Casserole Bistro
“The ladies had a fish dish and the Skirt Steak, they both said it was excellent but I was so into my pork chop I didn't hear a word they said.”
“Everything we had was delicious…the yucca fries, so good, the cheesesteak egg rolls, yummy.”
“I ordered the Braised Short Ribs , others ordered the Osso Buco and the Filet
My ribs were boneless and were so tender I didn't need a knife .”
Casserole Bistro
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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LOVE LOVE LOVE this restaurant!
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I was searching for a good place to eat. Thank you Yelp for pointing me to this wonderful gem in Bloomfield!!
The breakdown:
Food: DELICIOUS!
I ordered the stuffed mushrooms appetizer and it was absolutely mouthwatering. I wanted to order another plate – just so good.
As for the main course, I ordered the skirt steak entree which came with fried plantains, rice, and the delicious sauce (I think it was chimichurri) and honestly the picture is not enough – it was so frickin good!!!
Staff: The waiter was so charismatic! Great personality and always attentive!!
Atmosphere: Cute restaurant in Bloomfield!!
Tip: Watch out for the door lol, I think you need to turn the knob or something to open the door – I don't remember but I know everyone that came in had trouble with it haha
Bottom line: Fine dining in Bloomfield!!! Part of me doesn't want to share this hidden treasure out to the world because I don't want it to get packed like certain restaurants in the area but honestly this is one of the best restaurants I've gone to in the Montclair/Bloomfield area.
I live not too far around the corner from this place and I'm ashamed to admit that, by the time I finally made it here for the first time, they had been open for almost two years. Clearly, I've been missing out.
We stopped in for a late lunch/early dinner on a Saturday afternoon and were the only customers in the joint, but we were VERY early for dinner, and while eating, our attentive server was putting out reserved signs on the tables. Good sign.
We started with the pumpkin soup, split the rabbit-stuffed arancini, then moved onto the osso buco as our main. Everything was delicious, including the complimentary warm, buttered bread, which was ideal for soaking up the remnants of the soup, which had the right balance between being too thick and too watery. The arancini were cooked perfectly and the osso buco fell right off the bone and paired perfectly with its sauce and sides.
All told, the bill came to $42 for those three things. Very reasonable!
Looking very forward to going back here to try more of the menu, especially the braised short ribs, the twice cooked duck and some of the pasta dishes.
BYOB!
I have been meaning to try this place for awhile now. My husband and I live so close and what a better night to try than New Year's Eve. We called for early reservations and everyone was so nice on the phone.
When we arrived our table was set with our name on the table. Right away the owner and server came to our table. Our wine was open and poured and delicious garlic bread was brought out.
We ordered calamari and chicken meatballs. The calamari was good, but could have used a little salt. The chicken meatballs were the best! They were so tender and the sauce was delicious.
For our entrees I ordered the petit filet and my husband ordered the pasta special. Everything was cooked well and seasoned wonderfully.
The dessert selection was small and we opted to share the lava cake – it was a small portion and very sweet.
Overall it was a great experience and we will definitely be back!
The stuffed mushrooms were incredible, but everything else was forgettable. I believe I had a fish dish, and he had the skirt steak… but neither was great. Service was okay, but uncomfortably awkward at times. The restaurant itself is lovely, with cool decorations. Sadly, we probably won't be back.
Its always a challenge to find a quality place to eat with our family friend Tom, who is a home chef. He is a TOUGH critic when it comes to restaurant cooking so for him to rave about a dish or an entire experience is huge! This place made the cut for him especially with a more crispy duck. Only observation, the waitress did not ask how he'd like it prepared so duck enthusiasts keep this in mind when ordering.
I had the Seafood risotto – full of all types of fish including squid, mussels, shrimp, etc The risotto was very buttery and cooked well. All the fish were properly prepared and seasoned to perfection. Only problem was I ate too much before my entree so I didn't have much room. We had calamari and stuffed mushrooms for appetizers – both very delicious. Mushrooms were juicy and warm; calamari were fried just right and came with a spicy red sauce, yum!
The waitress was very attentive and knowledgeable about all food items. Had a short conversation in Spanish to learn she's from Ecuador — possibility that this is a family-owned restaurant so might descend from Ecuadorean roots? Not sure but overall a good experience. Street parking is available right outside (metered) and possibly more on the side streets. Located on Broad near a lot of other neighborhood shops and down the street from my favorite bakery Gencarelli's. Price is fair considering the quality of food. Definitely try it out and bring friends.
Let me start out by saying this place probably has the best menu I've seen in a long time – twice cooked duck with potato croquettes with an orange and blueberry sauce, osso bucco, braised short ribs, skirt steak, tuna 3 ways and yucca fries.
They also have lots of typical Italian for the local crowd.
I went with the duck, and it was fantastic. Served with both a breast and a duck leg, it was moist and crispy where it needed to be. The croquette and the orange sauce with blueberries added to the experience.
The chocolate lava cake was a true lava cake where the inside is "undercooked" cake batter, as opposed to commonly served chocolate cake filled with chocolate syrup.
Service was almost perfect as the waiter was attentive right he needed to be. However, the one misstep came when our request for the ice cream that came with the lava cake to be served on the side. Someone from the back had brought out the cake with the ice cream served right on top. She even knew it wasn't right and almost turned around. We even brought it to the attention of our server, and he basically just shrugged it off.
Overall, excellent food and very good service and atmosphere. I would love to try more items off the menu.
I was in the area on a Saturday afternoon and decided to give this place a try. We had an assortment of different appetizers. The cheesesteak rolls, yucca fries, stuffed rice balls and the French dumpling onion soup. Everything was good but what I really loved was the French dumpling onion soup. This was really good and I will definitely recommend ordering it. One of the best I have had ever. Overall I would give this place another try for dinner.
Overall, not as enthused about this restaurant as many other reviewers, but I'll start with the good, which is a lot of things: pleasant service, relaxed ambiance serving quality food, BYOB, GREAT yucca fries.
The not-as-good: relatively long wait for the entrees and some of the dishes, while prepared well, were just odd and don't seem to blend together into one coherent dish. I tried the pappardelle casserole, which has a smattering of crab meat on top of what is otherwise a VERY earthy dish. It just didn't seem to go well with the much blander tasting seafood on top. Not to mention they ran out of pappardelle so it was substituted by the much more boring linguini. And yes, the texture and pasta choice matters in this dish because of the overwhelming sauce.
We also tried the duck but it was cooked well done, not medium rare as we requested.
The restaurant décor was kind of cute, but the overall presentation lacks the sophistication that their dishes and price point deserve.
It's not that I had a terrible experience, but it just wasn't as mind-blowing as some of the more enthusiastic reviews would have you believe. It could be that there is major variance between each entrée, so maybe I'll go back in the future and give them another try.