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Court Jester Restaurant
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
4 reviews for Court Jester Restaurant
A bar/restaurant located in a strip mall. A big square bar area up front, and to the back a family-oriented buffet and seating area.
The bartenders are friendly and have a big shots book as well as are flexible to help you make new drinks. Cheap taps and some simple seating (check out the dentist's chair at the front and the snowboarding bench). Only problem for most city dwellers is how only the local area patrons would know it.
It pains me to give a bad review of a place I used to love, but I feel like the declining offerings have kind of forced my hand. A few years back, we'd go at least once a month and chow down on the Jack Daniels steak, but even those have gotten considerably worse, with less meat and more fat every time we order. The grazing station went from something that used to be a practical meal in itself to a sad collection of wilted salads, overdone vegetables dumped in leftover sauces, and often ill-advised combinations of ingredients left to mummify for seemingly hours under hot lights.
Tonight we visited and decided to take advantage of the early bird specials - I had pot roast and my fiance had a seafood platter. He ate exactly two utterly tasteless shrimp from the four on his plate, and didn't even touch the flounder, which stunk to high heaven. If it hadn't come with fries he would have left with a stomach full of nothing but tasteless mac and cheese from the grazing station (which looked and tasted suspiciously like a bunch of kraft singles were melted over leftover ziti).
My pot roast "medallions" resembled the offspring of a hockey puck and beef jerky, only utterly devoid of flavor. The red cabbage was an experience I could have done without, and the potato pancakes were like tiny, tough omelettes with a few shreds of potato thrown in.
We both got water and the bill - even BOTH having ordered early bird specials - was over thirty with tip. While the waitress was gracious and attentive and offered to get my fiance something else when he set his full plate to the side, it was still an experience that left us both disgusted.
We've had similar unfortunate experiences this year (charged $5 for a rice pudding that could have fit in two shot glasses, a "steak tips" special so bad we actually had to send it back) and this was kind of the last shot we were going to give them. There are many other smaller restaurants in Matawan that care about the quality of food on the diner's plate....Court Jester, sadly, seems to have lost this particular skill.
My accountant is directly above the Court Jester but until recently I had never stepped inside. A business partner of mine suggested we meet for lunch at the Court Jester and I figured it would be a good opportunity to check the place out.
When I stepped inside I was very surprised. I expected a hard core bar but it is more of a pub (decorated like an English Library). The day I was there it was not crowded. I watched Sports Center on the big screen TV while waiting for my business partner to show up.
The Court Jester has regular specials. The menu is typical of these kinds of restaurants. Burgers, Reubens and salads.
I ended up having a productive lunch and left with the intention of trying the Court Jester again in the near future.
Very good, casual neighborhood type place...............has a large bar in the front with good happy hour prices and drink specials during the week. Good size restaurant, good for families. Very good prices, different specials during the week (2 for 1 dinners on Tuesdays) Steak & burgers are always cooked to perfection, come with waffle fries or mashed potatoes, it's worth the upgrade to get the sweet potato fries. They have a salad bar called a grazing station that comes with most meals (not worth the extra, might be $7) that has make your own soup, different hot dishes-but nothing is labeled so you have to guess what it is. Excellent warm corn bread with regular or brown sugar butter............more than a regular salad bar.
If you are a regular, they have a great deal around the holidays-if you buy a gift certificate for $30, you get $10 worth of Jester dollars that have to be used during the year. We buy a couple every year.