Allegory

We live nearby and pop in regularly for appetizers, dinner, or to enjoy a drink after. CC, in particular, offers excellent service, the food is consistent, and the atmosphere relaxing.

I had a simple breakfast sandwich, but it was the absolute best version of this sandwich I've had in the years I've been in the area! All the staff, including the manager, were so wonderfully pleasant and eager to provide considerate service. Loved the atmosphere this restaurant added to the hotel and my short visit to the area. Definitely recommend!

Love the atmosphere here! its a nice vibe nice with good food and excellent hosting team. Our server Cisse was nice, fun, and professional 👍👍 we’ll definitely be back!

Good atmosphere and great food. I had a great bite at the bar when I was working near the area. The oysters, tuna tartare and grilled octopus were fantastic. Everything was super fresh and prepared so well. The person working the bar was so sweet, attentive and extremely honest about the top menu items. Looking forward to returning the next time I am in town for work!!

When a new restaurant opens it is usually chaos for the first month or so so we usually wait and hope they work the kinks out. It seems to have paid off at Allegory as our first visit was just great. It was a Monday so it was fairly slow. Kevin was our waiter and he was very friendly and courteous. We shared the eggplant to start and then had the potato crusted cod and the Bolognese for our mains. All of the food was very good. Instead of dessert we headed up to the rooftop bar and it did not disappoint. We sat outside and the views are spectacular. Advice if you want to sit outside - dress warmly because the heaters while quite nice to look at provide little heat. We enjoyed everything about our experience at Allegory and will certainly return.

My wife and I have watched this building come to life (The MC hotel). This was our first time eating at their restaurant Allegory. The atmosphere and service was excellent, everyone from the hostess, to even the busboys were on point. The food was excellent as well. The sauce with the focaccia bread was wonderful. My pork chop was cooked to perfection and my wife’s steak was amazingly tender, she just wish there was more crispy ends! All in all it was a great experience and we will be back.

High quality food and service was above and beyond! We had the cavatelli and the spicy chicken; both were delicious. By far the best part of the night was Clemence our server. She recommended the chicken and even one of the drinks from the bar. It was great with a unique rose-flavor blend. The place looks beautiful with nice decor and large windows for natural light. It was a great night out with my fiancé. Thank you! We home to come back!

Went there for my cousin's birthday. Let me say that the decor is beautiful. Really chic and elegant. We had drinks and charcuterie (which was awesome, they had some aged cheddar that was delicious). The staff was really nice and attentive. This is the first place I've been since the pandemic started. I think I made a good choice.

Sadly, a lot of good restaurants had to deal with challenges during covid plus people who are quick to nit pick and review for every little thing. I’m sure like everyone else, they faced staffing issues. This restaurant offers top tier food for amazing price points. The service is amazing and they even offered us free valet parking for dining at the restaurant. I can hardly wait to go back for the calamari. Nowhere else has come close. We had a big group and everyone was pleased with their choices.

I always come to Allegory’s restaurant and my favorite server is Cisse ! He always delivers 5 Stars service and the food is amazing!!!

Went there for a date night with my fiancé last night. Restaurant had a really nice ambiance, no issues parking and better yet we throughly enjoyed our meal. Our waitress Clemence was very attentive, friendly and able to offer us some great suggestions which we ended up loving! Drinks are top notch! Will definitely be back!!

I had a great experience. This was my second time visiting the restaurant. The first was for lunch, where I had a fantastic meal. This time, I brought the whole family —my in-laws, kids, and a couple of friends —and we had a blast. Service was fantastic and the food was delicious. Truly a gem in Montclair. The atmosphere was great, too, thanks to the restaurant's design and spaciousness. I'm not sure if it's my age, but sitting in cramped spaces with tables and people right next to me and servers bumping into my chair every 30 seconds isn't the experience I'm looking for anymore. Allegory provides you with the complete opposite experience, with comfortable, spacious seating. This is my new go-to spot. Can't wait to check out the dinner option. I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

I was pleasantly surprised by the standard of service and quality of the food. As a NJ Italian, my standards are high, but Allegory exceeded all expectations. The ambience is very chic. Awesome dinner date spot or place to grab a drink after work.

If you want excellent service and food come here! Cissee was our waitor. Most courteous, knowledgeable and professional. Food was fresh and fast.

I have been a customer of Allegory since June 2023--shortly after I moved to Montclair. The staff is sooo wonderful and caring. It is my adopted Corner Bar. I love the vibe--good food and atmosphere. I am treated as a first class guest every day. Tee Allegory Rocks! I love all of you!! Matt Walsh

I had the best time. It is very clean and welcoming environment. The food and drinks are excellent. My servers Gia and Cisse were wonderful. They took care of my order quickly even though it was very busy.

Great Service and Ambience..! We are here for a special event (the Restaurant's Chef was taking part in Gordon Ramsey's Cooking Show). Most of the dishes we tried were perfectly cooked. There was one issue with the Steak that we ordered, but the Manager was pretty good about resolving it as quickly as possible, and gave us a nice discount to compensate for that.

After trying to get a rooftop reservation at the Red table for month since August, I finally walked in, my experience there was great, my waited Marleek was very nice

Nice lobby bar in MC hotel in Montclair, was there multiple times. Drinks were cold and pricey. Live music at night. Tables for sit down meal. Had two great servers and 1 ok. Did not eat here.

Been here a couple of times and can say the ambiance and space is quite nice. We had small bites at the bar for the first visit. The pea hummus and Brussels sprouts were delicious, priced just fine. Great bartenders. Sit down dinner on the second visit wasn't a smash hit but we were overall pretty happy. Slow cooked salmon was very good, but the cod was tasteless. Brussels sprouts this time around were padded with some extra lettuce. The dish felt drier, and lacked some of the flavor we expected after our first visit. Good service. Looking forward to trying some of the pasta dishes next time.

We came for the NYE prix fixe dinner tonight. I will say the food was delicious and very plentiful. However the service was very average particularly at the price point of $125-$150 a person (with drinks). We had to ask multiple times for our beverages and at one point had no utensils. We would come back again for the food and ambiance but the service needs to improve dramatically.

This was a short stay at MC hotel where the restaurant located. Very nice ambiance. You feel homey. A lot of light with nice wall murals. Our food was delicious, trio lunch special. Service, friendly employees work here. Lunch menu doesn’t include dessert menu.

We had breakfast here. The service was not attentive.

Bartender was unamused with other patrons aside from his friends drinking at the bar. Pretzel was decent, my coworker had the wings she was not impressed. Ultimately most of the staff seems uninterested or angry to be at work.

We had a cocktail at Allegory's bar in the lobby bar. It was at times bustling and at other times quiet. The bartender's service was perfunctory, no garnish and no water. The bar is part of a hotel that is trying to be boutique but is really a corporate behemoth so it was appealing to a variety of people and so they had sports on the big TV. Meanwhile a large wedding party filtered through as they prepared for the big day. I wouldn't say you should come here for the scene nor amazing cocktails nor amazing service but it's a good place to start off the evening and then onto more interesting places

While the atmosphere is very nice, I was surprised with the poor quality of service. The waiter took a long time to service us and when he did, he completely got the order wrong. So much so that I asked the manager if she had new staff. The guests seated in the table behind us left in frustration. The food was very salty. I expected more from The Allegory as I've eaten here before. Hoping they can turn things around but my experience last night was indeed abysmal.

The only thing I found good was the draft beer selection. Food average at best. Service horrendous. Was like organized chaos..Don’t go there hungry. Actually I suggest you don’t go at all

Food is absolutely delicious! The service however, is horrible. We sat at our table for 45 minutes before a waitress took our order and it took us 30 minutes just to get water. There were only two tables in the restaurant so I'm not sure why? The table next to us got drinks, coffee and appetizers before our server even came over to us to take our food order. I was really disappointed as I was very excited to try this restaurant and was really let down by the service.

Don't bother. Came for Mother's Day brunch with a group of 6. No hostess at the greeting desk. Waited for 15 minutes, still no hostess. Bartender scrambled to find a server to clean off a table for us. The one server was the slowest person I've experienced. It took 10 minutes for 4 cups of coffee. Food was ok at best, and took 20 minutes to come out. First 4 dishes came out, then we waited for the other two. Just poor, disorganized, untrained service. And no management, no ambiance, just a basic hotel lobby restaurant not worth a visit.

Went for brunch today. Service was horrible. Took close to an hour to get our food. When we got our coffee they didn’t bring the cream until several minutes later than there wasn’t enough sugar and they had to bring more. Needless to say coffee was no longer hot. My cutlery was dirty and I had to wait for them to bring more. I had the French toast and it was fabulous but if you go hungry you may walk away still hungry. Very small portions. Every server we encountered there was below standard. I actually asked other patrons on the way out if they had to wait as long as we did and they said yes.

Last went here over two years and it was horrible then but decided to try it again since I live so close and figured two years had passed; surely Allegory has edible food by now. I brought an out of town guest with me and he said “this is the worst meal I’ve ever had in my life”. That’s all anyone needs to know. Food is burnt, inedible, and missing things that are literally on the menu for that dish! Find anywhere else to eat

Made a reservation for brunch at 11:15 for a group of 6. Sat down, looked at brunch menus, ordered drinks, and at 11:30 our waitress took away our menus without saying anything and switched them with lunch Menus. When we asked why she switched the menus she responded plainly by saying “breakfast is over at 11:30”…..Would’ve been nice to know that from the beginning. It’s a shame the service was so bad, we were looking forward to trying the food.

Used to be a favorite quick bites and drink spot throughout the year- lots of changes recently within the last 2/3 months and now I prefer to go elsewhere in Montclair. The energy is off there. Tried to address with management but they seem confused themselves lol

Do not eat here. Food is mediocre at best and service is probably the worst I have experienced in a long time. If I could give it 0 stars I would. We were told to sit anywhere (no one else was in the restaurant which should have been our first warning). When we chose a table we were then told we couldn't sit there. I found the manager who pretended to care that we weren't greeted and found us a table. That was the last we saw of him. We waited a long time for service and when the food came, we had no silverware, which was eventually brought to us and practically dumped on the table. Our dessert was brought while plates were still on the table and when I asked them to take the plates away so we could eat our dessert we were told he couldn't. The noise from the bar carried into the dining area. This was not good for our older guest who found the noise challenging but may not be an issue for other people. What a miserable experience.

Extremely underwhelming. Drinks felt small and cheap like I was taking an economy class flight and given a “free” drink. I got a margarita. Lemon brussel sprouts had absolutely zero lemon and were overcooked. My medium rare burger was cooked well done when I asked for medium rare. The bacon was extremely dry..akin to the kind you find on a ghetto bodega sandwhich. The cheese was tasteless. The primary flavor I got was of the “special sauce”, which wasn’t at all special. The fries were the best thing and I’d rate them 2/5. Everything felt cheap and rushed. My partner wondered if the chef had even read their own menu. Don’t come here.

Went for brunch…. Where do I start? A number of things were missing / wrong with our order. The food took about an hour to come out once ordered. My “eggs Benedict” was Cold when it came out along with a number of other plates my family ordered. I put eggs Benedict in quotations because it did not have any hollandaise sauce on it. When I asked if they had hollandaise sauce the waitress disappeared into the kitchen where she came back about 5 min later with some super super neon yellow and consistency of egg yolk “sauce” that was cold and said this is what we have. I tasted it and almost fell over it was so gross and strange. Needless to say I’m not even sure there was a chef on staff ? I will not be returning. Our waitress was sweet and seemed actually embarrassed so she was kind enough to remove that off the order but still. I mean… why serve such a thing? Why even bring it out? Weird. All I can say is weird . You expect a certain level when you pay a lot for food. I have had better food at a drive through…. And I don’t like fast food 😭😭😭😭.

Horrible experience. Probably the worst restaurant in Montclair. Food took over an hour, burgers were all prepared incorrectly and not as described in the menu. Sent all back to kitchen and they still had the nerve to charge us 50% of the bill! Steer clear!!!

The receptionist gaslit my party and I by claiming we were contacted about our cancelled reservation. We were not. After getting a manager involved, we were allowed to go up to the restaurant where only one of the tables were occupied. The food is undeservedly expensive, drink list is laughably light. The view is the only thing going for this place.

Stay away!! This place is unorganized, the staff is not attentive they seem like they are in la la land. Made reservations wating 45 minutes for our drinks. Our waitress never returned the food came close to an hour later still no drinks! The manager said they were short staffed and they had a party upstairs. Unacceptable to take our reservations if you can not accommodate and the staff is pathetic. I orderd a salad and asked for olive oil they literally said they don't have olive oil. Save yourself the frustration.

Made the mistake of not signing my own bill and trusting the staff to add the charge to my room at the MC Hotel - upon checkout, when I received the “receipt” there was a 100% tip on a $18 drink and my name forged to the bill. Not a great look, Allegory.