Hello. I am not familiar with the Newark, NJ area. I am meeting up with some friends from the UK in early January. They are flying through EWR and spending two nights at the EWR Marriot before continuing on to Florida. They love their beer and are looking forward to checking out some US craft beers. Can anyone reccomend any good places to drink/eat in Newark or the surrounding towns? I am thinking we will just take a taxi to where ever we end up so noone has to drive back to the hotel later that night. Thanks for any suggestins! Scott
I would suggest they find alternate accommodations. Newark is a wasteland in general. Regardless, its quick trip via public trans to NYC. If you really want to stay in Jersey... Copper Mine Pub is about 20 minutes north. No food though.
Mmm Bellos is right across the street from Newark Penn Station and has a pretty decent selection of bottles and maybe 6 taps (probably 2/3 desigated craft incl. a Sam Adams Seasonal). There's also some bars over by the Prudential Center but I'm less familiar with them, so not sure about selection. Foodwise there are a lot of good restaurants in the Ironbound section- a lot of Spanish & Portuguese
The Dinosaur Bar-B-Que that opened up last year is decent enough if they want a spot nearby in Newark. It's about 4 miles north of the airport Marriott. They usually have a smattering of NJ locals, couple house beers, and a few crafts. Little pricey for the area but they do sell 1/2 pints, flights, and pitchers of whatever.
Another vote for NYC, or at least not Newark. Since you're unfamiliar with the area, I'd liken it to a 'not quite as bad as' Camden/Irvington type of place - essentially, unless you're going to the Prudential Center, the Airport or the PATH, you don't go there. You can hop the PATH train (http://www.panynj.gov/path/maps-schedules.html) from Newark-Penn Station, which can take you into Jersey City, Hoboken or NYC, all of which have some great options for craft beer. If you take it from Newark, you can transfer at Journal Square and shoot up into Midtown via the 33rd St line. From there you can hit Rattle N Hum, Gingerman and a ton of other spots in the city.
I second the getting out of Newark option. Public transportation is pretty good in that area. I'd jump on the PATH to whereever you feel like going: Jersey City or NYC. JC has Barcade - an arcade with great craft beer. WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO GO THERE??? You can head into the city and Blind Tiger is a few blocks from the Christopher Street PATH stop. The place is legendary. Tiny though. If you're looking for food, Barcade isn't the place for you, but maybe the Iron Monkey in JC is. I was pleasantly surprised with the food when I went a month or so ago. After all this, if you MUST stay in Newark, I've only really been to the Edison Ale House before Devils games. It's right across from the Prudential Center. Surprisingly decent tap list with (pretty sure always) an offering from both Kane and Carton on tap. Decent sports bar type food. Enjoy!
Have to second the Copper Mine and Barcade. Barcade is very close to the PATH and Copper Mine has a bus stop directly across the street. Sure NYC is great but enjoy what Jersey has to offer. Copper Mine is maybe 15 minutes by car.
Thanks for the suggestions. There more research I did online, the more I was leaning towards the Hoboken/Jersey City area. Room are already reserved at the Marriott at EWR... so trying to get my out of town guests to change plans at this point would be tough. It looks like Jersey City and Hoboken are about a 15 minute drive by car... as someone that is not used to doing public transportation (from a small town in PA), would it make more sense to take the PATH or a cab? I have to consider getting my guests back to the hotel at the end of the night as well, and the entire group will not fit in my truck
Your friend's reservations are 8 months away and they are not able to change them? Not only is Newark a not so great place to stay, but the Marriott is literally inside the airport, so there is absolutely nothing at all there other than low flying planes, and although cabs will be plentiful, they will be expensive to go into NYC, Hoboken or Jersey City. (The path does not go to the airport). I suggest having them change their hotel plans if at all possible and use the $$$ you'd be saving for cabs everywhere for a hotel room in a better location.
The PATH is very easy to Jersey City. It's literally a straight shot from Newark Penn Station to Grove Street which is where Barcade is. Maybe a 15-20 minute ride at most
My apologies for giving the wrong dates above.. Their visit is actually scheduled for next month (June, not January). They will be here for 2 days (June 6-8). They chose this hotel because they figured it was close to the airport and made it easy for them to catch their early morning flight on the 8th to Florida. I know this is not the best of areas to stay in, but they made all of their own travel plans months ago and just told me about it recently. As I am not familiar with that area, I figured it was best if I just let them do their own thing and planned to meet up with them for a couple hours that Friday night. Unless I want to schedule their two days in Newark/New York, I am going to let them stick to their original plans. My only goal here is to meet up with them for a couple hours and have some food/beer. They treated me well when I was on a business trip to the Worcester, UK area last year. They took me Pub hopping every night I was there. I kept a list of the 65 different 'real ales' I sampled during that week - most of them were in half pint glasses
