SO, welcome, one and all, to Raymond's, a small, homely restaurant near the heart of good old Montclair, NJ. First off, the area where this little place is situated is amazing. Besides Raymond's, there is also a Red Mango for your sweet tooth needs, a Starbuck's nearby in case you're tripping over yourself, and lastly, it is near the primary gym of Montclair. A very good, well-thought out schedule would then be the following: go to the gym and get ripped and hungry. Then proceed over to our little Raymond's and eat to your heart's desire. As you will see, there is plenty of protein-filled meals, perfect as an after-gym snack. Now, since you had just lost a lot of valuable calories by going to this gym, and walking a whole block to Raymond's afterwards, Red Mango is just across the street, so fill yourself with sugar in the healthiest way you can. Finally, as you are probably feeling so dead now from doing all that work, go to the Starbuck's that you will see from Red Mango, and order all the caffeine you need to get back home so that you can just lie down and watch some Sportscenter. A perfect few hours, eh? Dang it, this tangent was too long, let's move on to the review.
So, Raymond's is a small, old-fashioned looking diner, with both outdoor and indoor seating options. We went inside because it was kinda hot, but it is definitely worth sitting outside, as its a nice little street constructed in a way that a nice breeze would blow by, and there are enough attractive girls walking around to make it worth it. The menu options are very plentiful: there is brunch food, sandwiches, and a good variety of various other entrees. The drink options are amazing: there is a plethora of juices, teas, sodas, and they even had Ithaca root beer.
Amazing... Anyways, you can see two of the drinks we ordered in the following image. The green thing is a green tea concoction that had a perfect mix of sweetness and health. The bigger drink is a sparkling pomegranate drink that was highly recommended by our group members. I, however, cannot handle sparkling drinks, so I had to pass.
Amazing... Anyways, you can see two of the drinks we ordered in the following image. The green thing is a green tea concoction that had a perfect mix of sweetness and health. The bigger drink is a sparkling pomegranate drink that was highly recommended by our group members. I, however, cannot handle sparkling drinks, so I had to pass.
Now, to the food, we present four dishes. In order, you see chili, a hummus sandwich, fish and chips, and finally, steak. Admire the variety right there. You have a soup, a vegetarian thing, friggin' fish and chips, and good old red meat. What makes this place even better was that what I got, a crab and crawfish cake burger, looked so good, that I forgot to take a snapshot of it. In terms of taste, my burger was amazing. The crab thing was nice and soft and full of flavor on each bite. The fries that came out with it were thin and crispy, just the way I like them. From what I can tell, everyone else definitely loved what they got, as they gobbled up everything right away. There was one HUGE issue though, as you might be able to tell from looking at the images. Portion sizes, ladies and gentlemen. The meals were pretty small to me. I do eat a lot, so maybe I am a little biased, but I ended up hungrier than I started. I guess this is why Red Mango is across the street. Overall though, if you just want a good meal, and especially if you're bringing someone with you, Raymond's of Montclair is one place where you know you'll get good food, and have plenty of after-meal options to waste time on.
