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Joia Restaurant

3.7 (125 reviews)
ModeratePortuguese, Bars
Open • 11:30 am - 11:00 pm

Order Joia Restaurant Takeout or Delivery

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JOIA RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

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Moderate noise
Casual
Trendy
Romantic

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Recommended Reviews - Joia Restaurant

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Reviews With Photos

India B.

I recently experienced an excellent happy hour at Joia! Everything was divine from the service to the food and drinks. I met up with one of my friends after work and we were shocked that the place was empty. It's a beautiful spot that really feels like upscale tapas and bar. We received stellar service from our waiter and our bartender! We had your basic appetizers from wings to shrimp and garlic but everything was cooked well and had quality ingredients. The shrimp was very much reminiscent of my Florida garlic shrimp tray order, cooked to perfection and well flavored! My friend who lives in the area could not believe she hadn't ventured over to this restaurant previously but made it known, this was her new spot! The service was very attentive, the drinks were excellent: we had spicy Palomas and strawberry Hennessys. Both full of good flavor and liquor. My only regret was not getting either servers name! Avoid all the traffic over the bridge and stop in today!

Allison J.

This is the second time we've come here. The first time, the food was great. This time, the Brussels sprouts were somehow both burned and undercooked. We waited a solid 20 minutes for the waiter to return after we got apps. Drinks were totally gone and he didn't come check. Then we ordered another round, didn't get it, and the waiter didn't come back for a solid 30 minutes to check on us. There was no crowd, no reason for this. Probably won't be back.

Jerry D.

The ambiance here is very nice. Bar area next to the kitchen. The food was great. For starters had the very good garlic shrimp with the warm table bread to suck up all them juices, hit the spot. The Cuban sandwich was very good. Packed with lots of pork, ham, pickles cheese and mustard in a baguette m. But the star of the show was the flavorful paella, full of seafood and served in a big pot. Was a hit at the table.

Kentucy Strawberry Lemonade
Annabelle L.

My girlfriend and I were in town and looking for a local spot to dine in and with COVID still going on, many local eateries only does take out. Luckily, we found a Joia Restaurant and first thing noted was available parking lot for customers. Awesome! We got seated pretty quick and the hostess was attentive. We got the seafood platter (that literally can serve for four) for both of us to share. I was quite impressed with the spread: lobsters, clams, scallops, mussels, and shrimps. It was served along with rice and some potatoes. The portion is large so of course we took the other two portions to go. I ended my meal with the chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. Yummy! I definitely come here again. Food was delicious and service is good, parking is available.

Desiree F.

So I decided to meet one of my girlfriends for lunch for 2pm. I made reservations online. When I arrived I parked on the street nearby, they also had garage parking. When I walked in I was greeted by one of the managers and he sat me. We were served by Eiego and he was fairly new so he was getting helped as he went. He was really nice though and did his best. For drinks my friend ordered the spiked arnold palmer and I got the $3 mimosas under the brunch special. For our entrées I got the chicken masala special with shrimp and scallops. My friend got the crab eggs benedict. We both enjoyed our meals. The total came to about $80 for both of us. We had a good experience and will return because it is a really cute spot in a nice location.

Apple crisp a la mode I recommend.  Lobster bisque to die for and stuffed mushrooms
Mayra I.

Hubby and I running around Newark looking for a place to eat and passed by Harrison. Harrison is up and coming slowly. Really nice area. We stopped by Joia Portuguese restaurant. Nice ambiance. Xmas decor and staff are friendly. Cozy and inviting place. Food is tasty will return. Thank you Thais For a exceptional service.

Nicole R.

We rolled up with a group of 18. 10 being children! We had a reservation and the waitstaff and manager were very accommodating. The sangria was delicious. We had a pitcher of both red and white and normally I choose white as a favorite but Joia's red was incredible. The grilled octopus over kale appetizer was garlicy and left me wanting more! The winner of the evening was the massive- and I mean massive paella for 4! It was impressive in both size and flavor. One complaint is that the portion of rice and vegetables served on the side was not justified in the amount needed for the paella. Could I have complained or asked for more, sure! But the seafood was so satisfying that we made it work. We had three kids aged 10 devour the pincanha- a steak dish. They each ordered their own. Their eyes were staring when it came out but they ate every last bite ! The mahi mahi that two people ordered was good. Not great. It was over cooked unfortunately. If you are going to an NYCFC game (which we were) this place is in walking distance and there is a parking lot you can park in! Please check out my foodie Instagram page for more recommendations @date_night_craves.

Appetizer - grilled chorizo
David H.

Took four colleagues to lunch. Garage next to restaurant and free is great. Started drinks, then some apps to share. The chorizo and calamari were excellent. Mushroom caps were just okay. Everyone had a lunch entree and I had a salmon BLT, salmon was a bit over cooked, little tough, but bacon was good. Others enjoyed their lunch entrees. Shared three desserts - best was the orange roll cake. Ver orange tasting and great display. Finished with espressos and cappuccino. Service was good and the place was nice. Not busy, nice decor and not loud. Will come again, as hotel is nearby.

Chocolate Cake - it was cold and hard
Rosie B.

$$$ The place has a great vibe, it's close to the red bull stadium so it gets crowded. The food was ok, the veggies tasted like they were once frozen. The cake was hard and dry. The pasta was tasty. The sangria was weak.

Bar area
Michael M.

Was there today on Father's Day at 2pm for dinner. Crazy busy day but staff was up to challenge. Service great and food good. Owner kept checking on us. Enjoyed the calamari appetizer and shrimp cakes. Mojito we're cold and tasty. Everyone enjoyed three entrees and desserts. Nice warm casual atmosphere.

Steak Sandwich Steak Sandwich
lee r.

Great place to pre-game before soccer matches at Red Bull Stadium if your tailgating . Easy walking distance . The menu was limited given it was a match day when i went so i wasn't able to sample much . It seems like a good place to view any sport. Like most hospitality businesses post Covid they can use more staff . I will go back again to try the more Iberian favors .

Paelha and wine
Jennifer A S.

First of all- Ive been in the wine bizz for 25 years- I've eaten lobster for about 50 years. I know food & I know restaurants and eat out several times a week and travel the country doing that for work. Rarely am I this negative about an experience. I ordered the Paelha with moderate hopes. $36- it should be OK. The dish was fine, the lobster on top was BAD. Inedible. It had gone off. Sitting at the bar around 4pm- the place almost empty, the bartender didnt check in with me until I was ready to leave. I ate around the lobster. She offered to replace it- but at that point- no. whats the point. I was done. I was traveling- wont drive with it in the car for hours. They offered no other options & charged me full price. wtf?!? Its not about the cost- its just indecent to serve bad seafood and not aplogize. Just overall a complete fail. DO BETTER PEOPLE!! date of the fail:7.13.22 left at 5:35 'table 7' order: 6193

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7 years ago

We had an amazing experience! Our waiter, Darlei, was amazing! Quick service and very attentive. Certainly going back for more!

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7 years ago

My first time here, good food, good atmosphere, Darlei very friendly... good stuff. I'm back again for sure!!!

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7 years ago

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7 years ago

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Joia Restaurant Reviews in Other Languages

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Sabor Unido - Bavaroise- Mixed Berry Flan

Sabor Unido

4.5(564 reviews)
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Possibly one of my new favorite gems to eat and drink at. The staff Gil and Nicholas were friendly…read moreand helpful. The food and drinks were amazing. Not a single complaint about the restaurant itself and it's very affordable. The ambiance feels homely.

I did not expect to enjoy this restaurant that much! It's unfortunate that it's located far into…read moreNewark, but I'm so happy I was able to try it. They had a wide variety of food, all ranging from beef, pork, chicken, seafood, and some vegetarian options. They had an extensive wine menu, and my boyfriend joyfully enjoyed a glass of wine. I got the brazilian fried chicken, which was extremely flavorful, and i was surprised there wasn't any breading on the chicken as typical fried chicken does. I much preferred the no-breading style, which I think is the Brazilian way. I would have preferred a boneless dish, as there were quite a few pieces with bones, and it was pretty oily at the bottom of the dish. It came with two very large sides, and totaled around $25. 100% would recommend this dish, but I do think at a lower price point, this could make do with just one side, instead of two, as the main dish was quite large enough to fill me up. My favorite part of this meal was the garlic butter bread that they provide for free. It comes out extremely fresh with lots of chopped up garlic, which is my favorite part of garlic bread. It was a great way to start the dinner off. The service was great and the waiters were extremely attentive. They regularly checked up on how we felt about the food and filled up our drinks. The restaurant was pretty empty while we were dining, but the space was laid out very nicely and the decor was beautiful. Would come again if it wasn't so far!

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Taste of Portugal

Taste of Portugal

4.1(195 reviews)
1.1 mi
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Omg, Taste of Portugal was absolutely delicious. I had a margarita and it was made perfectly. The…read moreskirt steak was unreal! honestly the best I've had in a long time, and I'm a big steak critic. The flavor was soul-touching. The rice was different but really tasty, the veggies and fries were cooked to perfection, and that clam in garlic sauce... chef's kiss. Everything hit. & the our waitress was lovely.

Bookmark removed. Probably won't be back. Tried this place…read moreas someone must have recommended it and I saved it awhile back. We sat at the bar and the lady tenders were nice and attentive early on. The ambiance and decor is classy and traditional Iberian. Super Bock on tap is always a plus especially when ice cold like it was served. A Paella and a Monkfish dishes were ordered. And took no less than an hour to come out. Since we ordered no appetizers, it was and felt like forever. The major disappointment was no tender checking on us. Had I been asked if I wanted another Super Bock at anytime in the last half hour of waiting, I would have been able to ask that they check on my food. Not that I should remind anyone how to do their jobs. Then the minor disappointment. For all that wait, all the customers rolling in, all the nice atmosphere, the food was just good but not great. The best outcome was lots of leftovers for entrees priced on the higher side for Portuguese food.

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Pic-Nic Bar & Restaurant - Chourico

Pic-Nic Bar & Restaurant

3.9(133 reviews)
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Pic-Nic has been a family favorite restaurant since I began dating my husband. Their family is…read morePortuguese and Pic Nic is a Portuguese Grill and has been a special place for our family for birthdays, anniversaries and my husband and I even had our Rehearsal Dinner here. They have a bar and dining room as well as private room they use for events. This is where our Rehearsal Dinner was held. The private room has a separate entrance which is nice for guests! My step mother could not stop raving about the food, so when she came to visit again, we took her back. To start, we had red sangria and I think we went through 3-4 pitchers as a table. To start we had calamari and chorizo which comes flambéed, which is an awesome spectacle! We also ordered styles of paella, grilled shrimp Mozambique style - which is what I typically order, and my husband ordered one of the specials for the night, cordon blue which was To DIE FOR! Definitely, whole heartedly recommend if you are in the East Newark, Harrison area. The one and only down side is they have a very small lot, suiting about 8 -10 cars, but the driving around to find parking is totally worth it!

[Over a decade since my original review... she's overdue for a refurbishing, for sure.]…read more East Newark basically consists of three things... Tops Diner, the (historic) Clark Thread factory (closed for decades and currently being made into a housing complex which is going to be insane for this area) and... Pic-Nic. (East Newark should be absorbed into Harrison, but I'll keep my nose out of zoning and redistricting and stick to the job at hand...) The sangria? Delicious. (But worth $30 a pitcher?) And only finding out when the bill arrived and we'd ordered two... ouch! The garlic shrimp appetizer? Yeah, still the best in the biz. (The sauce alone is worthy of a darn Michelin star.) We were a party of seven. We had a bit of everything when it came to the entrees. My chicken dish - brilliant. (The star might've been those roasted potatoes swimming in a delicious brown-garlic sauce.) The other adults all seemed to really love their dishes, too. But we need to discuss my kids' food. They're varsity athletes that run 8-10 miles a day. They were hungry and bragged about how much food they were about to put away. The older twin tried paella (for the very first time) and about halfway through? He had to quit. (But he really dug all the various seafood and proteins mixed in the saffron-infused yellow rice served in a tiny Portuguese cauldron of sorts.) The younger twin? Obsessed with steak. He ordered the "Beef à Pic-Nic" and... okay, anyone know the YouTuber 'Beard Meets Food' that travels the world to attempt ridiculous food challenges? That's what arrived at our table. Easily the most amount of food I ever saw that was technically for just one person. He went to work and eventually said, "Dad. Please do not make me breakfast or lunch tomorrow." (something I never heard before - all because he was THAT full right now) I looked over at his dish and... it didn't even look like he put a dent in it. When we asked for doggy-bags the two workers seemed to chuckle that we 'failed' the mission at hand. All things considered: the bill wasn't too bad for the amount of (tasty) food. (Overlooking the alcohol portion, of course!) Cool workers all around. Restaurant looks good. They have a (mighty small) lot and there's some street parking (if you're lucky). Recommended, for sure.

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Casa d'Paco - Best mix drinks with natural fruit juices.

Casa d'Paco

4.6(1.1k reviews)
0.9 mi
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Family-owned & operated
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Every time i come here its such a hit!!! It's definitely one of my favorite hole in the wall places…read morethat I've been coming to for about 8 years. The food is probably the closest you can get to actual Spanish tapas but what i love most about this place is that everythings got flavorrrrr For our table of 4 we got CROQUETAS with their house cured chorizo- very good POLLO FIORENTINA- chicken was so tender and packeddd with flavor! BARRIGUITA- plentiful serving for a tapa, we loved the potatoes it came with too CHICHARRON DE POLLO- flavorful chicken and easier to eat than you think TARTAR- delish but small Chipirones- sooo delicately breaded you can barely tell, was great COSTILLA A LA PLANCHA- plentiful for a tapa, we recommend cooking for longer since its traditionally a tough cut of beef SAUTED VEGETABLES- tastey and not mushy thankfully! MILLIONAIRE CAIPIRINHA for my drink. was soooo good, not too sweet and not quite as sour as a margarita, was perfect for me!

Casa d'Paco is a great spot with a really cool setup. When you first walk in, it feels like a…read moresmaller, quiet place with a nice bar but then you realize they have an additional space on the side which completely changes the vibe in a good way. When I was there, they had a DJ playing, and it added energy without being too loud or overwhelming. The Service was very good, the waiter answered and helped with all our questions. The food was absolutely amazing really flavorful and well done. Just be a little prepared that most dishes come in smaller portions. But the quality definitely makes up for it. I ordered the paella, and it's easily enough for two or even three people and it was well worth it. Really delicious. The drinks were also definitely worth trying while you're there. The only thing I wasn't big on was the desserts they didn't quite live up to the rest of the meal. But overall, great atmosphere, excellent food, and a fun experience. I'd definitely come back.

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