Home Grown Cafe

December 14, 2007
Decieded to check this place out after a trip to Iron Hill, but it was just way too far out in left field for me. Had a few decent brews on tap, looked like they rotate them somewhat but didn’t really get a whole lot of info as I wasn’t there too long. Place was too bright & too open, looked more like a Starbucks than a bar. Food did look good but I did not even look @ a menu. I wouldn’t go back here, not w/ Iron Hill & another more standard bar right up the street.

June 21, 2007 [ Updated September 3, 2008 ]
This is a strange restaurant and I am not quite sure why everyone is so keen on it. It seems to be working off the hippy leftist vegan thing, and trying to be pricey and upscale at the same time. While I have nothing against leftist vegans, I fail to see how these two things can go together or why someone would want them to. As for the beer, it’s unremarkable: they have a decent selection of stuff in bottles but not much on tap. The food is remarkably bland...it was fresh but not very interesting, and certainly not good enough to justify the prices. This place is expensive and the food is not outstanding nor are the portions particularly large. Service was ok, but somewhat slow. The atmosphere is nice but a bit strange...it’s like it’s trying to straddle the fence between a nice sit-down restaurant on one hand and a lively bar on the other hand, and it doesn’t seem to do either particularly well. It’s a bit classy but a bit sterile at the same time. It has high ceilings and widely-spaced tables with few dividers...too much space but not much privacy. Do yourself a favor and find somewhere else to go. There is MUCH better food in Newark, for cheaper, if that’s what you’re after, and there are places with more selections of beer as well.

August 30, 2005
Nice food menu with plenty of non-standard offerings. Lots of vegan options (not that I care). Nice beer selection, nothing exceedingly rare but there’s plenty to satisfy a beer geek.