Montclair Restaurants: Bloomfield Avenue and Beyond

Montclair restaurants are spread across a handful of walkable village centers, with Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair Center as the busiest strip, a short train ride from New York. The township has a reputation for food that punches above its size, with a mix of casual cafes, family dining rooms and chef-led places. Pick a center, walk it and eat where the regulars are.

Where are the main Montclair restaurants?

Montclair is not one downtown but several. Montclair Center, along Bloomfield Avenue and the streets that cross it, has the densest cluster of restaurants, cafes, bakeries and bars. Upper Montclair, a few minutes north, has a village feel with Valley Road and Bellevue Avenue. Watchung Plaza and the smaller shopping streets add neighborhood places that locals use every week.

The train stations at the centers make it simple to arrive without a car. Walk between clusters if the weather is kind.

What is dining on Bloomfield Avenue like?

Busy and varied. The avenue holds pizza counters, delis, noodle shops, taquerias, bakeries, bistros and sit-down restaurants, and the sidewalks fill with diners in warm weather. On Friday and Saturday evenings the popular rooms are full, while a midweek dinner is calm. The mix shifts with the calendar: theater and film nights add early diners, and a sunny Sunday brings brunch lines.

Walk both sides of the avenue before you choose. Some of the best rooms are upstairs or set back from the street. Read the menus in the windows and look at who is eating: a table of regulars is a good sign, and a room full of the same age group may tell you what kind of evening to expect. Most places display their menus outside, so you can decide without stepping in.

What is Montclair Center like for lunch?

Brisk and friendly. Commuters, parents and people from the nearby offices keep the lunch counters busy, and a day at the museum or the shops often includes a sandwich, soup or salad in a cafe. Montclair Art Museum visitors tend to eat in the Center afterward. Expect a mix of homemade soups, sandwiches on good bread, grain bowls and pastries.

If you are in a hurry, pick a counter. If you are not, take a table by the window and watch the town go by.

Where is Upper Montclair for dinner?

Upper Montclair has a quieter, more residential feel. The village around Valley Road has restaurants that serve families and regulars, with menus that lean toward Italian, American and Asian cooking. It is the kind of place where the staff know the customers, and the dining rooms can be small. A dinner here suits a calmer evening than the avenue, and parking is easier.

Ask a local which room they use for a birthday, and the answer is often a place you would not have noticed. The northern village is also the sensible choice when the avenue is crowded, because a ten-minute drive or a train stop buys you a quieter table and an easier parking space. The villages feel like separate towns, and each has its own favorite haunts.

What about a Montclair dinner for a crowd?

Montclair has plenty of rooms that handle families and groups, but the popular ones fill early on weekends. Phone ahead with a headcount, and ask whether a large table is available at the hour you want. Having a second option helps, since the neighboring street will almost always have one.

A group of eight is a different customer from a table of two, and a kitchen that has handled one is a kitchen worth remembering. Ask about shared plates, because a table that passes dishes around eats better than one that orders eight separate mains, and the kitchen can send things out together. If the group includes children or older relatives, choose a room with comfortable seats and a volume level that lets people talk.

How do tags help in a town like this?

In the Mosey app, raters add tags when they rate a meal, and diners look for them in the Find sheet. In Montclair the useful ones are Family Friendly, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Quick Service, Date Night and Outdoor seating. A tag is a note from someone who ate there, and a dietary tag is a good opening for a conversation with the kitchen.

How do you eat your way through a village?

Pick one center and stay in it for the day. Start with coffee, take a walk, choose lunch by the line at the counter, shop in the afternoon and let dinner be a short walk from the last stop. Rate each place as you go with the dish and stars, and add a line about the room. Friends who follow you will see what you rated, and a tagged friend can add their own rating of the same meal.

Where next in Montclair?

The Montclair brunch guide covers weekend mornings, the gluten-free guide covers the dietary side, and the pre-theater dinner guide covers the evening. The US food guides hold the rest of the country.

For the rest of the state, start at the Food in New Jersey page.

On the train home, open the Mosey app, rate your last Montclair meal by the dish and add the place to a list called Bloomfield Avenue that you can share.