Due Amici Ristorante

This is literally one of the worst places I have ever eaten. The meal we had was screwed up at every possible stage. Soda was flat. Salad dressing was canned and salad was soggy. We waited over 30 minutes for sandwiches and the fries were then cold. And we were the only people there. The sandwiches then sucked beyond belief. Mozzarella that tasted like American cheese. Odd dressing. Paper thin chicken. Then they tell us after we ate and I put my credit card out that the credit card machine was broken. Good things had cash. Stay away from this hellhole.

Read the reviews so we went for the first time tonight. Awful inedible. I dont know what these other people were eating but the veal parm — a staple in any good italian restaurant was undeserving of the name. Stale & soggy breading — previously frozen? With two thin american cheese-​like slices of bland moZzarella cheese. Pasta bolognese was mostly sauce with meat bits. Waitress didn’t even ask how our meal was while clearing our plates with 95% of the entrée still on the plate.

I love this place. We have eaten here many times, both with groups (they have a back room), and with just my wife and I.
Service is excellent, the family treats you like you are very special. Food is excellent, and BYOB keeps the price down.

Unilocal led a colleague and I to this little Italian job.
We had the excellent service that we expected from reading reviews and enjoyed the intimate atmosphere.
We had fresh caprese salad and escarole soup to start. Both authentically prepared. This was followed by Veal Paesano made with roasted peppers, mozzarella in a mushroom sauce. My colleague had the Shrimp primavera.
Great sized portions, excellent food and «homey» service and great value (BYOB)! Nuff said?

Typical American-​Italian fare with your usual standby’s. Chicken and Veal Parm, Piccata, Milanese, etc.
The place is quaint and the service usually pretty good. One of our favorites is the hot pepper appetizer if they have it available.

Fantastic food, had a great date night. This place should be packed… A true diamond in the rough!!!

So not gonna lie, I was a bit apprehensive about this place… its a tiny restaurant, easy to miss in W.O. But went there on a date on a Tuesday night.
My date brought a bottle of red and there were already wine glasses on the table — he was promptly handed and opener and we poured ourselves a drink. The waitress came over with a cutting board with some bread and a little dipping dish of olive oil. Ok, I’m already a fan.
The menu had your typical Italian restaurant staples, and there seemed to be something for everyone, I ordered the Chicken Francese and my date the Chicken Marsala — both dishes came with a side of pasta but we opted to have the chicken served over it. No apps for us as I was enjoying the bread.
After a not too long wait, our food arrived. A good portion, not overly huge and not small enough that I thought I’d be hungry after. Know what? It was actually really good food. I was very happy with my meal selection and so was my companion.
I ended up ordering a cannoli for dessert. Seemed like was probably brought in from elsewhere, but can’t complain, it was pretty good!
I was a bit sad that we were the only 2 there that night… the food is surprisingly good and very reasonable. Maybe they get busier at the end of the week and I certainly hope so — had a very solid meal there and I wouldn’t hesitate to visit again.

It has always shocked me this place isn’t full of people, it is truly wonderful food at really reasonable prices. We recently returned after having moved away several years ago, and it was just as wonderful after all these years. The décor could use freshening up, but honestly, you’re not thinking about the décor when you start eating their awesome food. We started with fried calamari– and it was just perfectly cut and fried and the marinara sauce was so good you just kept wanting to put it on anything to keep eating it. The fresh Italian bread and oil for dipping was so good we ordered another. The entrée was homemade spinach fettucini with sundried tomatoes, panchetta, cream sauce. It was unbelievably good. Seriously, go to this place whenever you have the craving for really good Italian. The service is so nice and fast. You park your car right next door, so no worries about the slightly sketchy neighborhood.

This truly is a hidden gem. What’s not to like?!? The ambiance is relaxing, the service is fantastic and most important of all the food is out of this world. Oh and its BYOB too so you can’t go wrong. We wen for my dad’s birthday, just my parents, my wife and myself and left full, happy and looking forward to returning. The main dining room is a little small, but from what we saw they had an extra room off to the side. We ordered an eggplant roll appetizer as well as the calamari and both were done very well. Not too greasy, not too over seasoned and not bland at all. We each ordered various pasta dishes for our main meal and were all thoroughly thrilled and stuffed after the big portions we had. I had gone with a spinach linguine in a cream sauce with veggies and it was out of this world. So full of flavor and so magnificently cooked. The pasta was cooked right, not too hard and not mushy and the sauce was flavorful but not overpowering. Throughout the night we were one of only 3 tables occupied which left me a bit shocked because of how good the food was. The deserts as well were strong options. All in all I’ve gotta say this place is worth a definite try. The menu is a bit small but you can’t go wrong with your choices. Plus, the BYOB portion makes any meal that much better.

The way I see it, there are only two ways to get the coveted «First To Review» badge. You could notice the «Coming Fall 2011» sign, write something useless and non-​committal like «Can’t wait to try Restaurant X» and hope no one flags your review. You could also actually dine at an obscure restaurant away from the Unilocal influence zone and tell your story later. I’m going to do the latter.
Sitting in our hotel room at the Newark Marriott, my dad and I were getting hungry. Neither of us felt like ordering room service, so we made the decision to go out to eat. Having just come back from the Yankees game and 90 minutes of bumper-​to-​bumper traffic, we didn’t feel like going anywhere fancy. I opened the Yellow Pages and settled on Due Amici.
Following a short drive to The Oranges, we found ourselves on Main Street of West Orange, NJ. At 7:30 pm on Sunday, the place looked eerily deserted. We didn’t even notice the restaurant at first, despite our Hertz NeverLost’s convincing «you have arrived at your destination.» A long red light and an illegal U-​turn later, we finally were in an unpaved parking lot of Due Amici.
The place looked like a joint where Tony Soprano might close a deal, and not just because we were in New Jersey. It’s a small, dimly lit Italian restaurant with a famous 1980’s décor. Green and white tablecloths, mirrors, lace curtains and pictures of the owners and their families accented the dining area. The focus here was on efficiency, although they clearly didn’t have time to bus the tables: the table next to ours had dirty dishes piled on top of it and leftover Caesar salad and half a bread stick under it. The whole dining room could not have had more than 12 tables, and only 2 of them were occupied (by elderly couples finishing their meals). By 8 pm, the place was completely deserted.
The waitress, who was also the cashier, the busser and the hostess, was very friendly. She asked us if we’d ever been at Due Amici before and said «Don’t worry. We have pretty good food here.» «Pretty good?» Now I am relieved.
After that little discussion, I immediately felt like I was an exchange student in Italy, dining with my host family. I felt as though the waitress would be disappointed if we didn’t like a dish, because she clearly believed it to be «pretty good.» When my dad asked her about beer, she said that it was a BYOB place, and the liquor store was across the street. Since that seemed like too much of a hassle, she said «I can bring you a Corona. I won’t charge you for it.» And she didn’t.
The food was abundant, although not particularly creative. We ordered 3 appetizers to share. The mozzarella with roasted peppers was tasty, although both the peppers and the cheese tasted pre-​made. The California salad was regular salad with Italian dressing, but I think what made it «California» was the avocado. It was actually pretty good. We also ordered an artichoke stuffed with bread crumbs and something else. That wasn’t a very good choice, as it was very difficult to eat and sooooo not worth the effort.
For our main course, I ordered the gnocchi with tomato sauce and pancetta. The gnocchi tasted homemade, fluffy and delicious, although the sauce wasn’t very exciting. I couldn’t finish the whole plate of gnocchi, and that’s saying something. Of course, part of the reason I couldn’t finish it was because I «helped» my dad finish his veal topped with prosciutto. It was covered in cheesy, fatty goodness and made me think about topping some meat with a different kind of meat. What a concept!
We skipped the dessert and walked back to our car, tired but satiated. The town seemed as deserted as ever, yet Due Amici stayed open until 10 pm. On the way out I noticed another dining hall in the back of the restaurant. It looked like a banquet area, and there were a few people there. Could the town of West Orange been celebrating something at Due Amici? I am not sure.