🍽️ Freehold restaurants offer dining options from casual pizza to high-end Mediterranean and American fare.🌟 Featured spots include 618, Metropolitan Café, Solo Trattoria, Charkol, Federici’s Pizzeria, and Lemon Mediterranean.🎁 Perfect for families, date nights, or holiday celebrations, with BYOB and tasting menu experiences.
FREEHOLD — As the hustle and bustle of the holidays gets underway, there will be a lot to do — from cooking, baking, and cleaning to decorating, shopping, and wrapping.
So, there may not be a lot of time to get dinner on the table every night. Treat yourself and the family to a meal at a nice restaurant or a casual eatery.
Here are six restaurants to check out in Freehold.
618: Seasonal American fare in a cozy, festive atmosphere
618 Restaurant (Google Street View)
618 Restaurant (Google Street View)
618 Park Ave, Freehold
All decked out for the holidays, 618 is a high-end restaurant serving seasonal American fare. The décor is modern and rustic with brick, hardwood floors, fireplaces, ambient lighting, and just warm and cozy all around. The menu features dishes like buttermilk fried Maine lobster tails, lamb sliders, skirt steak, wild mushroom ravioli, and more.
The restaurant offers a 618 Experience, a shared tasting menu for $99 per guest. According to the restaurant’s website, the menu includes granny’s meatballs, short rib ravioli, burrata, pan-seared grouper, and Pat LaFrieda steak of the month. For dessert, diners will be served pistachio olive oil cake.
Enjoy special experiences like cocktail classes and wine dinners. The restaurant also has a banquet and event space, which can be used for weddings, holiday parties, and other celebrations.
Metropolitan Café: Trendy American bistro with sushi and cocktails
Metropolitan Cafe (Google Street View)
Metropolitan Cafe (Google Street View)
8 E Main St, Freehold
This is an American bistro, a sushi bar and lounge, with a Pacific rim flair all rolled into one. So, whether you’re in the mood for sushi, small plates, or just a glass of wine or a cocktail from the martini bar, Metropolitan Café in downtown Freehold has you covered.
Try the signature calamari and shrimp appetizer, a sweet and spicy dish with sesame seeds. Other dishes on the menu, according to the restaurant’s website, include filet mignon spring rolls, crab-stuffed grilled portobello, twice-cooked Cuban steak, Frenched pork chop, and tons of sushi specialty rolls.
The ambience has a sort of upscale, trendy vibe with mahogany wood finishes and soft lighting. There are occasional DJ nights, too.
Solo Trattoria: Authentic Italian dining and family-style meals
Solo Trattoria (Google Street View)
Solo Trattoria (Google Street View)
7 South St, Freehold
Known for their traditional, handmade, homestyle Italian dishes, such as homemade pastas, risottos, and carpaccios, along with a wide selection of fresh grilled seafood, NY sirloin steaks, and veal chops, Solo Trattoria is a great restaurant to try this holiday season.
Born in Rome, Giorgio Ceciarelli, brought his love of great Italian food to cities like Miami, and then later to downtown Freehold over 18 years ago, according to the restaurant’s website.
ALSO READ: NJ county’s Adopt-a-Family program spreads holiday warmth
The menu at Solo Trattoria is seasonal. One notable feature on the dinner menu is the family meal option, which can feed up to five people.
Another gem on the menu is the spiced rub ahi tuna, which is served over saffron risotto.
Customers can take part in The Taste of Italy journey, too.
“Join us on the last Thursday of every month for Taste of Italy, a 7-course dining experience spotlighting the rich flavors of Italy’s diverse regions. Each month, we celebrate a new region, its history, ingredients, and culinary traditions, with a curated tasting menu crafted by our chefs,” the restaurant’s website reads.
Oh, and it’s always BYOB at Solo Trattoria.
Charkol: Modern steakhouse with a charred perfection
Charkol (Google Street View)
Charkol (Google Street View)
38 South St, Freehold
If steak is your thing, then you must try Charkol, a traditional steakhouse with a modern twist. According to the restaurant’s website, their one-of-a-kind oven cooks use oak cherrywood that is known to smolder at high temperatures to create the perfect “char-kol” crust on each piece of meat.
All steaks are served with a black pepper bourbon sauce and a roasted garlic bulb. Choose from NY strip, spinalis ribeye cap, filet, skirt steak, cowboy ribeye, dry-aged tomahawk, and dry-aged porterhouse.
Of course, there are other succulent dishes on the menu besides steak that are sure to delight your palate, as well.
The restaurant is BYOB.
Federici’s Pizzeria: Century-old family pizza tradition
Federici’s (Google Street View)
Federici’s (Google Street View)
14 E Main St, Freehold
This cash-only, long-standing, family-run Freehold institution is particularly famous for its pizza.
“We are very proud of the fact that we have been in business for over one hundred years. Frank and Ester Federici (better known as “Mom” and “Pop”) bought this very location in 1921. Mom’s recipe for cheese lasagna is still used today,” the restaurant’s website reads.
According to the restaurant’s website, Federici’s famous, award-winning, thin-crust pizza was perfected in 1946 when sons Dante and Frank entered the business. When Frank’s four sons started working, they expanded the menu to include appetizers, signature Northern Italian dishes, and homemade desserts.
Other specialty pizzas to sink your teeth into include vodka sauce pizza, chicken parm, eggplant parm, shrimp scampi, and even gluten-free pies.
Bonus Restaurant: Lemon Mediterranean: BYOB Mediterranean fusion
Lemon Mediterranean Restaurant (Google Street View)
Lemon Mediterranean Restaurant (Google Street View)
3475 US-9, Freehold
This BYOB features Mediterranean fusion drawing from Italian, Spanish, French, Moroccan, and Greek influences.
attachment-nextdoor-nj1015
According to the restaurant’s menu, appetizers include octopus, peaches stuffed with crabmeat and gorgonzola cheese in a pomegranate ginger reduction, and Sicilian rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and green peas with a roasted garlic tomato sauce.
As for entrees, the website menu included pistachio-encrusted wild salmon, Moroccan chicken, chicken artichoke, lamb and chicken kofta.
Other items on the menu, according to the restaurant’s website, is the eatery’s lemon platter. That includes butternut squash, bulgar lentil relish, garbanzo bean fennel relish, roasted beets and onions, truffled mushrooms, and eggplant caponata drizzled with mint oil.
Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom
Here are 9 Farm-to-Table Restaurants to Check Out in the Garden State
For those who like farm-fresh food and ingredients when they dine out, you’ll be happy to know that New Jersey has a vibrant farm-to-table dining scene with many restaurants committed to sourcing local and seasonal ingredients.
Gallery Credit: Jen Ursillo
Dining and Cooking