Greene Hook

Ambience and outdoor seating in summer is great.
Bar is good and nice place to hangout with friends. Service was good.
Food is ok. We had crème brûlée and was disappointing.

Went to the Greene Hook Bar & Kitchen to send off an old work colleague who was leaving for greener pastures.
The seating in this place is awesome, with an outdoor area that opens up from the restaurant/​bar making the entire place open and airy. The décor is rustic woods.
Greene Hook offers a decent (but not overly large) draft selection and a fairly decent menu. The food itself kind of varies with my final opinion on they need to work a little more on function over form (looks great, tastes ok currently).
The service was fairly decent. Being on Greene St. close to Exchange, you can expect to shell out city prices for drinks/​food here.
There are other places in the area I’d recommend over Greene Hook and while it’s a pleasant enough place, there isn’t anything that particularly stands out (good or bad). Definitely a solid stop if you want a place to hang for an evening.

I’d been meaning to make my way out to this trendy gastropub for a while and stopped by with some friends after work.
A word of caution: this place will get very busy on a Friday night. We snagged a table outdoors and sat down to drinks and upscale American classics. Greene Hook offers some familiar dishes (steaks, fish, a few pasta dishes, chicken by the bucket) with some creative twists (a deviled egg starter topped with trout roe, fresh pineapple salsa paired with crispy tortilla chips). You probably won’t go wrong no matter what you order, but that bucket of chicken is a standout. Three pieces of steaming hot, crispy chicken join two small jalapeño biscuits and a mini cast iron pan of mac and cheese. The mac was creamy good but a little light on flavour, the biscuits perfectly flaky but too heavy on the salt. The chicken is some of the best fried chicken in NJ: crispy and crunchy without feeling overloaded with grease, with hints of black pepper and maple. A fantastic dish, even better when paired with one of the 2 dozen or so craft beers on hand.
Service can be on the slow side and when I said busy: they ran out of buckets for the ‘bucket of fried chicken’. Just as tasty served in a basket, though.

Best fried chicken I have ever had. I will be thinking about this for a while and will be returning for more. Wings were good as well. You will find multiple strollers parked here on Saturday afternoon (including ours). Family friendly bar/​restaurant.

Whether you’re here for after work drinks or sitting down for a weekend brunch, Greene Hook has great food and drink options. I’m a big fan of just unwinding with a Balvenie 14 [or insert drink of your choice] and a plate of fries. Probably not the healthiest way to deal with work stress, but it’s definitely my favorite.
For real food, I’d recommend the Reuben… its a great way to kick off a lazy Saturday or Sunday. I’ve also had the Hook Burger, and I’m not sure if this is on the menu anymore, but if you ever see pork belly and biscuits with sausage gravy over eggs… just do it.

Since Greene Hook opened late last year, I’ve visited a number of times given its proximity to where I live as well as my company’s Jersey City office. I really can’t complain about anything venue or location-​related — it’s perfectly situated near the plethora of offices near Exchange Place and the spacious and tasteful interior make it perfect for a dinner with friends or family, a laid-​back lunch or brunch, or a happy hour stop with coworkers. I’ll give additional points to the fact that they have a shuffleboard table that my colleagues and I have taken advantage of on several occasions… and for the hardcore players, they even have a formal Shuffleboard League that meets weekly.
The food is probably best categorized as «American»; you’ll find the dependable array of burgers, sandwiches, and fries across all meals with a few more additions and courses available during brunch and dinner. For those who visit for a mid-​day meal, my best advice is to order anything that features pork belly. The Crispy Pork Belly, served with biscuits and eggs over easy, that I had for brunch several months back was phenomenal; the pork is crisp and crackling on the exterior, but unbelievably tender and, yes, fatty on the interior. They do a solid plate of Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes (fluffy, and lightly dusted with confectioner’s sugar) if a sweeter start to your day is your preference. Skip the Eggs Benedict, though; they’re fairly standard and even the poached egg-​lover in me failed to find anything worth noting about their plate.
While I haven’t had an actual sit-​down dinner in the venue, I can vouch for the variety across their beverage menu (perfect for the wine, beer, or cocktail-​lover) and their bar bites. Their fish tacos are some of the best you’ll find in Jersey City; light and crisp, they’re neatly battered and fried to the ideal juiciness. Their fried chicken isn’t anything to scoff at either; get the bucket to share with your table, and they’ll thank you by the end of the night. The chicken is deliciously seasoned and tender and the side of cornbread is the ideal complement.
While there isn’t anything particularly novel about Greene Hook, it’s a dependable place that Jersey City needs and suitable for almost any occasion or party size. Without a doubt, I’ll be back.

Good food, beer selection and friendly staff make this fun place to stop by after work or for weekend brunch. The Crispy pork belly scrambled eggs with biscuits and gravy is awesome (weekend brunch) Or steak and eggs or chicken and waffles.
Great selection of scotch, whisky, rye’s and Bourbons! The bar staff are super friendly which is why I keep coming back!
Looking forward to seeing the new summer menu!

I really love this bar because it’s in my neighborhood, it has an enormous space great for groups, shuffleboard table (need I say more?), great food, and friendly staff. I almost didn’t want to give it 5 stars just because I wanted it to stay a hidden gem.
There’s a daily happy hour from 4−6pm, which includes $ oysters, $ off drinks, and other specials. They have a bunch of great beer on tap and in bottles. You really can’t go wrong.
It’s off the beaten path, but if you’re in the area for work or visiting, definitely stop in.

After meaning to try this place for a bit, we finally trekked out there for dinner. There is no sign outside — just some menus so just be on the lookout. Come summer, they will probably have some good outdoor seating.
The place has a good bar area including shuffleboard and darts and a good size area to stand. It looks like a good after work bar for happy hour with food specials ($ 1 oysters) and drink specials. They also have a good craft beer selection.
As we came for dinner, we sat near away from the bar in the dining area. Menu is a bit all over the place with burgers, chicken, pasta, and then Thai dishes!!! A bit confused so stuck with the bar classics.
We split the fried chicken for one ($ 16) and a burger ($ 11). The burger was solidly cooked and the fries well seasoned and crispy. Fried chicken was amazing — it comes inside a bucket with 2 small biscuits and a side of Mac n Cheese. Well priced, good portion, and the sides were an excellent complement. We also split the chocolate torte ($ 9) for desert which fairly standard but good nonetheless. Service was fast and attentive!
I’d suggest the place for happy hour turn into dinner, you won’t be disappointed!

We’ve been passing by the Greene Hook for some time now and watched it through its months of construction. I’m glad it’s finally open and that I had a chance to try it.
I stopped by for happy hour tonight and the bar was surprisingly busy for Jersey City. Unfortunately this place doesn’t advertise its everyday 4−6pm happy hour online (just like how it doesn’t provide any signage outside to identify itself) but I’ll list out what it is and attached a photo:
$ 1 oysters — The ones we had tonight were blue point oysters and they were HUGE!
$ 2 off craft drafts
$ 3 drafts
$ 3 tacos
$ 5 wines by the glass
$ 5 specialty cocktails — this would be a sangria or dark and stormy
This could definitely be a new spot to stopover to have a craft beer, eat some oysters, and have fun throwing darts or playing shuffleboard. By no means is this place divey though.
The service was friendly and attentive down to how another waitress knew what I was drinking even though I didn’t place my order with her. I would definitely come back for lunch another day to see how the food is.

Finally got here to try it out a few months after it’s opened now, and I was very happy I did.
We took a seat at a table and ordered the fried chicken for two, which is a bucket of fried chicken that comes with jalapeño biscuits and mac and cheese as well. The fried chicken was the star of the show here for me. Perfectly breaded, seasoned, and cooked. Like, melt in your mouth good. I would come here just for this, and at $ 26 for two, it’s priced quite well. The mac and cheese and jalapeño biscuits served as excellent additions to the meal.
For drinks, they have a pretty solid beer selection as well as, from what I understand, regularly rotating taps. I went with a Green Flash IPA and a Great Lakes Conway’s Irish Ale. They poured well into the correct glasses and the beer came out cold and fresh.
Service was friendly and prompt, and we were even checked on by either managers or owners twice (not sure which), and that made us feel welcome and appreciated.
The décor here is really cozy and nice. They went with lots of wood and what almost appears to be a nautical theme in some areas. There’s also a shuffleboard table and darts here if you’re so inclined (just watch for people coming out of the men’s bathroom when you’re throwing darts).
Overall, had a great time and will be back for some after work drinks and to try more of their menu.

Solid pub food. They have LEFT HAND MILKSTOUT!
I will be returning! I had the Portobello burgers. I really enjoyed their take on it. The flavored of the Carmelites onions and cheese almost gave it a rich French onion soup taste. They had games and sports on TV, but I didn’t feel a bro vibe.

The food at Greene Hook does not disappoint. It’s solid American food — definitely get the Chef’s Special burger if you like Maitake Mushrooms.
I’ve only been here for brunch/​lunch and the food has always been good. I really like the fries here as well.
Also, this place has great lighting. All my food shots have been amazing.

This place is average to me. Some standouts on the menu and some misses for sure.
Came here for dinner, i ordered the pork belly app and a brick chicken salad. Both were very delicious, especially the chicken which I found to be very flavorful and well seasoned. Where the «average» rating comes in is that it took foreverrrrr for us to get our appetizer, the manager kindly gave us some additional apps on the house for the wait which I appreciated, but they just weren’t that good. Because I was able to try more of the menu than intended, I feel like this place does some things very well and some things very average. So my advice would be to stick to what they do best and forget the additional fluff.
Overall I would come back here again if the opportunity presented itself.

I like you Green Hook. I like you a lot. I had relatively high expectations coming in as a fan of Light Horse Tavern, and even so my expectations were exceeded.
Service:
All of the staff were on top of it and really welcoming and professional. Some of the best service in Jersey City.
Food:
I only tried some appetizers (deviled eggs and fries) but both were pretty good. I will be back for dinner or brunch soon.
Drinks:
Get their martini as it is phenomenal and well priced at $ 11. If you are looking for something seasonal try the apple old fashioned (think old fashioned meets apple cider). For beer I liked the Green Flash West Coast IPA on draft $ 7. But seriously, get the martini.

*pork belly (never again. The skin was tough and super chewy; flavor wasn’t completely there; the kimchi on the plate was a little off too and didn’t really compliment the meat; Raval definitely had the better pork belly)
*chicken with green curry sauce (omg!!! yes! the sear on the chicken was wonderful and thankfully the meat wasn’t dry; I LOVED that green curry sauce with the rice; the coconut milk gave this dish the touch of sweetness it needed; loved this and would 100% re-​order this)
*shrimp with noodles (this was surprisingly good; more Asian flavors in this dish. I loved the noodles, which were similar to vermicilli)
*non-​conventional crème brûlée (OMG!!! the chocolate on the bottom was out of this world! very lightly carmelized on top, for which I was thankful because I don’t like caramel; no custard in this crème brûlée but I didn’t care, this dessert is worth every bite)
We always walk passed this place and say we’re going to go in. Finally we did and do not regret it at all! Food is on point and service is good. I love the layout of this place and the atmosphere is casual and cozy. Not too loud so you can hear each other talking and yourself talking. I would 100% return.

This is a really nice, new addition to the Exchange Place area.
The décor is casual and the service is very friendly. The menu is diverse, something for everyone. We had:
Bucket of Chicken — Very tasty. Loved the biscuits and the mac n cheese
French Onion Soup — Good and very light. Instead of the usual gruyère baked over the crock, they used a cheese foam. Innovative and light, but I like the baked gruyère better. Picking the burnt cheese off the crock is the best part of French Onion Soup, in my opinion.
Hazelnut dessert — very tasty
Lemon meringue blueberry dessert — very good
Kale Salad — my dining companions enjoyed it
Portobello Mushroom burger — looked pretty good and my dining companions enjoyed it
I found the restaurant to be very loud, the acoustics created a lot of background noise. It was very hard to carry on a conversation during our meal. The guys playing shuffle board in the front of the restaurant (very cute touch) created a lot of background noise.
No doubt, I will be back!

This place is suffering from an identity crisis! Menu is pretty random — no real theme or consistency among the dishes that are offered.
Portion sizes are also very small. Came here for lunch and had to go back to order an appetizer because we were still hungry.
Best thing we ordered were the deviled eggs. Market salad very small, beets and sweet potato could have been seasoned better. Portabella mushroom sandwich also left more to be desired. Our waiter raved about the French Onion soup and unfortunately it was over-​hyped.
Overall I think it’s a decent option for lunch but for a sit-​down, I expect better.

It’s been a long time since I tried a new restaurant featuring a menu that is clearly suffering from a multiple-​personality disorder. Duck meatballs? Arepas? Chicharróns? Lobster agnolotti? A bucket of fried chicken? When there’s this wide a variety of options on the menu, it usually means you’re sitting in a diner. And it rarely bodes well for the quality of the meal you’re about to eat.
But in the case of Greene Hook, they are managing to pull it off.
Indeed, being the new kid on the block, they are obviously still smoothing out some rough spots. And I can’t say I loved everything I ate, but some of the dishes did stand out. Our server sold us on the duck meatballs with the olé, «I hate duck, but I have to say our duck meatballs are delicious» line. Well, she was right. They were delicious. Prepared and served «black,» these little meatballs packed a ton of flavor, especially if you get a bite with the Asian slaw they’re served over.
The arepa was good, too, but didn’t quite fit into the meal. Stuffed with cheese and topped with bacon lardons, crumbled queso, and a slightly-​runny fried egg, this dish basically tasted like breakfast. Which would have been fine if it were a breakfast or brunch hour, but for us it was suppertime. Still, a unique dish with good flavor that we enjoyed.
Morbid curiosity had me ordering the chicharróns, but our server told us they were having a problem in the kitchen getting them «to do that puffed up thing,» so we didn’t get to try them this time around. No biggie.
Also good was the double bacon burger. Since their menu is not posted online, I can’t recall exactly what went into this. We were a table of four, splitting everything four ways, so I only got a little taste of this one. The one thing I recall most was, of course, the slab piece of bacon I ate that was almost as thick as the burger itself. Mmmmm, bacon…
As if that wasn’t enough to kill us, we also had to try the bucket of fried chicken. Served, literally, in the same type of paper bucket that you’d get at KFC, this dish was a real treat. I can’t think of the last time I ate fried chicken like this. All I had was the leg, and it was succulent and bursting with a ton of salty, slightly spicy flavor. Less impressive were the biscuits that came with it. The side of mac and cheese, however, was pretty bangin’.
My colleagues also shared the lobster agnolotti and another seafood pasta that I can’t recall. I wasn’t a fan of either, but don’t read too much into that because I generally hate cooked seafood. The girls seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, though.
But of course, the true measure of a hip new establishment like this is the quality of the cocktails, and Greene Hook definitely wins here. Again, without being able to see their menu to recall exactly what I drank, let’s just say it was a delicious bourbon drink. Served over one of those giant square ice cubes that usually signify that your cocktail will cost at least $ 15, this sweet libation was delicious. Add to that the fact that just about every cocktail will only set you back $ 10, and guess what? I’m a fan! Extra points because it was still happy hour, so that $ 10 cocktail only cost me $ 5. That is an incredibly great value for your money.
As I work only a couple of blocks from here, I couldn’t be a happier to see a new place rise in what has seemed to historically be a cursed location. I’m forecasting success for these guys. And I’ll certainly be a fixture at the bar going forward.
Check ‘em out!

I will review again in a few weeks as they need to work the kinks out. I want this place to be great as it is very convenient and I pass it daily. Multiple times, in fact.
Starting with the good: Décor, ambience, bringing outside inside, bar area, beer and drink selection all 5 stars. Love the retracting windows. The place is beautiful and is in such a great location. The design and mix of rustic and modern is amazing. They also had pumpkin ale so I was happy! Specialty drink menu looks amazing and wanted to try the fig gin fizz cocktail.
Now we get to the rougher parts:
Service– I think they need to hire a few more people or have a staff intensive boot camp. The staff doesn’t seem comfortable with the long layout of the restaurant and they seemed to be bumping into each other. We also waited twice– once for a waiter for a while and again for drinks. When my husband’s beer came it had two inches of foam– considering how long we waited, this was totally unacceptable. His half a beer should have been on the house. First impressions always matter.
Second– the food. One– I get that they are touting a $ 7 burger, but you need to offer a deluxe options with fries or some kind of side. A burger served with a stack of pickles is just kind of sad. I get that there are potato wedges as an appetizer, but that makes me work too hard. Why not offer a $ 12 burger with wedges and call it a day. Or add more side options. If you have to make them fancy and call them potato stics or baked sweet potatoes– do it. Burgers need side options. Also, the burger is served medium and is very pink– our server did not warn my husband of this and it was more undercooked than he would have liked.
Two– I understand that Greene Hook wants to be more than just a bar and grill, but it is trying a little too hard to be different and offbeat with their menu. The first rule for restaurants that are also great bars and local hangouts is that you need some comfort/​hearty foods for people to enjoy in order to balance out their imbibing. Pork TONGUE tacos– no way! I get that tongue is a delicacy, but most people don’t touch it. Offer a pork belly taco or a fish or chicken taco, too. Also, the options for chicken were fried or in a curry. A lot of people don’t eat fried foods or red meat these days and sometimes you need something heartier than fish. Add a grilled or roasted chicken or pork sandwich or taco and I think more people will be happy.
I had the portobello sandwich — mushrooms were undercooked — and hubs had the lonely burger (with pickles!!) for mains and I had the Mexican corn as an app. My side salad was arugula with olive oil and was loaded with salt, definitely needs a little work there. Hubby had oysters — presentation was kind of blah. The apps we ordered were ok, nothing special. Mexican corn needed more spice. There just needs to be a little more effort put into the food. It feels like an episode of house hunters where they blew their budget on the décor and now have nothing left for the food or staffing.
All in all we left hungry and didn’t order dessert. I think Greene Hook needs to fix or bulk up their menu a bit before we’ll be back because I would have ordered a second round of drinks, for sure! Plus it was such a nice night. And my point is not that we need a ton of greasy bar food– just a little more well executed and familiar favorites in addition to the creative dishes would be preferred.
As a side, our neighbors had the boiled peanuts which looked great (but are more of a snack) and the potato wedges looked yummy but were served in really small portions.
Looking forward to coming back– if they up their food and service game over the next few weeks. Also, this is not their first time at the restaurant rodeo, they can and should be able to get it right! And if you want to be just a bar with snacks, be a bar with snacks.