The Office Beer Bar & Grill

Food is mediocre at best. Service was not great. There are much better restaurants to go to on Bloomfield Ave

The Office is nothing special and if weren’t for the fact that some of my friends have selected it as their regular trivia night place, I’d definitely never come here. The first time I was here a couple years ago, I had a bad experience with a rude bartender who misunderstood my order, was mad that I didn’t want the drink she brought me which was wrong, and then was rude to me the rest of the time I was there. However, that’s just one experience with one person so I won’t let it cloud my judgement too much.
Lately I come here about once a month with friends for trivia night on Thursdays. They recently fired the guy who used to do trivia and got a new guy, and while my friends and I were big fans of the previous guy, the new one is fine too. Some trivia nights are pretty full but others are pretty empty so I wouldn’t say the place has a loyal following of trivia goers.
The beer selection is good and you can get a flight of 5 beers you choose yourself for a reasonable price so that’s pretty cool. The wine selection definitely leaves something to be desired and as an avid wine drinker, this disappoints me. Some of the food I’ve had, like the hummus and the spinach artichoke dip, is mediocre or worse. The only food item I’ve really liked is the harvest salad. One thing I will say is that a lot of the waiters/​waitresses are very nice and definitely make an effort with to do their job well.
If you’re close by and looking for somewhere to do trivia on a Thursday night then try it out, otherwise skip it.

Terrible chain with lousy food. If you are the kind of person who enjoys an appetizer plate that was bought frozen at a supermarket this is exactly your kind of place. Why anyone in Montclair looking for a drink would land here is a complete mystery to me.

Thursday ⁵⁄₁₉. Stopped before show at The Wellmont.
1) Waiter took drink orders. Delivered other orders to other patrons, brought my soda. Had to ‘remind’ him after close to 10 mins. the other drink wasn’t delivered. «It’s probably over at the bar»
2) Ordered spring special meatloaf, per menu over mashed potatoes with blue cheese sauce and glazed carrots. Meal came, meatloaf over cubes potatoes with blue cheese sauce and just plain carrots. When I brought this to the waiters attention, he said he would bring me mashed potatoes. Then, he came back and told me he spoke with the manager and the meal was served «as shown in the picture» and the menu was a typo. Well, I don’t care what the picture showed, and if the menu was a typo, either put a piece of masking tape over it or have the waiter tell you when you order it. PS the potatoes did come. Right when I asked for the check.
3) My daughter ordered a salad that came with apple slices. When she picked up a tiny slice to eat, I saw the barcode sticker on it. When I spoke with the waiter about my meal, I also showed him the apple slice. He picked it up and started to walk away then turned and said «Well, at least you know it is fresh!». Yes, freshly unwashed.
Ew. Never again.

This place is hilarious. Here’s a timeline of my first encounter with The Office:
11:23 PM, Tuesday ⁵⁄₁₇: Walk into The Office. Place is almost entirely empty and no new patrons walk in during the following encounter described.
11:24 PM: Ask guy at counter if kitchen is still open and receive affirmative response. Retrieve menu from counter.
11:26 PM: Stand at counter for approx. 20 – 25 seconds waiting for guy to pick his head up (he is on his phone though, so he is understandably busy). Order Buffalo Chicken Pizza from the menu.
11:27 PM: Locate restroom with help from staff member. Use restroom. Consider picking up paper towels strewn about on restroom floor but unsure how to proceed while maintaining cleanliness. Chicken out and don’t pick up paper towels and feel kinda guilty about it because I like to help out.
11:46 PM: Counter guy approaches me and says «Sorry about the wait… your pie will be out in a couple minutes.»
11:55 PM: I exit The Office, hands-​free.
Maybe their food is good. Maybe their food isn’t good. Maybe they don’t even serve food and the whole operation is a front for something else. All I know is that when a place is almost entirely empty on a Tuesday night at 11:30PM and no other patrons are even being waited on and you order a pizza and roughly a half hour later the pizza isn’t in your hands, you probably should just move on with your life. They don’t want you to have the pizza. There is not pizza for you. Well played, Office. You really had me there with the whole menu and tables and chairs ruse.

To start off, the waiters are nice people but lack great customer service. After ordering drinks, appetizers (those came quick) and our entrée we didn’t see our waiter or the food for an hour. Once we receive our food, our waiter was no where to be seen and not even once did he come to check up on us and the food. Definitely will be my first and last trip here to this establishment. Oh had to ask another waitress just to receive our bill.

Been a while, but I used to go periodically. Nice décor, usually good service, good and diverse beer selection, and everything I’ve eaten there is great! If they were a bit cheaper, they’d maybe even have a shot at a relatively rare 5* from me. But I can definitely recommend the place.
Note: if you’re unfamiliar with the area and have mobility issues, Montclair’s parking can be pretty crummy, and it’s likely you’ll have to find a spot and do a little walking. If that’s a problem for you, it IS a small chain restaurant, so maybe look into other locations and see if the parking is better.

I was quite unenthused with the service. It took us a while to get our drinks and when we were able to place our order, our waitress informed us the bartenders couldn’t make any of the cocktails on the menu. When we ordered a pitcher of sangria, she spilled half the pitcher when she poured out the drinks, and we had to send it back to get an actual pitcher of sangria as it essentially tasted like fruit juice. We came here on the recommendation of a few coworkers, but we were quite disappointed. We got our first round and had to leave — i hope this was just an off day?

Well, where should I start. let’s start with the happy hour menu drinks that are no longer available and the 3 bartenders which were unable to make the advertised drinks. How about then. I order the sangria that was manly juice which I had to send back. Smh. My company ordered a gin and tonic and received sprite. What’s going on here? My inexperienced waitress then shows up training another young lady at this point I am done. OVERALL. NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE AT ALL.

I am only giving them a 2 because i used to really like it here. My husband, my kids and i used to go a couple times a month and on random date nights. Tonight was a huge fail. We got there a little before 6:30, ordered drinks for us and the kids along with a small shareable plate…15 minutes later our server finally brings our drinks with our app. We order our food and after almost 45 more minutes our food comes out… Luke warm. Daughters kids burger was burnt and hard, other daughters pasta was barely warm. The random servers were more willing to help the problems than our server. Just an all bad experience tonight. Highly Doubtful that we will be going here again.

Slow service, rude staff, music playing was not appropriate & the bathrooms are no better than a porter potty. Food was decent, nothing to brag about but the alcohol was terrible. Maybe the bartenders have no experience?
Definitely will not return

First off let me say I used to come here atleast once a month and with the rapid decline of good service i refuse to ever go back. Normally i am pretty easy going being that i have been in the industry for 9 years myself, but this place does not give a Sh*t (sorry, but its true)
There were 3 seperate occasions when I went out and just ended up feeling unwelcomed and as if we felt we were nothing more than an inconvience.
1. Went out with some friends, they ended up running late and the waitress kept harrasing us asking when they would arrive. Mind you there kitchen still hat atleast 45 minutes before it closed and when i pointed this out she says «yeah but they’re going to be pissed» Well, alritey then. Food was just alright.
2. We went for a friends birthday afterwork. Before going we checked the hours online which says they close at 2am (Friday night) When we walked in there was a waitress on the floor laughing. super profesional. anyway we got dirty looks and were told we had to order quickly because they close soon. We got there around 1130. I point out to the manager that the site says they do not close until 2 she proceeds to tell me that is corporate and there is nothing she can do about and shes tired of being yelled at and they actually close at 1. we place our orders with just a few appetizers and everything arrives at the same time. just perfect. Around 1245 the waitress drops the check off and says «I’m trying to go soooooo…» and walks away
3. The last & final straw. I had not been back for a while and gave it another try. When the waitress arrives my friend starts to ask a question about Happy Hour and is immediately stopped by the waitress who puts her hand up to correct her and say what it includes. ookay then. After placing our order the waitress BLATANTLY ignored us for the rest of our time there. Not once did she come back. I watched as she checked on every other table in her section and then went back to the dj booth to dance as we sat there with empty drinks at the edge of the table. After failing to be able to grasp my servers attention from her super important twerking competition I finally got up and went to the bartender, who had someone come over to take our drink order. We immediately asked for our check and went to another bar that was more than happy to take our money.
The worst service, dismal at best. Not sure if they are aware but this is the SERVICE industry. Drinks are a hit or miss. And just okay food. nothing about how this place is run is acceptable.

I used to love the Office when I was a college student at MSU. The menu was great and the dessert was out of this world. Since then I haven’t really enjoyed my time there. It is not a bad place it just isn’t what I am used to anymore. I went this weekend and ordered a burger and fries; the fries were wonderful but the burger was a disappointment. Staff was really sweet and worked double time (he had a ton of tables). If you are going there drinks and apps you will be fine.

I was there on Friday for a friends birthday for my first time. Although, I did not try the food the D. J did play good music. I had two drinks and they barely had any alcohol. Also, I noticed that the security guards did not check two males that entered the bar (identification or pat down). That was my call to leave. By the way they asked everyone to leave by 12:30am.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

Horrible food, staff, and crowd. It smells like a dirty rag. Disgusting.

The wings were good but I warn you now… Do not get the boneless wings… Stick to traditional. Their idea of boneless wings is diced up chicken.

Visited last night with my girl friends: if I were rating JUST the service of our waitress this would be a 5 star review. I can’t recall her name but she was sweet and friendly and attentive.
As for the rest, well… the fact that it was empty right in the middle of dinner hour (and other restaurants were quite busy, it IS Montclair after all!) is a huge warning sign. We were sat in what felt like the forgotten corner of the restaurant where no music was playing, but you could hear the bad music from the bar.
The drinks were good! Ordered the margarita and Italian lemonade — definitely recommend! But as for the food, not so much. We shared a margarita pizza, hummus plate, and combo platter. The pizza was awful — tasted like pasta sauce on stale bread with slightly melted mozzarella cheese thrown on top. The hummus platter was probably the best, quite good honestly. The combo platter was «meh» — the fried ‘fresh’ mozzarella DEFINITELY isn’t fresh and the chicken tenders tasted «weird» according to my friends.
Overall, if you’re going to visit just go to the bar for drinks. With so many options available in Montclair, The Office definitely isn’t worth a visit.

Went here last night on our way home. Got a glass of wine and a cocktail for my wife. Also ordered a basket of fries but got a plate with about 15 fries on it!
No atmosphere to speak of and bad music. Place was almost empty. Place smells a bit musty. Will not return.

Come here for trivia night on occasion, where you can usually expect really crappy service because the servers know you’ll be there 2 – 3 hours and don’t check on you between when the food is served and when the trivia is over for the bill. The trivia itself is really fun, that’s what keeps me coming back.
For the food, it’s not good enough to be worth dining on every week, it’s just pretty run of the mill burgers, sandwiches, and salads for the most part. Tried the hot pretzel appetizer and the dipping sauce had a weird film on it like it had been sitting out. Much better pretzel apps at TGI Fridays. Tried a variety of food over the times I’ve gone to trivia and nothing is stand out.
The atmosphere is decent. There are plenty of TV’s if you are watching a sporting event. It’s pretty clean. It’s just not the best bar food you can get.

An underwhelming eatery, the office serves it’s purpose; serving some sort of meat based item between buns. Now, the office has been around for a while. Whatsmore is the Office has sister restaurants in Ridgewood and Cranford, both of which are slightly better than the Montclair site.
It’s odd to say this but, the Office is a dingier Applebees. The décor is bland, whooden tables, dirty rugs and TVs everywhere.
The service is meh. The servers are not rude, but are also not helpful.
The food is lame, their burgers are covered in greasy and are poorly cooked. I mean how hard is it to cook a medium well burger. The fries are okay though…
Also, I feel that the food is overpriced due to the fact that the quality is so poor.
The bar is it’s saving grace. The office’s bar is large with a large selection of well drinks and beers. The bartenders, however, are slow.
The overall vibe of the office is laidback. However, that may because it is progressively becoming a college bar as opposed to a pub.
If I had a choice between Applebees and the office I would pick the former hands down.