Echo Tap and Grille is a relatively new but popular establishment in Mountainside. The restaurant has partnerships with Grubhub and Doordash, two delivery services that have become more in demand since COVID 19 restrictions limited in-door dining.
I went to this restaurant with my family on a Friday night. Although the parking lot was full, nearby side streets provided parking spaces that were less than two-minute walks from the restaurant. Echo Tap and Grille offers both indoor and outdoor seating options. Since neither reached full capacity, customers could decide where they wanted to sit. The booths inside the restaurant were spaced out fairly far apart, with no booths marked off limits to patrons.
The decor gave off the feeling of being in a garage, and decorations all around the restaurant looked like they were themed to be American retro. The restaurants big windows resembled garage doors, and pipes in the main entrance resembled parts you would find at a mechanic shop.
Echo Tap and Grilles menus could be accessed with a camera pointed at the QR code provided on the tables. Paper menus were available upon request. The menu was mostly comprised of beverages, specifically alcoholic beverages. The section of the menu containing dinner items was only about a page long, but the restaurant offered a lot of daily specials.
My family ordered fried calamari as an appetizer, and mediterranean flatbread, chicken tostados, snow crab leg pasta, and kids sliders as our main courses. The fried calamari came out about ten minutes after it was ordered. It was oily, but overall, very good dressed in sun-dried tomatoes and dried jalapenos.
The entrees came out around fifteen minutes after they were ordered. The chicken tostados had a wide variety of flavors. The chicken had a creamy texture which made the tostado messy to eat. A mildly cold rice was served on the side. The mediterranean flatbread had eggplant, olives, roasted tomatoes, and feta. The feta was a little overpowering, but beneath it, the dish still offered a lot of flavors. The actual flatbread was decently crunchy and not too messy to eat. The snow crab leg pasta was served in a generous portion. However, the crab legs had to be cracked open, which can be tedious, messy, and time-consuming. A garlic sauce that complemented the crab well was served on the side of the pasta. The kids sliders were mini cheeseburgers with fries on the side, and it tasted decent.
I was most impressed by how every dish was served in a cohesive and elegant way. I would recommend going here if you are looking for a place with a laid-back atmosphere and family-friendly meal options. While the food was somewhat underwhelming, everything was reasonably priced and Echo Tap offered an American take on a variety of cuisines.
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