Chowhaus

Chowhaus did have some growing pains and there is a minor quirkiness to it but it is a heartfelt place with uniquely interesting and consciously procured food. My lunch and late afternoon meals have been nice, the atmosphere is delightful for a casual rendezvous. I’ve not tried breakfast there which seems to get the weakest Unilocal

I gave this place a shot twice for breakfast. I was disappointed both times.
Small portions, expensive.
The good: Service is good, and the food comes out quickly.
The bad: My first try, I ordered the hash with pork (I think it was pork? Some kind of meat.). It had virtually no meat. A table away from me ordered the same thing. I overheard them saying «Where’s the meat in this?» Also, it had some weird, sweet sauce on it. It cost almost $ 20 with a coffee.
Second time, I ordered the biscuits, gravy, and eggs. Again, the gravy had sweetness to it. What is with this place and adding sweet to traditionally savory dishes? The biscuits are small, the eggs were watery, there is want much to it. Bill with 20 percent tip: $ 21.
I will not be returning.

We were walking to the Montclair Egg Shop after trying to find a new place to go to for breakfast in Oakland, but decided to just go to where we know. We ended up walking by Chowhaus, which is right next to Montclair Egg Shop and decided to give it a try based on their unique and yummy sounding menu on the window.
We almost left in the first few minutes. First impressions are everything. They were disorganized, even though the place was only ¼ full. We waited a few more minutes to cut them some slack and were acknowledged just before we were about to walk out. It wasn’t the wait that was the problem, it was the fear that if they couldn’t get this right, what would the food be like.
It went uphill from there though with Kimberly waiting on us. She was fantastic. She knew the menu well and gave great suggestions. She made me excited for the food about to come.
My husband ordered the Chilaquiles with the smokey pork and it was amazing with tons of flavor. I ordered the Polenta dish with the Sunny Side Egg and smokey pork. The polenta was cooked perfectly with great texture. The greens and veggies were very tasty and nothing was greasy at all.
They serve Four Barrel coffee and have a great tea selection.
I hope they make it as their food is good and unique. They just need to get their organization down a bit. Atmosphere and confidence is important.

Brunched here for the first time today with friends.
Yay! s
— Good food!
— Cute décor!
— Nice service!
— Fresh squeezed OJ in our mimosas!
Meh :(s
— No bottomless mimosas (I mean obviously this is always a sad thing to discover at any brunch.)
— They were out of egg whites, which meant I couldn’t get the scramble because it would be with only yolks. (No regular eggs in the kitchen?!)
One friend had the french toast which she said tasted like apple pie, another had the peanut butter and bacon pancakes, and I had something with eggs… I forget the name. All three were great, as were the mims and coffee. I’d definitely come again! (:

I want to love this place, but after 3 visits I am so disappointed in the menu quality/​value. prices are on the high-​end of better restaurants in Montclair. For breakfast there is no end of egg options, but the quality is just not there. Order seasonal fruit and you get one step up from Del Monte, three white grapes cubed apples, and a few slices of banana’s. Also I wish they would tell me more about where things like their beef and eggs are from. Grass fed? Pastured? I asked the kitchen staff and they would not give me an answer. The $ 15 burger was good, but at that price it should have been great.
I love the environment, such an improvement over the former concept. I hope the owners are listening to consumers and make the needed changes. More focus on quality and value could turn this around.

We arrived on a Sunday morning about 10. After being seated immediately, we ordered — 2 broche French Toasts, one fruit plate, and the Two egg plate. We waited 10 minutes for coffee and hot water (weak coffee and hot water in blue mug with lime in a saucer) and another 20 minutes for food. The first French Toast arrived about 7 minutes ahead of the other items. It was lukewarm at best. When the other food arrived, the eggs were underdone.
Overall,
Atmosphere was nice — 1 star
Food — 1 out of 3 stars — took way too long, was not hot, but flavor of Brioche French Toast kept complaints to a minimum
Service — 0. Polite but not very serving. At a minimum, a simple «we are behind in kitchen so its taking awhile» and ensuring our food arrived hot would have gone a LONG way. Particularly irritated, when the table beside was served their HOT food significantly faster AND their hot water came in tea pots with tea cups and saucers.
May try again in future, but kinda doubt it.

We really enjoyed the atmosphere and food at this place. But the service needs some serious help.
The Good:
— the atmosphere, tables, décor is all really cool and adorable. Very comfortable as well. Spacious dining room.
— The burger was good, as was the butternut squash soup. The greens salad was EXCELLENT!
— the chicken nugs were perfect for a kid
The bad:
— on a slow morning, they seemed understaffed and completely disorganized. this place needs a new manager, stat! everyone was friendly, and our waiter looked like he was trying his best — very earnest. but when people walked in, they were told immediately that it would be 20 – 30 minutes for food to come out after being ordered. And they were out of certain drinks (although they comp’d a replacement drink instead).
Since we weren’t in a rush, this all turned out to be bearable for us, but if we were, it would have definitely been a problem.
Overall, if this place gets better training and management for their staff, it will be quite the place. But at the rate it’s going, I can’t imagine it will last too much longer, which would be a shame.

This place was open on New Years Day when the brunch spot next door was jam packed. We looked in the window and noticed the empty tables. While this is usually a huge red flag, we still decided that taking a chance on this place was better than waiting around for a table. After all, we were hung over and STARVING.
Bloodies while we waited. Delicious. Smokey, hand-​made bloody mix was spicy. Housemade pickles for garnish.
Chilaquiles, burger, Haus sausage sandwich were all delicious. Came with a very nice and delicate side salad. The Also ordered a side of the Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and chicken nugs for the table.
Service was polite, but also busy the more we stayed. Seemed like other people started getting the same idea we had by coming in. The plates all came out looking very uniform and professional.
Ambiance is charming. Has a bright, clean, farmhouse feeling to it. The table we sat at was custom made out of a bisected tree trunk situated atop antique sewing machines.

Based on our experience, this place is really a solid 4 or 4.5 stars rather than 5, but I’m putting 5 on it to help bring up the average rating a bit.
We went here for dinner last night and had a great experience. The service was terrific… we had plenty of attention, everybody was friendly, drinks and food came out at appropriate times, etc. The restaurant was probably about half full. We had the charcuterie plate to start, the chicken pot pie and the bone-​in pork chop as entrees, and the brownie sundae for dessert. We both felt the charcuterie, though wonderful that everything is made/​smoked in-​house, was a bit bland. The meats need more spice and flavor. That was the one disappointment. The pot pie and pork chop were both delicious as was the brownie sundae (though the brownie could have been hot instead of room temperature, but that is a brownie snob talking).
We’d be happy to go back.

The décor of this place is so cute! Perfect place for brunch. Our server Bo was also very nice. He made my cappuccino with a cute leaf in it. & it’s the first time I tried the brand Empire for cola but I think it’s way better than regular coke.
Ordered the traditional buttermilk pancakes which were soft and also ordered the two eggs, toast, potatoes, and either bacon or sausage. I chose sausage. The eggs were scrambled with I believe was also sausage which I loved. Pleasantly surprised since I thought it was just going to be eggs. The sausage was delicious but a bit burnt. Potatoes are also good, on the crispy side but I prefer it soft. Overall I would come back, really feeling the calm vibes of this place.

Walked in this restaurant to staff that would not make eye contact. We had to ask if we could seat ourselves or if someone would seat us, we were told that someone would come over. A man with a blank expression came over and guided us to a seat that was barely accessible as the tables were tightly arranged.
We disturbed the other diners trying to get into our seats, probably about six inches between tables that we were supposed to squeeze into!
We sat for about 20 minutes with our menus while waitstaff passed us multiple times with no acknowledgement as maintaining their evasive eye contact.
We stood up to leave the restaurant finally attracting the attention of the server, who looked shocked that we were leaving.
No service here whatsoever, who knows about the food, the ambience was strained and uncomfortable.

Finally a local place that satisfies all my tastes!
With all the different options in this great city you can become picky quickly if you eat out as much as I. There always seems to be something missing. I have been to nearly every well rated place in my frequented areas. A bad restaurant can stay in business through shear turnover.
This place surprised me on every course. I was feeling adventurous so I started with dessert (fruit crisp) and a cocktail (The Aviator) onto breakfast (potatoes and eggs) with a side of chicken nugs. Every single bite was delectable. I am determined to try everything on the menu now.
For a short time my husband and I wrote reviews for a popular news website, and when I tell you this place is worth checking out I am not kidding.
BTW, the new Bloody Mary is super spicy and delicious.

Unfortunately I was unable to eat here as we left after waiting too long even though we made reservations. Was total chaos with service. We waited in line with several other impatient diners. I asked where the line to check in was. The other diners waved around and said there was no real host/​hostess/​person attending to the line. Severely understaffed. The guy who finally took our name said our table would be up in 5. He shuffled around slowly looking completely defeated and like he did not give a rat’s butt. No sense of urgency even though there was a long line. He finally said our table was ready. We get ready to follow him, but he then says, table for 4 right? We were a party of 8, as we had put down in our Opentable reservation and as we had told him when we finally managed to check in.
So basically, we waited ½ hour for him to get us a table despite our reservation (there were lots of tables open, there just wasn’t enough staff so perhaps they weren’t seating us all at once), and then he didn’t get the number of people in our party correct. In the ½ hour we waited, I watched the molasses-​slow service and my desire to eat here slowly dwindled. I could just imagine the lunch taking even longer and was starting to dread the experience. Sorry, way too many restaurants in the area to deal with this ineptitude. Menu looked good and would like to return when management bothers to hire adequate # of staff and train them appropriately.

Hooray. Chowhaus has done it. I have eaten here three separate times; once for breakfast and twice for brunch. It was a treat.
The dishes are well thought out and beautiful to look it. The food tastes like food fresh off the farm and cooked immediately after being harvested. We would order everything again.
I don’t know there would be any bad reviews, this place shines. People eat here and hangout well after they finish their meals. There is so much light and life in the place.
It has my highest recommendation.

We spent the time at Chowhaus lamenting that there were so many misses and trying to figure out what they are going for. Montclair desperately needs more good restaurants, but Chowhaus will have to make some major changes for them to be one of them.
Problems:
— The menu is huge and unorganized.
— Everything has a twist. I like reimagined classics like the next gal but if you are serving things differently than the classic preparation, let people know.
— Pickled vegetables are not the same as pickles.
— Food came out at different times and different temperatures.
— Service was very warm and friendly but forgetful and hurried.
— Really expensive for what you get
— No kids menu. In Montclair that seems weird. Even smaller portions of the same food would be nice. My kid doesn’t need to eat a $ 15 hamburger when she’ll just take off all the stuff that makes it $ 15 but I’d still like to be able to bring her.
— Side of green salad had rotting, mushy greens. None of us ate ours.
— Cooked to death egg when I asked for «not too runny» on my chilaquiles.
Pros:
— Everyone loved the fried chicken nugget things
— Good coffee
— Fantastic interior. Welcoming and bright.
— Great location.
I know the restaurant is fairly new and I hope that they can make some changes and improve.

Pricy and limited menu items, but overall good quality. I love the ambience and décor.

I came for a weekday dinner, and I really enjoyed their kale salad. Good variety of fresh ingredients– kale, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, radish, almonds, peanuts, seeds, quinoa, etc. $ 10
Chowhaus is definitely more of a brunch place. I really like the interior space layout and homey design. Friendly service. I would come back for brunch.

I don’t normally write bad reviews, I can deal with bad service and food that tastes terrible and is overpriced (all true here). However, if it is a public health hazard then I will most definitely write a review.
I ate here with 3 friends yesterday and 2 of them got sick from the food. The 2 that got sick ate breakfast and lunch here, so there is little doubt as to the cause. One got sick on the scotch eggs and the other on the hamburger.
I called the manager or at least somebody purporting to be the manager. While he apologized and indicated he would investigate, he did not gather any relevant information (time, receipt, order #, etc…) that would enable him to do a thorough investigation. So it is unlikely that anything will change.
Take my advice, don’t eat here!

I’ve been here a few times and have always had good service. It’s a casual place.
Dishes have all been from above average to great. Nothing has been bad, at all.
I love knowing they support local farmers. If you ask for substitute they accommodate.
They have great hours too. Best restaurant in the village for sure!!!

We came in for a bday breakfast and there was very few people in the restaurant, the service was painfully slow. It took at least 10 mins to be asked for drinks and food, at the same time. Then another 10 minutes for drinks to come out, I finally had to ask about when our breakfast would be coming out.
The table next to us was having the same issues but even their food was missing ingredients, like the sausage in their sausage breakfast sandwich. When the food was finally brought an hour after we sat down, I had the French toast which was one piece of soggy bread covered in strawberry compote. Most expensive worst breakfast I think I have ever had! Never going back