In the heart of the Downtown Van Vorst section of Jersey City, the Kitchen Step bistro offers Progressive American cuisine in an open and airy space that?s down to earth with natural wood tables, eco green banquettes and paintings of leaves and tree branches hanging from the dining room ceiling.

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I need to give this place another shot. I found the food to be very ho-hum for the price. Service was fine.

Their bread and butter really are special. Try the Duck Confit salad next time. THe burger is excellent

11 months late, inexplicably, but we finally made it to The Kitchen Step.

The food was spot on, and there was quite a bit of it. Two appetizers, two entrees, two glasses of wine, no desserts. The kale salad was very nicely done and the combination of flavors and texture were spot on. The second appetizer was the zucchini fries, which were OK, but nothing to be excited about, particularly compared to the rest of the meal. The (free) bread was very good (awesome chewy texture, thick hard crust, paired with really good butter) and the entrees (miso-glazed portobello mushrooms, and moroccan braised chicken) were both excellent. I wish my chicken had had a bit more salt, but that is a forgivable slip, given that all the other flavors were really good.

The service was also good: attentive without being annoying, or overbearing. The General Manager (Kenneth) came around twice and he was also very friendly and very eager to discuss the restaurant, the food, the changes they made to the space, and overall a very pleasant dude. We talked about the wine I was drinking, and the changes in the space since the 30 Acres days.

Definitely will go back. We got lucky and got a good table despite not having a reservation, but I think that was partly due to the crappy weather outside on Saturday. It was otherwise packed, with only one other table available.

Great first hand report, third_street_hats. Thank you.

Went last night.

The good:

-Service and timing of food - it didn't feel like an opening weekend at all. If you've ever opened a restaurant or been to a restaurant on opening weekend you'll know this is no small feat.

-Smoking Jacket cocktail - one of the better cocktails i've had in a long while

-Bread service - the fact that it exists and the quality was good

-Wine list - totally manageable and several $8/9 by the glass options

-Sound - sound absorbing panels were added to the ceiling. There is a perceivable difference from when 30 Acres was in the space. Unfortunately they painted an absolutely ridiculous looking tree along these 6 or so panels that run the length of the ceiling

The not so good:

Every dish we had, save the dessert, was not bad but was not quite there yet:

-crab crostini was rich but lacking salt/acid

-duck salad was overly sweet from the abundance of grapes but the rest of the salad was pretty tasty

-mussels were again missing acid

-burger came across too sweet and lacking in seasoning. additionally the temp was a bit off and there was not a good sear so combined with the cheddar, onion compote (read sauteed onion), not totally crispy but flavorful bacon and brioche bun the whole thing was one note on texture. It was very strange to me that they did not include a single raw ingredient in the burger setup nor a sauce. A bit of ketchup was served on the side but I assumed this was for the fries.

Some bizarre design choices:

-The chairs in the waiting area are super tacky as is the entryway wallpaper.

-They opted to put butcher paper on all of the wood tables which highlights for the rest of the meal every piece of food I dropped off of my plate.

-This same paper came back into play when they handed out dessert menus in butcher paper greeting card envelopes. Makes little sense and those envelopes will likely get tossed every night as peoples' grubby fingers cover them in stains.

That being said, it was opening weekend and I think they'll be able to improve all of the above dishes. Check came in right around $125 including tip for all of the above mentioned food (1 snack, 1 small plate, 2 entrees), two glasses of wine, a cocktail and a dessert.

We'll go back, but not until the menu gets a bit more interesting.

Went again last night. We shared the fish tacos app. Could have use a bit more heat but they were delicious. I had the duck confit salad ... again... and a Vesper. My husband got the very delicious burger. No comparison of the bacon between on the burger between Step and White Star (and I love their burgers). The bacon alone accounts the price difference. But if you don't want an $18 burger, don't go. More room for me -- because it was packed.

So happy to have the space well-occupied.

Two thumbs up for the Duck confit salad. Lovely cocktails. My dinner companions said their burgers were perfect. Their fries were yummy.

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It's a $17 burger. The same burger that you would pay ~$15 for at White Star, Park&Sixth or Left Bank. Depending on the quality of the meat, quality of the fries and whatever they changed the interior of this place to look like I'd say that's reasonable.

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Yeah OK on that $18 burger -

"RD Burger- 8oz beef burger, aged cheddar, onion compote, bacon & herbed fries 18"

The restaurant taking over the former Thirty Acres space is set to open tonight from the folks behind Battello.

Website with menu is up. Seems like the kind of place to take your folks when they come to visit, well composed plates but nothing that will shock their palates; good or bad.

Planning to stop by this weekend.