Bell + Gray

The previous Italian influenced restaurant was much better. Anyways, I am review this restaurant.
We was greeted when we step in, the waitress was nice but the food took a year to come. We ordered ribs and fat Andy flatbread as small midnight snacks. The ribs were disappointed. They were sort of cold already when they were being served. The meat itself tasted terrible, I bet chef didn’t take his/​her to marinate it since that bad taste of pork was pretty heavy. They used a sweet sauce to coat the meat., but when ribs weren’t hot enough, that just didn’t work. Flatbread was ok. A little bit too salty. 2 star was a kind rating already.

Decent. Has potential. Not sure why such and «accomplished» restauranteur hasn’t read the reviews and changed some things up.
Needs a little more interesting menu, little better lighting (although I guess you can go to talde if you want the dim vibe) and a WAY better sound control. Which is the same for talde. Way too loud when there’s a bunch of people in it.

This place is no good. Stopped in for brunch and the menu was so small and really nothing great. The bar is big with TVs that are good to watch for game day… But we didn’t even stay. Jersey City has so many great restaurants and this place doesn’t stand out at all. I wouldn’t waste your time.

Went there for brunch with my family. It’s a nice space and the service was friendly. My only complaint is that there were no heathy options for brunch. No salads, egg whites or oatmeal. Everything on the menu was over a 1000 calories per serving.

Don’t bother. Uninteresting menu and deplorable service.
After the food came we had to flag down the waiter to get silverware.
No one ever checked on us to see if we needed anything.
They never brought my friends drink and when we complained the waiter handed us a random drink he was holding as a «make good».
To top it off, my spaghetti and meat balls were on par with Chef Boyardee.
But it’s a cool trendy space and they’ll probably make a ton of dough from the folks who can’t get into Talde next door.

Overpriced and very average. I had the apple and roasted beet salad to start. It was okay. Nothing special. The cheese didn’t fit well either. It is literally sliced apples, cubed beats and drenched in olive oil, so really hard to mess up but they certainly came close to that. Then I had that squid ink pasta with some strange tasting white sauce. The pasta was horribly overcooked. Tires have a better texture. And with only 5 thin slices of jalapeño, you couldn’t really taste them, but the bites you did get with them, were much better. I was looking for a good place to eat, and I kind of want to go have another dinner somewhere else now. Plus the server kept forgetting about me. Should really give them a 2, but the atmosphere was nice.

This place does trendy to a whole new level.
We started off with happy hour cocktails at $ 6 a piece. Great price and the drinks were mixed well.
We had the rib appetizer and I would say for the money, it wasn’t worth it. Not enough meat on the bones. The ribs were good, not great. They had a tangy taste to them and were seasoned well. But it was 4 small ribs. I know it’s an appetizer but I expect more bang for the buck.
I had the black zuchette with blue crab. AWESOME! Definitely worth it. A hint of garlic and jalapeño served with crab meat and a decent portion. The pasta was black, so it made for an interesting meal.
My girlfriend had the rigatoni and bolognese sauce and she loved that. She is a big fan of bolognese and thought it was very comforting and genuine.
I don’t remember how much the bill was, but it quite reasonable since we had 2 drinks each at the happy hour price.
The service was very good, very attentive. But the décor was sparse. I understand what they are going for… but isn’t everyone doing this in JC now? Dare to be different.

Has potential, but they need some help getting to the finish line.
We went for dinner and we’re not very impressed. The only reason I’m giving 3 stars instead of 2 is that atmosphere is nice and the waiter was very friendly.
I ordered the lobster roll and lobster soup entrée. The waiter told me people said it was the best in JC. Not sure what they were comparing against, but I was very disappointed. The lobster roll was tiny and served on a burnt dry bun. The soup had zero pieces of lobster in it, and both were bland. They should call it half of a lobster roll or make it bigger.
My wife had the mussels. The flavor was great, but around ½ of the shells were empty and the mussels were not at the bottom of the bowl. This means they either use empty shells to make it look bigger or someone in the kitchen ate some.
They need to pay more attention to detail that make this a place that people will return to.

I came to Bell + Gray for a girl’s night dinner :) I’m hovering between 3 and 4 stars.
I was the only one not in the carpool and happened to arrive first. Not knowing we had a reservation, I talked to the waitress and she sat me at a 4 person table by the bar. I was thankful that I was able to be seated without the rest of my party. Yay.
Figures that after I sat, I would receive a text message that we had a reservation for a party of 5. A manager came over to ask me how I was and I told him about the text message. He asked if I wanted to have an extra chair pulled up to the table or if I wanted to be seated at a round table in the back or a long rectangular table. He then showed me both so I could choose. I went with round, but it’s nice that there are so many different style options that are good for groups.
I was flipping through the extensive wine list until I realized the cocktails and glasses were on the back of the menu.
My party arrived and out waiter came over.
He was super nice and enthusiastic in making suggestions. We ended up getting 2 bottles of the tempranillo wine that he recommended and all of us loved it. He proceeded to tell us that it was a family style restaurant and made recommendations on choosing for the table.
We ordered the Jazzy Jeff and Fat Andy flatbreads, rigatoni bolognese, black zuchette with blue crab, pork chop and 2 orders of oysters and a tuna tartare appetizer. They only had 1 order of oysters left so I had to battle to the death the other girl at the table whom I just met. I won and ate all the oysters (this didn’t happen, but we were probably both thinking it).
I tried the aloha style tuna tartare, which was plated like you were supposed to assemble your own sushi (large amount of rice and seaweed). I’d wrongly assumed that aloha style meant pineapple and was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t, although my sister was not at all about attempting to roll sushi while she was starving.
This is not a family style restaurant…
I would recommend getting flatbreads for the table to share. That makes sense.
The pasta dishes are quite large, but they don’t serve them in a giant bowl with serving utensils or anything. I loved the flatbreads. more so the Jazzy Jeff. I preferred the rigatoni bolognese over the black zuchette, mostly because I think they overdid it with the garlic (and I love garlic). The pork chop was good too.
Again, it was girls night with a fun and go with the flow group. We didn’t mind sharing each others entrees. If it was a different group of us trying to divvy up all of the plates, it may have been awkward.
There was no mention of coffee or dessert so I assume they don’t have it :(
Despite the family style confusion and the lack of dessert, I decided to give it 4 stars due to our waiter’s enthusiasm, the courteous service from the manager, and the overall reasonable cost of the evening.

My BFF and I were planning on going to Carrino Provisions, I was going to pick up some prosciutto for my boyfriend, we were going to have dinner, some drinks, etc. So, you can imagine my surprise when I first noticed the counter with the meats and pasta was gone… and now a bar. Then I realized the name had changed, and last, the menu was different. I was kind of disappointed, because I really liked Carrino and felt that JC could use a place like that, but, what can you do except get a table. I mean, food is food?
We were seated in the back area, which I did appreciate because we wanted to chat and near the bar seemed quite loud (college football)… despite being in the back, it was still pretty loud though. Our server was super nice and sweet, but, she was also taking take of the football watching crowd. She deserves a star, which is why it has three stars and not two.
The food. I had high hopes, especially after loving Carrino’s so much. Sorry Bell and Grey, but it was a let down. My BFF ordered a the flatbread and a kale salad. I ordered pasta. The pasta while perfect in texture, was WAY too salty. I liked the idea of the items IN my pasta, the squash, the pine nuts (I love pine nuts), but the salt was killing me. My BFF, she said her flat bread was delicious, but the kale salad, a let down. We both ended up picking at our food and boxing our food up to go. Sorry Dale, I loved you on Top Chef and was dying to taste your food, but I was disappointed. But, we’ll be willing to give it another go around, maybe it was just an off night.

Where do I begin. The atmosphere is very nice. My friend and I usually go to Talde, wanted to sit at the bar and have a nosh, and quite frankly the bar stools next store are rather uncomfortable. My friend heard good things about this place and so we went! So glad we did.
I ordered the Watson Margarita (I think that’s what it is called) and unknown to me, it was a drink special… $ 6. Yay. We also ordered some fancy nacho appetizer special for $ 6 and it was delish! Super happy about the specials as it was 8 pm on a Friday night and no one would ever have specials at that time, but they did! I ordered the musseld for my entrée, my friend the fried chicken. We were informed the chicken could take 20 minutes to prepare, hey, we don’t have a problem with that! The kitchen makes each batch per order and waiting for that… no problem. And wow, it did not disappoint. My mussels were delish. They were plump and meaty, the broth was flavorful and the right amount of dill.
The bartender was super friendly, and even brought us over some special scotch drink to try, on the house. YUM. And i ordered espresso. Loved that they had that. Cool chill crowd, great service, good food. Would love to try out the brunch.

We were excited for the reopening of Carrinos as Bell + Grey. Carrinos had great food although the use of the space was a little misaligned so we understood why they wanted to revamp.
Upon entering we noticed that there were only a few customers inside. The long bar with plenty of seating was a great addition, however, that was the only difference we noticed. The front space was still stark and sparse.
We were sat at a table in the front even though the back dining area was not full. Our waitress came to the table and as I picked up the wine menu, discouraged me from ordering off of it because I could get cheaper wine on the back of the dinner menu. I decided to order a cocktail instead and she discouraged me from those as well telling me the drinks were very sweet. So I settled and ordered a glass of wine.
As we perused the menu we noticed it was very random, especially the salads. The ingredients as read did not seem to mesh but we are willing to give anything a try so we ordered the shaved apple and roasted beet salad. Sometimes things surprise you but sometimes you just need to go with your gut. There was so much going on in this salad. Apples & cheddar? Ok sounds good. But then there’s beets and mint and dill and peanuts and balsamic all swimming in a pool of oil. Not good. Next we looked through the selection of FLATBREADS. We ordered the Jazzy Jeff flatbread and there was nothing flat about it. It was more like an extra puffy focaccia top with a Pizza Hut deep dish pizza bottom smeared with avocado and a few kernels of corn. It was bland and once again swimming in oil at the bottom of the plate. Last but not least, we ordered the tagliatelle with 10 hour bolognese which I had to send back because the pasta was not cooked, it was hard and dry. The manager came and apologized and brought me a new dish. This time the pasta was cooked better and the sauce had a nice taste, however, it was way too salty. To their credit they did take it off the bill which we appreciated.
After we ordered we needed drink refills but our server disappeared for at least 15 minutes. Then we saw her walking out. ??After about another 10 minutes a new server came over and said she was taking over our table and asked if our previous server notified us of this. No, no she didn’t. The only thing that I can say that was good about this experience was our second server. She was very friendly and apologetic. Clearly they knew they were falling short.
All in all our first experience at the new Bell + Grey was less than stellar and I know this review seems very negative but my intention is only to be constructive and honest. We are from the neighborhood and this is a great space. We really want them to succeed but they need to change some things up. Soon. Before it’s too late. Bring back the old Carrinos menu, at least the entrée portion because it was ace. Separate the front space from the back space. Make the front just a bar, the back the dining room. It has a lot of potential, you just need to use it right. Good luck!

I enjoyed my meal at Bell + Grey, but I won’t be a regular. I went by myself for dinner and sat at the bar, got a cocktail, and ate some tomato soup. The soup was actually great, a little to my surprise for something so simple. It came with cheesy bread, a nice complement.
The main problem I see with Bell + Grey is how expensive it is, especially for folks who just want to hang out for a few drinks. Cocktails are $ 12, wine starts at $ 10/​glass, and beer is $ 7 for not-​that-​interesting stuff. These prices would be standard in NYC, but they’re still a bit steep for Jersey City. Food’s a bit spendy too. If the food and ambiance were more exciting, I might be ok with the prices; if the drinks were cheaper, I wouldn’t mind a menu and atmosphere that are middle-​of-​the-​road.
The owners premiered Bell + Grey after shuttering their Italian-​concept spot in the same location. They may just be fishing around for something that makes the most money – here in Jersey City, though, I’m not sure their new concept will. So far it’s just not special enough to warrant the high prices.

I went to check out this place for dinner. It is a huge space and quiet on a Sunday. The Fat Andy flatbread was my favorite out of the dishes we tried. I wasn’t such a fan of the spare ribs and the Mac and cheese was good. I would return to try out a few more items.

Just had brunch here and have nothing but good things to report! We were lured in by the menu (with choices such as spicy egg skillet and ample use of fried eggs) and were not disappointed.
We were seated by the bar area, and appreciated the sports bar feel. I will say the space isn’t well utilized — the conversion from Carrino Provisions might have been a bit too rushed, and so the layout feels a bit impersonal/​less cozy. Hope that’s something they work out soon.
However, the service and the food more than made up for that. We ordered the Fat Andy flatbread and the spicy egg skillet with sides of pancakes and bacon. Food came out all at once in a reasonable time. The flatbread was not the typical limp flatbreads they serve at Houlihans or similar chain restaurant — the bread was crisp on the outside and perfectly soft on the inside, and the pepperoni, tomato and mozzarella toppings were savory with no one element overpowering the others. The spicy egg skillet was delicious (basically a shakshuka) and the pancakes were SO good — thick and a bit chewy, and accompanied by a spiced maple syrup. To top it off, our second coffee refill was on the house.
Overall we’re glad to see Bell + Grey in the neighborhood and hope it succeeds! The food was excellent, and even with the plethora of great brunch spots in JC we will definitely be making return trips here.

This restaurant is flawed. The bill is $ 50 per person but the experience is a sports bar in suburban Jersey. Probably better suited for Hoboken. For a similar menu (in selection and price), try The Kitchen at Grove Station. So much better all around. Bell + Grey either needs a complete overhaul, or it will become another generic bar.
The Food– by far the best part of the experience, though still just ok. The chef deserves a better front of house.
The Service– The service was poor. 1 hour 15 min wait to get appetizer! We didn’t ask why, but server apologized by blaming food runners. Bad practice. In truth, the food runners tried to bring dishes to wrong tables three times. The manager (who wears an earpiece like it is Chilis! ewww) was clearly out of his league. The server was very sweet but untrained. If a cocktail costs $ 12, I expect basic knowledge about it. If a dish costs $ 24, I expect knowledge about ingredients or preparation.
The Space– The conversion from the old space was done way too quickly and with little care. It is very loud (even when half empty). The television screens seem like a quick/​cheap attempt to attract guests when food and service failed. The front area near the windows is like a sad afterthought. If you must eat in the restaurant choose the back dining room. Not that the restaurant asked me, but it seems like they could section off the front. Look at La Pecora Bianca in Manhattan for an example. So much money was spent here but so little research seems to have been done.
As a good friend of mine who ate at Bell+Grey said of the experience– «We deserve better»

Visited as a party of six and left generally disappointed. We had booked ahead of time and so had hoped to be sat in the dining area at the rear. We ended up sat at the front in a spot which was cold, draughty and — at the point we arrived — empty.
Having walked through to the back to use the restrooms it was clear that the proper dining space wasn’t exactly full, but there were only tables which looked like they’d seat 2 or 4. For a group of us there for dinner, pushing a couple of those tables together would have given us a much better location from which to enjoy the company of others over dinner and a couple of drinks.
Unfortunately about 30 minutes after our arrival another larger group arrived and were sat next to us. They were generally loud and obnoxious constantly standing, cheering and shouting. They were obvious more keen to shout their sports team on and kept glancing up at the TV on the wall. That’d generally be fine… if you’re not sat next to someone who had quite different expectations of the evening. Not their fault — the space was set up in a way that’d make them feel comfortable doing that.
If someone walks in by all means sit them there if that’s the only space available. If someone specifically books for dinner, sit them in a space more conducive to having a meal.
The other shame with the front space now the weather is turning is that there was an incredibly cold draught every time the door opened. There’s plenty of space immediately near the front door, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea as part of the refurb to partition out another small area and put another second set of doors in after the first.
Onto the food… the fried chicken was great. The Lobster Roll and Burger were okay. The Bolognese was good — once it had been sent back due to the pasta being stone cold on the two portions that were ordered. The plates weren’t even warm… if there’s a problem with food arriving cold surely heating the plates would be a good first step. I can only assume they had sat out the side (not even under a heat lamp) waiting whilst the other food was plated. Even with that, it all arrived a good few minutes apart.
The reason I’m giving 2 stars rather than one, and the reason we still tipped, is that the evening was saved by the server. She put a brave face on it, was friendly and helpful, and was apologetic for the issues. She comped a few of the beers from our check in order to make amends.
I’d say with time to iron out some kinks this could be a solid 3 star review, as long as I ended up sat in the area at the back rather than in the bar area at the front. If they ditched the TVs it’d probably help the atmosphere of the place but maybe that’s just the clientele that are being pitched at — in which case, this place probably isn’t for me. Shame as I quite liked the industrial feel and the imagery harking back to the buildings’ former use.

It’s pretty clear that the change from
Carrinos to this was done on the quick. The menu seems to have an identity crisis to match that of the place itself. Is it a sports bar? Restaurant with a bar? If they want to pull the trigger on being more of a sports bar they need a better beer selection and appetizers or bar menu stat.
The menu offerings are all over the place. I ordered the Mac and cheese which was delicious and why I give three and not two stars. I wanted the fried chicken but didn’t want the rest of my table to wait the 20 minutes I was told it would take for it to come out.
Service was sluggish — our food came out at different times — my friend ordered a beer and twice they brought the wrong one — third time was a charm there. Finally no dessert yet.
I’d give much of this a pass to a brand new establishment but for a group that has been around for a while it seems so hastily thrown together — see the unfinished wood beams over the bar area — and I’m left wondering what they had in mind for this reboot.
Here’s hoping they can turn it around and get this place on track as it has a lot of potential but seems to be lacking a clear vision.

Follow up to a poorly executed design (provisions) with a poorly designed execution. This place is trying to be all things (e.g., trendy, sports bar,…) but, like the last iteration, fails on all fronts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the close/​remodel/​reopen was to hide poor construction as well as the poor cuisine.
Maybe the third time will be the charm?

Since this spot only opened this week, I can only review it based on the vibe, space, and drinks I ordered. They’re all great. The space itself is enough to come to for a date. I could definitely see this place becoming a hit in the area that is being filled with late 20’s NJ hipsters too «cool» for Brooklyn. But that’s not a terrible thing when you’re trying to open a successful bar in a great neighborhood. Drinks are priced just like other similar places in JC and NYC. PBR and Tecate cans for $ 4.
I’ll be back for dinner or after dinner drinks for sure.

This place used to be Carrino Provisions. The bartender said it wasn’t making money so… hello Bell + Gray.
This place will make mad loot.
The bar is huge. There’s also a back bar.
The space is huge.
The amount of seating is tremendous.
The menu isn’t overwhelming.
The prices of the drinks are on-​par with the rest of spots on JC’s «restaurant row».

Disappointing first night and uninspired menu. The menu has no true identity– every section is a small sampling of options that can be had in full at other local restaurants for less money. A tiny selection of pasta dishes that can be had for less with more variety at Roman Nose, flatbreads that can be experienced in full at Razza or Porta, a $ 11 tomato soup that is no better than Panera, and a $ 17 dozen wings that are the size of your pinky and equal with Park & Sixth– There is no scenario in which I can find myself craving a certain food and thinking Bell + Gray will be the best option. Everything we tried was tasty, but the menu lacks coherency. The space went from an excellent italian market/​café that lacked variety to an above average pseudo American/​Italian fusion that has no direction and costs too much.
The biggest disappointment, which I’ll forgive for first night woes, is the beer selection. It seems like a clear lack of understanding of the community to only offer Miller High Life on tap in a neighborhood that very strongly desires local and craft brews. The champagne of beers, quite frankly, should not even be n the menu– let alone for the $ 6/​pint my check showed despite the $ 4 menu price. Didn’t catch that one, unfortunately, until we were out the door. x6 = $ 12 we were overcharged and didn’t pick up on until we were gone.
Everything on the menu seems to have the Dale Talde touch, but I could never recommend the restaurant as anything other than a variety of several different dishes. I truly hope they continue to define the space and come up with a more coherent menu rather than trying to add American favorites to the Carrino Provisions staples.
I also hope they keep up with the BBQs in the spring/​summer which were an absolutely blast.