Downtown Jersey City's Newest Openings Keep a Thursday-to-Sunday Week. Here's How to Plan Your Fall Around Them.
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
On a Tuesday evening, walk the Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza past number 136 and you pass a whiskey tasting room that won't open until Thursday. A few doors along at number 143, a new steak and raw bar keeps its front bar closed until the same day. Turn onto Second Street and the new bakery at 336 is closed too, because Tuesday and Wednesday are its days off.
Downtown Jersey City has had a strong run of openings since July. Most of them, at least going by the hours reported when they opened, share a calendar. Their week starts on Thursday. If you live here, that changes the practical question from what's new to what's open tonight. For most of the new places, the answer depends on which half of the week you're in.
These schedules come from opening coverage, mostly in Jersey Digs. New restaurants often adjust their hours in the first few months, so check each spot's own channels before you head out.
| Place | Address | Days open | Reported hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| House of Amrut | 136 Newark Ave | Thu–Sat | 7 p.m.–2 a.m. |
| Bembe Steak & Raw Bar, front bar | 143 Newark Ave | Thu–Sun | 11 a.m.–7 p.m., soft open |
| Oda Omakase | 538 Jersey Ave | Thu–Sun | Seatings 6–8 p.m. |
| Feliz Deliz | 336 Second St | Thu–Mon | 7 a.m.–1 p.m., 4–9 p.m. |
| Punjab Meet House | 25 Columbus Dr | Closed Mondays | Full weekly hours not published |
| Forum Coffee | 200 Greene St | Daily | 6 a.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. weekends, until 7 p.m. on weekends |
| Carlitos Barbecue Taqueria | Newport Centre food court, 30 Mall Dr | Daily | Daily, times not published |
Five of the seven are closed on at least one weekday, and the four drawing the most attention all start their week on Thursday. The places open every day sit at the edges of Downtown and run on a different model, a coffee bar and a counter in a mall food court.
Thursday is the first day of the week that all four short-week openings are serving, and the overlap holds through Saturday. Thursday is also when the new places on Newark Avenue fit together into one evening.
Bembe's front bar opens first. Jersey Digs reported in late August that Chef Darryl Harmon, a partner in Don't Tell Liv and Asbury Social, had soft-opened the former Better Days space at 143 Newark Avenue, which had been dark in 2026 until the rollout began. The front bar serves cocktails and a menu of steak and seafood bites with Latin and Caribbean notes, including a lobster roll, grilled octopus, and oysters with salsa verde garlic butter. Sauces like jerk butter and chimichurri rojo can go on anything. A casual concept called Steaks Shakes + Harmony is tucked into the back, and 143 Social, the speakeasy in the basement, is still open. The soft-open front bar runs Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Bembe's front bar closes at 7 p.m., which is when House of Amrut opens. The tasting room sits at 136 Newark Avenue, just below Brick Lane Curry House, and comes from Sati Sharma, who co-created the restaurant group behind Brick Lane. Jersey Digs described it on October 12 as a room devoted to Indian single malts, including hard-to-find Amrut bottlings such as Amrut Expedition and Greedy Angels. It offers guided tastings, food pairings from Brick Lane's Chef Noor, and live jazz many nights. It's open Thursday through Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., and takes reservations through OpenTable.
Oda Omakase runs on an even tighter schedule. Chef JP Adora, who used to run the kitchen at East Hana, opened it in the former KoroKoro space at 538 Jersey Avenue. It offers a seasonal tasting menu of warm and cold appetizers, nigiri, sushi and dessert. Jersey Digs reported in July that seatings run Thursday through Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m., with limited space and reservations taken. At four nights a week with seatings in a two-hour window, it's the hardest table on this list to book on short notice.
The new places open on a Tuesday mostly serve breakfast.
Forum Coffee opened at 200 Greene Street, at the base of Sable, and Jersey Digs reported that it opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays. On weekends it runs 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. That 6 a.m. opening is the earliest on this list by an hour. Married founders Courtney Foti and Phelan McGreal started the New Jersey brand in 2024. It has 11 locations across the state, including two that opened in Hoboken last year. The coffee is organic and roasted in house. Seasonal lattes include crème brûlée, French toast and cannoli.
Feliz Deliz has the most unusual schedule of the group. Diana Valenzuela and Victor Johnson started the brand in 2022, and its first storefront at 336 Second Street opens Thursday through Monday in two shifts, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then 4 to 9 p.m. So it's the one new bakery where you can pick up a pastry on a Monday morning and come back that evening for soft serve. Jersey Digs reported that Valenzuela worked pastry in Manhattan kitchens including Del Posto and Riverpark, and at Bread & Salt in the Heights. The case holds pistachio brownies, cardamom buns and the carrot cake the brand is known for, and the coffee comes from Capacity Coffee.
The remaining everyday option is on the Newport side. Carlitos Barbecue Taqueria serves tacos made with pit-smoked barbecue in the Newport Centre food court at 30 Mall Drive. Its location page lists a grand opening of October 2, 2026, and service seven days a week. Over by the Columbus Drive end of Downtown, Punjab Meet House at 25 Columbus Drive opened in July. Jersey City Times describes it as an upscale-casual Indian restaurant, and Jersey Digs' preview says it closes on Mondays.
The longest-running item on Downtown's late-October calendar is free and outdoors. Zombie Opera 7 takes over Hamilton Park on Saturday, October 24, starting at 6:30 p.m. The organizer, Undead Arts, lists an end time of 8:30 p.m.
The organizers' site describes the show's history this way.
"A 2020 pop-up performance is now a yearly staple, and Jersey City's favorite extra day of Halloween."
That's from zombieopera.org, which bills this year as the seventh annual performance. OperaWire reported on October 14 that Catriona Rubenis-Stevens directs a program of opera singers with an orchestra, a zombie chorus and a youth chorus.
The timing works with the new restaurant hours. An 8:30 p.m. finish in Hamilton Park leaves the rest of Saturday night open, and on Saturday every short-week opening on this list is serving.
Monday is a quieter day. On the reported schedules, Feliz Deliz is open, Forum opens at 6 a.m., Carlitos is serving at Newport, and Punjab Meet House is closed.
Two projects could add to that short week, and neither has a firm date. Bembe's third piece, an upscale steakhouse dining room, was "set to launch soon" according to Jersey Digs' August report, with no date attached. Hudson Golf, an indoor golf venue with food and drinks, was announced for the Powerhouse Arts District. Jersey City Times placed it at 130 Bay Street in August. The company's own site lists 123 First Street, at First and Warren, and marks the Jersey City location as under construction and "Coming 2026," with no hours posted. If it opens with daily hours, it will be one of the few new Downtown places with a full weekday schedule.
If you live Downtown and want to know how what's opening around your block fits into your home's value, Amy DeAngelo Real Estate is glad to talk it through, starting with a free home valuation.
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