I just went the first time in many years and the restaurant is just as good as I remember it. I got the stuffed lobster, they gave me 2 lobsters, of course I needed a doggie bag, but they were amazing, my husband had the pork chops, they gave him 2 huge chops, he raved about them. You have to try the red Sangria it definitely compliments the meal. read more

Food is excellent and they never disappoint. Everything on the menu is outstanding! Service is excellent. read more

Huge helpings of paella, plenty of seafood in it. One serving more than two of us could eat. Attentive waiters. Overall a great dining experience, and the sangria was very delish read more

Delicious Spanish food with efficient and friendly service. We reserved ahead of time for a party of 10 but still had to wait 10-15 min for our table to be ready when we got there. All the dishes we ordered was prepared perfectly. The paella is a must and the porterhouse steak was juicy and tender. read more

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Came here as we were meeting our family half way. We were here many years ago and they can handle a larger group. The service was very good. The food was fair. We split a surf and turf meal. The filet was dry and undercooked for both mine and my daughter. My wife could barely get the lobster tail out of the shell. The paella was a lot of rice with not much taste. Most of us who ordered this took 3/4 of it home if they wanted to. We found this place expensive and highly overpriced and overrated. Needless to say we won't be coming back anytime soon. read more

Nothing to say but awesome food, service and atmosphere, I heard a waiter politely ask a patron to take off his baseball hat, I almost fell out of my chair! Great job I was so happy to see that in this day and age!!!! A proper restaurant and extremely professional staff, HIGHY RECOMMEND!!! read more

Good food great service and the location in Newark convenient to train station. Had a couple of parties at Newark location and everyone enjoyed themselves. read more

Me and 6 friends have just walked out of this restaurant. We arrived to sneering remarks because one of my friends had a service dog. They insulted us in Spanish (they didn't know one of us could speak Spanish) they then made us feel extremely unwelcome. We sat down and the unbelievably snooty waiter said "which one of you is the blind man?" I asked if there was a problem and he was extremely rude. This place is a disgrace under no circumstances go to this restaurant. read more

Excellent! I was impressed by everything. The food size portions were generous & tasty. The waitstaff was available and very polite. The restaurant tables were spaced nicely & by 7pm the place was full. Parking was free. I would definitely return. read more

all the food was top notch as was the service, prices were kinda high but the quality of the food an service made it worth the cost read more

Don Pepe - Chilean sea bass - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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Don Pepe is a Newark classic and for good reason. In a city rich in Spanish and Portuguese culture, there are so many restaurants that serve the Spanish classics. However, Don Pepe stands out among the rest. They have maintained a very old school, classy ambience over the years where the food hasn't ever fallen in quality. Your table will never be unattended and dirty plates will never sit. White table clothes and white cloth napkins and the dark wood interior will make you feel nostalgic. I have been to Don Pepe countless times, and every time they have a list of nightly specials almost as long as the menu itself. Off the regular menu, the paella and mariscadas are delicious. Almost everyone orders a shareable garlic shrimp and chorizo - it's just delicious. The pork chops in garlic sauce are tender and flavorful and so is every flame grilled steak that they offer. The Chilean sea bass is excellent ... and to be honest, so is every other seafood dish. Most entrees are served with vegetables and boiled potatoes but you will be offered rice and fried potatoes once the food hits the table. The sangria is also strong and unbeatable. The prices aren't necessarily cheap, but I think they are more than fair given the service and overall quality of the food. read more

Don Pepe - Grilled Shellfish Platter (a special) - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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went there reluctantly after reading the reviews.My friend and his wife head alot about this place that it was real good,i I said the google reviews and the yelp reviews were not impressive.I think you know by now where this is going.The minute we got seated an employee said you need to take your hat off ,I said why ?he said it was a policy .I saw nothing anywhere that implied that.This was on Memorial Day and I wore an American Flag hat.The food was mediocre at best and far from averaged priced $240 later the other couple weren't thrilled with the place either.Yes it has its own private parking lot ,so what? read more

Came here quite a few times. Each time the food has been good. The seafood is fresh and well made. Very good sangria.. Solid Spanish restaurant. read more

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The service was average. The wait staff was arrogant n rude. When the bill came to us it was scribbled on a piece of paper. Def do not waste your time eating here especially if your brown or black. You can find so many other great spots to go to. Tell everyone and I'm Hispanic and have never been treated so rudely by my own kind. read more

My favorite place to get paella marinera. Awesome experience even after so many years of not going there. read more

Don Pepe - Amazing - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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My family has been coming to this restaurant for over four decades. It's slowly updated with the times. The food is generally consistent and my picky parents keep coming back. The only complaint is the quality of the bread has gone down. Order the sangria! read more

Love this place right here definitely will be going back on the weekend for football and some drinks

Racist restaurant. I was told to park on the street but when a white customer pulled up they allowed her to park in the parking lot with no problem. I actually sat in my car for 15 minutes waiting on my party to show up and watched multiple people who were not black allowed to park in the parking lot. read more

The food is very good here. It can taste even better when someone else is paying and that was the case here. Otherwise the prices are a little high. The atmosphere is a little odd, can't put my finger on what it is. It's a little stuffy and old school, very old. Many of the staff can't speak English well. I ordered the seafood special. Wasn't told there was lobster on it, happy surprise for me, but maybe not everyone. They called their cake a lava cake but there was no lava, it was very dry, and pricy. I dont see myself going back unless someone else is hosting. read more

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Great place. I would recommend this place to any of my Italian friends. It's a family style restaurant of the old school.

Had an amazing early dinner this past Saturday! My husband and I arrived without a reservation just shy of 5 pm. There were a good amount of people there. We noticed that many tables were sharing a paella and Sangria pitchers, therefore we tried both. Oh and they serve warm, fresh bread as an appetizer that was fluffy and just perfect! They were amazing! The waiter wasn't the best. The bussers, however, were fabulous! There was especially one gentleman who kept refilling our glasses with Sangria, was very attentive, respectful and treated all of the tables the same. He really was a pleasure! The Sangria was OK. I've had better but have also had worse. It was a very decent size pitcher for the $23! The size was totally worth it! It was strong enough, yet not too strong nor too sweet. Very glad we tried it. We were there prior to the Mark Anthony concert and I could tell around 6 that we were not the only ones. The place started getting quite crowded with all sorts of guests but seemed like many were there for the talented Mark Anthony. Overall, we had a very romantic and lovely dinner! Will definitely go again. By the way, we were able to share the huge paella serving which was just shy of $30. Normally during busier hours, two dishes must be ordered. In this case because we arrived before it was very busy, we were able to share by just incurring a $6 sharing plate charge. Parking was great also, especially because we arrived before 5pm. read more

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Locals recommended Don Pepe as the place to go for paella, and they were right. My plate was so huge that I really needed someone to split it with me! The amount of seafood in it was astonishing; at least a pound of shrimp, plus mussels and half a lobster! I had some excellent Albariño wine to go with the paella. Gracias, Don Pepe. If I'm ever in Newark again, I will be back! read more

Don Pepe - Paella! - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Nice restaurant with HUGE portions! The food here is good. My favorite here is the paella. We only ordered the servings for two but it fed 4 plus had left overs enough for dinner for two the next day. We had the Valenciana paella and it came with tons of seafood, including scallops (my favorite) and a small lobster (but hey, its only $24.50). This restaurant is definitely worth it for the portions and quality of food. One small downside is that the parking spots are VERY small and it may be a challenge to park your car. I will definitely come back here again! read more

Don Pepe - Paella - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

A 4 might be a stretch, more 3.8 if this app would allow it. Absolutely HATE only 5 whole numbers for ratings! So I found the place during my last visit to Newark and just didn't have time to get over here. Staying this time at the Doubletree Penn Station. It was a short walk. The entrance was around the rear of the building. Greeted by a nice floral arrangement and extremely clean. Lots of large open spaces that would accommodate large gatherings. Service was attentive. I was disappointed by the lack of Spanish beer and wine. The gazpacho was refreshing; however, seemed plain and could have been improved upon by serving it with some sour cream, chunks of avocado, cilantro and lime. The clams casino were a hit! They knocked it out of the park with these. Made by a genius of a chef, I could see the obvious bacon adorning them and there was a nice amount of smoked paprika used in them. But I just couldn't nail down the other ingredients in the delicious topping. That was it for me on this evening as I had a huge lunch earlier that day. I'll be back to try fish or shrimp on my next visit and will update this review accordingly. read more

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Came here to eat after my graduation at Prudential Center. We had a reservation for 7, and the service was super fast! The lunch portions are HUGE, so if you can get here for lunch, you can definitely split a lunch portion between 2-3 people. Everything we ate here was alright. Lacking flavor. Except for the paella! Oh my goodness, delicious delicious delicious! The portions make it worth the money, but the flavor doesn't. I'd go back just for the lunch portion paella. read more

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Always a privilege to make a trip here for awesome food. Waiters are always great and attentive. Food is plentiful and delicious. Looking forward to next visit read more

This restaurant been around for over 40 years. The service was excellent, Ricky our waiter was wonderful, his assistants Jorge was also great. The food is good, the three pound lobster was tough, very rubbery like it was over cooked. The shrimp and garlic sauce which is my favorite everywhere, was delicious, I just needed to request more sauce. The drinks and white sangria were awful. Everything was over priced. Pulpo was not good. We were a group of 13 and the gratuity was auto added, I gave an extra 20 to Ricky cause he was so great, personable, I would visit again, just not order such a large 62.00 lobster. It was not worth the cost. And not with a group read more

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I have great memories of Don Pepe from my childhood. My family used to make the trek from Staten Island to eat dinner at Don Pepe. Staten Island was limited in Spanish food options at that time while Newark was a quick ride from the Island and offered what seems like unlimited Spanish food options. A Large party of 11 seated at 630 on a Saturday night to celebrate my fathers birthday. Don Pepe has a tremendous parking lot and offers valet parking. I was a bit concerned as sitting down at 630 was no issue and the restaurant was less than half full. Did I make a mistake? Has the allure of Don Pepe faded? Are there just too many options in the area? Is the food just not as good? I will be the judge. First, by 930pm the place was bombed...whew! Service to start the evening was great (place was half empty duh!) The service got progressively worse throughout the evening. Sangria white and red for the table....weak If I couldn't make better Sangria I would hand in my bartenders license. Ria Mar and Fernandes come to mind as better versions. Our waiter Sergio explained the specials..... Several of us went with the grilled seafood platter which included lobster clams mussels and shrimp 2 elected for Paella 2 went with pasta with vodka sauce and seafood. For appetizers we went with Fried Calamari, grilled chorizo and garlic shrimp. The bread on the table is delicious, accompanied by a bottle of high quality olive oil. The garlic shrimp is very good, the hallmark of any Spanish restaurant. The fried calamari was well below average with a sorry excuse for tomato sauce. The chorizo was outstanding, grilled perfectly. 2 out of 3 not bad..... My lobster was delicious, 3 pounder at $17 a pound broiled perfectly. Best lobster I have had in recent memory. The grilled platters were beautiful and the fish was fresh. The paella's look wonderful but lacked flavor....my wife said Ria Mar Fernandes and Iberia are far better than Don Pepe. The pasta dishes were solid options according to my dinner partners. The entrees were accompanied by homemade potato chips, broccoli and carrots. Desserts, flan, tartufo, tortoni, ice cream with fresh strawberries. All were solid. The food just isn't as good as I remember The service toward the end of the evening tailed off quickly, it was difficult to get Water. 11 guests, the bill came to $650 plus tip. For the quantity of the food, it was a very good value.....for the quality of the preparation....not so much. I would not hesitate to go back for a lobster dinner but for straight Spanish food, I have far better options quite a bit closer to me...... read more

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What a happy surprise to have dinner here for my birthday. The food was fresh and made to order. The staff were all nice and surprised me with a happy birthday. The service charge is included in the bill sp there is no need to leave an additional tip. Parking is in a lot which is convenient bc Newark parking is terrible. Overall the price of dinner was $160 and worth the seafood platter, paella valenciana, maryland crab cakes, chicken fingers, and pitcher of sangria was so amazing that i could not have had a special dinner anywhere else. Thanks Don Pepe! read more

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My last meal and review on my list of Newark eats as I've moved back to the big city for work. And it was fantastic. Twas a nice decor inside, despite getting though some shady people outside. Had a real feeling of a Martin Scorsese film since it was by the water. Food was so great I felt I needed a gun and kill someone. Bread had perfect texture and temperature. Scallops amazing. Shrimp paella with bacon off the hook. Only complaint is the service - where's my water refills? And it felt slightly rushed when there was still plenty of empty tables. Homemade potato chips feebie was a bit greasy for me and underseasoned also but the quality and quantity of our mains made up for it. read more

Don Pepe - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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This place was a total S@it show on Mothers Day! No social Distancing. No pickup Strategy. People and packages everywhere! Still taking orders. My order was for 4pm. It's 5:50pm and I have been standing in a hall since 3:30pm. Very POOR SERVICE AND NO COORDINATION! Food was ok. Steak was cold(portahouse - PRIME)..My $215 bill was not reduced or free desert.No Ty. No...hey we will take care of you next time. read more

Don Pepe - a group of people in a restaurant - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Went here for lunch with a client. They recommended. The service was very good and my shrimp with garlic sauce was fine even though the garlic was a little burnt. It wasn't amazing but it was edible. My guest had the salmon, which she said was very good. It had a big boiled potato and two huge broccoli pieces. Pretty pricy but since my company was paying, I didn't mind so much. I wouldn't recommend but if it's fine in a pinch. read more

Don Pepe - Spanish Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

The place was very beautiful and freshly coming off 6 hour of traveling for a first impression to Newark NJ. At first I was little worried about being underdressed but the waiter was very accommodating. As far the food, it was good but not the best. It was definitely missing something in comparison to other restaurants I have seen on my travels. I would like to have seen more options other then seafood but it's understandable with the location. Overall I would like to see more and the flan was delicious. read more

Went with a large party for Fathers Day. Service here is always good, as Is the delicious sangria. Appetizers are delicious, especially the really fresh fried calamari and the Spanish sausage. Everyone enjoyed their selections. I had the pork chop which was 2 large chops , served with family style sides of rice, vegetables and fried potatoes. Chops were tender but a little overcooked. Plenty left to take home. Only complaint was the olive oil to dip the outstanding warm bread into was rancid. It was quickly replaced and apologized for. All in all great meal. read more

Been coming here since I was a kid... loved it.. went last night to celebrate wifes bday...with having a reservation they sit us downstairs where it smelled like a bathroom... ordered a 2lb. Lobster for myself broiled, came over broiled, burnt, tasteless with hardly any meat...the waiter was extremely rude to his bus boys made us feel uncomfortable...time to say goodbye to this place they went down the toilet literally... Never again and goodbye read more

I do not recommend this restaurant, the food is terrible and we all got sick (food poisoning). The worse restaurant in New Jersey

I've eaten twice here recently. The first meal was good - good food, decent portions, good service. The second visit was a real disappointment. My friend and I wanted some Portuguese "green wine" - vinho verde - and the waiter didn't know what we were talking about. He disappeared and came back with two glasses that could have been anything. We ordered garlic shrimp as an appetizer - that was good. I asked the waiter for a meat recommendation and ordered the lamb osso bucco at his suggestion. It turned out to be a lamb shank, not osso bucco, and it was more like mutton than lamb. I took leftovers home but wound up throwing them out. The bread, however, was great. read more

The restaurant is beautiful in and out but that's all you get. Our waiter treated us as if we were ignorant from the very start. He even included the tip on the bill which was less than what we would normally give any way. The food was just awful. My French martini had a long black hair in it and I have had better! The stuffed scallops really turned me off. When I say fishy and flavorless that is understatement. This place is one of the worst Spanish restaurants I've every been to. The garlic shrimp that they are known for made me sick, the crepe brûlée tasted like a lot of egg and the fish and shrimp fish was just not edible. The fish was flavorless and the only thing on that plate were the lemon potatoes. Pretty much if you do not have blonde hair and blue eyes you are not treated as a guest. Being a Hispanic young woman and feeling discriminated against in a restaurant of Spanish decent is just disgusting. We weren't greeted when we walked in and it took a while for them to seat us. I will never be back and will never recommend this place. Not quite sure how they exist. read more

I have been here a few times before and I never had to order 2 paellas because they won't make just one. WTF. Not coming back.

HUGELY disappointed. So, couldn't book the place we initially wanted to go, due to Mother's Day but decided to return here after years. The dish my wife wanted was unavailable because they had run out of it, according to the waiter. So, she asked for the paella, but was told the policy is that you have to place two orders (each is like $30). I asked our waiter if they could please reconsider since it's Mother's Day, but to no avail. We decided on the 2 Salmons and a breaded chicken that my two sons would split. We also got 2 sodas and 2 apple juice. The salmon was just that ... salmon, and bland. It wasn't flavorful. It was accompanied by a single small boiled potato and a side of broccoli. We needed to add salt and used the sauce from our kid's dish. We also ate their rice since they didn't want it. We were shocked to find the bill was $114!!! I think good food is worth its value, but this was far from good and way overpriced. I won't be returning and can not recommend this restaurant. read more