Eater NY lists the top dining establishments in Jersey City.
An Uzbek spot in Rego Park and a Korean restaurant in Astoria join the list There’s also a good eggplant rollatini stuffed with fresh ricotta. Dabble between cuisines, with dishes like pork-and-chive dumplings, Shanghai meatballs with salted egg yolks, lobster mapo tofu, noodle soups, and more. This newish Chinese restaurant offers dishes from Shanghai and Sichuan province.
THE SPOTS
But Jersey dogs don’t come topped with sauerkraut and caramelized canned onions (rather there’s a meaty topping often described as chili), even though it’s more like an onion-y Greek meat sauce. Squeeze into a spot at the high tops where you’ll be eye-level with photos of the LA Dodgers, and mix and match four tacos for under $20. In addition to dinner, Maxwell Alley offers one of the best bars in the city to unwind with a few cocktails. Sure there’s seating in the dining room, but that bar is a good place for a fine Guinness pour and lowkey spot to go see music, thanks to the piano at the front of the restaurant.
Jersey City’s Mariscos El Submarino.
Ani makes fantastic ramen — but the appetizers at this casual spot betting and predictions with a ’90s and early aughts playlist are top-notch, too. If you come during lunch, plan on also ordering one of their hot-dish combos that come with rice and your pick of different stews or other meat and seafood dishes. But the sides are good (and the margaritas are $14), making for a good spot to graze on platters of food and drink with a couple of friends. Their barbecue is decent—we prefer the appetizers, like those sticky ribs or some very crispy smoked wings. It’s snappy, with a nice sear, and best topped with the tingly homemade chili-onion sauce—featuring tiny diced onions that somehow taste both raw and caramelized. The neighborhood mainstay has been serving big platters of eggplant rollatini and chicken francese since the 1970s (and it remains a great place for red-sauce Italian and cheap glasses of red wine), filled right up to the brim.
You’ll need to join their long waitlist for a reservation, and you’ll have to call to do it. Come hungry , and with your own bottle of wine—it’s BYO,, because the six-course meal is hefty. Though the owners don’t live upstairs above the restaurant anymore — every room in this house on a residential street in Journal Square is still decorated with their wedding pictures and family mementos. Like the other locations, the place is casual and weeknight dinner-appropriate, but the music is loud and fun enough that you could easily spend a few hours here before a night out in the area.
Wurst Bar
Go here for all things sausages, including brats, kielbasa, and hot dogs. And if you’re a Guinness fan — here’s where to find the best pour in town. A bar that recognizes Irish immigrants fighting on behalf of Mexico in the Mexican American War, it reflects the Irish heritage of the owners behind sibling Dead Rabbit. This tiki bar below White Eagle Hall is a tiki bar decorated with items from Jersey City’s St. Boniface Church. The cozy bar and restaurant offers plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. Owner and chef is Nur-E Gulshan Rahman but she gets lots of help from her daughter.
Seasonal wonders are featured on the menu (accompanied by iconic dishes such as the crispy puntarelle salad), rigatoni with pancetta, tomato, and mint, as well as the spicy angry chicken. In the open kitchen — visitors can experience the magic of cooking as fresh pasta is skillfully made. While air-dried cecina and slow-cooked pork carnitas remain favorites, taco lovers should not miss the lamb barbacoa. This bar is remarkable not only for New Jersey but would impress anywhere it is situated.
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Across from the modern dining area, a bar lined with palm tree wallpaper is your cue to ask the staff—a fun bunch—what cocktail to order. Twists on classic Southern dishes — like fried shrimp with a homemade lemon remoulade, join crowd pleasers like burgers, squid ink bucatini, and jerk mahi mahi. Bring the family for a relaxed sit-down dinner at this husband-and-wife-run restaurant that specializes in North Indian food.