Saveur Creole
“It's BYOB and conveniently situated right next to a liquor store, with an OK wine selection.”
“Very intimate, nice, clean, good service and the best part is that it's BYOB which I love love love!”
“The shrimp étouffée had a deep heat that made you want to go back for more and the Haitiana with eggplant legume and shrimp was incredible.”
Saveur Creole
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Food is savory creole Haitian food. They aren't shy with the spice and chillies.
A cosy spot for good creole food. Located next to a liquor store, so be sure to BYOB.
We started with the appetizer and it was good, but the gumbo was the star of the show. Tangy, deep, spicy, complex flavors. Thinking about it makes you salivate. I could have eaten just that soup with a stick of bread…
I had the red snapper, grilled and on creole sauce. It was so-so. I asked for it to be well-grilled but it came barely grilled. I was hoping for it be charred and crispy. Despite telling the waitress to make it well – grilled, she most definitely did not take my order seriously. Maybe she thinks she know how I should like my fish.. on the soggy side. I would not recommend it. Being that it was $48 for the darn plate.
The black rice that came with the meal was awesome. Looks like long grain or basmati. But infused with porky and bacony goodness. I could eat a bowl of that by itself.
Service is prompt. The server we had was very business like. No nonsense for sure. Kinda makes you feel a little unwelcomed. I figure she must own the place.
We have been here three times for dinner. The second time the service and the food were both off. But our first and third visits were much better. Very attentive, friendly and fun service, and delicious food. I do feel the food is a bit overpriced, which is why I'm giving three and not four stars.
Walked in to an empty restaurant without a reservation on a Saturday night. Mostly all tables said reserved, but they found a cozy table in the back for us anyhow. I was definitely a little skeptical at first but was pleasantly surprised.
The service was very attentive. One of the employees kept coming over to refill out wine and check on us. The food came out in perfect synchrony. We had plenty of time to enjoy each course before the next. Once the restaurant started to fill up the vibe was great!
I highly recommend the empanadas. Amazing!! The food was so tasty and seasoned perfectly. Free Parking in the back and a liquor store next door can't be beat!
The staff was a little cold at first, perhaps because we were the last ones in and last ones out. But once I busted out my French, they started to warm up.
The food, on the other hand, is HOT! We started with the appetizer sampler (two empanadas, Marinades, and Haitian Caviar). Absolutely delicious and well worth the $17 considering the variety and flavor.
For an entree, we split the Chilean Seabass Blanc Mange served in a spice limed moscato sauce ($37). I swore the fish had been prepared sous-vide, but after following up with the kitchen, it turns out they braise it in the moscato sauce. Could have fooled me. This was hands down one of the top 3 seabass dishes I've ever eaten.
All entrees come with both a soup and salad, so while some of the prices may seem high, they do not skimp on the portion sizes. The salad had a nice kick to it and the gumbo was as good as the gumbo I've had in New Orleans.
The prices are also reflective of the fact that this place BYOB like most restaurants in Montclair. They are, however, one of the few places that offers outdoor seating.
As for parking, there's usually plenty of it on Grove.
I love when I try new types of cuisines and enjoy it to the fullest. Our lovely waitress wanted to make sure we would be okay with the spices, but we told her we can handle the most spiciest pepper on the Scoville scale which is the Trinidad scorpion pepper which is even spicier than the ghost pepper! Her english wasn't too good so when we told her this she brought out the pepper that they use, and we told her we have used this pepper in our cooking a lot too. We call it the Jamaican pepper which is at 100k heat units and the ghost is 1mil heat units. So there's your pepper education for the day, you're welcome.
She was so sweet she ended up making the rest of our meals spicy, you get to choose soups and salads with each entree. We chose the Jambalaya and salad, the only issue was there was barely any chicken in the soup and the pieces we did have were fall off the bone delicious, so we requested some more and she brought us some extra chicken. We also tried the lamb and crab empanadas…..the flaky crust was just perfect! For the meal we got the Tassot De Chevre which is the fried goat and it was just perfection. Perfect spice and so tender. Also the Crab Etouffee was my favorite thing here. I am still thinking about it and am sooooo happy I have leftovers for lunch today!
Now the only negative thing I would say is that we need to change the cost from $$ to $$$ because to me $30 a plate is at the $$$ level and $$ is less than $15.
Mommy & I dined here for our mother daughter date. I was surprised when she told me there's a Haitian restaurant located right in Montclair. It's ten minutes from my parent's house so it was a smooth trip getting there.
Saveur Créole is a quaint restaurant that can possibly seat 10 couples. There's indoor and outdoor seating. We had reservations for 3pm. We arrived 10 minutes early and found ourselves lounging around for someone to acknowledge us. Once we were the hostess directed us to our reserved table. Being that this place is a BYOB we bought a bottle of red wine from home. If you forget to bring a bottle there's a liquor store located next door.
Please be forewarned that prices do not match what's on their website. This place is expensive. Entrees can run you $30 per person. With that being said we started off with appetizers. Mommy ordered the Griot Mi Casa which consisted of shredded fried pork served with hot pikliz and fried green plantains. I ordered the Savory Empanada Collection. I decided to try the Beef, Chicken, & Crab Empanadas.
The Griot was fantastic. The Empanadas were good but not worthy of the $3 per empanada price tag. They were small. I would skip appetizers altogether. It's not worth the small portions. Besides with the entrees we ordered we were full & unable to move.
We both ordered Legume as our entrees. She had Beef and I had Shrimp. Although delicious we were in agreement with ordering the vegetarian legume next time. The entree came with white rice, sweet plantains, vegetables, salad, and soup. The salad was a standard house salad served with a zesty house vinaigrette du jour. Mommy ordered the Bouillon Créole soup that contained spinach, carrot, collard greens, potatoes, and dumplings. I had the Jambalaya Mardi Gras which contained no rice, beans, or turkey sausage just vegetables. It was spicy & delicious.
I recommend this restaurant. I'd go back but there would have to be some changes. The menu online should reflect the real prices of items listed on the menu in Saveur Créole. Also the menu should reflect what each item is or what it really contains. Lastly, the hostess should be attentive. Service wasn't bad but could've been better.
Solid four stars. We tried it out on a weeknight and came across an empty restaurant – thus we were seated after loitering around for a couple of minutes (waiting for the staff to notice us, as they were all in the kitchen). Once seated, the wine was immediately uncorked for us.
Overall, the food was very good, although my two male friends still left the restaurant hungry after ordering entrees (which came with soup and salad). It is probably due to personal preference, but while the food was good quality, the entrees didn't blow me away with the taste. I personally had the trini chicken which was nicely done but not very memorable. Still, the service was impeccable and all of us agreed, bar none, that the tostones and jamabalaya soup were the best parts of the meal – outshining the entrees themselves.
We avoided the desserts (thanks Yelpers) due to previous reviews that the desserts were $10 and upwards… and true to form the desserts were recited to us verbally with no price point given.
We would probably get take out from them again in the future, especially for the soups, tostones, and maybe the empanadas.
If there is free parking in the back, I couldn't find it, as the lot was filled nearly to capacity as the restaurant shares the spaces with a pharmacy, dance studio, laundromat, etc… there were some empty spaces but they were all metered parking. Free after 7 pm and on Sundays, sure, but still metered.
This hidden gem is definitely worth the effort. We came out despite the weather and I'm so glad we did!
General Note: I'm still getting used to bringing my own bottle of wine to restaurants. As a born and bred NYer, there's alcohol EVERYWHERE! I can adjust to change quite easily so it's no biggy.
There's a choice of two types of soup to choose from when ordering your meal. Did I mention they serve soup and salad with your choice of entree?? Double bonus in my book!
I had a vegetarian soup (soup du jour I think) salad and the Black Princess dish (black mushroom rice and red cabbage). A-MAZING!!!!!! And I'm not a fan of cabbage.
The dessert: Bread Pudding. *drops mic*
I'm not big on dessert and this was my first time tasting bread pudding…so darn tasty!!!
I left satisfied with change in my pocket – dinner for two plus dessert only ran us $70.
I plant my "Happy Foodie" Flag here!