De Novo European Pub
“Main courses were also well executed and tasty – the stand out was the short ribs although the hanger steak was also very good.”
“As far as dessert goes, the skillet brownie, pear almond galette and coquito were nice finishers.”
“Decor fits into a spirit of town – old train station turned into cozy modern hall.”
De Novo European Pub
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I had a great dinner experience here and I appreciated the food, service, and everything in between.
I had the mulejito to start off and not only was it delicious, it had generous amount of booze in it. For apps we had the calamari which was light and crispy, not at all chewy or soggy. For my entree I chose the duck breast with a cranberry relish and side of kale, which happened to be one of the specials that night. In the back of my head I was concerned it would come out overcooked but it was cooked to perfection.
Dessert was brownie skillet with ice cream and I felt it was the perfect portion size to share and didn't leave me feeling overly stuffed.
The icing on the cake was our extremely polite and knowledgable server, she really knew her stuff and despite how busy it was, she was constantly checking up on us.
Super fun time for a ladies cocktail outing Friday. The service was A plus. Entire place was doing a big cold-winter night biz. So now I have found this to be a great place for lunch and a great bar for evening cocktails with apps. For lunch, delicious salads.
Hard to rate this place, but I don't see how the overall rating is so good.
I can see liking this place if you go with people who know the menu. About half the items the party of 4 I went with got were good. The other half were not so good… at all.
The service was sllllllow and there were a bunch of drunk regulars (I'm presuming, as they were allowed to do this without anybody saying anything to them) jumping around from table to table being sort of obnoxious.
Started off with a cocktail that had grapefruit in it… it was fake grapefruit, which makes for a terrible drink, its a pet peeve for me.
That combined with the 50/50 on the food and the below average service = meh for me.
From the spare ribs to the short ribs to the delicately beer battered fish that pop with flavor without overwhelming me with a rich and overly heavy feeling, this place has yet to disappoint since it was transformed by its current owner. They spent some big money to pad the ceiling of this old echo filled train station in order to address the acoustic issues that formerly plagued the previous establishments that left me with hearing loss and no voice after trying to scream at the person across from me all evening.
Come early for a relaxing lunch…stay and linger over drinks, and you'll see patrons hopping off the train and coming straight to the mixologists manning the bar while the parking lot fills up with Teslas. Suddenly there's a wait. If you come for dinner, make sure you get reservations. This place pops. Today I had the Soup of the Day, which was composed of a lime green puree of organic squash, scallion etc with a flavor rich, caramelized bits of shrimp in the center. It was strangely satisfying. tuna tartare was unusually full of flavor without being excessive, packages on what I discerned to be some sort of hash brown. Presentation was inventive and appetizing. The service was perfect as usual. The waitresses and waiters are always on point here. The hostess was pleasant. The vibe was the usual. I regularly look for reasons to pop back in here.
Pretty cool little spot in Montclair. We were in the area for a concert at the Wellmont and based on reviews wanted to give this place a go. I forgot to make a reservation so we sat at the small bar, which we generally like anyway. Obviously it's a more older suburban crowd, the bartenders were very friendly though.
The drinks were very reasonably priced and were pretty good. I tried one with the chili liquor and it was awesome. For food we started with an interesting dish, it was artichoke flan with bleu cheese and some other stuff I can't remember but it was so wild but very good. It was a little too watery so it needed bread or something to go with it. I ordered the lasagna special, it was very good but a little under-seasoned just a hair, not bad but could have used a bit more. The wife got the carbonara and that was delicious, we both really enjoyed it. We didn't opt for dessert.
Staying true to my MO I left my credit card here, luckily when our show was over around midnight I came back and the bartender remembered me and when i said I left my card here she said "ya sure did" and pulled it out immediately. Pretty impressive to remember me in a crowded place.
overall I'd definitely come back!
Great little gastropub in Upper Montclair, not that little as it's more of a gastropub restaurant
About a dozen taps with good variety, couple of okay IPAs when I went there, respectable bottle selection
Calamari $12 – Wow, a huge portion of calamari and it was absolutely delicious, very meaty large pieces of squid. Filling, good to share.
Burger $17 – Classic Caramelized onion burger, not bad, cooked exactly medium rare. The calamari filled me up so the guy said he would keep it on a heat lamp in the kitchen to keep it warm until I was ready, talk about ABOVE and BEYOND SERVICE, well I just did..
The people are phenomenal. Greeted at the door, at the counter, about 3 different waiters asked me how the food was, a guy unloading a box outside told me to have a good day, everyone was warm and cordial, it was a very pleasant experience, although there was one moment where several waiters got into a verbal scuffle about a guy not restocking champagne the previous night
Plenty of seats, tables and even an outside seating patio, check out De Novo if you're ever in Montclair!
Came here really late Sat night with some friends. We tried to make a reservation on Fri ( for sat) but they only had really early and late times. Definitely make your reservation more than a day in advance. We drove right past this place because we thought it was the train station! Turns out, according to another reviewer, De Novo used to actually be the train station. It's right on the tracks. The interior is really nice. We sat on the patio, which was heated. My husband and friends felt cold, but I felt fine. I think they were sitting in cold pockets. If it's winter, and you have a choice, I'd probably say to sit inside.
Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. He may have been trying to sway us to order more expensive drinks and menu items but was super stealthy about it. We were joking that he'd make a good sales person.
The bread they bring out is good, but the tomato dip that comes with it is a little confusing. It's cold, so I think they're going for a bruschetta type thing, but it has the flavor and texture of marinara sauce. There are large pieces of what im prettty sure were canned plum tomatoes. It really was like dipping bread in cold tomato sauce.
The best part of the meal was the appetizers and drinks. We shared the tuna tartar and shrimp. The tuna tartar had crispy rice, wasabi mousse and, soy syrup. It was tasty but the crispy rice could have been crispier and the wasabi mouse really just tasted like it was straight up wasabi paste. I like wasabi, but I feel like it would have been better if they cut it with something like mayo or creme fraiche. The shrimp was absolutely delicious. It's comes with bread, to soak up the yummy sauce, and chorizo. It's a very Cajon dish. We ran out of bread, so i sipped the sauce like soup. That's how good it was.
For drinks, I had this minty grapefruit cocktail and an apple pie martini. They were great and surprisingly really inexpensive.
After being quite pleased with the appetizers and drinks, we were expecting equally satisfying entrées, but unfortunately this was not the case. My husband and I shared the lasagna special and porterhouse pork chop. We also tasted my friends' French chicken and lamb chops. Our pork chop, which we ordered medium, was overcooked. The lasagna special was okay. The bechamel sauce was good, but the lasagna itself was small and could have used more short ribs. Our friends' dishes were very under seasoned. The basil flavored Israeli couscous that came with my friend's chicken desperately needed salt. Both friends asked for salt and were sprinkling it all over their food. The lamb was probably the winner, after we seasoned it ourselves. It was cooked well and had nice Mediterranean flavors.
For dessert, we all shared the brownie with salted caramel ice cream. It was small but warm, gooey, and awesome.
I would have loved to give this place a better rating, but really the drinks, appetizers, and dessert were a 3.5 and our entrées were closer to a 2. Perhaps they should trim down their menu and focus on making fewer items better.
Really enjoyed this place, food was great, friendly efficient service, nice vibe in an old railway station and a really nice selection of craft beers. Called at noon on a Saturday for a reservation and all they had was 4:30pm or 10 pm. We took the 4:30 and by the time we left this place was jam packed.
The goat cheese, fig, prosciutto and arugula flatbread made and awesome appetizer. The beer flights were great; we tried all their tap beers except the standard Ho-hum Guinness (which I do love by the way).
Main courses were also well executed and tasty – the stand out was the short ribs although the hanger steak was also very good.
Reserve early or come and hope for an open table. Looks like it would be fun in warmer weather or with a group of friends.
Owner checked in and was very nice and personable. Would definitely come back and would absolutely order that same flatbread!
Montclair has many great restaurants and this one is worth a visit!!