Mark Joseph’s Grilled Pizzeria and Restaurant

Went on a Friday night with another couple. The restaurant was not crowded but it was very loud. I think it was the music or the acoustics but it was difficult to hear our conversation. Waitress was very friendly and new the menu well. She gave us her recommendations, etc. The menu was intriguing. We all ordered a different dish so as to get a chance to taste the different dishes. Appetizers were the the beet salads and calamari. we all shared and it was good, not great. Unfortunately wait staff started clearing plates after appetizer when we were not all done. That is our biggest complaint in any restaurant. Please teach wait staff not to clear plates until every one at the table is done eating. And if they are not sure, ask before grabbing a plate.
For dinner I had the pork chop. I was not head-​over-​heals in love with it. To me it was just a pork chop, nothing special. My husband had the shrimp which were deliciously prepared but there were only 3 shrimp on the dinner plate. Not enough to fill a cavity. That dish was very sad. Dessert was good but when we asked for refill on our coffee we had no idea they would charge us for another whole pot of coffee. Honestly, a refill on coffee should be complimentary. Not sure if I will go back.

Came here on the last night before my Groupon expired. I had read the menu several times online and gone through the reviews. I’m Italian so I actually avoid going out for Italian at all costs (I can wait till my massive weekly Sunday dinner). The pulled pork sub is what was on my radar. I knew my girlfriend would order the Penne Vodka so it should have been… walk in… sit down… order quick and get out. When we were seated I noticed… this is not the menu I had been looking at online. My girlfriend said to me…“this is not the menu I saw online” I said «I know where is the pork» she said «I have no clue what your talking about» she was actually happy because she had read some other menu somewhere that did not have Penne Vodka. So I ask the waitress if they have the pulled pork. She goes to the kitchen and come back with a «no».
I ended up having to order one of their personal pizzas. I do like that «all pizzas are well done» that is exactly how I order my pizza so great. There wasn’t anything wrong with the pie, but would I go there for a $ 13 personal pizza? No. My girlfriends penne vodka was ok but had a ton of grated cheese on top. Usually she expects a sprinkle for the look so she doesn’t bother to say no cheese although she isn’t a fan, but in this instance it would have really mattered. Probably the one and only time for me as I do not live close anyway.

Been here a few times and always a great experience!!! Every pizza on the menu is delicious! Have tried pasta and vodka sauce the short ribs chic parm cheesesteak grilled octopus and the cinnamon fritters are amazing!!!

Burnt food, ugly atmosphere, these are just a few of the things that you will see at this pizzeria. If you are looking for a place that you know you will not waste your money, so not go here.

Have to say, after reading through the other reviews, I was a little leery about giving this place a try. After browsing their menu online, I was just too intrigued to not give it a shot. My son was hungry (for a change) so I told my wife, let’s go get something. We got in the car and I headed here. We walked in and were greeted promptly by «Summer» Nice waitress and very helpful. We skipped the appetizers and headed right into main course territory. My son and I both ordered the pulled pork «sangwich», and my wife had the meatball parm hero. We also ordered a split pizza, half margherita and half «Marks fave» The pulled prk was excellent! Loaded with enough meat to make 2 sandwiches and the sauce combined with the cole slaw was perfect. My wife, who makes the best meatballs this side of Vesuvius loved the hero! Good sauce and the bread was out of this world! Even the rolls the pork were on were crispy outside and soft and fresh inside. As if they were baked that way, not just toasted in an oven to make them crispy! Excellent job here! Now for the pizza. The Marks Fave which has roasted mushrooms, truffle cheese and truffled breadcrumbs, was a nice departure from standard pizza. Nice flavor and the grilled crust on their pizza is really good. You can pick up a loaded slice by the end, and it doesn’t flop! It’s a crisp ridgid crust! If we had one complaint it would be with the margherita pie. Crust was as good ad the other, but there was too much sauce and not enough cheese. Perhaps this is a personal preference but I always preferred cheese over sauce. The sauce here happens to be very good, but I would have liked to see the ratio changed a bit. If the previous reviews were correct, then it’s good to see the owners here listening to the people and making corrections. I hope they can keep improving on what needs it, and keep up the good work with the rest. I wish them luck and hope that they can become my regular stop when I don’t want to be bothered with any place else!!! Buona Fortuna!!!

I wanted to love it, especially after reading the menu online. It was OK. A nice space. As for the food – definitely needed more than one napkin for all of the olive oil used on everything. Olive oil as a bread dip, olive oil drizzled all over the margherita pizza & the plate it was served on, and olive oil soaked into the bread of the «sangwich» I ordered… it was dripping everywhere. Sorry, just feedback. A little bit of oil goes a long way.
My partner loved the pulled pork bbq sandwich. The slaw & sauce were great together & the pork was perfect. The sauce on the marghertia pie (olive oil aside) was fantastic.
I think this place has a great concept of offering something different than every other run-​of-​the-​mill pizzeria around here, and I appreciate the commitment to utilize local growers, but just needs some time to find its groove. Love their menu options-​lots of variety. Suppose the execution needs work. The owners were floating around & seemed nice/​personable.
Don’t want to compare to a «chain» but I think Pizza Fusion in Red Bank has a good thing going – offering organic/​healthy but still delicious & various options. I think Mark Josephs can find a happy medium in this area.
Will try back in a few weeks. Would like to see them succeed!

Food ok but terribly slow

I have been here about 4 or 5 times. Tonight will be my 5^th or 6^th. I never write reviews on Unilocal,I prefer to do this on Chowhound. I felt compelled to review for a couple of reasons. Mainly because this place is realy good and seems to be an under appreciated gem. This place only has 4 or 5 reviews on Unilocal.Kind if shocked by the few reviews and that they are mediocre reviews. I am a big fan and tbis bas become a goto place for my family. The toughest part has been do we go for grilled pizza or the well prepared app’s and entrees?
The food is really good. Pizza joints are a dime a dozen and usually mediocre at best. They serve really good pizza with the twist being that is it grilled. They also do well with their twists on pizza, like the broccoli rabe and sausage or the white pie with mushrooms bread crumb and truffle oil.
I like that my kids can get good pizza while my wife and I can have awesone well executed and expertly prepared entrees courtesy of Chef Michael like tbe not to be missed short rib dish
The apppetizers are well done. As a New York Italian I never order meatballs out. But the meatball appetizer with home made ricotta for dipping made me curious. It was excellent and fun. My kids love the clam chowder.
Desserts are not to be missed either. The deconstructed cannoli or the fritters with 3 dipping sauces are delicious.
also worth mentioining, The dining space is new and quite nice.
I encourage you to give them a try. I wish them well, this area lacks good food and Mark Joseph fills this void quite nicely.

We were looking for a quick bite and decided to try the pizza here. It was different, crispy, thin, tasty. Music was little loud but I would come back again.

Unfortunately, I have to give the place mixed reviews and 2 – 3 stars. Although we enjoyed dinner, it was more because of the company of our friends (and a night out without kids), than the food. On the positive side, our asian ribs were very tasty and perfectly «fell off the bone» cooked; my wife really liked her margarita pizza with fresh mozzarella; and we loved the crispy cinnamon fritters with dipping sauces for desserts — a must for everyone. On the negative side, our calamari was over salted (probably to overcome someone else’s Unilocal complaint); our fancy «cheese steak wit» pizza had little flavor other than overcooked, thinly sliced rib-​eye; and you could only taste lemon in our flat noodle pasta (much of which was still stuck together). If you come, I’d stick with the basic pizzas and grab some fritters for dessert. Don’t forget to bring a bottle as the place is BYO.

I’m giving this a tentative three stars. We ate here and while the pizza was above average (though not stupendous), the wait was very long. There seems to be some variance in the dishes — I’m going to come back again in a little while, once they’ve had some time to work out the new-​restaurant logistic issues, and order some other things from the menu. If you don’t mind the wait, you’ll be pretty happy with the food.
The menu is a little different from most Italian places. It’s a more authentic, less stereotyped version of Italian.

Based the initial review here in Unilocal and another food blog we decided to give this place a visit yesterday and frankly we were underwhelmed. Nice space and brand new but the music was loud and distracting because of all of the hard surfaces in the place.
As for the food — starting with a fried calamari dish which was large but lacked any real flavor and devoid of any salt it just simply tasted bland and was served lukewarm. As for their signature dish the grilled pizza, the fresh mozzarella was chewy (not heated enough), the bottom crust was under cooked and here again no salt so the pizza tasted bland as well. The pizza also was not served hot enough.
Our dining experience leaves much room for improvement …