This is a fun brunch spot with an extensive menu, fun drinks, and a game/party room upstairs. It's inside an old house with some original features which is always cool. All the servers are friendly and helpful and seem to know the regulars well. Food is cafe style and everything we've tried has been great. Balsamic dressing on our salad was noteworthy :)
Sarah Hedrych
When you hear "perfect neighborhood bar" what do you think of? Because I think of unfussy food, strong drinks, reasonable prices, and a welcoming atmosphere. Oh look at that, Brightside Tavern checks all 4 boxes.What's that? Entertainment (jazz night, open mic, karaoke) multiple nights a week? Sports on TVs all around the 360-degree bar? Brunch every day from 9-4? Happy hour ever weekday from 3-7? Kitchen open late (I mean LATE)? Music loud enough to take the edge of life off but not loud enough to make it impossible to talk? The owner (Tommy 2 Scoops) makes an effort to know and welcome everyone who visits? Everyone is welcome as long as you're good to each other?You probably get the idea by now. I can't think of one thing this bar doesn't make convenient. The Brightside Tavern might be Jersey City's best neighborhood bar. You don't need a reason or an excuse to go here, just do it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mira Venkat
Food was okay, nothing great. We were a party of 2 and were shocked to find out at the end that we were charged a hefty gratuity ($15 just for the two of us) even though we weren’t informed of this beforehand. Prices of our food were also manipulated and not charged accurately, and the waitress brought out the wrong drinks claiming they were the ones we ordered. Overall service wasn’t pleasant and it seemed to be shady with the way we were charged. Would recommend staying away.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Tanya Parker
Love everything about Brightside… The ambience is unbelievable. The food the prices are great.. Highly recommended
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crab Cake Sliders
Joshua A.
The food, staff and ambiance were great! Huge fan of all the breakfast items we tried! Also loved the drinks as well! But the best part was meeting the owner, Tom "Tommy 2 Scoops"! An amazing person whose connection to the community is one to strive for!
Jackson
This a beautiful restaurant in town. The owner Tommy was a very nice person and let us choose whatever you wanted from the menu he had a beautiful game room and microphone to even sing karaoke will definitely be returning!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Swati Seth
The food & atmosphere was good but service was way too slow.
Went to hang out and catch up with a dear friend. We shared an appetizer platter and got a side of truffle fries to go with it and we were completely pleased and satisfied with the food, service and oh the Sangria was delicious!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Marjorie U.
The servers are always really unfriendly here. It takes forever to get their attention and when they do interact with you they're really rude.
I've been here 6 or 7 times. Service - just abysmal. There's an older regular who goes around harassing women. He recited a dirty poem to me once when I was on a date ordering drinks at the bar, and my date was concerned enough to come over and check on me. The owner (I think his name is Tommy?) is usually there and introduces himself to everybody, and I told him previously about that guy harassing me, and the owner LAUGHED. It wasn't funny. It also takes a few minutes to get servers' attention even when it doesn't seem very busy in there. Food - pretty regular/below average greasy bar food and drinks, and takes longer than it should just to get some tater tots. The prices are reasonable, relatively. Ambiance - generally a friendly local crowd but them letting that guy harass me on two separate occasions ruined it. He interrupted me to comment on my VAGINA, I'm dead serious. I was wearing pants and a sweater so I'm not sure why he was making assumptions about my covered-up genitals. It's truly disgusting and shameful that this bar still lets him in, any decent bar with a halfway decent owner would have permanently banned him by now. I thought this could be my friendly neighborhood spot but it's not okay that they condone that kind of behavior and think it's funny and harmless. This place is friendly to pervs and harassers.
Barry Tsang
I was unknowingly charged gratuity since my bill was over $100. It was a party of 5. I've NEVER heard of this policy, anywhere! My server never notified me of the charge prior to settling our dinner bill and I'm pretty sure it's not written anywhere. I added $25 gratuity as we were in a hurry and I didn't have time to review the itemized receipt. When the server came back with the credit card, the itemized receipt was nowhere to be found...Interesting. I told myself I would go back later in the week to ask to review the receipt as it seemed a bit high for our order. When I finally see the bill, gratuity was already included, they were getting $43 for a $100 meal. The manager advises I bring it up with the owner, Tom Parisi, normally a cordial person. He said they automatically add gratuity to bills over $100 and offered to give me back $15 of the $25 extra gratuity, claiming it's not fair to his staff. This just screams out shady business deadlines. You secretly over bill your customers and have the nerve to reimburse 60% of what you, or your employees, attempted to steal. Maybe I'm wrong but that's a terrible look.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pizza
Jacob Wilcock
Server gave me a hard time when I ordered a non-alcoholic drink. When dropping it off, they joked they had added vodka to it.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 1
Gillian U
10/10 experience! the food is great, atmosphere is outstanding, the private room upstairs has games and projector, and the owner tommy is the BEST!!!!!! also the bathrooms have bidets which was a very nice touch. first time here but definitely will be back for more!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Andre Azer
Outstanding burgers! Some of the best I’ve had in JC.
This is a fun brunch spot with an extensive menu, fun drinks, and a game/party room upstairs. It's inside an old house with some original features which is always cool. All the servers are friendly and helpful and seem to know the regulars well. Food is cafe style and everything we've tried has been great. Balsamic dressing on our salad was noteworthy :)
When you hear "perfect neighborhood bar" what do you think of? Because I think of unfussy food, strong drinks, reasonable prices, and a welcoming atmosphere. Oh look at that, Brightside Tavern checks all 4 boxes.What's that? Entertainment (jazz night, open mic, karaoke) multiple nights a week? Sports on TVs all around the 360-degree bar? Brunch every day from 9-4? Happy hour ever weekday from 3-7? Kitchen open late (I mean LATE)? Music loud enough to take the edge of life off but not loud enough to make it impossible to talk? The owner (Tommy 2 Scoops) makes an effort to know and welcome everyone who visits? Everyone is welcome as long as you're good to each other?You probably get the idea by now. I can't think of one thing this bar doesn't make convenient. The Brightside Tavern might be Jersey City's best neighborhood bar. You don't need a reason or an excuse to go here, just do it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was okay, nothing great. We were a party of 2 and were shocked to find out at the end that we were charged a hefty gratuity ($15 just for the two of us) even though we weren’t informed of this beforehand. Prices of our food were also manipulated and not charged accurately, and the waitress brought out the wrong drinks claiming they were the ones we ordered. Overall service wasn’t pleasant and it seemed to be shady with the way we were charged. Would recommend staying away.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Love everything about Brightside… The ambience is unbelievable. The food the prices are great.. Highly recommended
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Crab Cake Sliders
The food, staff and ambiance were great! Huge fan of all the breakfast items we tried! Also loved the drinks as well! But the best part was meeting the owner, Tom "Tommy 2 Scoops"! An amazing person whose connection to the community is one to strive for!
This a beautiful restaurant in town. The owner Tommy was a very nice person and let us choose whatever you wanted from the menu he had a beautiful game room and microphone to even sing karaoke will definitely be returning!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food & atmosphere was good but service was way too slow.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Chicken Tenders, Toast, Bright Side, Onion Rings, Muffins
Went to hang out and catch up with a dear friend. We shared an appetizer platter and got a side of truffle fries to go with it and we were completely pleased and satisfied with the food, service and oh the Sangria was delicious!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The servers are always really unfriendly here. It takes forever to get their attention and when they do interact with you they're really rude.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 5
Service: 1
I didn't feel very WElcome
Restaurantji Recommends
I've been here 6 or 7 times. Service - just abysmal. There's an older regular who goes around harassing women. He recited a dirty poem to me once when I was on a date ordering drinks at the bar, and my date was concerned enough to come over and check on me. The owner (I think his name is Tommy?) is usually there and introduces himself to everybody, and I told him previously about that guy harassing me, and the owner LAUGHED. It wasn't funny. It also takes a few minutes to get servers' attention even when it doesn't seem very busy in there. Food - pretty regular/below average greasy bar food and drinks, and takes longer than it should just to get some tater tots. The prices are reasonable, relatively. Ambiance - generally a friendly local crowd but them letting that guy harass me on two separate occasions ruined it. He interrupted me to comment on my VAGINA, I'm dead serious. I was wearing pants and a sweater so I'm not sure why he was making assumptions about my covered-up genitals. It's truly disgusting and shameful that this bar still lets him in, any decent bar with a halfway decent owner would have permanently banned him by now. I thought this could be my friendly neighborhood spot but it's not okay that they condone that kind of behavior and think it's funny and harmless. This place is friendly to pervs and harassers.
I was unknowingly charged gratuity since my bill was over $100. It was a party of 5. I've NEVER heard of this policy, anywhere! My server never notified me of the charge prior to settling our dinner bill and I'm pretty sure it's not written anywhere. I added $25 gratuity as we were in a hurry and I didn't have time to review the itemized receipt. When the server came back with the credit card, the itemized receipt was nowhere to be found...Interesting. I told myself I would go back later in the week to ask to review the receipt as it seemed a bit high for our order. When I finally see the bill, gratuity was already included, they were getting $43 for a $100 meal. The manager advises I bring it up with the owner, Tom Parisi, normally a cordial person. He said they automatically add gratuity to bills over $100 and offered to give me back $15 of the $25 extra gratuity, claiming it's not fair to his staff. This just screams out shady business deadlines. You secretly over bill your customers and have the nerve to reimburse 60% of what you, or your employees, attempted to steal. Maybe I'm wrong but that's a terrible look.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Pizza
Server gave me a hard time when I ordered a non-alcoholic drink. When dropping it off, they joked they had added vodka to it.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 1
10/10 experience! the food is great, atmosphere is outstanding, the private room upstairs has games and projector, and the owner tommy is the BEST!!!!!! also the bathrooms have bidets which was a very nice touch. first time here but definitely will be back for more!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Outstanding burgers! Some of the best I’ve had in JC.
Food: 5