Hoboken Restaurants: Washington Street and Beyond

Hoboken restaurants are packed into a city that fits inside one square mile, and most of them sit within a few blocks of Washington Street. A visitor who steps off the PATH train or the ferry can eat well without a car, from a quick lunch counter to a long dinner. Walk Washington Street once, read the menus in the windows and trust the room that smells right.

Where are the main Hoboken restaurants?

Washington Street is the spine. It runs the length of the city, and its blocks hold a dense mix of pizza counters, bars with kitchens, bakeries, cafes and dinner rooms. The side streets add smaller places that locals keep to themselves, and the waterfront at the eastern edge has a few rooms with a view across the river. The streets are flat and the blocks are short, so you can sample three or four places in an afternoon.

Because the city is so compact, the best advice is to walk. Cross at a corner you do not know and read a menu before you decide.

What is Hoboken dinner like on a weekend?

Busy. Young professionals, families and visitors from Manhattan fill the dining rooms on Friday and Saturday evenings, and bars with food are loud by nine. Weeknights are far easier. If you want a quiet table on a weekend, eat early or late, and phone ahead if your group has more than four. Walk-in rules differ from room to room, so ask the host how long the wait is before you commit.

Neighborhood regulars treat dinner as a short walk, so even the busiest rooms feel local rather than touristy once you step inside.

Where is a good Hoboken lunch?

Lunch is the great equalizer. Office workers, parents with strollers and people between trains share the counters and cafes. Sandwiches, salads, soups, noodle bowls and slices are the standard orders, and several delis make their own bread or mozzarella. For a longer break, a sit-down room with a lunch menu usually costs less than dinner in the same kitchen.

If you are on your way back to the city, pick a place within five minutes of the station so a delay does not cost you a train.

What about Hoboken near the PATH train?

The Hoboken Terminal is a transit hub for the PATH train, New Jersey Transit and the ferry to Manhattan. Restaurants and cafes near the station are built for commuters: fast, reliable and easy to find. Do not judge the city by the first block you see, though. Walk two streets inland and the places get quieter, cheaper and more varied.

A coffee and a pastry near the platform is a fine start. A proper meal is better with a ten-minute walk.

Which tags help in a dense little city?

In the Mosey app, raters add tags when they rate a meal, and diners look for them in the Find sheet. In Hoboken the useful ones are Quick Service, Outdoor seating, Dog-Friendly, Family Friendly, Date Night and Late Night. A tag is a note from someone who ate there, and a dietary tag is a good opening for a word with the kitchen about allergies. Add one after your own meal and the next Hoboken diner sees it.

How should you eat your way down Washington Street?

Plan three stops. A first for something small, a second for the main meal and a third for dessert or coffee. Walk the length once before you sit, then turn back to the place that caught your eye. Rate each stop as you leave: stars and the dish, a line on the room. By the time you reach the waterfront you will have a simple record of the day.

Friends who follow you can see what you rated, and tagging the people you ate with lets them add their own rating of the same meal.

Is Hoboken good for families and groups?

It can be, with planning. Strollers are everywhere, and many restaurants welcome children at early hours, though a crowded bar room at eight on a Saturday is not the place for a toddler. For larger groups, ask in advance whether the kitchen will take a long table, and choose a place that can divide the check the way you need. The city's parks and the waterfront give children somewhere to run before or after a meal, which turns a long dinner into an easier one. Tag a rating Family Friendly in the app if a place looked after your table well.

What do locals say about eating in Hoboken?

Locals will tell you that the city's food is better than its size, and that the trick is to avoid the obvious. A place with a line is not always the place worth the line. Ask a neighbor which bakery they use on Sundays, which pizza they order on a Friday and where they take visiting parents. The answers are rarely the same restaurant twice.

Where next in Hoboken?

The Hoboken skyline brunch guide covers the waterfront, the Hoboken Italian food guide explains the city's bakeries and delis, and the Jersey City restaurants guide covers the next stop down the river. The US food guides hold the rest of the country.

Heading somewhere else in New Jersey? The Food in New Jersey page links the rest.

On the way to the platform, open the Mosey app, rate your last meal in Hoboken by the dish and add the place to a list called Washington Street for the next visit.