Restaurant review: Irving Inn, Rahway, NJ

The first Friday of each month are glorious days, magical really. You see, it’s Kids’ Fun Night. For 3 amazing hours, my girls get to have pizza and a movie at little Nutmeg’s daycare with 40 of their closest friends and a few of their favorite teachers. As for mommy and daddy? We get to go out to dinner. To a grown-up restaurant. Alone. Or with other adults. It’s downright miraculous.

Last Friday, we decided to check out nearby Rahway, NJ. One draw was the newly opened Wet Ticket Brewery. (YUM!) But we decided to try dinner at the Irving Inn. The Irving Inn offers two venues: the Wine House and Kitchen and the Social. The menus appear to be nearly the same, but we opted for the Wine House and Kitchen and made a reservation via Opentable for 4 people at 6:30.

For the majority of our meal, we were the only people in the quaint restaurant. Our server was very attentive and we kind of wondered if this was normal for a Friday sine we’d heard lots of good reviews about the food. Later, a couple of other tables were seated, but there were plenty still open.

We started with drinks, 3 of us going for local Wet Ticket beer. a grapefruit IPA to be exact. Brewed about a block away from the restaurant, it was delicious. My friend went for a blood orange margarita which look fabulous as well.

For dinner, I opted for the Shrimp and Grits “Carbonara”. It was a generous serving of creamy, delicious grits topped with 4 perfectly cooked shrimp and some crispy guanciale which add a porky crunch. The dish was topped with a poached egg that was a bit overcooked, but all-in-all, I loved the dish and would get it again.

Unsurprisingly, hubby opted for the gemelli with lamb ragu and whipped goat cheese. It was a very healthy portion, full of flavor and oh the yummy goat cheese… There’s just something about lamb and goat cheese! (The pictures don’t do the meal justice, thanks to my crappy phone)
  

Each of our dishes were under $20 and drinks were also reasonably priced (with a healthy pour of wine no less!).

Given how tasty the food was and the very reasonable prices, I’m surprised the place wasn’t full. We will certainly give it another shot. In fact, next month the Social is hosting a Pearl Jam acoustic cover band so we might have to head back soon!

After dinner, we headed over to Wet Ticket to sample some more of their beer before picking up our kids and returning to reality until next month.