Red Monk Asian Bistro

Ate here when they opened. Could not determine what the food was on my plate. Just awful. With all the real ethnic cuisine available locally, why would anyone bother with this place? They’re out of business. This is one of those hard luck spots. Next restaurant there also closed.

Great local Asian Fusion restaurant. Good for date night or even large groups of friends, because the wait staff was very polite and accommodating.

Look — these people have the best Hot N Sour soup I’ve ever tasted. Absolute best. Also — the restaurant is decorated nicely. Restaurant on a small side but decorated nicely and other food good. I do recommend them.

The service may be slow, but the good food and ambiance make up for it. Go if time is not a factor.
THEY ARE CLOSED NOW

Lunch today was a hit at this well known Asian spot in Metuchen. Albeit pretty slow food delivery each of our dishes was delicious for the three course lunch. We loved the fact that they spiced up the dishes to meet our wishes. We would not hesitate to join them again for lunch or dinner when in the area…

I had eaten here in terms of «an end of a semester party «(to indulge on the good grades I have gotten) and I was not pleased at all with the service whatsoever.
First of all, the décor was alright with a calming light setting and warm colors. The restaurant also looked very clean. The Service however was the worst here. The waiter came by, I ordered, got my beverage, and waited ONE AND A HALF HOURS just for one of my entrees. It really made me lose my patience. Also, I had to ask the waiter that I was finished 30 minutes later to get my check. The time after I asked for my check, the waiters hid behind a curtain and both started to argue against each other (or on me, either way this happened twice and shows how unprofessional the waiters are and how slow the cooks are).
The entrees were alright but for the wait and portions they felt like they were not worth it. The first entrée I had was a shrimp curry and I pretty much enjoyed it. I loved the creaminess, the shrimp was cooked alright, and had a kick to it. However, the portion was so small and for the price and wait, it should of been prepared/​ready for three to five minutes rather than a full hour.
The Second Entrée was rice and it was put into a weird like «bowl» that I thought was very unnecessary. The rice was very dry and it felt like I could get much better rice at a local chinese store than this bistro.
To me, This place seems like it wants to be a fancy fine dining restaurant, but failed horribly. With Unprofessional waiters, slow cooks, and for high prices for super small portions, I think people should go elsewhere to nicer restaurant right around the area.

Dined here this afternoon and had a great meal with my wife and kids, with no service issues whatsoever. Lunch technically ends at 3pm and dinner doesn’t resume until 5:30pm. Despite that fact, we walked in at 2:58pm and were promptly sat with a smile. The gentleman serving us couldn’t have been nicer. I’m sorry to hear others have had issues with the service here, but that was not the case for us today.
The food was better than expected. I ordered the Szechwan Beef and was asked how spicy I like it on a scale of 1 to 10. I like that question. I went with an 8 and easily could have gone to a 10. The waiter was even thoughtful enough to bring over some extra chili sauce in case I wanted a little more heat. Perhaps the best thing about the dish was the fact the ingredients were very fresh and didn’t come drenched in one of those sweet, viscous sauces typical of so many Asian joints.
As for wifey, she ordered the shrimp Pad Thai and loved it. She asked for a 3 in terms of heat and was not disappointed. The only miss of the afternoon was a creamy chicken-​corn soup that was utterly bland and unmemorable.
Red Monk reminds me a lot of Orchid in East Brunswick, in terms of good quality Asian food in a clean, relaxing setting. So if you’re in Metuchen with an Asian itch to scratch, I think you’ll enjoy a meal at Red Monk very much. We sure did.

I don’t understand why this place has been getting 2 stars or less. This place deserves at least 3 to 4 stars for an asian bistro on the middle of New Jersey.
I came here on a lazy Sunday for lunch with my family. We were the only customers there which was fine for us. We had the server all to ourselves and the place was quite. The place is very clean, no sticky floors or tables that you would sometimes have in asian restaurants. We ordered from the lunch menu. It’s $ 9.99 for soup, salad and an entrée of either a rice dish or noodles. I’ve read the reviews that people were complaining that the service is slow. The waiter/​waitress service is fine… I agree with one of the reviewers that it’s the kitchen that’s slow. But well they cook everything to order and you can tell that the vegetables are freshly cooked because it’s still nice and crisp so I feel like its worth the wait and that’s why the kitchen is slow. I ordered the tom kah soup, it was fragrant with the fresh basil and delicious with the fresh crisp vegetables. The salad was the basic iceberg lettuce and tomato with a vinegar like dressing but well you can’t expect a extravagant salad with a lunch special. As an entrée I ordered the peanut chicken and I wanted it very spicy. It arrived delicious, hot and spicy with crisp vegetables.
I would recommend this place for those lazy Sundays so you don’t get frustrated waiting for your food since there won’t be many customers there. Also you should eat here when you’re not in a rush. that way you won’t get so impatient when it takes 15 mins or more for your meal to come out.

I’m not sure why anyone would give this place anything less than maybe four stars. The food is great! I’ve tried many of the dishes and not one has disappointed. The service is friendly. (The restaurant owner, herself, suggested dishes to try).
I highly suggest you try this place and ignore the negative reviews.

Nice ambience but mediocre food. $ 9.99 for three course meal of salad, soup, and entrée. The price is great but the food is so-​so. The shrimp in the Tom Kha soup was tasteless. The soup itself was spicier than expected for Tom Kha. The skimpy iceberg lettuce salad was waterlogged and was plated on an overly large plate, making it seem even smaller. Main entrée choices were mostly made with chicken. There was one beef and a few vegetarian options. My Peanut Chicken was very bland and dry. The jasmine rice was sticky and mushy.
The dark wood floor gives it a modern feel. However, the décor seems very Tibetan with photos of prayer wheels and burning candles. Food seems mostly Thai with heavy use of curry, coriander, lemongrass and coconut milk. Thus, it was hard to tell that this was a true Asian Bistro.
For a few bucks more go to Tete next door.

If you’re an impatient person don’t bother but if you enjoy good food and company check it out. I’ve had great experiences with every dish and I know going in I’ll be waiting but it’s really worth it.

identity crisis. asian fusion gone too far. not sure if thai or chinese or vietnamese or what. it’s like having a french-​british-​italian-​greek-​russian fusion restaurant. the british part would ruin everything. environment is nice and service was courteous, taste a bit odd

I had very low expectation of this place as I have many redifferent restaurants over the years at this location and everyone of them has been crap, however the last 3 times that I have been to Red monk it has suprised me with the food being above average.
The service is brisk, yes the food does take some time to appear on your table but the taste and freshness has been consistent, I am yet to have a bad meal here so far even though I always keep expecting it going to happen… so hats off to the cook.
Also they have luch specials on the weekend so you can have a decent meal for an average fare. Also they did make the food spicky exactly how I ordered and not lame ass mild as some people love it.
I am sure I will revisit them as time permits and hope they can keep us the quality and standard, also I hope more people support this restaurant as they are fairly empty for the quality of food they serve, there are many crapy restaurants in the vicinity that are moew crowded than this place and that suprises may, maybe they are a new kind on the block… They are definitly wprth repeated visit.

OK kids. Here’s the deal. Its not that the service is slow, its the kitchen. Im a chef and I know what the difference is. The staff is not great, but its the kitchen that is slow. The chef and cooks here make your food fresh! There is a lot to be said for that.
We started out with the Tibetan MoMo. A steamed pot sticker style dumpling with ginger chicken filling. It came with a house made sambal hot sauce. Very nice touch.
It took a longer time than usual, but like I said… from scratch! It was spot on. I am a trained chef in 6 styles of Asian cuisines and this was good.
My entrée was the Kathmandu style stir fry beef. I asked for it not just hot but Thai hot. They didn’t hold back and gave it to me good. Holy crap it was hot, but it was the way I had it when I learned Thai food in a Thai kitchen. Authentic as it gets.
Because our MoMo was slow, they bought us a dessert of mochi ice cream.
Over all, I will be back, but not when Im in a hurry.

went here for a late lunch with family. The décor is lovely, and service was good.
The food is okay, not super big on the flavors, more asian-​light, but overall decent just not a place I’d say, oh that’s delicious let’s go again! more like, I’d like some light dumplings and some veggies in coconut milk.
But it is decent, I might go back to give it another try when in town.

Red Monk is not great. It’s not terrible. The food is pretty good. The service is below average. As you can tell, it inspires very little in me.
We went on a Sunday at about 2PM. There were 1 or 2 other parties. In spite of this, we did not get our water until we were nearly done with our salads. There were four of us and our entrees were served one at a time over almost ten minutes. The wait staff was friendly, but still not great at their jobs.
A word of warning about the food: it is spicy. The salad is spicy. If you order medium, it will be surprisingly spicy. It tastes good, but wear your spicy pants.
We all ordered the lunch special. We got identical salads, which were tasty and spicy. On the soups, the Tom Kha was definitely good. It was overly coconutty and there was a nice selection of vegetables. The Cream Corn soup tasted like creamed corn, so that can be a good or bad. The Hot and Sour soup may have been a little too spicy. On entrees, the Red Monk Stir Fry Beef had a lot of big chunks of hot peppers. This made it a little difficult to taste the beef, but it was still good. The Pad Thai was good, though I found the noodles a little thin.
At $ 9.99 each, this lunch special is a good deal. It comes with soup, salad, and a nice sized entrée.
In the end, if this restaurant were in the middle of nowhere, it would be fine. However, Metuchen has several excellent restaurants in walking distance of this one. If you like Asian food, I recommend Prik-​Pow around the corner. This place is a bit of a waste.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING AND YOU NEED TO EAT HERE
To give this restaurant below 4 stars because of a bad waiter is simply unfair. Waiters come and go all the time. The food is absolutely delicious and reasonably priced too. I highly highly recommend the pan seared sea bass. I have eaten here twice and I will definitely come back every weekend for this. There is only one waiter and he seems pleasant enough. He let us know our food was taking a little longer than usual (but not terribly long) because the sea bass had to be cooked just right, and perfect it was. It is a nice thick cut of fish with the skin on the bottom to seal in the moisture. The fish was beautifully soft and flakey and combined with the coconut curry sauce is to die for. It is a special on the dinner menu and I pray they will continue serving it for years to come.
On a side note, the nasi goreng was very tasty as well, but the mango lassi was a bit too yogurty for me.

Went here last night and had a lovely dinner!
It’s spacious for a small restaurant in Metuchen downtown with very nice décor and clean.
My cousin had their hot n sour soup with chicken which was amazing! Not as starchy and goupy as the ones you get in regular Chinese places.
I got their Red Monk Chilli Chicken and my cousin got the Szechuan Eggplant but without the tofu, he substituted it for chicken. Both dishes were flavorful and delicious! I actually liked his more because it was spicier and richer in flavor but the food was fresh and yummy!
Will definitely be going back there to try more.

food was good, again. But the wait staff was slow yet again. it shouldn’t take 1.5 hours for Asian food at a cheap restaurant.
Also, No more lunch special. Entrees $ 8, add on soup as extra.

Disorganized, chaotic and slow service in a beautifully decorated space with well spaced tables and moderate noise level. So slow it took an hour to get a Vietnamese spring roll to the table. Entrée did arrive only 15 minutes after appetizer was removed, but dinner for one (my usual dining companion was at a work dinner) took nearly two hours to complete, without dessert! Food alone worth 3 – 4 stars – well prepared and good value (Appetizers $ 6 – 9, Mains: $ 11 – 20). Mostly Thai, but with smattering of other Asian cuisines (Vietnamese, Nepali, Indian). Service was so bad, that it ruined the entire experience. Left nostalgic for the exquisite Vietnamese Fusion restaurant Wild Rice whose empty storefront remains across the street.