Salute Brick Oven Bistro

Best pork chop I’ve ever had! Honestly.

Food was delish — service was SLOW. We weren’t in a rush so it was OK, but the time it took to get our appetizers and entrees was redic.
I had the gnocchi — absolutely amazing, prob the best I’ve ever had!
Husband has some pasta dish with crumbled sausage, Swiss chard, and chick peas — so tasty — prob the best meal on the table.
Friends had — ravioli and a chicken dish.
Shared the snores pizza — again — absolutely amazing!!!
We will definitely be back for some more gnocchi!

We had a wonderful dining experience. Food and service was great. The rice ball was excellent and so were our entrees. Pick up a bottle of wine before you go. BYOB.

What an unpleasant experience. We stepped away from our table, momentarily leaving our mostly full bottle of wine behind. We were gone less than a minute, the check still waiting to be picked up by the wait staff but the bottle of wine was missing when we went back to retrieve it. When asked, the host said it was thrown out. When I said I would go through the garbage myself he produced mostly empty bottles of other peoples wine but my nearly full bottle of wine was not in the trash. I told him I was not leaving without it. Some conversations with several staff members and a trip to the back of the place produced our bottle. This took at least 10 minutes and has left a forever bad impression on us. I will not be back. Most of all the attitude of the manager was horrible and I was treated as if I was an annoyance instead as a valued customer.

My daughter graduated College yesterday! After a super long day in the City, we had a reservation for dinner at Salute! When we walked in the staff was waiting, the table was set perfectly and the wine was chilled and ready to go! We had a fantastic dinner! 11 out of 16 guests had the skirt steak and raved about it! 3 had the pork chop and were equally impressed! We had a wonderful time! Thank you to Alex and Carla for your superb service and making the night so special! If you have not dined here, I highly recommend!

A solid Italian restaurant in Montclair that offers delicious homemade pastas, a casual yet warm and rustic atmosphere and attentive service. Their mussels are awesome — a concoction of whipped elephant garlic and tomatoes make for a light cream sauce — with a very unique flavor. Another favorite app is the rock shrimp. Eggplant parm is also worth try. Their pastas are extremely fresh and you can tell from the first bite they are homemade. I typically get one of their daily specials, which has included crab meat and shrimp with pasta which was very good and even tasted fresh the very next day. The pork chop is also a good option for dinner. As for dessert, try the gelato if you are still hungry — it’s homemade super fresh deliciousness.
We have always enjoyed our time here and just recently, brought our 3 year-​old daughter with us, which I was somewhat apprehensive about because I have typically gone here only with adults. We went a little on the earlier side and there were actually a handful of kids there for the dinner hour and Salute’s servers have always been so kind to the children. While no children’s menu, they will make something for the kids, like pasta and butter, chicken fingers, and the like; though they’re pricy for a kid’s meal. However, while it was totally OK to bring my kid, I prefer this place as a date night restaurant, but that’s just my preference.

I have been here a few times and the food and atmosphere are always both fantastic. Recently went with a group of 5, everyone was very pleased with all of their meals. The menu has a great variety from appetizers, to pizza to pasta and fantastic desserts. Personally I had a sausage pizza that had fantastic flavors. I also loved the eggplant burrata special, I highly recommend trying their specials. I will definitely be back!
Another plus is that this is a BYOB, which helps to save when in a large group!

Love the atmosphere of Salute. The staff is also really friendly. Super plus that it’s a BYOB!
The food here is very very good, not going to lie. BUT there’s nothing that has wow’d me as one of the best dishes I’ve ever had. Eggplant dip for the starter bread is great. On my last visit my entrée was the Puttanesca pasta (subbed for gluten free). I love how Montclair joints have gluten free pizza and pasta options.
The sauce in the dish was great. However, there were only 2 jumbo shrimp and 1 chunk of lobster in the whole dish! The rest was pasta, an abundance of capers and sauce and a few olives. For the price you pay, it’s very disappointing. I’m always willing to come for dinner, but it’s never my #1 go to.

No complaints. We went on a Saturday night, we did not have reservations but they were able to seat us quickly. Service was great and the food was absolutely delicious. I would definitely recommend and return.

We love this restaurant! The food is consistently fabulous. The staff and service is excellent. With or without your kids it is a lovely place to dine. They also have outdoor seating (weather permitting). We have brought friends here and they raved about the food, as well. A fantastic dining experience!

The food is good but the service is really bad, the server Rey2008 on my receipt gave us attitude every time we ask something about the menu. it’s a damn shame when your in the business of making people enjoy the experience eating good food and the server is the one that kills the whole vibe.

Great atmosphere, great food and BYOB.
If you want Gluten Free, they have great gluten free pasta, pizza, and bread.
It gets really packed, so call ahead.
If you forget your wine, a local liquor store delivers too. How cool

I have been wanting to dine at Salute for at least a year now. I’ve made reservations and had to cancel last minute bc my companions bailed. Finally, I made it today with my godmom for lunch. She loves Italian so I thought this was a great place to dine. However, I should have taken heed to the reviews of my fellow Unilocalers. As service was an issue for me. My first impression was a red flag and here is why. We walked into Salute at 2:30pm on Sunday, there were two to four other parties in the restaurant and it took at least two minutes max for us to be greeted. Red flag number one. We were seated and waited for our server to greet us and we waited again to be greeted and to even be offered bread. So we waited a bit more and then once we inquired, we were given a different server. We were put on notice by our server that A) In order to receive the complimentary bread, we had to order first and B) we had to order our appetizers and entrée immediately and together because it was Sunday, busy and they were short staffed. Yeah um no, that is unprofessional. Fast forward to the food, we ordered the cauliflower appetizer and it was good but not worth $ 15, we ordered pizza’s but were told we would not be able to order because the oven was not ready!!! So we ordered the butternut squash ravioli and the lobster and shrimp risotto. I did not care for the ravioli, as it was covered in a pesto sauce (which I thought was weird) but that was not my entrée. The risotto was yummy and was piping hot. We ordered dessert, the nutella crepes and although they were yummy, there were not worth the cost. Oh and althugh we dined in for «lunch» the cost was at a dinner cost. Overall, the food was good, I do not think I will be back. I’d prefer to dine at Fin next door.

Amazing service, wonderful delicious food, and BYOB. Can’t go wrong! Can’t wait to return. Our waitress– Deana (hope I spelled her name correctly) was lovely! Management was focused and on point. Thank you for a wonderful dinner and lovely service.

–Great ambiance. Great mix of rustic feel with modern.
–Great choices on their menu. Got their pizza and it tasted homemade. They have both comfort food and and new tries like octopus if you’re feeling adventurous.
–Staff was extremely attentive + friendly. They don’t have their own parking lot but there was plenty of parking in the middle of the week. If you’re going during the weekend, I’d suggest coming earlier to find parking.
Hoping to go back and try their other dishes.

4.5
I’ve walked past this place a million times during the day thinking, «brick oven bistro… probably just one of the many average italian places in NJ» In all fairness I never looked into the place at all but I am glad we stopped in for dinner. The place was packed– you will probably need a reservation for dinner on a Fri or Sat night; we eat kind of later and managed to grab 2 seats at the bar (they don’t serve liquor but you will get a nice view of the open kitchen & blast of heat from the oven). We shared a couple of appetizers and drank some wine that we brought. The polpette (veal meatballs) were awesome, a burrata paired with blood orange and pomegranate, a margherita pizza (which was better than a certain place down the street), and a grilled caesar salad. The kitchen uses quality ingredients in season and put a great emphasis on presentation. Also the servers were very knowledgeable and attentive. I was very impressed.

Good atmosphere, service, and food. I had the pacific cod special with couscous and a lobster cream sauce which tasted as good as it looked, and it was beautifully served. My mother had the shrimp and red quinoa with asparagus ad she enjoyed her meal as well.
The restaurant is BYO as are many in the Montclair area. And just like the other restaurants, they give you the option of ordering a bottle of wine from a nearby liquor store. It came within 5 minutes. Although it is more expensive, it sure is convenient.
Had the Pizzette for dessert which was their play on a smores pizza. Thin pizza crust with melted milk chocolate and marshmallows on top and a side of graham cracker gelatto. I would have enjoyed the gelatto all on its own, but I enjoyed it. Good portion for two people to share.
Will definitely be back to try some other items on the menu.

Been here a few times and have had mixed experiences…
First the positive — service is always good and manager is friendly and helpful.
Now the mixed — the food
Have consistently enjoyed the pizza and pasta. The beef braciole and meatballs were both moist and packed with flavor.
The shrimp appetizer was hyped by staff, but wasn’t too impressive. I found it to be a bit fishy and drenched in a wine butter sauce.
The salad used cheap greens and was mediocre at best (especially for about $ 12).
Lastly, the prices are ridiculous for what you get. I have paid similar prices at other italian restaurants in montclair and the food was far superior.

Great place all around! Great food, service and best of all BYOB!!! I had the short braised ribs yum! My sweetheart had a delicious grilled skirt steak. We inhaled the appetizer special, homemade potato chips with grilled peppers and parmesan sprinkled on top it was to die for. So good I forgot to leave room for the short ribs. All worked out just took the leftovers for the next day. Best for last :)) we shared the chocolate sponge cake with chocolate mouse with a raspberry gnash. Great dinner!!!
Left 1 star off only because it’s a bit tight quarters for me. Tables are very close to one another…

After hearing for years about how amazing this place was and never being able to get a reservation I was ecstatic when the time finally came to check it out.
I expected a cozier feel, but figured the food would be the main attraction. I could hardly see the menu and many other people were using their phones for light.
I was somewhat disappointed, definitely expected much more. The food was good, but not Montclair-can’t get a reservation-​heard a million and one good things about this place-​good.
The menu was somewhat lacking also. I had the rice balls (much of the rice was undercooked) and the gnocchi (run of the mill, nothing special). The bf said his steak was SALTY but overall OK.
I met up with an old friend here so I wasn’t too upset when the food was meh, but God it was hard to talk in such a loud place. Once we finished our food we stayed back for a bit to finish our wine and it became clear our waitress was circling our table and wanted us out.
TL;DR: meh. Won’t be back. I personally think Ah Pizz has a much better thing going on on ALL counts.