Desiderio's Stone Tavern
Hi, I just wanted to let HL know that Desiderio's is closed. Sorry if I missed this on the forum. My family and I found Desidero's on HL and was our favorite pizza place. We just didn't go there all too often as it is a bit of a drive from where we live. Last year Desiderio's told me they put lights outside to let people know that they were still there after A&P closed and left the strip mall lifeless. If anyone is making delicious brick oven pizzas like then please let me know. :(
Renter I'm not familiar with that restaurant. Was it located in the strip where A&P was located in Belvidere?
Greg Yes and we loved their pizza also. Their Wood-fired Brick oven pizza was outstanding.
3wbdwnj Greg - No, Desiderio's was in the A&P strip mall in Hampton on 31. The one in the A&P strip mall, that closed was Al's. Al's is now Little Italy, run by the former Prickly Pear chef.
Calico696 Ah that's right I had forgotten about the Al's thread. I would think without an anchor store in that strip it will be tough for anything to survive there on its own.
Desiderio's "brick oven" pizza was Excellent. They have relocated to Bedminster. We have not been to the new location. It is:
300 Main St, Bedminster Township, NJ 07921
(908) 234-1133
Mrs. Pipes That strip mall on Route 31 was in sorry shape even when A&P was still in business. What's left just the chinese take out place?
Vic 
Forcefed4door Chinese food, cleaners. and day care..
Honestly, know from a good source the main reason for moving is a large septic issue.
AJ Moore I enjoyed that place also, however...Stonewood Tavern on 206 in Byram has brick oven pizza and also the Windlass year round. Just some ideas!
Also... Tap House in Hackettstown has decent pizza. Could always ask for it little well done If you want that texture of the brick oven.
Desiderios has always had a second location in Bedminster area but its more a deli than a sit down restaurant
Lynn LAlways loved that building, glad they are finally using it again. Can’t wait to try jt.
StrangerDanger 
Here is a photo of the bar area that owner posted on Facebook. Doesn't look like they made any change from when it was Ocino's. That said, it's a nice bar.
JeffersonRepub 
Luca(cell) We went last night. LOL... growing pains!!! No need to go into details, suffice it to say they are still getting their footing (they've only been open a few days!), but the food was good, the people super-friendly, good beer selection on tap, and it was packed by 6pm, people waiting for seats. We will be back, I'm sure they will iron out the rough edges by then.
I have a feeling this place will be a success, which is not the feeling I got from OMG Burger (altho they are still here, and I assume adjusting to public input.)
Josh Personally I never consider trying a new restaurant until they are open for at least 4- 6 months. While they should have some sort of handle on the situation when first opening, it simply takes time for the operation to get on track and work out any issues. Particularly if the owners or crew are not seasoned restaurateurs.
I have hit a few early on and been underpriced, over-waited, and totally spoiled.
Life is a gamble.
I wish these folks the best. Its a nice building.
Shifting gears a bit concerning their old location down the road...... That old A&P strip mall in Hampton on Route 31 is set so so far back from the highway. Terrible terrible layout/engineering along a state highway. Anyone know when it was built?
How is a business to survive in this location if there is not even any signage out on Rt 31 that lists all the business in that particular strip mall??? This location was setup for failure from day one.
Lenny Rock 
Yes, he has a location in Belvidere as well.
What else is still open in that mall? Is Your Kitchen still there?
Any reviews on this restaurant? Have not heard much but see they are open. Havent had time to try it yet!
The reviews are mediocre - Yelp shows 2 1/2 out of 4. Seems like they are still working on getting their act together.
Was there last week with a friend for dinner. I got a burger and she had the grilled chicken sandwich. Both were fantastic. Service friendly and attentive. Definitely going back to try the flatbread pizza.
4catmom 
Whip I wouldn't trust Yelp. They post mostly bad reviews unless you pay a monthly fee. The fee also lets you respond to comments. If you don't pay you can't respond.
hkts456 "I wouldn't trust Yelp. They post mostly bad reviews unless you pay a monthly fee. The fee also lets you respond to comments. If you don't pay you can't respond."
not only that from what I've read, they won't remove false reviews.
We finally tried this place on Sunday. We went early at 5:00 and sat at the bar. It was pretty empty. The owner, who was very nice, was tending bar and provided good service and friendly conversation. We each had a flatbread. I had the margarita and hubby had the bacon chicken ranch. The flatbreads were good. They have a decent craft beer selection. Most for $5 and $6 a pint, which is reasonable IMO. Two flatbreads and 4 craft beers was $49 before tip. We will definitely go back again and try other items.
Went to Stone Tavern on Saturday (May 18) with a friend around 2:00pm. Sat in the dining room, families were seated at 5 tables. Fast service, excellent meal, big portions. We both had the Hungarian mushroom soup special, Salad, Barramundi special (a very mild fish I had never tried before) with capers and a lemon sauce and asparagus, desserts New York Cheesecake and Tiramisu, ice teas (no alcohol). Cost $70. We will definitely go back.
Yelp - yes owners can reply without a paid account. Also inaccurate that they only pos5 bad reviews if you don’t pay.
Went again last night. Flatbreads were great, burgers were great, beer selection was great, waitress was great. Hope they are here for good.
CSSp I have to disagree as I have a business and cannot respond to my yelp reviews unless I pay, and they do indeed bury the good ones
Hadenough I am a business owner, and can say without going into details- Yelp can suck it and will never see a $1 from me.
Modern 'advertising' is a joke and mostly a complete rip off no matter where you spend your hard earned cash. The ROI is pitiful.
Example- google heavily manipulates their search results and placement, mostly shows their own (paid for) ads...which earns them most of their income which is over 100 BILLION a year. All from basically pushing paid results and burying those that don't play/pay.
Same is true elsewhere unfortunately- pay yelp and you get more customers. Pay Angie's list- you get more customers. etc etc- but the cost at the end of the day is only worth it for high value per cust type businesses.
The small business who don't make much per customer get slammed and hurt.
3wbdwnj - biz.yelp.com is where you can leave replies if you have registered your business (free) with Yelp. Super important to SEO that you reply to reviews.
THAT PLACE IS AWFUL
menu not enough selections
high prices
fries were from shoprite frozen bags not home made
ice tea was watered down no taste
seating was awful and not cozy
noise pollution was bad
there was NO 20 beers on tap that was a lie
grilled chicken was sooo spicy it burned my stomach going down
basket of RUBBER good year tire bread OMG
I give this place THUMBS DOWN
YOU want food go to RANCHO
tangerine Went to Stone Tavern today for lunch. Fast service, waiter very nice. I got the Tavern Burger with fries. Burger was very good, cooked the way I wanted (well done, not dry, not crispy on the outside). Thick burger. I liked the horseradish topping, it was mild, those expecting a hot horseradish would be disappointed. Very good fries, they were thick and had a coating, they weren't salty, I prefer adding my own salt to fries.
I went there today for lunch with a friend. It was excellent! I had a chop salad with chicken and tiramisu which was incredible!!!!
Definitely going back again soon!
And the waiter was awesome !
Summer Went here for dinner tonight. This place was ok. With the great reviews on here, maybe I was expecting too much. There were three in our party. Each of us ordered a flatbread pizza. Serving is small but I guess for 9.95 we shouldn’t expect much. Husband was still very hungry so we stopped at ShopRite for Digiorno pizza for him to eat when we get home.
Service was ok, not great but in fairness, waiter was training someone so maybe it was slow for that reason. I didn’t think waiter was very attentive. Also, they ran out of lemonade. The table next to us was complaining that the meat was not cooked to their med rare request and sent it back. I think it took a while for their food to come out as well because prior to sending the food back, I heard the waiter apologizing for the delay in their food.
In summary, I would probably go back and give them another try. It wasn’t really bad, just ok. I would definitely order a different meal.
“With the great reviews on here, maybe I was expecting too much”
They weren’t all great reviews. You just need to learn how to make a judgement based on the reviewers other posts and viewpoints. Some people are easily pleased and or / low brow...
Josh - Going to Shop Rite for DiGiorno pizza afterwards might say something......
Josh- Good point, i am not a regular on this forum so I don’t really follow the other posters comments on other topics. I only occasionally read the forum when I am bored. Lol. I only comment on topics when I feel that I can be helpful. Some people tend to get snarky.
I noticed that Friday. I have no idea, maybe an outside eating area? Will ask around.
My daughter mentioned the liquor store in the Shop Rite plaza is moving their store next to Desiderios..
Chubby Wish they didn't take down those stone walls. No way that location would be better than current unless no rent or two locations (they own that location?) is a better deal.
They finally just put a walk way between lot and door at the SRite location.
Roywhite If the liquor store next to Washington ShopRite moves across Rt 31 they will lose a lot of business.They are in a great location next to that supermarket.
Three different things going on next to Stone Tavern.
1) Mountain Valley Liquor relocation
2) Outdoor seating/dining area
3) Parking lot expansion
This information is from the owner of the restaurant.
"If the liquor store next to Washington ShopRite moves across Rt 31 they will lose a lot of business.They are in a great location next to that supermarket."
Are people that lazy? It's right across the street.
The liquor store owns the Pizza location right? So no rent. If they add another entrance, signage, etc it’ll work great.
"Are people that lazy? It's right across the street."
Hell yes.
Well, I'll clarify-
There is a beer store on Rt 31 south that has a better selection than another nearby on Rt 31 north.
But for years I went to the northbound one because it was on my way home from work and trying to cross in and out to get to the other one in rush hour sucked.
Same reason I go to a certain gas station- on my way to work, right when I need a full tank to drive all day.
The owner of both Mountain Valley liquor stores and The Draught House is a completely different person than the owner of Desiderio's Stone Tavern. I suppose it's possible they could have gone into a partnership though.
Just to clarify, Desiderio's Stone Tavern is not a pizzeria.
Looks like DST has closed and a restaurant named The Smashed Olive will be opening in its place. Haven't seen a menu but their website says opening February 2022...
https://www.thesmashedolive31.com/
ianimal Much like all the ever changing 'Nik's' resturants in the branchburg area- sometimes people think a change of theme is the solution..
Supposedly, it's under different ownership, Josh, so hopefully the changes will be more than cosmetic for those who didn't like the previous iteration at this location.
Correct. On their FB page they clearly state they have nothing to do with the prior owners.
Ok then- will give it a chance possibly as they roll out- but have to say- in that area, I'd be very hard pressed to just not go to the Inn @ Glen Gardner.
Since the change of ownership there- the experience has been fantastic- and gives James on Main a challenge for quality of food- combined with much easier chance to get a seat given the larger building, numerous outdoor seating, has a nice bar area, and overall- cheaper.
We've been very happy there- and have been at least 12-14 times.
This particular location is owned by Dave English, the owner of Mountain Valley Liquors. He rents the restaurant building out and holds the liquor license. Desiderio's was a tenant who had to go out of business when Dave rescinded their use of the liquor license. The overhead was too high without the liquor sales.
I look forward to trying The Smashed Olive.
"Desiderio's was a tenant who had to go out of business when Dave rescinded their use of the liquor license."
What's that all about? Sounds like a real d*** move...
There is always two sides to a story but I will tell u Dave and his family are stand up business people. There was no d——- move. It’s great he was able to get his place back. He will turn that place around in no time.
Michigan 
maja2 Desiderio's Stone Tavern is re-opening in Pohatcong in the old Quaker Steak and Lube location. Opening date is estimated at June 17th.
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/business/2022/05/familiar-eatery-moving-into-vacant-quaker-steak-lube-spot-in-phillipsburg-area.html
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