The Monk Room

Even though I’ve worked in Newark for almost ten years I’ll be the first to admit I don’t get around as much as I like. I also haven’t had a lot of success with pizza in the area, because we all know I’m a pizza snob.
So what does that have to do with The Monk Room and why I hadn’t stopped in before The other day? I’m not sure… I’ve had this place bookmarked for quite some time, it’s gotten great reviews, and it’s legitimately within walking distance from my work. Maybe I didn’t want to walk that far for another disappointing pizza experience. who knows? Here’s what I DO know… whatever the reason was-​I was wrong. This place is really great.
So Adam D, Brian M and I decided to finally give The Monk Room a try and I’m really glad we did. The three of us split three pies and they were on our tables in under ten minutes. I’m always a little skeptical of brick oven pizza places as I’m more of a traditional NY/​NJ style pizza guy, but this was excellent. They had a special that day and it was a Chicken Parm pie, a Margherita and the Italian Stallion (sausage, hot peppers, Gorgonzola). I did mess up our order as Adam D wanted the Carbonara, but when he has as many reviews as me he can order for us ;-) .
My favorite was the Margherita as its simplicity and deliciousness really came through. They have a nice selection of draft and bottled beer and an ok wine selection. The Monk House Is pretty small, so on a busy day you may have to wait. but doing so would definitely be in your best interest.
There are quite a few crappy places to eat pizza around Newark and the surrounding towns, but The Monk House is definitely an excellent place to grab a beer and brick oven pizza for lunch or dinner. I certainly will be willing to take the walk to try another pizza here…

Who is this Monk and why did I only learn about his room for the first time this past week? After all, this place has been in business for over two years, but until my first visit, I had no idea you could get pizza in Newark in any other way besides from the conventional pizza oven. Don’t let the name fool you like it did me.
Three of us stopped in for lunch and split 3 pizzas, as follows —
Margherita ($ 12 — San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, basil, extra virgin olive oil)
Italian Stallion
Chicken parm (no description, but do you really need one? It was a special, and special it was.)
My favorite was the Italian Stallion, probably because the combination of the gorgonzola and Italian sausage won me over, but the Margherita presented a nice opportunity to taste and appreciate the freshness of the marinara.
All I wanted was the Carbonara ($ 13 — guanciale, parmigiano reggiano, roasted egg, parsley, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil), but Steve S. forgot my request when he ordered for the table. (He knows he’s in my Unilocal doghouse as a result, but this just gives me another reason to go back).
As others have pointed out, one drawback is that parking does suck, but it’s worth the walk here if you’re going to an event at Prudential or work/​go to school in the business district. The place is small so I wouldn’t go with a group bigger than 6, but there’s probably 6 – 10 seats at the bar too.
Overall, they have a decent draft selection of about 10 choices, but a ‘meh’ wine selection. The place is super clean and the staff and service are prompt. We had all 3 pizzas within 10 minutes of ordering and were in and out in about 1 hour.

I am so excited to find a new place to dine! The Monk Room is so cool! The food was amazing! I had a white pizza and meatballs! Amazing! The service was good too! I will be back!

Excellent pizza and food small cute little place ! The bartender was very friendly. I got the 14. And half pizzA. Nice and little bit spicy. It was a food party in my mouth. I will come again.

I just want to give the Monk Room a hug. I have been coming since they opened. Everyone is friendly even when they are closing up.
Just like all the other reviews, the food is the yummiest around, and the cocktails… Welll… If angels were to dance on my taste buds I’m sure it would be the same sensation. I will even say the drinks are better than their sister locations in Asbury and JC. Seriously cooler people and better drinks.
Thank God for this Monk!

Great place. The pizza was amazing. Had the meatball pizza & beer it was only $ 20… Posted the water because even that was awesome! Looking forward to trying happy hour

Found this place while looking for a Happy Hour before seeing Shania Twain at the Prudential Center with my dad. The front is very unassuming, inside is clean crisp Italian café style with a huge stone pizza oven in the back.
Honestly this location is perfect for stopping in before a show at prudential, literally across the street. The service at the bar was great. We split a 14 ½ pizza it was delicious and came out fast! Ricotta, mozz, crisp sopressata, tomato and crushed red pepper oil, yum. The place was full of people enjoying drinks and food, good vibes will def be back here again.

Everytimeeee I pay with my card here they triple charge my account! It’s actually ridiculous.
I guess you’re wondering why I keep going back… well the food is amazing! The pizza is sooo good and the perfect end to my work day. Not to mention their creative cocktails. I’ve had every single pizza and not one has disappointed so you choose whichever one sports the ingredients your tummy craves that day. Italian stallion and 14 ½ are my personal favorites. Newark has a few gems… this is one of them.
Just make sure you bring cash –_-.

Perhaps because I knew that this restaurant is brought to us from the same people who have made Porta, I expected a very enjoyable experience with good food and service.
I came here for lunch on a Friday afternoon. We walked in and were not greeted by anyone. There was a bartender present with about five guest at his bar. There was also one waitress in the back that came to us after we sat ourselves.
We ordered some beers, a salad and two pies. I asked that the salad come out before the pizza. Due to the open kitchen design, I had a view of what was happening in the back. I was shocked when I saw a salad go up on the window and up to six people walked passed it and no one thought of bringing it out. (The manager ‘an older woman’, the waitress, the bartender and three members of the kitchen staff). Finally the waitress brought it out after enjoying a yogurt and some conversation. Two bites into the salad and the pies came out.
We had the honey badger salad. The salad was good. We ordered a 14 ½ and a winter Betty. Aparrantley, on a Friday, they did not have enough Kale for the pizza so they subbed Arugula. Both pies were very very salty. I’m not sure if it was in the dough or simply the toppings. Whatever the case, far from being considered one of the top ten pizzas in NJ.
I was excited when I came here: I was under the impression it was going to be on par with places like Razza in Jersey City or Star Tavern in Orange. Truth is, I couldn’t wait to leave.

You have great sandwiches and a delicious unique selection of Pizzas like The Arugula Pizza… number five for pizzas in Star Ledger Truck Reviews… it is next to The Rock/​Prudential center… you have A 12 draft beer selection… you gotta feed those crazy Devils Fans… And just because it is on Green Street does not mean ya got to have much of it to kick back here!

They no longer have brunch.
Regardless, everything here is still delicious — all the pizzas, all the pastas. You really cannot go wrong, and if you think you did, then you’re a weird and you should stop reading this review. Meatball and the 14 ½ are my favorite pizzas, and the Bootzin is my favorite pasta.
Next time I’m bringing my Mike’s Hot Honey — it goes GREAT with pizza. Monk Room should invest in having them at the restaurant (insert smirk emoji here).

Small, cute and delicious… and a great bartender/​server (Chrissy)! Came here with a group of 6 before a concert and was surprised by this spot. The vibes of this place were very chill and comfortable. The drinks were good and the pizza oh so tasty. Highly Recommend this spot to anyone in the area looking for a new place to go. Check it out! It won’t disappoint

The best little hole in a wall pizza place in Newark. They make their own mozzarella and meatballs so make sure you get a ton of both. Thank me later.
Highly recommend the Nutella pizza and the Caramel budino. Everything on the menu is good, you can’t go wrong. Within walkin distance from Newark Penn Station, make the trip!

I live in Ironbound and I had never heard of this place. We rarely cross over route 21 to go to downtown Newark but this was worth the trip.
After reading reviews and seeing the menu on Unilocal I was still curious to see what was really up with the monk room. Once we got there I felt like I was in another world. Across from city hall and a block from broad street and the seedy (but reviving) Newark downtown, is this gem of a place .
The ambience is awesome, wood tables and floors, cool lights, great bar and open kitchen. The menu reads like an Italian restaurant in soho. Guanciale? Soppressata? Homemade ricotta, mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes? House made meatballs? All things you would not think to find on a menu in Newark .
As a chef for 25 years I was immediately in love. We ordered 3 pies and all were amazing. The crust was soft and chewy, sauce was fresh and delicious. The mozz was on point. Beers were cheap and the service was great .
I live within walking distance and I can assure you this will be a regular spot for me. Great find in Newark!

My goodness, the guanciale here is DELICIOUS. Salty, crispy, fatty… perfect. If you want the guanciale, you have to order the carbonara pizza, which also comes with a runny egg in the middle, and each slice gets a little bit of egg. The crust on the pizza was nothing like I’ve had before. Substantial, yet airy. It was the perfect vehicle to get the leftover runny yolk on the pizza pan into my mouth.
The carbonara at $ 13 is priced like a personal pie, but it’s big enough to share with another person (you probably won’t want to share). I think there were about six slices, and I could only finish three and a half. I was also downing a lot of wine, since I had ordered a carafe of their house red ($ 15) to myself and didn’t realize what I was in for.
Mike B. ordered the meatball sub, and he said it was one of the best meatball sandwiches he’s ever had. I had a bite, and I almost kicked myself for not ordering a side of their meatballs. I asked him why he thought it was so good, and he said it was because they don’t drown their meatball subs in sauce or any other extraneous «bullshit.» I had to agree. This sub was perfect with just the meatballs, some hot peppers, and I can’t recall if there was cheese in there, but if there was, it was only a little bit. The meatballs were the star.
The Monk Room is a jewel in DT Newark. If you are ever near the Prudential Center before an event, you won’t be sorry you stopped by. It’s a tiny place with not so comfy seating, but the food and drink is fairly priced and the service was really sweet. They do get busy before Devil’s games it looks like, but it’s not a zoo and the servers seem to handle it well. I will miss that guanciale!!!

This is a quaint little gem hiding in plain sight. I have been here multiple times after work and some days it’s jammed packed other days not so much. I know because of the location, next to the courthouse, it draws in a decent lunch crowd.
The pizza, you have to get it. This is what put this place on the map for me as I heard a friend who couldn’t stop raving about it. As it was suggested to me I’m suggesting it to you after I fell in love with it after first bite.
If I recall correctly there’s a rotating beer tap list here too. I’m not sure if it’s seasonal but it does change. Stop in for happy hour you wrote regret it.

Everything is right about the Monk Room… the food is decent, the service is fast and attentive, which works well since a lot of folks come here for a working lunch.
From the food, I would stick to their pizzas — I’ve tried their Arugula pizza and liked it, it was well done and crisp. On one occasion I also tried a no-​meat version of the Bootzin pasta (what an original name!) — which is orecchiette, San Marzano tomatoes cherry peppers, Castelvetrano olives, parmigiano reggiano, basil and fennel pollen. Now with all those exotic ingredients listed on the menu, I was expecting to be blown away with a gourmet unique pasta dish. Instead, what I got was a standard Olive Garden style pasta with an overwhelming tomato sauce and too much black pepper. The quantity was a lot — enough for 3 servings, the quality — meh.
To sum up, definitely recommending their fresh pizzas which are a better choice.

My friends in the area really enjoy this place and it’s become a regular brunch spot for us. Sometimes they have live jazz, they always have TVs that will show the Sunday football games, and there is consistently good service even when it’s a big and loud group of us.
This past weekend, there were 9 of us and we all enjoyed some pizza (they’re all good, nice thin crust, but the Carbonara is my favorite), mimosas, coffee, shots (yes… at 1pm… the staff just rolled right along with it, no judgement).
My husband loves the Overstreet fried egg sandwich (it’s big… and yes, that’s what she said). I’m a big fan of their Hunter-​Gatherer salad, which is fragrant with truffle oil, the fries eggs seasoned, and the sausage is fantastic. I’d be happy ordered that dish again and again too.
It’s not too expensive and has a nice environment for a leisurely, casual brunch.
See my previous review for dinner (although, they sadly removed the octopus salad from their menu… quite a loss).

This place is a nice addition to Newark although I wish they were in a place with better parking. They are located right across from City Hall and the bartender told me they get a lot of their business from there.
In terms of the food, I was a fan. I ordered one of the pizzas which had clams and white sauce. They have updated their menu (more on that below) and I don’t think they have this anymore. It was perfectly seasoned and extremely delicious. The crust wasn’t anything special but the toppings and sauce were fantastic. I also ordered the maple budino was dessert. It’s similar to a panna cotta and I found it to be incredible. It actually doesn’t taste too much like maple or rosemary (which the description says it has). It’s not too sweet, slightly salty even, and the hazelnuts gave it the right crunch. I’m not a big fan of super sweet things so this was something I really liked.
I also had some drinks which were alright, but I think I maybe ordered the wrong things. They have some other interesting cocktails which I hope to try in the future. Also had a glass of wine which they serve in a tall glass– no wine glasses here apparently.
I looked on their website and saw that they updated their menu. This is good because I thought they needed more options. The happy hour now also includes good specials. The one thing that I find kind of odd is they close at 8:30, even on weekends but I guess that’s somewhat normal for the location. I am not sure if they stay open later for Devils games as some places do. Definitely plan to come back and enjoy more of their menu and recommend others to check them out also.

Went here for happy hour on rainy Tuesday. There were a few other people seated at the bar but it seemed like a slow night. Regardless, we enjoyed it. Décor is trendy but simple. Mostly wood and brick. Bordering on hipster. It didn’t seem to draw a hipster crown though (unless, shit… am I a hipster?). They had a pretty diverse clientele that night.
They have a decent draft selection and really cool pint glasses that are shaped like beer cans (eek — that might be something a hipster).
Ordered the kale salad and the Arugula and Lars and the Real Girl pizzas. Everything was really fresh and tasted great. We couldn’t decide on a pie so that’s why we got two. They’re a little bigger than personal sized pies and the crust was on the thinner side so we actually finished them both. Don’t judge.
Dessert in my opinion was just okay — definitely not bad though.
I don’t know what it’s like on other nights, but I was really digging the music. It started with a little 80s (think more Huey Lewis and less Madonna) and then switched over to mo-​town for the rest of the evening. Yes. And yes. I never knew that I liked to eat while listening to mo-​town. But I do. It might be my new thing.
The reason I only gave 3 stars was for the cost. Little pricey. Oh well.
There is a parking lot literally next to this building with side door access to the restaurant. You have to pay to park there though.