The Quays Hoboken

Went for an early brunch on a Sunday. No trouble getting a table outside, it was a beautiful day. The wait staff was very polite and had great personality. The mussels we ordered were good, the sauce was lobbed with butter and they had no issue supplying us with extra bread to sop it up.
All was well until I went to the restroom.. . OMFG, it was like CBGBs at a GG Allin show. Holes in the walls, graffiti everywhere, toilets smashed, WTF? If you can’t control this place enough to keep the restroom clean, I can’t imagine what the kitchen is like. I don’t plan to.

The Quays is sort of like a werewolf in restaurant form. You come here during the day and it is a classy, beautiful restaurant on the water that has some of the best (albeit most expensive) food in Hoboken. You’ll be treated to soothing music while staring longingly into your significant other’s eyes, nothing could be better. Then you see a shadow start to come over your girlfriends forehead and you realize…“WAIT, IS THE SUN SETTING?! NOOOOOO!!!” and this place downright transforms into one of the trashiest establishments I’ve ever seen.
If you like trashy clubs that have unnecessary lines and a cover (ugh), the night time version of the Quays is just for you! You’ll be treated to crappy pop music and overpriced drinks. Oh joy!
Here’s the thing. I can get good food anywhere. I won’t soon forget the awful night I had at the Quays where my jacket was stolen and a drink was poured on me for dancing with some meathead’s girlfriend.
You can take your delicious food and shove it up your _​_​_​_​Quays, I won’t be coming back here, ever.

Let me start of by saying how pricey this place is. I went here with my then boyfriend to celebrate our anniversary. To tell you the truth, the restaurant and the food itself is nothing special. You’re really paying for the scenery. Even those we were sitting by the window, there was a big tree blocking most of our view of the NY skyline.
Now about the food. I had chicken that came with mash potatoes and string beans. My then boyfriend had the steak. Forgot what side dish he got. For dessert, we got crème brûlée and chocolate cheesecake. All together, the total was about $ 65.
Next time, I’ll skip this restaurant and just enjoy the waterfront of Sinatra Drive.

Went on a friday night around 830 for dinner… we were the only people in the whole restaurant. I had the short ribs which were DISGUSTING. I got sick a few hours later. I will never go back.
Sad because its kind of a cool space and I went years ago and had a pretty good meal. Went very downhill. Go elsehwere

My boyfriend and I go out to dinner often, and this place was one of our least favorite.
–Food: 2. The crabcake appetizer was tasty, but it only came with one cake on some tiny ball texture stuff underneath. My boyfriend had the ribs with French fries which was ok. Nothing amazing. I got short ribs which sucked. It was cooked perfectly without any taste tho. I love mashed potatos but these were tasteless. Not happy! No flavor on any of my food.
–Drinks: 4. The best part of dinner were the strong and tasty drinks. The only reason they even got 2 stars was because of their drinks.
–Price: 2. We paid $ 0 because of our Groupon but the menu prices were on the higher side. Probably because it’s Hoboken. The portions were generous.
–Service: 3. It was ok but as a waitress maybe I expect more. The girl we had was nice but had no personality. She had to call someone else to help us with menu questions. The menu isn’t huge so u should kno it. Just saying.
–Atmosphere: 3. Umm ok so it reminded me of a patched up pub or something. Looks like a boat inside. At first glance it’s nice, second glance it’s weary. Idk something dingy about it. Cash bar? Thats classy ;) LoL.
Srry but I expected more from this place.
The location is fabulous tho. Right by the water with an amazing view of NYC! Great date location!

For dinner this place is whatever. The breads on the sandwiches were not great. View is great and you are close to the train. Similar to Trinity. its alright. The place does get fun at night — they play good music and there’s dancing and such.
Enjoy!

I seriously thought I was dragged into a gay bar. Never have I seen so many bro’s dancing together in circles. Maybe it was a gay bar? Or an 18 & up gay bar? Either way, extremely inexperienced bartenders, guys dancing in circles and a cover charge. I shall not be back. Lesson learned. If you have even the slightest of standards: DONT GO HERE. (BTW my gf’s roommate has lost her bar decision privileges)

First time in Hoboken.
Went with a group of friends (guys & girls) after hours to get a few drinks & go dancing.
Bouncers were total jerkoffs.
Place wasn’t even close to be being packed & didn’t let any one in.
Only people being let in ahead of everyone in line were a bunch of fat girls in a bachelorette party.
Bouncer was hooting & hollering, threatening patrons in the line.
Eventually got to the head of the line because every one in front of us decided not to wait any more.
My friend tried asking bouncer the situation & wait time, but was blatantly ignored.
Didn’t even make it inside.
By the looks of the people waiting in line/​smoking, the crowd was looking very unattractive.
Hope this place burns down or the bouncer has a stroke.
RR

Dinner last night at The Quays was inspired by Groupon — I love a good deal!
I must say, the place is very nice! Right on the waterfront of Sinatra Drive, pretty view of the city, nice interiors. Waitstaff was very attentive and nice!
Now lets get down to the food:
Appetizer — Fried Calamari. Standard fried squid, but served with tentacles and rings (most places only serve rings, the tentacles are the best part!). There was marinara for dipping, as well as a fantastic vinegar based sauce. Cooked well, not rubbery or overbreaded.
Guinness Braised Short Ribs: HOLY HELL. the meat literally fell off the bone and was perfectly seasoned! i usually hate guinness (the boy picked this dish) but its not a strong taste in this dish. served with mashed taters and steamed veggies — delicious!
Lobster Ravioli in vodka sauce: my pick (im a sucker for anything with vodka sauce). Pasta was perfectly cooked, excellent flavor in the filling (didn’t taste like imitation seafood, which alot of places use), killer vodka sauce.
Overall, I’d definitely go back even without a Groupon! But just to show how good the deal was, with all that plus 3 alcoholic drinks, our final bill was $ 8.00 (of course, we tipped on the full amount to be fair).
Me likey Groupon.

Had a LivingSocial or Groupon deal for Quays. Service was good. I wasn’t crazy about the food (I honestly can’t even remember what I ordered– maybe pasta? that’s how unimpressed I was). They didn’t have many vegetarian options, so I was forced to order the one thing I could eat.
I would not go back again for dinner.

Lobstah ravioli and garlic bread, yo… deeeeelish…but may give ya date mad garlic breath. Jus sayin
Happy hour during the week… hella empty… but the bartender told me it went to 7 or 8pm… she hooked us up till 8… yeaa buddy
99% of the dudes were in plaid shirts and the chicks were dressed in glittery ho’utfits.
I’d hit again, maybe.

I’m giving out two stars to be charitable, and to give them the benefit of the doubt on the food, which I did not eat, because this place was just sad. A friend and I traveled out of our way to try this restaurant during Hudson Restaurant Week. We called to make reservations because we assumed that it would be busy at 8:30 on a Friday night. It wasn’t. Other than one relatively large party with several small children who were running about, the place was empty.
When we were seated, we were given our menus, which were literally flyers printed on plain white copy paper that was not laminated. The regular menu was printed double-​sided on 8.5″ x 14″ copy paper, and we were given only one «Restaurant Week» menu printed on 8.5″ x 11″ copy paper to share. We started with the drink menu, which was at least properly bound, but had very limited offerings for wine by the glass; five no-​name whites and reds.
There were five entrees listed on the Restaurant Week menu. We came looking forward to the Chilean Sea Bass, which they were out of despite it being only 8:30pm and the place being empty. Prior to learning that it was not available, were disappointed to find that it included only Spring Vegetables and not the «bed of mushroom & asparagus risotto», which it was listed as including on the Quays website. When we asked the server about this, we were told that they have not served the risotto for «a while» and that they’d previously served it with lentils.
At that point we just asked for the check for our drinks and left.

Waterfront brunch always sounds good to me and I am so glad that this place didn’t disappoint. I was visiting my wonderful friend, Meghan M., this past weekend and we decided to check out The Quays. And neither of us were disappointed with our decision.
We ordered the peach stuffed french toast — which was so, so, so ridiculously delicious and dangerously good. I could have cleaned the plate. We also had the tuscan omelette which was just as tasty, with peppers, spinach, spicy sausage, et cetera. The service was good and the staff friendly. And to top it off we got to relax, enjoy the waterfront, and sip on bellinis for a only $ 5 a piece.
Another bonus was that they are dog friendly, too!

I normally write off places along the Hoboken waterfront as cheesy tourist traps. Well, this weekend I was glad I threw caution to the wind, put my tourist hat on, and strolled down to The Quays for brunch with a friend in from out of town because I was proven wrong. Dead wrong.
Brunch at The Quays is absolutely lovely. The two of us (and my dog) sat outside across from the river, enjoying the view of the skyline. We sipped bellinis and shared peach stuffed french toast and a tuscan omelette (spinach, crumbled sausage, cheese, and a few other things I can’t recall). The food was fantastic. Brunch entrees are reasonably priced and mimosas, bellinis, or bloody mary’s are only $ 5 a pop. Definitely another brunch spot to add to my list of «go-to’s» here in Hoboken.

I happened upon the Quays (really really wish this was properly pronounced as spelled, rather than «keys», btw… Silly English language. But I digress…) one fine Mother’s Day Sunday (read as Yesterday) when a couple of friends and I were absorbed into a family gathering of another friend of the group.
I’m just finishing up college, so I’m not the type to eat out that often, and if I do it tends to be a chain merchant such as Tuesday’s or Applebee’s. As such, I had kind of forgotten what a trendy/​classy normal restaurant had going price-​wise. I would thus call it upscale (3 $s), but most normal people working full-​time would probably say 2 $. However, this was all completely forgotten when they brought out my food.
The table picked out a couple of plates of calamari as appetizers, which was delicious though perhaps a tad salty. I selected seared sea scallops, and I was amazed. The scallops were utterly delightful, and were served over a plate of artichoke rissotto that made me harken back to days of salmon rissotto at my great-grandmother’s house. Truly impeccable.
Ambiance was trendy but classy, and you could easily see how the facility converts into an upscale-​ish lounge on weekend nights. Few plush long couches, nifty curved wooden railings on the edge of the floor plan as support beams, coat check, ample table storage on the patio outside. You can’t forget that crystal view of Manhattan — a big plus for the restaurant. I was a bit shocked there were only 3 parties seated (including ours, and fortunately for the waitstaff we comprised 15 people) at 5:30pm on a gorgeous Mother’s Day sunday in Hoboken.

I went here last Friday night for dinner with a girlfriend. She had their Restaurant Week dinner while I opted for their Quays Burger.
Quays Burger — This is a pretty significant burger. It’s deceptively filling. I ordered it medium but it came out a bit more chewy and well-​done than I would have liked. The fries were good though.
The place was virtually empty when we arrived at 7:30 pm but filled up around 8:30/9 pm. Apparently they have a DJ but we didn’t stay long enough for that. Service was good (probably b/​c we were the only ones there for a little while) and they were accomodating with the water and ketchup refills.
All in all, if you live in Hoboken and you’re looking for a restaurant along the waterfront with decent food at decent prices, come to Quays. It won’t blow you away but you won’t leave upset either.

You know, I used to like Quays a lot more than I do now. I have eaten here a few times and the food has always been good. Unfortunately, the service and attention to detail brings this place down a few notches.
Most recently, I went with friends to grab drinks in the middle of the afternoon and was told I could not sit outside. Meanwhile, there was no one here — inside or outside. I could only sit outside if I was ordering food. This is bad for business — who wants to go to a place where no one’s eating or drinking? The bar was cluttered with dirty plates and glasses and the hostess was doing her hair and getting dressed at the bar. Things like that totally piss me off.
On the food side, I have never had a bad meal here, though it has come out wrong a few times, because I have had a dumb waiter here or there. They have a pretty good brunch — both taste and price wise. All in all, a solid place for a meal with a nice view. The décor inside is just as nice — it’s like you’re sitting inside a fish (which is why it shouldn’t be so dirty and nasty!).
To the comments about the club scene — yes, it gets busy and clubby after dinner and the clientele is mostly meatheads or Stevens kids. They play good dance music, but unless you’re in that mindset or one in one of these genres, you might want to drink some place else.

I always have a good time at The Quays. People worry if they go, it will be too guido, but I don’t really get that vibe. Can’t a place just be a fun bar with a DJ and a dance floor? Or is that always goin’ to get you an automatic guido tag? Given that this in North Jersey, well, yeah, I guess I kind of answered my own questions there.
To echo the other reviewers, The Quays is a great place to bring guests from out of town. You may get to see the New York City skyline day in and day out, but your friends will find the view across the Hudson awe-​inspiring. And, in my opinion, of all the bars on the waterfront, The Quays is the best.
This could be the type of place where you’d almost expect them to give you a hard time at the door or overcharge you, with their lounge-​like atmosphere and their flashy, river real estate. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the bouncers are generally non-​intrusive and the drink prices are damn reasonable.
The Quays draws a healthy crowd, but it rarely feels cramped, as the open layout really helps with the flow of traffic. You shouldn’t expect a place to sit and you’ll want to be on your feet anyway. People come here to dance away the work week — fist-​pumpin’ optional.

Don’t be fooled by some of the mediocre reviews, this place is excellent. It has a great bar which I used to like to stop at for a couple drinks before going out in the city. It was nice because it wasn’t too packed with all of the undesirables that invade Hoboken on weekends. They usually go to the PATH bars, black bear, lua, nine, and 340 grill (next door). Unfortunately I guess that changed and they are coming to Quays now and complaining. So my review is as a restaurant — the food is the best of the three places at 333 River.
I’ve read reviews about poor service and I do admit it was pretty slow a few years ago the first time I came for brunch. that has changed and the service for dinner was prompt and friendly. The décor of the place is great, and thats what always drew me here.
We had the onion soup and chicken satay for apps. Both are recommended, although the onion soup was better. The chicken satay was good, not great.
For entrees, we had the lobster ravioli and steak frites. Those were both very good. I was very suprised with how good the steak came out, because I usually never order steak outside of steakhouses. It came with pretty big steak fries too which were cooked and seasoned well. The asparagus wasn’t very good, but as long as the meat and potato part are done right.
The wine was also pretty cheap, and the whole meal was reasonable (i think $ 120 for 2 including wine, tax, and tip).
Also, in the past I have been there for lunch/​bar food, and brunch and I recall really enjoying them. I will def be back.

⁵⁄₁₆ update: went back here on Sat night. Line was long so we stopped at 3 forty grill for an hour. Came back to Quays at 12:45, no line and no cover — sweet. One of my friends who was inside earlier said it was very crowded around 10 – 11 pm (as I alluded to in my previous review). By the time we got there, the dance floor wasn’t too crowded, and neither was the bar.
Inside, DJ was spinning Rap and Reggae, including a lot of old school reggae that you probably wouldn’t hear anywhere else in the area. The crowd seemed to like it, including the group I was with. Overall, our experience here was much better than at 3 forty.