The Cranbury Inn:
A Restaurant Review
21 South Main St
Cranbury, NJ
(609)-655-5595
Website
Restaurant Highlights
Fare: Traditional American
Price: Moderate - Expensive
Food Quality: Creativity of the menu, food preparation, and the quality of ingredients used are barely above banquet quality
Service: Friendly, though service has rough spots
Decor: Historic 1700's building, charming historic ambiance with wide-planked flooring, fireplace, antiques wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling as chandeliers, and a plate collection displayed on plate rails throughout the restaurant
Overall Rating: 2 Stars
Note: Four star Rating System from 1/2 Star = poor to Four stars = Best in Class
Noise Level: Moderate
Dress: Casual
Recommended For: Budget conscious diners who enjoy traditional American favorites in an historic setting.
Not Recommended For: Diners who enjoy high end food preparation in an upscale, trendy setting
Recommended dishes: When available, The Roast Turkey with home-style cornbread dressing, pan gravy and all the trimmings; The Sauteed Milk Fed Veal Liver with smoked bacon and sauteed onions; and The Smoked Rib Eye Steak Served with a thyme natural sauce.
Liquor: Full Service Bar
Restaurant Review
The Cranbury Inn is a landmark restaurant with a historic past that dates back to the mid 1700's. It also is an alleged stop on the Underground Railroad & boasts an alleged "body hiding box" in a converted flu space.
Owned and operated by the congenial husband & wife team, Tom & Gay Ingegneri, having acquired the property in 1992.
Today the Cranbury Inn is popular with diners who come to celebrate special occasions while feasting on traditional American food and "old world, Colonial ambiance."
The Cranbury Inn is especially popular as a banquet hall for weddings, religious celebrations, and corporate functions. The banquet functions can be accommodated in their private rooms for 2 to 200+ guests.
The main building of the Cranbury Inn consists of two original taverns built in the 1700's and an innkeeper' s house built directly in front of the taverns, adjoining all three. The innkeeper's living room is now the lobby with a fireplace and a velvet sofa that has been in the same room since 1860.
The Inn features a huge amount of artfully displayed antiques and artifacts that could also serve as a museum.
The interior includes creaky, wide-planked flooring, antiques wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling as chandeliers, and a plate collection displayed on plate rails throughout the restaurant
The renovation has provided a glass encasement exposing the outside wall of the original building with handmade bricks and timber frame construction using hand-hewed timbers from the 1700's acquired the nearby forest.
The new barn has replaced the original barn destroyed by fire in 1902, with construction retaining the history of the original barn including the use of the original supports where the old barn once stood.
The new barn with sweeping balconies creates an attractive setting for weddings.
While The Cranbury Inn offers an attractive, historic setting for dining and celebrating a special occasion, unfortunately the creativity of the menu, food preparation, and the quality of ingredients used are barely above banquet quality. The menu consists of simply prepared traditional American classics.
The Cranberry Inn does not have a head chef running the kitchen, typically found in high end restaurants. Instead the Ingegneri's have chosen to use a team of cross trained cooks that are most often associated with banquet halls.
The Cranbury Inn is family friendly with a children's menu for ages 10 years old & under.
The Cranbury Inn is open seven days/week. Lunch & dinner is served six days a week and on Sundays they serve a Champagne Brunch followed by dinner.
They are also open on Thanksgiving serving a special Thanksgiving menu, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve for both a New Year's Eve Dinner & a New Year's Eve Party.
(Updated: November 2021)
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