The name tells you it’s a cafe. The menu suggests you’re at an Italian restaurant, but the staff is distinctly Ironbound Portuguese. The decor looks like the clutter accumulated by a pack rat after a lifetime of never being properly diagnosed as having OCD. Don’t forget about the Megatouch machine, 2009′s gather-round answer to the jukebox from Happy Days. Speaking of which, your ears will be transported back to the 50s with the music selection, which could be the soundtracks to any wise guy movies ever made. You can also eat in the narrow alley between the restaurant and whatever’s next door. And your host, a tall, middle-aged guy I’ve heard called Crazy Jack, is a jolly dude, who looks like he’d fit it at a beach bar in Oahu, if only it weren’t for that harsh fugeddaboudit accent.
This schizophrenic restaurant and bar is Green Street Cafe. Gordon Ramsey would kill himself just so he could roll over in his grave at how discombobulated this place is. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not pointing these oddities out to find fault, I’m listing them because, well, it’s just another quirky Newark thing, I suppose.
They take care of their regulars with free drink cards, and I’d personally recommend the penne with vodka sauce or the hefty meatball parm sandwich. Back in the summer, I tried a margarita there, which, surprisingly, was one of the best ones I sampled from bars around the area. Green Street is a bit on the pricey side ($11 for the meatball hero, including a 15% tip), and I get claustrophobia in the cramped quarters, so my visits are mostly infrequent, except for those times I really want to put my mind in a blender. Despite the assault on your senses – visual, audio, and common – Green Street Cafe is a good place for drinks and bites. And it’s hard to beat the any place that offers Photo Hunt for under a dollar.
My (meatball) hero.
Green Street Cafe
20 Green Stree
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 642-7373
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
you are totally accurate and your description is spot on! I used to visit once in awhile but after I saw the owner screaming at one of the Jazz band members in front of me about a simple question that was asked I decided not to patronize his business any longer. I was not appreciative of him acting like a jerk in front of his customers and the truth is the guy did not deserve it.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
quade, i’ve gone to green street to and that guy jack definitely is a loony toon. Must say though it is one of the best meatball parm’s i’ve had in newark.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 am
Aww come now, Crazy Jack is a Newark Legend right up there with the Mcgovern brothers and the Kirbys of the world.
November 3rd, 2009 at 6:37 am
This place sounds like a madhouse!
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
I love green st!!! the baked ziti is awesome and their chicken cutlet salad is one of my favorites!
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
While I’m not on a first-name, buddy-buddy basis with the guy, I happen to like Jack. He’s definitely out there, but not in a bad way.
Nichole, is he the guy that was yelling at the musician? That doesn’t sound like him from the number of times I’ve been there.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
When did Green Street become runway 11 at Newark Int’l Airport?? I wonder if Crazy Jack is moonlighting for Google maps.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
ya know, I knew that Obama was at the Pru over the weekend but seriously, we moved the airport right next door for it?!
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Interesting.Newark Airport must like the place as it seems to have relocated to Green Street
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Interesting. Newark Airport must like the place as it seems to have relocated to Green Street
November 4th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Hmm. Thanks a lot, Google maps.
November 5th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Come on everybody. Get the name right. It’s Jack the Whack, not Crazy Jack.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
YES! Jack the Whack! That’s what is was! Thanks Mike.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Jack the Whack? LOL. Great name.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Wow. This place does in fact sound schizo. I never even realized it existed right there on the other side of the Rock!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Well I do have to admit, Jack’s always been real cool to my wife and I so I can’t complain.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
WOW, Jack the wack was just the feature for food around the rock aka Chico eats during the devils games.
November 26th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
So I went here after the Devils/Capitals game a few weeks back, and I gotta say I rather enjoyed it. The kitchen was closed, but it was refreshing to here some music that didn’t sound like razorblades was one of the instruments, and the locals were all friendly.