Novita Bistro and Lounge
“They also had a piano player/singer.”
“For dinner my wife had the Ricotta Cavatelli and I had the Stuffed Chairman's Reserve Pork Chop.”
“Nice entertainment and owners that are truly interested in ensuring you have a good experience.”
Novita Bistro and Lounge
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: 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
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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We are such fans! Novita has live music, which really is nice. The food is delicious. The service is very good.
The restaurant – I believe – makes their own bread; it comes out warm out of the oven. For apps, we have tried the calamari, served with a unique sauce, the eggplant rolatini, garlic shrimp, and grilled octopus. All were very tasty.
For dinner, we tried the diavolo pizzette (very recommendable), fettuccini alfredo and linguini carbonara (homemade pastas, delicious), the chicken scarpariello and hangar steak.
The kitchen is very talented and the staff are very professional.
I first came to Novita through a Yelp Elite event in the summer. The food was so good and all the workers (servers, manager) were so nice that my friends and I wanted to come back. I'm glad we did!
I had high expectations when it came to the food and those expectations were met. I am Italian so it's hard to impress me with Italian food. I ordered the pappardelle bolognese and wow..just wow. The pasta dish was so impressive, I felt that I was eating pasta that my family had made me. The pappardelle pasta itself was cooked to perfection and the bolognese sauce had the right amount of sauce/meat ratio. I ordered the full portion and devoured the entire bowl. I know, it's a lot of carbs but this gal has no regrets. I was too full to order a dessert but sampled a complimentary biscotti that was brought to the table.
If you are looking for an Italian restaurant in Central Jerz you must come here. Bring a date, family, friends.. they will all be impressed.
Came here for a great Yelp event and vowed to come back. First service and atmosphere is on point. Live music and perfectly timed meal. I had the Smoking Turtle" cocktail. It was very tasty although slightly expensive. No rush for any part of dinner. They let us enjoy each part of dinner. Bread service was to your preference with 3 options. I recommend the crunchy Italian. The olive oil was infused with rosemary. Ahhhhh.
The eggplant rigatoni was perfection and I remembered that dish above all others. We shared the calamari. Nicely done. For dinner I had the rigatoni Norma. Loved it. Nice to offer the half portion.
We skipped dessert, but biscotti was served to us. It was delicious.
I came here with my boss for lunch to celebrate my birthday. We try to branch out and try different restaurants in the area, and have been going to Metuchen more frequently (even though I can't stand parking meters). We happened upon Novita after a Yelp search, so it's where we wound up.
We both got the lunch special, her opting for two appetizers and me opting for 1 appetizer (the kale salad) and the 30 Hour Porchetta. Let me tell you, the 30 Hour Porchetta was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a delicious, flavorful, tender piece of falling apart meat. What I got was a hunk of fat. It was seriously all fat. That's not porchetta. Yes, there will be some – but come on. It was inedible. The salad was great – my boss had the kale salad and the eggplant rollatini and she said that was good too. The porchetta, though – what a huge disappointment.
3.5
Finally had the opportunity to try Novita for a private party. on a Sunday. Overall I would say that this place has great curb appeal, great for intimate parties, but in my opinion, because of their small kitchen, our sit down meal was nearly three hours long for a party of about 100 people.
The service was excellent. Our water glasses and bread baskets were always refilled. The food came out warm, but we definitely had to wait a good while in between courses. We were served a Caprese Salad, followed by breaded clams, and cornmeal coated calamari. A side salad was served right before our main meals. We had the option of Chicken Marsala, Tilapia, and Vodka sauce based pasta. For desserts a platter of cannolis and biscotti. The appetizers were fairly small, the salad was enjoyable, but the mains were definitely not the most fresh tasting seafood nor was their mashed potatoes. I don't know if it was just me, but the biscotti tasted like their storage area…like a hint of wet dog I'm sorry to say. I found everything slight around the quality of Cheesecake Factory?
I'm sure the experience is much more different when they are regularly open for lunch and dinner, but again I wouldn't advise have such a large private party here because you end up waiting super long. Everything has to come out at once which is a lot when half of the restaurant is filled.
I needed a nice restaurant to meet up with my mother for a Sunday lunch, and this place had the quiet ambiance we needed. Probably because there were only 2 other tables besides us.
The quality of food to the prices were decent. Total our bill came to about $33, excluding tax and tip, for a pasta, a pizza, and an appetizer. They could use some work on the quantity of pasta they give, which was on the minuscule side.
To start, they gave us some really tasty focaccia bread with salt. Definitely ask for more bread when they come around with the basket. Each table also has bowls of garlic powder, red pepper, and dried oregano to sprinkle on your food.
Rollatini di Melanzane (Grana crusted slices of eggplant, prosciutto di parma, mozzarella, tomato sauce, crema) – Not an amazing appetizer like I expected. The dish came out lukewarm, so the cheese was hard instead of oozing like I expected. I could also barely taste the proscuitto.
Sweet and Spicy Vegetarian Pizzette – More sweet than spicy because of the honey. Maybe too sweet, but I enjoyed the butternut squash and kale. Wish it had more butternut squash and garlic. Decent pizza especially for the price.
Strozzapreti (Twisted, cavatelli like pasta, lump crab meat, shiitake mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, pine nut basil pesto) – We ordered the half portion, thinking it would still be sizable, but the portion size was very tiny. That being said, every bite was delicious. The combination of ingredients was delicious, and the pasta was al dente. There was a decent amount of crab meat and dried tomatoes, but barely any shiitake mushrooms.
This is a really nice restaurant in Central Jersey. Given my parents do not like traveling to the city, this is a great alternative for someplace more upscale. I would love to come back to try their dinner menu.
Was just able to return to Novita after a long 3.5 years and this place is just as phenomenal as ever. We celebrated our 5th anniversary here and everything was perfect- from the service to the always outstanding food and wine selection. Thank you Katelyn and Carlo for another amazing experience!
Definitely good food and nice atmosphere. I attended a Yelp event here awhile back and my friends and I came back to give it a try. We got a reservation for 7 at 7pm on a Saturday. It was quiet at first but then as we were there a bit it ended up getting crowded. There are two sides. The one side is dining the other is the lounge. My friend reserved a table on the lounge side because supposedly there is more on the menu. They also had a piano player/singer.
On to the food. I got the Bianca pie and it was pretty darn good! Two people got the kale and squash pie which they enjoyed, two others got pasta dishes, one got the meatball sandwich, and the last person got mussels. We all thoroughly enjoyed every bite!!!
To start they serve bread, a choice of three different kinds. They were all so fresh and delicious and you can get more if you'd like. We took a look at the dessert menu however we were too full to try anything. They do bring you out biscotti so really no need for dessert!!!
I am so glad we went back to try it out in a non yelp event way!! They did not disappoint. The servers were nice and on top of refilling our waters. If you are looking for drinks they have a big menu of drinks.