employees hanging at the bar, and well not sure who he was but all i heard was him making noises like he was cleaning his teeth. But will try for dinner

Had dinner before seeing a show at Count Basie on Friday eve. We were 20 minutes late for our reservation
No problem
Seated immediately
The place was PACKED, so yes
service was a bit slower, but from what I saw everyone got out in time.
Dinner was DELICIOUS! We had grilled skirt steak and a chicken n pasta dish. I asked for oil for the bread and got a plate with oil… a touch of balsamic. and a mound of the most wonderful grated cheese!
Our waiter Jeff (sp)? was efficient and very nice. He accidentally switched tabs on the table next to us… and we witnessed him handling 2 very rude women with patience and diplomacy no matter how many questions they threw at him.
All in all… a great nite
We would definitely return again

I’ve never really liked this place and tonight did not disappoint. Food here is good but that is where the goodness stops.
The place is LOUD! not a place to connect with people at your table. Might as well be sitting alone.
If you end up sitting downstairs in the new section beware the 15 foot double doors. The staff keeps going in and out the doors to the outside and letting in the ice cold air from outside and the doors bang loudly adding to the din
The drinks. Ridiculously overpriced drinks. A cocktail is approx $ 12 and mostly ice.
Not sure what the attraction is with this place. Red Bank has so many great Italian restaurants! This place sucks.
In addition, There are only two bathrooms for the ladies. Super long wait.
Did I mention we were seated at 7:30 and its 10 pm still waiting for our meal? Grrr!

The restaurant is beautiful the staff super perfect the food even better every time you look for something it gets better and better I promise you you will not be disappointed. The steaks are phenomenal. And the deserts are awesome! I promise you will not be disappointed here ! Ask for Nema, his politeness will make you forget all the worries you ever had. And you WILL leave with a smile.

Food was absolutely good, very good place but make sure you make a reservation cause it gets packed! The Sangria’s are sooo delicious I can’t wait to have more! You need to check this place out!

Dinner and a show, Loved the food, portions are very large. Our waiter was a tad bit off other than that i would go back again!

Food is good service is ok. It’s fun on a Saturday night when they have dancing and music. I enjoyed my meal last week when I was here, but feel like it could be hit or miss. One night I love it, the next time it’s not so good. It’s definitely worth going to.

This was truly the best Italian meal of my life.
Let me start by saying the service was perfect and the atmosphere was great as well.
But the star of the show really was the food. We loved the calamari which was light and crispy and the bruschetta was great.
I ordered the lobster ravioli which was truly the best I’ve ever had. I also got to try the New York strip and the veal parm, both of which were out of this world.
I HIGHLY recommend.

Not just bad but offensive.
I was invited to a dinner I could not miss or I’d never have gone back to Buona Sera, as the worst experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant took place during my first visit there.
After informing our waiter that I was vegetarian so that he would advise me regarding menu options, my friend and I ordered mozzarella en carozza, sans the noted on the menu prosciutto. Upon both of us tasting it, we immediately realized the appetizer was cooked in chicken broth – not noted on the menu and previously unheard of by either of us – and not disclosed by the waiter.
A young guy, we excused it, though of course we let him know.
Upon receiving our entrees – in my case a pasta dish ordered vegetarian – I immediately bit into a large piece of pancetta. Angered, and with the waiter nowhere in sight (Our table was outside.), I went inside to find the manager.
Another waiter pointed to him amongst the crowd at the bar. The man was yelling and swearing extremely vulgarly at members of his staff in full view and earshot of guests and, when I approached him, angrily repeated the same vulgar word in response to what I told him had happened.
He accompanied me outside, picked up my dish, walked away from our table (without asking permission) to examine it under a lighting fixture, returned to the table, replaced the dish in front of me, and said, «there’s no meat in there.»
I picked up a large slice of pancetta that was lying right on top, held it in front of him, and asked, «what’s this?» He responded, «pancetta.» Before I had a chance to respond (which I’d have enjoyed), my friend said, «let’s go,» and we immediately stood up, apologized to the diners around us, who expressed their sorrow over what had happened as the waiter and manager turned it into a scene which all nearby heard, and we began to leave.
We heard the waiter urge the manager to stop us as we hadn’t paid for the unfinished drinks on the table. The manager declined.
There was no question we’d never return.
This week, however, I was invited to the dinner and though I hadn’t planned to stay past a drink for reasons unrelated to our past experience, I did wind up doing so, though I did not order food – again for reasons unrelated to last time.
As apps were ordered for the table, I tasted a small piece of mozzarella with roasted peppers. The mozzarella tasted as though it was dredged through a plate of salt. I was thankful I took such a small piece.
Afterwards, a family member passed me a piece of her eggplant burrata. I took a single bite and the eggplant was completely raw. I was forced to spit in into a napkin as it was certainly not edible.
The very unfortunate thing is that it’s an attractive restaurant with a great neighborhood feel in a cool town, so might be a desirable regular destination if it weren’t for such egregious food, service, and especially, classlessness.
A few blocks away is the less anachronistic and almost consistently excellent – if, as with its former incarnation, Basil-T’s, overpriced – Birravino.
If you’ve tried neither and are considering both, there should be no question.

The place is I think over rated in my opinion.
Pros: Good DJ and dancing music
Decent atmosphere
Food is just ok
Cons: Parking stinks
Drinks way overpriced!
Bartenders are not on there game

Terrible service!
I hate giving bad reviews but I feel like it’s deserved.
We got what was called fried mozarella appetizer which was unidentifiable basically a log of over salted cheese fried with what I thought was jarred Alfredo. I wish I took a picture.
The main dish I got chicken Milanese. Which came out with a huge pile of greens on top. Which woulda been awesome if they weren’t wilted and just slopped on. The chicken was impossible to cut with a steak knife! Wtf!!! That and the breading just fell off everywhere and chicken was not even hot or warm.
My friend had the filet which was actually good.
But for the price of everything it should have wowed us.
Someone told me today that it’s a great singles pick up spot for over 50 crowd perhaps why they’re still able to be open. Otherwise I see no reason for anyone to come here. Just trying to save you some money!

Everything was delicious! The food is fresh and homemade. Portions are amazing and worth every penny. Our server Nick was one of the best we have had. We will defiantly be back.

I was really disappointed when my fiancé and I came for Valentine’s Day a few months ago. We had 7:00 dinner reservations and was not seated until close to 9pm. We ordered the calamari appetizer which was delicious. Upon ordering our entrée the server never came back to refill drinks and ask how things were going!
For dinner: I had the Fra Diavolo pasta/​seafood dish. Very very disappointed. We waited close to 45 minutes before receiving our entrees, which was room temperature.

½ off bottles of wine Monday & Tuesday! Excellent Italian food. Attractive outdoor dining. White linen table indoor and out.