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I haven't been in but from what I see through the windows it looks exactly the same as before closing for renovations.

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So the size is the same?

Jollibee in Jersey City is open again. I think they closed for renovations because they got blasted by Sandy's storm surge.

Almost every store in that strip mall was closed for a time to clean up and renovate.

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Wow, this looks pretty yummy. It is not too far from my office, I will give it a try. Thanks!

Here's a place you guys might be interested: Jeepney's Kamayan Night!

http://blog.zagat.com/2013/03/bizarre ... utm_campaign=blog20130403

The Filipino community in JC is growing. They love their places from home being in town instead of a 23 hour flight away. Cant say I blame them, Id miss a lot of my favorite staples around our area if I left.

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Its OK, but yes it is definitely a cultural thing, I have a client from the Philippians and when I told her I don't live too far from a Jollibee she got so excited, like I told her I was living near some A list celebrity... really? I am not a huge fan, but it made a huge difference in the area.

meh. It doesn't help that phillipino cuisine in general isn't all that much to sing about. While there are always exceptions, the majority of the food dishes, especially the meat entrees, tend to be way overcooked past well done. It appears to be a cultural thing, similar to the caribbean and particularly in red meat dishes.

Basically, i'll reconsider some of the fast food joints when they learn how to medium-rare a burger. Until then, they can be fringe status til forever as far as I care :(

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LMAO @ the homeless guy... I know that CV, SH, WB, & FP has a lot of Filipino residents but I know that there are not much on the New York Bay side and they were walking up Danforth coming from Princeton so I am assuming they came in via lightrail and I don't mean like 30 or 40 I mean like 60 or 80 walking up and down Danforth on any given Sunday when Jollibee was open.

I think the jolibee in queens has been open for like 5 years? I think the size of the restaurants has more to do with location than anything else. JC & NYC retail space is pretty small. Out in LA I walked in to a red ribbon with seating for 75 in a non-filipino neighborhood and it wasnt even close to a hospital! :)...

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Yeah that space was small. They had the portable truck freezes in the back parking lot with wires going into the store. (don?t know how the city let that happen) The Filipinos are from the Franklin Park and Country Village developments.

Franklin Park is made up of those 2 family houses next to (OLM) Our Lady of Mercy Church and School. The lot was a big old (I recall ?) chemical factory. As Society Hill was being built so was Franklin Park. A lot of people who didn?t buy into SH (because it was sold out, hard to believe now a days) brought into FP. It was mostly Filipinos. They saved OLM Grammar School and Church by coming into the area it had very low enrollment/attendance. There are also many Filipinos now in CV. (that is why I think there are so many Fulop signs)

Jollibee Jersey City. (can?t see how they can make it much bigger)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tnR9RQnkU


Funny there is a homeless guy there begging in front of the mini mart and rite aid some days. He is a genius a few times when I was down there he would hold parking spots for money. If he saw an empty spot he would stand in it and wave you over for some change.

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Yes, I noticed that. I think there was too many complaints about no. to too little seating.

So I think they will try and expand. I went there a few times and it was standing only. I also use wonder-bagels on weekends and sometimes use the Rite-aid and the parking situation is horrible.

My first time there I was like where did all these Fillipinos come from???? Then someone told me that most are coming in from NYC (Queens) so maybe with the new one opening up there the JC one wont be so hectic.

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If you didn?t already know the Jollibee in Danforth Plaza at 393 Danforth Ave has been closed for renovations.

I can?t imagine what they are doing they just opened last year and did a million dollar renovation to take it from the old Society Hill Gym to a Jollibee. It was/is a successful place you can?t get a parking spot in the lot to shop in the other businesses during the day.

By Dennis Clemente
NEW YORK?On Fifth Avenue across the neck-straining Empire State Building are two KFC spots. Here, KFC is not Kentucky Fried Chicken but BonChon and KyoChon, the Korean Fried Chickens to savor in one of the busiest streets in this city.
More than six miles away, oblivious to the Manhattanites waiting for their lunch meal at the Korean hotspots, are Jollibee (on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens) and Max?s Restaurant (on Newark Avenue in Jersey City).
It?s quiet in both Filipino restaurants, as they wait patiently for the weekend, when the crush of Filipino customers come bustling in for a taste of nostalgia.
What is wrong with this picture? One thinks his slice of the world is fine; the other chooses to go beyond and cater to the world.
Filipino enclaves
Three years ago, when Max?s was scouting for locations in the tri-state area, a marketing representative asked for my so-called expert opinion, as I work with Fortune 500 companies in terms of targeting the Filipino community in the US.
I suggested Manhattan, because it?s too obvious a choice for anyone who knows New Yorkers are game for any type of food. More important, perhaps, New York is home to the American media and, if you believe it, the world.
Instead, Max?s opened in Jersey City, another Filipino enclave that you can count on to do brisk business on weekends; too good a business, one has to deal with the limited space and seats.
Filipino restaurants in the US are undersized, even if they?re outside of the pricey rental space like Manhattan. Being Filipino, I thought it was the effect of my spatial limitations to my obvious paucity of means. Because the Philippines is small in land size, people?s creativity come into play.
Commuters can fit in four-to -eight-seat tricycles, for instance. We obviously take pride in making limited space work, and there?s nothing wrong with that. Others may simply view our solutions, however innovative, as lack of foresight and planning.
Comfort zone
But that is beside the point. Our chains, even small eateries, may be earning enough money just targeting Filipinos as customers. It is all up to the different ethnicities in New York then, as I wrote back in 2010, to go beyond their communities and cater to mainstream America?the Middle Eastern food trucks in various city corners, the Chinese restaurants in intersections, the Mexican delis in strategic locations, the Italian pizzas everywhere and, yes, the Korean fried-chicken gastropubs in the busiest streets.
If an American wants Filipino food, he has to go outside of his comfort zone, outside of his neighborhood. Oftentimes they don?t realize there?s a Filipino restaurant in Manhattan, because it has preferred to stay nondescript, almost incognito.
Meanwhile, BonChon now has 16 branches, two in Manhattan within a few blocks?
not bad for a chain that started in Korea only in 2002 and opened its first US outlet four years later. KyoChon, for its part, has 10 chains, the one on Fifth Avenue being its flagship store.
These Korean spots can?t beat Jollibee, though, in terms of number outlets, which is about 27 or so as listed in its website (Max?s listings can?t be found online), since it opened its first store in Daly City in San Francisco back in 1998.
But what they lack in number (for now, at least), they make up for in diverse customers and great reviews. They actually exist in Zagat, both rating Very Good to Excellent in the popular restaurant guide rated now owned by Google.
Last time I checked this month, Jollibee and Max?s are not listed in Zagat in New York and Los Angeles, two very populous Filipino areas.

Maharlika
It may be a simple case of ?out of sight, out of mind,? which is unfortunate, because people generally like Jollibee, especially young Filipino-Americans who grew up disliking the cafeteria-style Filipino food here. But all hope is not lost.
We have our young Filipino-American owners of Maharlika. The year-old Maharlika may have found the formula of catering not just to Filipinos but also to Filipino-Americans and non-Filipinos. It is in trendy East Village. It is modernizing home-style Filipino food.
And yes, it brandishes that Filipino concept proudly, unlike others who hide under Asian-American fusion or some gibberish. The other ingredient to success probably rests on one fact that others ignore or feel ashamed of doing: proudly say their restaurant serves Filipino food.
It remains to be seen if Maharlika will have the longevity by carrying the Filipino restaurant label, but if the same owners? new restaurant called Jeepney 5 blocks away is any indication of its confidence, Filipino food could be finally taking residence in this city.
Jeepney is like BonChon and KyoChon. It?s taking in the gastropub concept of food with beer and wine in a group-friendly bar-like atmosphere while borrowing from the amazing artistry of Filipino food in the Philippines. For Filipinos here, it?s a tribute to what they miss most back home aside from family and friends: the food.
Because our top Philippine-based food cognoscenti can?t join us here, it?s now up to Filipino-Americans to take Filipino food to mainstream America.

Expanding wings
Recently, Sheldon Simeon, a Filipino-American chef, led his team to victory on Bravo?s TV show ?Top Chef.? He cooked an all-Filipino meal to the delight of the judges. Simeon and other Filipino-American chefs and restaurant owners should be able to broaden the appeal of Filipino food.
Having the vantage point of seeing from both worlds (being Filipino and American), Filipino-Americans may just help inspire our Philippine-born fast-food joints like Jollibee and Max?s to expand their wings. And it should not be hard to market to non-Filipinos, as savvy as Filipinos are in marketing and advertising.
Filipinos represent the third largest Asian population in the US with only a 300,000 split difference between the Chinese (excluding Taiwanese) and a few thousands with the Indians.
Filipino food as we know it need not be invisible or ?blank,? as food adventurer Anthony Bourdain once posed as a question to a Filipino restaurateur in his defunct travel show.
In the New York Times piece about Maharlika called ?Authentic Filipino Moderno? (Nov. 15, 2011), it?s quite refreshing to hear food writer-critic Ligaya Mishan ask the question, ?Could it be that Filipino food, the underdog of Asian cuisines, is having a moment at last??
One really hopes so?whether it?s our authentic cuisine or fast-food chains.
Visit americanizewho.com. Contact the author at dennis@americanizewho.com.