Went with my husband, father and my 12 year old to the Jazz Night Last Monday. The Jordan Piper Trio was outstanding, playing from 8-9p. After other musicians joined in. It was really exciting to see these talented musicians jamming together.

I know nothing about Jazz, but after Monday night I now know that I enjoy hearing it played live.

Before we left we listened to pieces performed by two different singers, 3 bass players, 3 saxaphones, at least two drummers a fab trumpet with the very excellent Jordan Piper holding it all together on Piano.

Highly recommended for all ages!

Monday nights at Brightside feature a live jazz ensemble. They're amazing, and not too loud. At least, not loud enough to drown out Tommy's schmoozing.

while music tastes vary, I very much enjoy the eclectic mix and volume at Skinners . Obviously, bars like the White Star and the 7 are different type venues but the music in the bar area at Skinner's actually is a major plus.

Brightside should borrow their catalog!

The music issue is real, but it's real at Thirty Acres and Marco & Pepe too. I am always asking our server to have the music turned down. I find Thirty Acres and Brightside always accommodating.

i would say the biggest problem with this place is the music - it can go from just a regular peaceful environment where you can enjoy your dinner and drinks to blaring music of any random kind. then silence. then the ipad gets handed to someone and a whole different genre is blasting until that song ends and then something else. its just very inconsistent and in my opinion annoying. someone needs to get control of the music in my opinion and then work on the other issues from there. unless you're there to control the ipad and get hammered it's just an unpleasant experience all around in my opinion.

Quote:

or: anyone can report on their experience, which can be pretty constructive, if the owner takes it seriously.

What are the rumors? These seem more like personal opinions and subjective reviews to me.

Anyone can make up rumors. Pretty destructive.

I also really liked this place the first few times, but then became discouraged by the inconsistent service and hope that the owner and staff take the comments on this board seriously because I hope they make it. I love the brussells sprouts. And I really want to like the people that work there, but I find their behavior draining, as opposed to comforting and service-oriented. From top to bottom. They should make you feel like YOU are special when you go there to spend your money, not like they or the place itself is special.

It seems my experiences here are similar to most of the other postings.

I was excited when Brightside opened- I live close by and I enjoyed Tommy Two Scoops. I've been here 3 times. The first time the food was great and the experience in the dining room was pleasant. The other two times- not so much. We chose to sit at the bar where we were ignored by the bartender. She was obviously too busy with off the clock co-workers to pay mind to us. Order some food and it was okay but, it's hard to enjoy anything you eat with terrible music blaring in your ears. The second time was the same scenario except Tommy (who is sweet and means well) decided to hang at the bar and bug patrons while they were eating with his over the top energy and in your face attitude. The guy means well but, doesn't understand how to create a vibe in a restaurant to save his life.

The last straw was when we decided to just come in for a drink, skip the mediocre food, and hope that Tommy was off the evening. Well, we sat down for over 7 mins (I timed this,out of frustration instead of saying anything) waiting for the bartender to come over. There were only 2 other patrons at the bar. The other 2 customers finally pointed us out (despite making direct eye contact with her in the mirror several times) to which she then turned around looked at us and continued to ignore. We walked right out and said we'd never be back. And we haven't been back since.

Late nights the drunken idiots leaving this bar will sometimes take their beer bottles to go as I was almost hit with a flying one because they didn't see me behind them as they carelessly chugged and pitched the empty bottles.

I've also now been turned off by hearing the rumors of Tommys "possible" delay with the reopen of Toricos not to mention his "ins" with some city workers. Blah

and clove? Whatever it is, it WORKS.

Quote:

Maybe Cumin?

New menu at Brightside. My favorite lamb burger is gone but I may have fallen in love all over again. I had two small plates -- meatballs and brussels sprouts. I've had Razza's and Roman Nose's meatballs -- and I think I like these the best. They're as light as Roman Nose's with a unique flavor - I'm not even sure what it is. I felt like a wine taster, trying to identify the seasoning. Really good. Then the sprouts -- with bacon and carmelized red onions. We're big sprout eaters in our family and these are as good as I've eaten anywhere -- including my kitchen.

I will continue to lobby for the return of the lamb burgers, but these new additions will have me coming back for more (and the small plate portions were big enough that I had the same thing for lunch today).

And the white table cloths are gone.

I had my company Christmas party at The Brightside. Food was great (nearly everyone got a steak and they were excellent.) Live piano player in the background who was terrific. Very good service. Everyone had a great time. Plus the place is gorgeous.

Definitely not looking for utopia, just another 1-2 real bars in the area would be nice. Aside from Lucky's and White Star, there aren't many places to socialize and maybe throw darts where it's not totally dead, but not overly crowded.

Quote:

Agreed, too many looking for utopia.

As someone who kind of like Brightside I can't really argue with the recent reviews. The bartenders are bad and inattentive, the music is loud and obnoxious but Tommy is great and if you ask to change the music or lower it, they will (hell they'll hand you the iPad and you can choose your own music). If you interrupt the bartenders while they are socializing they don't care.

Tommy just seems to want to hang around with his friends at a bar and that is exactly the vibe you get.

We really wanted to love this place and actually had our rehearsal dinner there which went extremley well last year. The times we have been back at the bar for dinner have been HORRIBLE. The bartenders never pay attention, they are either overly busy (when they shouldn't be with the number of customers) or having a 1/2 hour chat with patrons. Tommy is really sweet but this is an ongoing problem. Also twice when we have been there it has felt like a TGIFridays and once Tommy had allowed a leopard themed party in his dining room. The party was a later night event but the issue was it started at 9 pm and around our dinner there was all types of noise and chaos. The clientelle at this party also seemed to be from the projects around the corner.
I have no issue with this being a neighborhood bar but with no management it is just pure chaos with mediocure food.

bodhipooh, I also felt really bad about posting what I did. I typically don't like posting overly negative reviews on local businesses, because I know how hard it is to succeed. And Tommy means well and seems to be nice, and involved with his customers.

My advice to him would be to focus on making the bar area seem like more of a neighborhood place. It's remodeled and all, but to my eye it looks a bit too shiny and sterile, and too "open" or something. Focus on having GREAT craft beers on tap, local is preferred by most. Bargoers in this town either like their beer cheap (Pabst) or craft. The in between stuff won't attract the drinking crowd and it won't move inventory. And the music - maybe I'm ignorant, but do people really want to sit at a bar and listen to loud Z-100 pop music? That seems like a TGI Friday's scene, not an independent neighborhood bar and grill. Heck, when there is a piano player playing in the other room, pipe that sound into the bar area! It sounded really good (especially in contrast to the cheesefest my ears were victims to).

For an example, look at the first floor of Skinner's Loft; that first floor was newly remodeled a few years ago and the bar area looks like it has been there forever. It has character, and it is comfortable, which is what a bar (specifically a neighborhood bar) should be.

Also, I guarantee that nobody is going to enjoy the red sauce on their chicken parm seasoned with cumin. The flavors just don't work!

Good luck to Tommy, I would be willing to give it one more shot in a few months.

I had semi similar experience, the bartender was awful but not sure if she still works there. They were playing Journey at full blast, but after sitting at the bar for about 10 min, I asked them to change the music and lower it, which they did, they played some Bob Marley and other classic reggae for the rest of the evening at a nice volume.
The food was good, it was not superb but pretty good. After dinner they offer me and my party a lift back to GV which I thought was very nice. Sometimes asking them to change or lower the music is all it takes.
I plan to go back, especially in the warmer season for their outdoor seating.

I try to avoid negative reviews of local places, as I really don't want see a local place, with local ownership, going out of business, but I had to chime in on this one.

I have also tried the Brightside Tavern on three occasions, all terrible. Every visit was at the bar area. Unfortunately, the experience described by tommyc_37 is, in many ways, exactly what it's been like for me.

The ambiance (on a football Sunday afternoon) was pretty dreadful. On a second occasion (also over a weekend, but can't remember if Saturday or Sunday) it was equally bland, devoid of any feel of a neighborhood bar, or tavern.

The food is almost laughable. On my first visit, I asked the bartender if the wings were any good, and I was assured they were excellent and really some of the best she had ever had. Well, those wings were probably some of the worst I have ever had: they were tiny, thin and overcooked. Yet, somehow, they were barely warm when they got to me. Even though I hate tiny wings, if they are at least meaty, I could forgive the lack of size. These things barely had any meat on them, and since they were overcooked, eating the little meat they had was like chewing on bone.

Also, the beers on tap were very much run of the mill stuff.

I really wanted to like this place, but I haven't been back in almost a year. I suppose I could give it a try again. But, I am in no hurry to do so.

I have eaten here once in the past (burger) and it was pretty solid, so a friend and I ate here last night sitting at the bar with a beer.

I have to say, the atmosphere in the bar area is about as awful as any bar I've ever been in. I feel bad saying this, because Tommy the owner seems like a pretty decent guy. There were maybe a total of 10-12 people in the entire bar area (this is about 7:30 pm), and there was CLUB music (bad club music, like 103.5 KTU stuff) being blasted very loudly. What's up with that? By the meal's end, it had switched to Z-100/Kelly Clarkson type of music, which to my ears is equally as bad, and it was still WAY too loud for a scantily populated bar at 8:00. It was just really, really cheesy. The patrons in the bar area were straight out of a roadside Houlihan's on Route 17 in Bergen County. Really odd vibe going on in there.

The food - I ordered the chicken parm sandwich, and it would have been pretty good except for one thing - it was seasoned with cumin. Yep, cumin. Now, I like creativity when it comes to cuisine, but cumin doesn't belong anywhere near a chicken parm sandwich. The minute the plate was placed in front of me I smelled cumin, and I was thinking "oh, it's probably on the fries" but no, it was on the chicken parm sandwich. On the other hand, my friend said his burger was quite good. The only problem is, his burger came out 15 minutes after my sandwich came out. Not cool.

On a positive note, there was a piano player and singer in the dining room area, which sounded pretty cool when the blasting Z-100 music in the bar area paused between songs.

I'm not sure I'll be back, way too many better options. I like the piano in the dining room, though...so if I come back for a meal I would go into the dining room and avoid the awful vibe in the bar area.

Neverleft,

My understanding is anyone can apply for a variance, but it could potentially cost extra money to apply (possible legal fees, etc.) So Tommy was pissed that he would have to pay money and spend time going through the process when everyone already knew he was going to get approved.

.

Ok ..so in March 2012 the City Council denied Brightside Traven being included in the Restaurant Row expansion that would allow them to have live music. Being blocks away and all by itself it was strange that it would be included. Two months later the JC Zoning Board approves a variance to allow live music at Brightside anyway. Why the attempt to get included in the RR in the first place if you can just go to the Zoning Board to get around it? I am sure the City Council has or will be approving the variance.

So any restaurant or bar in any part of the ENTIRE city can apply for a live music variance..right?



City Zoning Board approves variance for Bright Side


On May 17, the Jersey City Zoning Board approved a variance that will allow live music to be played at the Brightside Tavern, a restaurant and bar at 141 Bright Street.

Brightside owner Tom Parisi, who also owns Tommy 2 Scoops, has tried for months to get city approval so that a grand piano in his dining room can be played. On two separate occasions, the Brightside was excluded from local ordinances that expanded the city?s Restaurant Row and set new hours and rules for live music in restaurants and bars.

With last Thursday?s approval from the Zoning Board, Parisi hopes he?ll finally be able to offer live piano music to his customers.

?I?m looking forward to giving my customers and friends some entertainment that they would normally go to Manhattan for,? Parisi said after the decision was reached. ?The system does work. A lot of happy people are awaiting some fun times.?

The City Council must still approve the decision of the Zoning Board.

** ****


from the Hudson Reporter?.(a good place for news)

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_s ... rticle-JERSEY-CITY-BRIEFS

was there last night again for dinner. I saw that they had hooked up this crazy auto-piano playing machine for the baby grand in the dining room area. According to the staff, they apparently got approved for live performances now despite the robot piano player and will be hosting cabaret nights of a sort on Saturdays around 10pm. They also plan karaoke

has anyone been able to substantiate - or hopefully disprove - the whispers that Brightside's Tommy, also of Tommy Two-Scoops, had a hand in delaying the opening of Torico's? (with the help of his building inspector brother?)

I hope this isn't true, 'cause I'd love to check out Brightside, but have zero interest in lining the pockets of someone who's part of the problem.

Leggero or Tapas?

Oh, and Newark ave could use a ton of places like this and Porto

Ate their last night. Very impressed. Now all they need to do is get rid of the HUD housing a few blocks away

This place rocks! I say its one of the best places downtown. Nothing shady about this place, just pure good times.

The last time I was there, Tommy offered us a ride back to Greenville. Good food, and good vibes all around.