Jersey City Bar Guide: Journal Square Pub
By Jersey City Bar Guide • May 11th, 2010 • Category: Arts, Blog
Editor’s note: This review is part of a content partnership between the Independent and the Jersey City Bar Guide. We run the Bar Guide’s editorial reviews; but for user reviews and many, many more details, be sure to visit the Bar Guide.
Journal Square Pub. Long bar. Warm and inviting. Taps are clean as a whistle and taste fantastic. Prices are mind bogglingly fair. Megatouch. Jukebox. Neon. ATM. Wainscoting. Peggy.
We stopped into the Journal Square Pub for a couple of Sunday afternoon pints. We took the plunge and decided to evaluate the taps with a $2 Pabst Draught. Not only was the beer served with a smile and ultra quickly, we were amazed at how well chilled and clean the draught tasted. At first, I thought the joint might just have a high pour volume from the PBR tap, thereby keeping it relatively clean. That notion was to be put to rest when we dared to try a pull of the Coors Original/Banquet. Once again excellent — and what was better is that this place actually stocks regular Coors.
So, the beer isn’t everything here. We are able to enjoy the quirky ambiance, comfortably sit at the bar and gab as long as we wanted and there were no qualms about us throwing a buck or two into the jukebox. Nostalgia poured from the good old CRT televisions as 1980s vintage World Series games were being either broadcast or played from a DVD or VHS tape. We shot the breeze and gazed at dugout shots of Gary Carter, Lee Mazzilli, Doc Gooden and a bunch of other ’86 Mets.
The Sunday crowd was a bit thin (probably due to Mother’s Day, as affable barkeep Peggy informed us), but the crowd seemed to be divided into two factions this time around. You had the quiet, TV watching bunch at the inner portion of the bar and near the entrance and front window sat the more raucous regulars. Peggy, who has been tending at the Journal Square Pub for about 20 years, is a total pistol and very friendly. Through her, we got to speaking to some of the regular clientele and they all regaled us with stories of the Pub and a bunch of other watering holes of Hudson County.
As we parted ways with the tasty suds and fine people of the Journal Square Pub, we were advised that Friday is probably the Pub’s best night. Another tip offered up as we left was to make a night of the re-run movies at the Loew’s next door and pop into the Pub before, after, or both to enhance your movie watching pleasure.
GRADE: A-
DETAILS: Journal Square Pub, 50 Journal Square
201.216.9632
Like what you've read here? Please consider making a donation or becoming a sustaining member. As a grassroots news organization, we rely on community support -- as well as paid advertising -- to survive.
Jersey City Bar Guide is is Jersey City's guide to all things bar and lounge. The site individually catalogs every tavern within the limits of the city, and features editorial reviews, user comments and more. Visit the site at www.jerseycitybarguide.com.
Email this author | All posts by Jersey City Bar Guide
