Kites Restaurant

This one of of the worst experiences ever. I am on vacation with my husband and just sent everything back except the soup. All the food feels and tastes like rubber. The bartender was totally clueless. Terrible!

Where to start… So we figured we order a bunch of apps rather than dinner. What a mistake to order anything there! Everything we had was from the freezer. The «fried» calamari had to be heated in a microwave. It was greasy and soggy and disgusting. The «rock» shrimp was soggy as well and came out with cocktail sauce… Really… The chicken satay was burnt, dry and raw. How the heck anyone can pull that off is beyond me. The fried pickles… Let’s just say hooters fried pickles blow these away! And believe me I was hoping for a hooters at this point. If you go here order the wine, you can’t f that up. We are staying at the hotel and believe me plenty of good local places within 10 mins to go to. DON’T EVER EAT HERE. On a positive note they didn’t F up our wine order.

My wife and I are staying at mineral springs resort with our children and heard that Kites has dinner and dancing on Friday nights. So my oldest son baby sat the other 3 and we dressed and went to Kites for dinner and dancing. What a mistake! The service was slow and my drink came even slower and was wrong. I ordered and Tangueray and Tonic and that was messed up. Drinks don’t get any easier than that. One of the specials for the night was the calamari and that was unavailable by 9pm. We ordered sushi pizza. It was a 1−½″ thick piece of round fried white rice with barely any sushi on top. Under the rice was something that looked like a burnt black skid mark. It did not taste good at all. I am not big on sending things back, but after the messed up drink and the skid marked sushi pizza, I should have sent it all back. We then ordered root vegetables. Another mistake. They were cooked in oil… That’s it. Just oil. They should have been cooked in olive oil, salt, pepper, and lots of garlic. But they were not, and tasted just like root vegetables. If you can’t doctor them up in the kitchen, they should not be on the menu! I ate them because I was hungry and didn’t want to insult the root veggies. We then ordered fries and believe it or not they had no flavor. Do they have salt in Vernon NJ or what? Very greasy with no taste. This is the only hot spot in town they f-​ed it up big time. How are they letting this place go down in flames. They have a captive audience. Maybe they don’t care. We made the children tuna, mayo and pasta for dinner. We should have eaten at home before we went out to eat and just had drinks and danced. What a let down Kites was at Mineral Springs in Vernon NJ. Eat before you go there.

If I could give 0 stars I would but unfortunately Unilocal doesn’t allow that. This place was the worst experience I have ever had. Where to start… When I first walked into the restaurant I approached the what I thought was the hostess and said I had a reservation. I was given the most dirtiest look ever. After a few minutes of standing in limbo while the staff was discussing where to seat us in an empty restaurant we finally were brought over to a table, which had to be the worst table in the restaurant. Now that we were seated you would have figured a waitress would’ve approached us and introduced herself and asked us if we wanted something to drink, well no. We waited approximately 25 minutes or so until finally the hostess or should I say the manager approached us and asked if we wanted anything to drink and if we had our order ready. She told us the first round of drinks were on her since we had to wait so long in the least sincere way. Finally our drinks had arrived minus one of the drinks that I had ordered and shortly after that our salads came to the table. After salads approximately 15 minutes later the food arrived which was mediocre at best. No time during the meal did anyone approach us and ask how the meal was or if we needed anything additional. Once our meal was finished we ordered coffee and dessert which again was not that great. Upon leaving the restaurant the manager and the waitstaff were near the exit and made a point not to say goodbye or thank you. I would not recommend this place to anyone by any means. We would have done better at the local pizzeria or even hell. Stay away!!!

Terrible experience. The restaurant was empty and it took 40 minutes from when we were finished with our apps until dinner came to the table. The waitress was very apologetic and kept saying it will be right out. It was only my wife and I. I ordered the «margherita pizza» and it was a small serving of mozzarella cheese slices on top of bread with a couple cherry tomatoes on top. It was terrible. Nothing that resembled pizza of any kind. My wife ordered the salmon and the sides were ice cold. The waitress came over and saw our faces and asked us if it was really bad. She knew right away. She even said that people complain a lot about the food and she’s sorry. The worst part is the manager came over and tried to make excuses. She said the 40 min wait time is normal. I looked around and said the restaurant is empty and she blamed it on the room service. She said that the kitchen is busy cooking room service which is ridiculous. Then she said that she personally loves the pizza. ITS NOT PIZZA. Look at the reviews to this place. They are really bad. I wish we did before we went.

The reviews were right. I knew what to expect so really was just using it as a meeting place for drinks. Got a pizza and red bean hummus. It was just awful. Decent wine selection
Another tough part about the place is that the smell of chlorine from the pool works its way to the dining roon

The definition of average. Burger was average, salmon was average, French onion soup and salad were average. The chocolate bundt cake and the sweet potato fries were actually pretty good. Service was a little slow due to inexperience of serves imo.

I only ate here because I was stuck here in a snowstorm with my two friends and we couldn’t leave the hotel. There was literally nothing else to eat other than vending machine snacks. We bit the bullet and came here for dinner with super low expectations.
Having seen the previous reviews, I did not think it was worth the risk to order anything off the entrée menu that was filled with dishes over $ 25. I settled for the caesar salad and french onion soup. My caesar salad had a bit too much salad dressing and the french onion soup was a little bit off taste-​wise. On top of that, there was a bunch of spongy chunks at the bottom of my soup… Was it bread? Why not just give it to me on the side? My two friends ordered the normal burger and the bison burger with fries. Which weren’t anything special according to them, but they liked the fries.
Service is ridiculously slow, I can’t tell if the people working there are incompetent or just inexperienced, I’m leaning towards the latter. We did not get our order in for quite a while because our waitress was busy with other tables, the same waitress took our order but never returned again. After the meal was finished, we waited another 15 minutes just for someone to get us the check, which probably wouldn’t have happened at all unless we waved down one of the busy servers who kept floating from table to table like a bunch of kites (where’s our waitress?!). This place isn’t worth the price-​tag.

Hands down worst meal I’ve had in my 45 years on this planet. Came here for New Year’s Eve and we made the best of it anyway. The servers were extremely young but actually did a good job. It blows my mind how a restaurant with inedible food stays in business. I literally feel like I was robbed.

Dinner with my husband was exceptional. He said the filet mignon was the best he’s had in years. I had polenta with figs and goat cheese and it was divine. The service was impeccable. We would love to go back for dinner.
Only giving four stars because brunch the following morning tasted good but the service was incredibly slow.

Dramatically improved service and food. Older reviews will not know about the new bison meatloaf (awesome), sea scallops and rack of lamb. I have tried all three. Very good. Service is faster and friendlier.
Things to note, it is also a bar. May get loud. It has never bothered me, but late night on Thurs and Saturdays may be an issue.
BTW, warm brownie stack was a very good dessert. Enjoy.

The garlic fries and perfectly grilled gulf shrimp added to my Caesar salad are the only lunch items I might remember kindly of Kites! The salad itself was overdressed; the fried pickles were over fried; and, too much bread in their club sandwich! Beware of Kites’ slow, slow, slow service! Not worth the wait!

I was here three times this past weekend, once for a Saturday morning bunch and the other two times were for the nightime «dance club.» The inside of Kites is decorated somewhat nicely with a high ceiling that allowed exposed beams to show as well as a lounge type area around the fire place and finally something that reminded me of a cool looking fence around the back wall.
If I was rating Kites on just the brunch alone, I would probably give it 3 stars. The brunch here consists of a buffet that has a variety of items on it. I personally ended up getting a meat lovers egg white omelet, some yogurt with toppings, a mini sized jelly filled doughnut and then some bacon and sausage. Out of the bunch I think that I found the omelet to be the most flavorful although it was dripping with grease or butter. I also really enjoyed putting some nuts and dried fruit into the plain yogurt that they had. For a drink I went with some coffee which was refilled a couple of times while we ate. What struck me as odd is that each of the 7 people at our table had to separately ask for some water before it was brought over by our waitress. Normally it is on the table or whenever people start asking by 2’s for water, then water is brought out to the whole table. In any case I would probably still head back to Kites again to eat as the food ended up being decent.
So the nightime «dance club» is what really brings the score of this place down for me as I would give that portion a single star. The first night that we were there was a Friday night and there were about 50 or so people there and a single bartender. While he was able to keep up, service was a bit slow and I thought the drinks were overpriced. It wasn’t too horrible of an experience though and nothing that would keep me going again. That second night, a Saturday was different though as I would guess that there was upwards of 200 people at the bar and only 2 bartenders. Due to this I didn’t even try to get a drink and only hung out with some other people. It amused me to watch people walk up the stairs only to see how crowded the place was and walk right back down. What I did think was great about Kites is that the bartenders were successfully able to identify a drunk guy, signal to security and get that guy out of the club. Props to them for that. However, leaving said drunk guy in the lobby of a resort to wander around and eventually pass out was probably not the best place for him.
The bottom line for me is that I probably wouldn’t head back to Kites in the future. I will be the first person to admit that dance clubs really aren’t my scene but my problem here had more to do with the prices of the drinks and the lack of people to serve them.

This place sucks!!! If if you are staying in the hotel stay away from this place! The service is horrendous. And to boot the waitress charged a gratuity for her horrendous service. It took at least an hour to get 4 chicken sandwiches and 2 burgers. This is on a Sunday night at 8:00, the place was dead. Not to mention the sandwiches are $ 14. Never ever again!!! And I really suggest you stay away too despite it being conveniently located in the hotel. Ps: the chicken was very dry.

The snack bar at the pool was closed. So I was forced to go to this restaurant to order a sandwich it was $ 22 for a chicken sandwich that was completely wrong. It was $ 2 extra for bacon, which was never put on it. The original sandwich that was delivered after waiting a half hour was chicken and cheese and was sent back to add the lettuce tomato bacon and mayo that I ordered. It was redelivered with everything but the bacon that I paid extra for. I also asked for no fries but I’m glad they gave them to me since it took an hour before I finally gave up trying with them.

Went to this restaurant once before for lunch, and it was fantastic. Came back to it 2 days ago and it was not just below par, It was horrible.
Food was bad. 2 out of 10
Bread and butter were ok. Bread was hot, but the butter was too sweet. It was like candy. I want bread and butter, not candy.
Caprese had fresh mozzarella that literally oozed out from the middle. Too milky, too runny, disgusting.
My girlfriend and I had the steak specials. She had the NY Strip with some chocolate sauce. Chocolate sauce was good! Steak was horrific. Under cooked, tough, and $ 38. Mashed potatoes were overcooked and had way too much butter. Vegetables were undercooked and bland. My steak special was surf and turf. Better steak on my end, but the crab stuff shrimp was dry overcooked and basically sucked. The bill was just under $ 105 and wasn’t worth any penny given. I’d never step foot in that restaurant again for food.
Kites gave us a free dessert! How thoughtful! No. It was actually terrible. The berry tart was a generic pie, with berries that were never thought to be fully thawed out. So, all in all it all was terrible.
Don’t go here. 1 out of 10.

Pros:
— very kid friendly (though not everyone might like that there seem to be children at every single table)
— quick service
Cons:
— Rather steeply overpriced. If I pay 27 dollars for a pork chop, I expect it to be awesome. What I got was OK, but really nothing special.
— Our waitress was friendly but seemed either forgetful or inexperienced. She forgot our daughter’s side veggie. Then she brought extra glass of beer because she wasn’t sure she has given us the right one in the first place (she had, so we got a free beer)
— Rather confusing reservation system. We called ahead and were told no tables available till 7. We got there at 6.30 and the place was ¾ empty. They seem to have effectively shut down half of the dining room.

While the food was ok the service was horrible. Apps were served, but we were never given plates. Other tables had bread with dipping oil, but not us. The waitress waited til we were done eating before checking to see if the food was ok, no drink refills… etc, etc…
They turned away patrons while ¾ of the restaurant was empty…
Bad management!!!