The Big Red Tomato
“Great service and food, and since it's a BYOB you can splurge a little on your meal as you will be saving on your drink tab!”
“This is by far, the BEST hidden treasure in Bergen County.”
“I definitely recommend the Fusili Mellenzane or the Fusilli Vincenzo, and the specials are also usually phenomenal.”
The Big Red Tomato
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Great place for a warm, cozy Italian meal! Always got mad love for BYOB spots.
Their garlic knots are like crack. These lil beauties are fried, sprinkled with cheese and full of love… I can probably eat 20 of these in one seating. No joke. Skip their stuffed tomato app. Stuffed mushrooms are where it's at.
My gfs and I had the chicken marsala, lasagna, and eggplant special. Everyone loved it. TBH, my absolute favorite part of the meal was the side of broccoli! Loved the toasted garlic slices. Didn't have room for dessert but will try the tiramisu next time.
I had no idea this spot got so packed on a weeknight. All the tables were full and there was a wait. Always a good sign!
If you're about having some good old tranditional italian food, this IS the place for you! They do not take reservations and its BYOB which to me is even better. Here, its not just the usual bread and butter they place a pot of garlic knots and a decent loaf a bread.
We ordered two different types of calamari which honestly, I wish we didnt cause its just a sauce that made a difference. I ordered the rigatoni florentina and it was so delicious and so filling. I had to take most of it home.
Everyone really enjoyed their meals and even heard some say they would totally come back. I definitely recommend this place to friends!
BYOB. Every thing that I have tried at this place has been delicious! The garlic knots here are the bombbbbb. I would go just for that.
All the pastas are good and they just don't disappoint. I also have tried the chicken marsala which is also excellent. Honestly you can't go wrong with anything on the menu because they are pretty solid with every dish.
The inside is a very homey and family feeling. Love going to this place when I'm in the mood for Italian.
I first came here twenty years ago. The pizza then was the best I'd ever had (I was from Pennsylvania). We used to come here every week.
I've since moved away but was in Fort Lee today for work and made a visit to the Tomato. And boy was I glad.
We were greeted by the lovely Lety who found us a table by the window. She brought a basket of the house bread and garlic knots. They are as good now as they were then and that is DELICIOUS.
I started with the escarole and white beans as recommended by Lety and was not disappointed. Just amazing. My colleague had the Caesar salad. Fresh crisp romaine with anchovy, cheese and pepper. Perfect.
But the piece de la resistance is the pizza. It's still the same perfect pie… big, cheesy perfectly seasoned and browned. You won't be disappointed. I'm so glad I went!!!
I've been going here for a couple years now, but less frequently as time progressed. I believe the restaurant went under new management/ownership or something – not exactly sure, but things changed, including their time (which is good, since I want to eat there on Sundays earlier than their prior 3pm opening).
The biggest turn off was the smell of chemicals that they used to wipe off the tables. Believe me, I don't have a sensitive nose, but it was piercing. My family and I were the first patrons to enter on Sunday morning.
My mom LOVES the fettuccine alfredo – she told me it's one of the best homemade-style pasta she's had in the East coast. I usually get the chicken parm with pasta or broccoli on the side, spaghetti, or manicotti – all of them are wonderful. My father always gets the linguini in white sauce with clams – he gets extra clams for a small price, which seems to make him much happier. We are always pleased with the food. The decor is somewhat amusing/ADD. The services is fine. I love their freshly brewed coffee and free refills for drinks.
Their pizza is also quite delicious. It's BYOB.
I'll probably keep coming back!
It's a very cool local Italian joint, it's really a no frills Italian eatery and I dig it. The decor is dimly lit pizzeria decor, but the pastas they offered are a must try. The prices of the pasta are around $15 but the portions are easily enough for leftovers the next day. And this is not a guarantee, but my friend and I left when they were just about to close and they were gracious enough to give us some leftover pizza. One, it was a very kind gesture and two, it shows that they don't sell leftover pizza the next day. Kudos to them for quality control.
The food:
Rigatoni Fiorentina- Fresh chicken pieces & sautéed spinach in a creamy pink sauce tossed with mozzarella cheese. As a whole, I really enjoyed the flavor of the dish. The sauce had a really nice depth of flavor and I really like the stringy mozzarella that was tucked into the sauce. The pasta was cooked well, it had a nice chew but I did think the sauce was too thin. If the sauce was a little thicker and the chicken a little less cooked, this dish would easily be a 5 star. This was the fav dish of the night, though, and I would definitely order it again. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
The Big Red Tomato- New Jersey tomato stuffed with sausage, spinach, potatoes, topped with mozzarella. This is their signature app and it was good, the tomato was nicely cooked and I really loved the crumbled sausage and the mozzarella added a really nice chewy top. When the waiter said Jersey tomato, I was expecting it to be big bold flavors, it was a just good tomato, not a mind blowing one. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Fusilli Campagnola- Fresh garlic, sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe & cannellini beans in a white sauce. It's such a simple dish but for some reason, I enjoyed it. The flavors are very straightforward but I liked the flavor profile. The sliced sausage had great flavor, the broccoli rabe wasn't too bitter and the fusilli was a fun pasta to tie everything together. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
super cute mom and pop Italian place. everything is fresh and cooked well. while service is friendly, they often forgot about us. perhaps it was because we were seated at a far end but we had to keep calling someone back for something another had forgotten. even still, it's a place I'd recommend for a hearty happy meal.
This is a great Italian restaurant serving locals, it looks small from the outside , but it's actually pretty spacious inside. We came here tonight and it was packed while we walked in, the host was very nice to give everyone in line a small slice of pizza , which I think is a very nice gesture. Our waitress is very sweet , I saw she take care of every table in the restaurant but she is very attentive and polite. Our pasta dishes are very good , if I have to pick one thing I don't like , it's probably the broccoli rabe was slightly overlooked , but other than that I like almost everything I ordered tonight. The free garlic knots are also super tasty and they give you lot of them, while we asked the waiter if we can pack the garlic knots we didn't finish home, he was so nice to even pack us some extra more ! I will def recommend this place to you if you are happen to be in the area !!! Don't forget it's BYOB !!!