Zoe An American Bistro - LITTLE SILVER

Great atmosphere and its BYOB (yea! a short walk to zoe's a big plus, and this was our go to place. under new management, and the menu has changed but not for the better.. i'm a normal size guy and after an appetizer (shared and entree i was hungry (had 1/2 a bp&j later that night , our bill for 2 was $120 w/tip i had the short ribs, honestly it couldn't have been more that a heaping fork full of beef and 1 scoop of polenta with 3 asparagus sprouts service was poor, kids were too busy texting..

This place is great, love coming here and bringing a bottle of wine from across the street. The shrimp and grits are delicious along with halibut and risotto. Staff are always warm and welcoming. We are lucky to have this establishment in Little Silver. :

Pleasantly surprised at how delicious dinner was last night. Had been a fan for years, but quality of food had gone down hill, so was no longer a go-to place. I started seeing new Facebook posts and realized the chef had changed and so had some of the menu. Decided to give it another shot. Short ribs with polenta and grilled asparagus. Delicious. Polenta creamy and good. Short ribs tender and flavorful. Asparagus grilled with just the right amount of crunch left to them. My husband ordered the special which was a risotto with pan seared halibut, he asked to switch out the halibut with salmon. No problem. Delicious as well. Goat cheese salad great as well. Only complaint is that we ordered the mussels as an appetizer with the salad and the waiter only brought the salad. It was a misunderstanding, he said he didn't hear us order the mussels. No problem really, we would have been stuffed, had we had them as well. My husband and I were both very pleasantly surprised with how great the meal was. Will definitely put this back on our places to eat. We love BYOB establishments.

I've had Junior's food in multiple spots over the years, including private bookings with his food truck. He never disappoints. The fact that he's opened a permanent spot with himself at the helm is a HUGE plus for the culinary scene in the area. I recently celebrated a birthday here, at the chef's table, with a big party in tow. We all left happy and stuffed, eager to return. Highlights included the pork belly and mushroom appetizer, steak frittes, pork chop, mussels and chorizo, bread pudding and just about everything else that was ordered. This isn't just another restaurant with exceptional food. Junior clearly possesses a distinct vision for his cuisine, as well as a reverence for getting the basics right. Anyone who has a conversation with him knows that he starts with the best ingredients he can get his hands on, sourcing as much from the local community as possible. This is a principle that so many restaurants can't seem to grasp... Good ingredients in the hands of a thoughtful chef translate to good food. As this place comes into its own, with a newer menu and possibly new name ??? , it will prove to be one of NJ's can't miss restaurants. I'm certain of this. A quick aside you probably shouldn't trust reviewers like the one on this page who suggests Pazzo as a go to in the area and whose inane ramblings could be confused with that of a 15 year old. But hey, I guess we all have the right to be misguided, complain and have poor taste...

Dined here Saturday, 3/12/16 Ok so here we go again. Renovated and under new management. Still makes no difference. Where do they get the hired help from??? We went here again ONLY because our friends suggested we go after Salt Creek in Rumson was booked. I wasn't thrilled but happy to oblige good friends! The place looks much better inside and the dust is gone thankfully. However, let me tell you the series of events.. : 1. we had a reservation of 6 yet only 5 settings were available and the bus boy had to run and get everything. No big deal. 2. The tables next to us had bread for 10 minutes and they arrived AFTER us. When we questioned the waitress as to why we had no bread she said OH sorry I forgot.. she runs off to get bread in a basket and it's not even enough for 6 people. Here's the best part. We had no dishes to serve the bread in and she gave us a bottle of oil. LOL.. how are we supposed to dip the bread in oil without dishes. My poor friend had to use a napkin to put her bread on and spill the oil out. Wow. The waitress never came back for awhile so we couldn't wait any longer. How rude!! Finally I said, um you left and never gave us plates how are we supposed to spill the oil. OH she says.. sorry..! but your meal is coming anyway.. so the meal arrives with the dishes for the bread and all. (mind you..it wasn't that busy at that time..there were many open tables so why was she so frazzled). 3. My meal was super bland. I had penne with shrimp..and it was in dire need of salt but guess what. No salt on the table and again the waitress could not be found. So instead of eating it cold..I decided to just eat it. Bland and all. My husband had fish and chips and really wanted tarter sauce. But they don't carry that. Only vinegar. My friend's dish was dirty that we ate the appetizers off. Something was on the back of her dish and she sent it back.. The calamari was not crispy enough. The octopus on the other hand was very good. 4. My friend and I ordered dessert. The special. orange and chocolate bread pudding. But something completely different comes out. It was the normal pudding I think with pork belly candy. Which we absolutely didn't want!!! Once we tell the waitress she runs off.. So guess what happens now. Some lady..not sure who she is.. maybe manager comes over to say.. The waitress doesn't want to come back because she's so embarrassed she messed up so many times that she doesn't want to see our faces! WHAAAAAAAAAAATTT!! you don't want to come talk to us again.. What kind of service is that. Face all your mistakes and at least apologize to our table. Give us a discount.. something. Only a child would do that. Clearly you want our tip money though!! You have no problem there.. So we never saw the waitress again. Maybe she was hiding in the kitchen I don't know. For a meal that was over 300.00 including tip, that was the worst thing to do. And for this lady whomever she was to say sorry the waitress is not coming back is a joke!!! Who does that.. Elementary kids? Sure she was embarrassed as one too many mistakes but come back!!! I said it last post and I'll say it again. I will not go back! That's it.. this is the last time I go here. I wish they'd close down and put something better in it's spot. As for the owner, you should be embarrassed. How could you let these kind of people run your restaurant. I did not see the entire bill as my friend picked up most of the tab. But as I read someone's comments here just a few weeks ago, she said you charged for dinner rolls. Is that still going on? you charge for rolls..? wow. Not even some of the fanciest places charge for rolls so you have no right to do so. I wonder if we got charged too. I gave you a 2 purely because the food was just slightly better than last time and because the place was clean. The food is still below average and the service was terrible. Next time we go to Pazzo. The place is always on spot with their food and the service is outstanding!