If you are looking for the best restaurants in Jersey City Heights, the neighborhood has a much better food scene than most people expect from an area that does not show up on many radar screens outside of Hudson County.
The Heights, as locals call it, sits above Hoboken on the Palisade cliffs and has been changing steadily over the last decade. As Hoboken rents climbed, younger residents started moving up the hill, drawn by lower prices and a more residential feel. That shift brought new restaurants, bars, and coffee shops to a neighborhood that previously had very few options worth seeking out. When I lived here, the Corkscrew Bar was about the only spot on this list that existed.
Most of the action is concentrated along two corridors. Central Avenue is the main commercial strip and home to the neighborhood’s longstanding Latin American restaurants, which cater to a community that has been here far longer than the newer arrivals. Palisade Avenue, a few blocks east toward Hoboken, is where most of the newer restaurants have opened, and it is where you will find the spots that have started drawing people up from Hoboken and downtown Jersey City.
The result is a neighborhood with a genuinely interesting mix: Roman-style pizza, authentic Cuban food, Italian BYOB spots, Detroit-style pizza and cocktails, Afro-Caribbean breakfast, and some of the best coffee shops in Jersey City. These are the best restaurants in Jersey City Heights, along with the bars and coffee shops worth knowing about.
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Where is Jersey City Heights?
Jersey City Heights sits directly above Hoboken on the Palisade cliffs, which is where the name comes from. Unlike downtown Jersey City there are no PATH stations here, so getting from Manhattan means a bus from Port Authority or the PATH to Journal Square and a connecting bus. It takes a few more steps than other Jersey City neighborhoods, which has kept it more residential and less visited than areas like downtown or the waterfront.
The neighborhood has a strong Hispanic influence, with Central Avenue lined with Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Latin American restaurants and businesses that have been here for generations. That community is still very much present, though the Heights has been changing steadily as Hoboken’s rising costs push younger residents up the cliff in search of more space at lower prices. The food scene in this guide is largely a product of that shift.
Best Restaurants in Jersey City Heights
Corto
If I had to pick the single best restaurant in Jersey City Heights, it is Corto. It is also one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Hudson County, full stop.
Corto opened in 2018 and has a backyard patio that makes it one of the better spots for outdoor dining in the Heights. It started as a local secret but word got out, and now people make the trip up from Hoboken specifically to eat here.
The homemade pasta is the reason to come, but do not overlook the Angry Chicken. It is chicken simmered in Chianti for three hours with tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, and chilies, and it has been on the menu since day one for good reason.
Corto is BYOB and small, so reservations are strongly recommended. Bring a bottle of wine.
ITALIAN | BYOB | PASTA | DATE NIGHT | OUTDOOR DINING
Rumba's Cafe
Rumba’s Cafe is one of the best Cuban restaurants in Jersey City and has been a staple of the Heights for years. People come from Hoboken and beyond for the food, which tells you something about how good it is.
The menu is built around authentic Cuban cooking, and the daily specials are where you want to focus. Order one of those alongside a fresh fruit shake and you are in good shape.
CUBAN | LATIN AMERICAN | CASUAL | LOCAL FAVORITE
The Franklin
The Franklin is one of the better Italian restaurants in Jersey City Heights, with Chef Jamie Ramirez running a pasta-focused dinner menu that includes standouts like Cacio e Pepe and Lamb Ragu Pappardelle. Beyond pasta, the braised short rib is worth ordering, and the Franklin burger topped with guacamole, burrata, and chorizo is one of the more creative burgers in the neighborhood. The octopus with brown butter and Chile de Árbol is my go-to appetizer.
The Franklin is BYOB for dinner.
Breakfast on weekdays and brunch on weekends are a different story. The eggs Benedict, brioche French toast with mascarpone butter, and ricotta pancakes are all solid, but what makes this one of my favorite brunch spots in Jersey City Heights is the Mexican influence. The huevos rancheros are good. The chilaquiles are even better.
ITALIAN | BYOB | PASTA | BRUNCH | MEXICAN INFLUENCES
The Hutton
The Hutton sits just off JFK Boulevard in a residential pocket of the Heights, and it is one of those bars that works for almost any occasion. The interior has exposed brick, original bar elements, and the feel of a former speakeasy, which it actually was. You will feel equally at home here with a beer or a glass of wine.
The back patio is the spot in warmer weather, with a large TV screen that makes it one of the better places in the Heights to watch Sunday football. They usually have a few local beers on tap alongside the standard selections.
The menu covers more ground than most bars in this neighborhood. The wings are the best in the Heights and can be made with cauliflower, the pork buns and sweet potato tamale are worth ordering, and the skirt steak, pasta, and seafood options make this a legitimate option for a date night dinner in Jersey City.
But the best lunch in Jersey City Heights is the fried chicken naan sandwich with street corn, arugula, and cheddar cheese sauce. Weekend brunch is also worth a visit.
AMERICAN | BRUNCH | DATE NIGHT | OUTDOOR PATIO | LOCAL BEERS | SUNDAY FOOTBALL
La Milpa Taqueria
La Milpa Taqueria opened in 2024 and is already one of the best Mexican restaurants in Jersey City Heights. It is run by Chef Jaime Ramirez, who also owns The Franklin a few blocks away, and the same care that goes into that kitchen shows up here.
The taco menu covers al pastor, chorizo, birria, carnitas, pescado, and tinga, and beyond tacos there are flautas, quesadillas, and tortas. The back courtyard is one of the better outdoor dining spots in the neighborhood, especially in summer.
La Milpa is BYOB. Bring beer or tequila and they will make margaritas, which makes an afternoon on that back deck a very easy way to spend a few hours.
MEXICAN | BYOB | TACOS | OUTDOOR DINING | CASUAL
The Best Pizza in Jersey City Heights
Bread & Salt
Bread & Salt is one of the best pizza spots in Jersey City Heights and one of the more distinctive places to eat in the entire area. The Roman-style pies are the main draw, but the breads and pastries are just as good and reason enough to come on their own.
The hours are limited: Thursday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm only. It is consistently busy during all four of those days, so expect a line. The Pizza Rossa with no cheese and the Pizza Mozzarella are the ones to order, and the focaccia with tomato and green olives is not something to skip. For pastries, the bomboloni and crostatas are worth grabbing on the way out.
Bread & Salt is takeout only, but they have an online shop where you can order pies, pantry items, and sandwiches for pickup if you want to skip the line.
ROMAN STYLE PIZZA | PASTRIES | TAKEOUT ONLY | THURSDAY TO SUNDAY
Low Fidelity
Low Fidelity serves the best Detroit-style pizza in Jersey City and is also one of the better cocktail bars in the Heights. Those two things together in the same room make it worth knowing about.
Detroit-style is a square pan pizza where the sauce goes on top of the cheese rather than underneath. Low Fidelity does it well, and the Motor City with cured pepperoni, smoked pepperoni, mozzarella, and marinara finished with hot honey is the one to order. They also do white pizzas and a pesto pizza that is better than it sounds. Order at least one pizza on your first visit.
Once you are a regular, the salads, appetizers, and sandwiches are worth exploring. The beer list leans toward smaller breweries like Maine Beer Co and Allagash alongside classics like Miller High Life and Narragansett, but the cocktail menu is where most people end up.
DETROIT STYLE PIZZA | COCKTAILS | CASUAL
Breakfast & Brunch in Jersey City Heights
The Cliff
The Cliff is one of the best breakfast spots in Jersey City Heights and one of the few restaurants in the area with a genuine focus on vegan and vegetarian cooking. The menu uses unprocessed ingredients throughout, but there are meat options and an Icelandic cod burger that I keep coming back to.
Breakfast and lunch only. The brioche French toast with berries, almonds, coconut, and mascarpone is the kind of dish that makes you understand why people line up for brunch in Jersey City. The avocado toast and breakfast burrito can both be made with tofu scramble instead of eggs, and the buffalo cauliflower tacos and quinoa wrap hold up well even if you are not a regular vegan diner.
The back patio is worth knowing about. You cannot see it from the street, but it is a genuinely nice outdoor space and one of the better spots in the neighborhood to sit outside for a relaxed breakfast or lunch. It is also a very kid friendly spot.
VEGAN | VEGETARIAN | BREAKFAST | LUNCH | OUTDOOR PATIO | KID FRIENDLY
Griot Cafe
Griot Cafe is one of the most interesting breakfast spots in Jersey City Heights, and one of the harder places to categorize. The owners come from Kenya, Senegal, and Haiti, and the menu reflects all three. In parts of West Africa, a griot is a historian, storyteller, or musician. In Haiti, griot is a dish made with simmered pork shoulder. The name does a lot of work for a cafe that is genuinely trying to tell a story through food.
Start with the Griot Sandwich, simmered pork shoulder with guacamole and slaw served on a plantain. It is the best thing on the menu. The Kenyan beignets are light and worth ordering, and you will see them on almost every table. The Kenyan samosas and Haitian turnovers filled with beef, chicken, fish, or vegetables are good alongside or as a snack on their own.
Beyond the Afro-Caribbean dishes, the menu covers avocado toast, creole chicken and waffles, eggs, and pancakes, so there is something here for people who want to ease in before trying something less familiar.
For coffee, cold brew is on tap, but the Gri-Oat Latte is the better order: double espresso, oat milk, honey, and coconut.
AFRO-CARIBBEAN | BREAKFAST | BRUNCH | COFFEE
Best Bars in Jersey City Heights
The Alps
The Alps opened in early 2024 and is the newest bar on Palisade Ave, from the team behind Riverview Wine and Pet Shop. It has settled in quickly and become one of the more popular spots in the neighborhood for a drink.
The focus is natural wines and cocktails, with a vegetarian menu of light bites like black bean hummus and grilled cheese running alongside. The food is snack-oriented rather than a full menu, and that is fine because the drinks are the point. The cocktail program is well thought out and the wine list rotates regularly.
The Alps is also worth mentioning as the only dedicated cocktail bar in Jersey City Heights, which makes it a useful thing to know about when you want something more considered than a beer at a sports bar. If you trust Janice’s judgment on these things, this is her current favorite spot in the Heights for an Espresso Martini. That is a strong endorsement.
COCKTAIL BAR | NATURAL WINE | VEGETARIAN BITES | DATE NIGHT
The Corkscrew Bar
The Corkscrew has been one of the best bars in Jersey City Heights for over 40 years and is about as close to a true neighborhood bar as you will find in the area. It also has the best beer selection in the Heights, with a large rotating tap list that leans heavily toward local and regional breweries. The same faces show up after work and on weekends, which tells you everything about what kind of place it is.
It is also one of the better spots in the Heights for Sunday football, with free WiFi and enough flat screens to catch multiple games. The WiFi makes it a decent option for a fantasy football draft too, if you want to get out of the house for it.
The menu is straightforward bar food, but the burgers are made with Pat LaFrieda short-rib blend patties and are worth coming for on their own. The Smokehouse Burger with cheddar, smoked onions, sriracha aioli, moonshine BBQ sauce, and bacon is my personal favorite. You can also build your own.
The beer list is the main reason I keep coming back. The taps rotate regularly but you will usually find something from 902 Brewing in Jersey City, Bolero out of Carlstadt, and Ghost Hawk from Clifton, alongside a solid range of other local and regional options. It is easily the best bar for beer in Jersey City Heights and one of the better craft beer bars in the area overall.
SPORTS BAR | BURGERS | CRAFT LOCAL BEERS | NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
Paulie's Brickhouse
Paulie’s Brickhouse is the only rooftop bar in Jersey City Heights, and the views from the top make it one of the more memorable spots in the neighborhood. On a clear day you can see across Jersey City, over Hoboken, and straight to the Manhattan skyline.
Downstairs feels like a proper sports bar, with plenty of TVs, wings, burgers, and a good setup for football games and UFC nights. The brick oven pizzas are named after Jersey City landmarks and neighborhoods, which is a nice touch, but my go-to is the chicken parm sandwich. The bread is thin and closer to pita than a traditional roll, which sounds like it should not work but does.
Brunch runs on weekends with avocado toast, a Brickhouse burger, buttermilk pancakes, and a carbonara pizza with mozzarella, roasted potatoes, bacon, and fried eggs. The rooftop is the obvious choice for a summer brunch in Jersey City Heights if you can get a table.
ROOFTOP BAR | SPORTS BAR | PIZZA | BRUNCH | OUTDOOR DINING
A Jersey City Institution
White Mana Diner
White Mana is probably the most famous restaurant in Jersey City Heights and one of the more storied diners in New Jersey. The building was originally constructed for the 1939 World’s Fair as the Diner of the Future. Louis Bridges bought it shortly after and moved it to its current spot on Tonnele Ave, where it has been ever since.
It is cash only and counter service only. The menu has steak sandwiches, hot dogs, and breakfast, but I am not going to pretend I have ever ordered any of those. The burgers are what most people go for, and they have been pulling people in from across the area for decades.
Fair warning though: these are not gourmet burgers. They are thin, simple, and about as far from a craft burger bar as you can get. You’ll want to order at least two, maybe three if you are very hungry. White Mana has been on what feels like every Food Network show at this point, and the fame is real, but so is the polarizing nature of the product.
Some people drive across New Jersey for these burgers. Others try them once and do not understand what the fuss is about. I am firmly in the first camp.
A note on the name: Both the Jersey City and Hackensack locations were originally called White Manna, spelled with two Ns. When someone repairing the sign in the 1980s lost one of the letters, the Jersey City location became White Mana and has stayed that way. Hackensack kept the original spelling. But I’m not telling which one is better.
BURGERS | DINER | CASH ONLY | COUNTER SERVICE | NJ INSTITUTION
Coffee Shops in Jersey City Heights
Froth on Franklin
Froth on Franklin has been one of the best coffee shops in Jersey City Heights since 2017 and is the kind of place that regulars become fiercely loyal to. The beans are roasted locally by Kobrick Coffee Co and the hot and iced coffees and lattes are as good as anything you will find in the neighborhood.
Beyond coffee, the menu includes loose leaf teas, affogatos, and a seasonal drink menu. The pastries are worth getting alongside whatever you are drinking.
The building itself is an Italianate-style structure from the 1870s, which gives it a character that most coffee shops in Jersey City cannot match. Owners Al and Maria run a tight, quality-focused operation and it shows.
One thing to know before you settle in: the space is small and they would prefer you not set up a laptop for an extended working session. If you need WiFi for a few hours, Lil Dove down the street is the better option for that.
COFFEE | ESPRESSO BAR | PASTRIES | NEIGHBORHOOD CAFE
Lil' Dove Cafe
Lil Dove is one of the better coffee shops in Jersey City Heights for remote working, with good WiFi and enough space to actually get something done. The coffee is Intelligentsia, which is a solid choice, and non-coffee drinkers have a good selection of teas and cold-pressed juices.
The food menu covers pastries, avocado toast, bagels and lox, empanadas, and breakfast sandwiches made with pork roll. There is also a sunny outdoor seating area that works well on nicer days.
The cafe has a small gift shop with shirts, mugs, candles, and similar items if you want to take something home. It is a neighborhood spot that covers a lot of ground without feeling scattered.
COFFEE | BREAKFAST | WIFI | REMOTE WORK FRIENDLY | OUTDOOR SEATING
Italian Sandwiches
Veloce Specialty Sandwiches
If you have ever made the trip down to Fiore’s or Vito’s in Hoboken for a good Italian sandwich, Veloce Specialty Sandwiches is the closest thing to that in Jersey City Heights. I still recommend both those Hoboken spots, but it is good to have a quality option without the walk down the hill.
The menu runs thirteen cold sandwiches and four hot, all served on bread from Elio’s Bakery & Deli, with fresh mozzarella made in house daily. There are also salads, pasta dishes, and sides, but the sandwiches are the reason to come.
The chicken vodka parm earned a spot on NJ.com’s list of 50 New Jersey dishes you need to eat in 2023, which is a legitimate credential. My personal pick is sandwich number three: chicken cutlet with fresh mozzarella, broccoli rabe, roasted peppers, and balsamic.
ITALIAN SANDWICHES | FRESH MOZZARELLA | TAKEOUT | LUNCH
Latin American Restaurants
When I lived in the Heights, most of these restaurants didn’t exist yet. The neighborhood has changed significantly since then, with new construction and an influx of residents bringing demand for the kinds of restaurants that now fill most of this guide. Some of the old spots, like the Lincoln Inn, closed when new buildings went up in their place.
But the Heights is still home to a large Latin American immigrant community, and Central Avenue has plenty of restaurants that cater to those residents rather than the newer ones. Most do not serve alcohol and none of them are destination dining spots, but that is not the point. These are places where the food is honest, the prices are low, and the people who run them have been part of this neighborhood far longer than most of the places on this list.
La Concha serves Dominican food with daily specials laid out in a steam tray. The Carne Guisada and Pernil are available pretty much every day, and when I lived nearby I had one or the other at least once a week. A few doors down, El Sabroso focuses on Puerto Rican cooking but covers other Caribbean cuisines as well. For tacos, Taqueria Restaurant Oaxaca is worth a stop.
You are not going to get a Michelin star experience at any of these places. But you might get a conversation with someone who has been eating here for thirty years, and that is worth something too.
