The Cup Joint, Hoboken

[tkrongold]

trying the Cup Joint tonight (after reading all the wonderful reviews here). are there any parking garages nearby (i don't expect to find parking on the street...although one can dream).

thanks!

[richardv]

trying the Cup Joint tonight (after reading all the wonderful reviews here). are there any parking garages nearby (i don't expect to find parking on the street...although one can dream).

thanks!

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There's a garage right on Jefferson on the same side as the restaurant, between 8th and 9th, so if you're coming south on Jeff. it'll be on your right the block before the restaurant but I don't know how much they charge.

If you were to make 2 rights (onto 8th, onto Madison) there's a gigantic Shop Rite. My trick is to buy some things in there that I need anyway, and leave them highly visible on my front seat while I go over to the restaurant, or sometimes when I leave with my purchases I ask a manager since I shopped here can I leave the car while I have dinner? They're not crowded at night and I think the answer may always be yes.

[tkrongold]

thanks, Richard!

[richardv]

thanks, Richard!

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You're welcome. If you're coming from afar, maybe you should also call ahead to see what the specials are so that there's no cause for disappointment. The regular menu is on their site at

The Cup Joint

and there is no "dinner" menu, it's the all-day dining that's served at night as well. Last night's specials were the sliced hangar steak sandwich with the caramelized onions and melted muenster that somebody wrote about above, and also a pulled pork special that they ran out of just before we got there, but last week they were running the gnocchi with shiitake mushrooms and spinach, which I actually was craving last night but no luck. We had the meat loaf and the salmon and they were simple and oh-so-satisfying ‘joint’ food.

And btw to the question way above, yes, friends tell me this indeed used to be the spot of The Truck Stop Diner. I only knew Deno's though.

[tkrongold]

Unfortunately, i must be a dissenter in the Cup Joint fan club. We went last night & maybe my expectations were too high, but we were very disappointed. Two of us ordered the meat loaf dinner; when we asked if it came with the famous mashed potatoes, we were told they didn't have any tonight. our waiter said they only had enough mashed potatoes for the meat loaf diner sandwich (he said that was their most popular sandwich & they couldn't risk running out...). he went to check in the kitchen to see if they would make an exception & serve mashed potatoes with our entrees, but they said no. he said the sides that came with the meat loaf that night were long beans & cous cous. we decided to order the diner sandwich & not eat the bread (a la Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces...). The meat loaf was very tender, but it came with a sort of BBQ sauce, which IMHO does not go with meat loaf. the mashed potatoes were good & so were the fried onions, but not great.

our waiter told us that on Saturdays they are more of a breakfast/brunch place & dinners were not that busy. for at least 30 minutes, we were the only customers in the restaurant (at 7pm) & we felt it was poor customer service to not accommodate our request for mashed potatoes with the meat loaf entree (especially when they had them ready to go!).

we also sampled the arugula/watercress salad - again, good not great.

on a positive note, the carrot cake (as advertised) was wonderful.

[CiriloE]

Unfortunately, i must be a dissenter in the Cup Joint fan club.

on a positive note, the carrot cake (as advertised) was wonderful.

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Have gone twice now, each time a 40 minute drive for us.

Next time we decide to go to Hoboken it will be back to ...

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My wife had to go to St Mary's in Hoboken last Thursday and we went to the The Cup Joint for a quick dinner before the meeting. We shared a Cup Joint salad, I had the hanger steak dinner with green beans and cous cous, she had the barbecued pulled pork sandwich. We shared the mint brownies for dessert and washed it down with tea. The food was excellent and we had an enjoyable dinner for under $50.00.

It really is a very good neighborhood restaurant but not a destination restaurant as Hank said. We hope to be back there again when we are in Hoboken or the Heights section of JC which fortunately is often enough.

Cirilo

[finnfann]

I must say, my husband and I eat there pretty much every weekend. The food is always great, the service excellent and the people are just wonderful. But it is a "neighborhood" joint for us as we live just a few blocks away.

This weekend, I had the macaroni and cheese starter, followed by the burger -- great comfort food; just what I needed. My husband had a salad (I don't remember which one, but they are all good) and the ravioli, which was delicious.

This place couldn't have opened at a better time for us. We are always in search of good food, and find our dining options a bit more limited now that we have a baby. We love being able to get a quick bite at a reasonable price, somewhere that our son won't be causing a scene. I know he can't wait to try that mac & cheese -- soon baby, soon.