Jersey City has a long history of welcoming immigrants from places as far apart as Ireland, Italy, India and the Philippines, among others. It’s no wonder diners can find so many different cuisines here. But a wonder it is. It’s a jumping-off point from which to explore cuisines you love or are curious about.
While diverse foodie enclaves can be found all over the state, Jersey City has depth.
The restaurants here provide a taste of home for some and an adventure for others. “Jersey City is the most ethnically diverse city,” explains Alessia Aron, founder and owner of Beyond the Plate food tours. “Here you can find a 50-year-old Italian deli, Peruvian, Haitian, West African, Salvadoran, Mexican, Japanese, Vietnamese. We have everything.”
Aron’s tours visit downtown Jersey City and the Heights, and she is starting to venture into other areas and cuisine-specific tours. In 2024, she led a taco tour of McGinley Square, visiting 3 Coffee Beans (658 Montgomery Street) and Tlalsoc Taqueria (713 Bergen Avenue) among others.
Mexican food, from tacos to tortas and beyond, can be found in neighborhoods all over Jersey City. Mi Mariachi, with locations in Journal Square and McGinley, is one of the most popular and beloved. Don’t skip the chilaquiles. Up in the Heights, Los Tres Chilitos (456 Central Avenue) has Oaxacan-style tamales or if visiting for breakfast, eggs scrambled with soft cubes of cactus.
Growing up in the West Side neighborhood, Adrienne Romero, founder of the digital media publication Slice of Culture, would go to church with her family and then to one of the many Filipino restaurants near Journal Square, an area then referred to as Little Manila.“It was always packed,” Romero says.
The spots include Bahay Kubo (444 West Side Avenue) and the Philippine Bread House (530 Newark Avenue). At the Bread House, visitors can pick up baked goods like pandesal, the traditional breakfast roll, or can dine cafeteria style at Cafe Pilipino, in the same location, on classics like adobo, rice and beans, and lumpia. Romero also recommends the newer spot Next Door Provisions (146 Yale Avenue) for a fresh, modern take on Filipino cuisine.
“Once you taste the traditional then the modern take on it, you’ll be able to feel the evolution of Filipino food in Jersey City,” she says.
Excellent sushi can be found all over New Jersey, but some of the state’s best spots can also be experienced right here. DOMODOMO (200 Greene Street), which came to Jersey City from Manhattan in 2019, serves rolls and more but also offers a set omakase-style menu with sushi courses as well as dishes from other sections of the menu. Sushi by Bou (218 Newark Avenue) and Kura Revolving Sushi Bar (515 Washington Boulevard) also have locations here.
All discussions of food in Jersey City must include the spots found in Little India, located in the narrow stretch between Journal Square and highways 1/9/139. India is a vast country, with many regional specialties, many of which can be found here. Visit Sri Ganesh’s Dosa House (809 Newark Avenue), open since the ’90s, for dosas, idlys (rice cakes) or vadas (fritters). Or for an extended evening of eating, make a reservation at the highly acclaimed Korai Kitchen (576 Summit Avenue), a Bangladeshi restaurant run by a mother-and-daughter duo where meals extend past multiple hours and more than a dozen courses.
Aron says the best restaurants in Jersey City serve food, but they also tell a story—of immigration, of family, of tradition.
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