Tre Piani (Central NJ)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive:  Excellent fine dining experience with delicious food and superb service. 

Negative:  Not enough virgin cocktails, and the desserts are mediocre.

Overall: Great restaurant to visit when in the mood for a fine dining experience or for a special occasions.

Revisit:  Yes, especially for the steaks and burgers along with the ambiance.

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Ever wonder how it would feel to experience halal food at a fine dining restaurant instead of  just eating seafood all the time?

Well… Tre Piani offers just that! This place is perfect for celebrating a special occasion, having a fancy dinner with friends, or taking out your special someone. They have a separate halal menu that you have to request and they cook everything in separate pots and pans so you don’t have to worry about it being mixed with the non-halal meat. The service here is spectacular from the minute you walk in to the minute you leave. The servers are very well trained and they continuously come to your table to ask if you need anything, constantly filling your water glass. I’ve been there several times and the service has been spectacular every time. Tre Piani also has a catering service and I believe you could rent out a part of the restaurant as well to do a special event such as a graduation party or a birthday party for adults.

They offer a wide variety of food. The appetizers include fried calamari and different types of soups and salad. The entrees consist of Italian dishes, burgers, pizza, and some steaks. I have enjoyed their Tre Piani Burger (cooked medium well), and the filet mignon steak (cooked medium rare) the most. The portion size for the steak is perfect for one person. It is served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. The meat was tender and juicy and I definitely recommended it medium rare for anybody who loves soft and tender steak. The Tre Piani burger was amazing as well. I would recommend getting it cooked medium well or well done rather than medium rare. Also, it is very big and heavy so only get it if you are really hungry. Otherwise I would recommend the smaller burger that they have on the menu.  Their italian dishes are truly authentic and delicious.  I don’t think you can go wrong with anything on the menu.  Please be aware though, the menu they have on their website is old — they have a newer, updated menu with more steaks at the restaurant.

I would really like to see a larger variety off virgin cocktails at the restaurant as they only have a mixed berry cocktail which is not worth nine dollars.  In terms of the dessert, I wasn’t that impressed. i tried the warm chocolate cake but I definitely like the Grand Lux molten chocolate cake better.

Compared to other high end restaurants, Tre Piani is not as expensive as you would expect. If two people go, and they get one appetizer, 2 entrees, and a dessert, they could expect to spend about a $100.
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Tre Piani’s Website

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Chicago Style Pizza Restaurants (Chicago)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: High-quality deep dish pizza only found in Chicago. Go for Pizano’s if you want thin crust and Lou Malnati’s for the deep dish.

Negative: Must buy a whole pizza pie.  Also pizza is very cheesy and may not be good for those with health problems

Overall: Must try a few of these awesome deep dish restaurants when visiting Chicago.

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Tired of new york style pizza?  probably not…but if you are a pizza lover you must try chicago style deep dish pizza!

Wow, pizza is definitely the ultimate food choice when it comes to those that cannot eat meat. It is delicious, contains all the food groups, and can be eaten any time of the day and at any pizza temperature. I enjoy pizza very much and I had a chance to explore various restaurants in Chicago offering deep dish and thin crust pizza.

The chicago pizza restaurants make very special deep and thin crust pizza which you won’t find anywhere else (except for a few here and there – check out the websites below for locations).

I had a chance to visit Pizano’s where I ate a thin crust pizza with Gardnerella peppers and mushrooms. The hot thin crust pizza was extremely delicious and had all the makings of an excellent pizza. I normally do not like thin crust pizza but if I had to eat it, this would be the place to go.  It ruined Singas pizza for me.
 

I also had a chance to go to Giordanos which I have been to in the past and again enjoyed it very much. This pizza is different from the other deep dish pizza as it is stuffed with cheese, lots of cheese which may be a little too  filling for most people.

Lou Malnatis is another restaurant which is extremely delicious and has a balance between stuffed deep dish pizza and thin crust pizza. This is definitely a great place to go when you head to Chicago.

Another restaurant I explored was Gino’s East which is also well known for its highly rated great tasting Pizza. This is more of a deeper dish than Lou Mainatis but not as much as Giordanos. Again this also tasted very good and I would recommend this place as well.

I had a chance to also eat from the original Pizzeria Uno’s in Chicago which is very different from what you would eat at the chain restaurant. However you do get a pretty good idea of what a deep dish would taste like when you go to Uno’s chain restaurants throughout the USA.  However, you JUST get a good idea but don’t experience the real taste of Chicago.

Chicagoans enjoy pizza sitting down and relaxing.  Unlike the Northeast where we eat pizza at anytime of the day and in any way, the Chicago area enjoys sitting in a nice restaurant while having their meal (you can see this by the Uno’s Chicago based restaurant chain which shows you what a typical chicago pizza joint usually looks like).

Overall I like Lou Mainatis and Pizano’s for the great pizza. Unos and Gino’s is also up there on list. Giordanos s great fresh but you can’t be for the fainthearted who have cholesterol issues as it is really a stuffed pizza. Most of these restaurants are owned by families who have been in the area for a very long time.  They treat their guests like family and the atmosphere is also great, especially when its  filled to capacity with long lines out the door.  I would recommend taking the Chicago Pizza tour if you love Pizza as you will get to experience a little bit of each restaurant. You can even try it at home by ordering it online (Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s do ship)  I tried eating at a new Pizza Restaurant every day, and by the end of 3 days I couldnt look at Pizza anymore!   Chicago Pizza is great, You must try it. But for those living in the Northeast, nothing is better than good old fashion New York Pizza!

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Lou Malnatis Website

Pizanos Website

Uno Pizzeria Website

Giordano’s Website

Gino’s East Website

Douglass Pizza & Grill (Central NJ)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: Good quality cheese steaks and fat sandwiches in a great location unbeaten by surrounding “halal” restaurants in downtown New Brunswick and Somerset.

Negative: There is nothing exceptional for which I would drive here over and over again unless if I went to school/work in the area.

Overall: Good quality food that you can’t beat when going to Rutgers University or visiting New Brunswick.

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Update (5/14/2011):  All in all I am disappointed in Douglass Pizzas decrease in food quality and increase in prices.  But, what I can say, their locations are excellent, they still have pretty decent food compared with other similar halal food places, and their menu is pretty expansive.

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Those were the days.  Where art thou?

Wow…I miss the days of going to eat at Douglass Pizza on Commercial Avenue.  Their cheesesteaks were amazing (especially the chicken cheesesteak which I enhaled almost daily after I worked out)!  After they closed down during Rutgers University’s takeover and reopened at two great places in New Brunswick & Somerset they were never the same again.  (By they way, I think that these two places have now split but have similar menus).
Maybe it was because they didnt use the same grills they had or maybe its just because they have hired help that doesn’t put as much passion into food as they did.  Those were definitely the days..but now they are gone and I dont think they will be coming back soon. There is another place called New Brunswick Pizza & Grill (opened by one of the original Douglass workers) in the area which has a similar menu but probably not as good.

Douglass, however, does have alot more additions to their menus and some are actually very good.  Their fat sandwiches (especially the fat zaza if you are into the gyro meat or fat boy if you like cheesesteak) are good and unique to New Brunswick and the Grease Trucks.  The cheesesteaks are not as good as they used to be – however they still are pretty good compared to their other dishes.  Their buffalo wings were never that good and still aren’t.  The meat pizza is decent, but Paulies Pizza (another similar place on Easton Avenue) has better pizza by a long shot.  And their hamburgers are either good or average depending on the day.  I never tried their random sweet dishes at the counter so I dont really know how good they would be.

All in all I am disappointed in Douglass Pizzas decrease in food quality and increase in prices.  But, what can I say, their locations are excellent, they still have pretty decent food compared with other similar halal food places, and their menu is pretty expansive.

I used to go to Douglass Pizza almost every week or two, but now I barely go every few months.  Its good for those that live in the area I guess and pretty unique for those who like fat sandwiches from other states – but I think they really need to increase the quality of their food back to the original.

Also, the difference between the George street, New Brunswick Douglass and Somerset Douglass is the crowd.  In New Brunswick you’ll see mostly students and the location is fairly new looking.  Best place to park is in the deck behind the store.  The Somerset location is next to a Halal Meat store and you mostly see families and people from surrounding areas.

From Sameerseats.com:

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Douglass Pizza (Somerset) Website

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