Onieal's — Restaurant in Hoboken

I'm so torn as I write this review, because we love Onieal's. I've been consistently eating here for over a decade for a good reason, they have some of the best tavern fare you could ask for at reasonable prices. The burger is legendary, but there really isn't a bad choice on the menu. The Baja chicken is my favorite sleeper entree, I hardly ever see it ordered but it is so good. They also have a nice selection of affordable wines both my the glass and bottle, as well as a very respectable spirit and beer selection. Great weekly specials like Winedown Wednesday and live local music all add to the list of reasons to come back.

This is also why I'm so torn. With everything they are getting right, the one place they are really struggling is staff. The cocktails on our last 4-5 visits have been just awful, and we are talking basics like Manhattans and Martinis. One night, it took the bartender 3 tries to make me a gin martini without olive juice...and it was still bad.

All of the familar faces behind the bar and in the dining room also seem to have moved on. The current staff all seem undertrained, you have to ask them for everything. On our last visit, we had to proactively ask for: the menu, refills of water, to order drinks, to order food, for the check. Nobody seemed worried about checking in on us. I don't know what happened here, the staff used to be so gracious and were great at anticipating your needs.

My last gripe is the loud emo/metal music playing in the bar room. This isn't Lucky 7's. Now, different people have different tastes, play what you like, but please don't make me shout over it to have a conversation with my wife.

Hopefully they find their tempo and things get back to normal. Only...

The atmosphere was poor, it's a sit down restaurant in back and a loud loud bar in front with loud music. The music dominated everything at dinner.

The wait staff seemed annoyed that we only wanted burgers and weren't interested in the fancier stuff particularly the specials. The burgers are apparently Zagat rated, which was 100% the reason we were there. They also didn't seem particulary interested in selling you beer, no prices and poor or partial details on the listing (For example listing just the brewery not the beer). Asking about the rotating taps all got you only partially correct answers. (For ex. Brooklyn winter India pale ale was described, actual beer was Brooklyn winter ale).

The burger was OK, but overall bland and uninteresting. The meat tasted unseasoned as well. I ordered the Pancho villa burger, and it had pepper jack cheese and canned jalapenos in a rush on the side. Very bleh. My girlfriend asked for a side of bbq sauce, and what they brought tasted like ketchup with some molasses in it, like someone's poor idea of a home made version.

2 burgers and a diet Coke (I skipped the beer due to price) came out near $35.

Atmosphere and ambiance: 3/5 Service: 2/5 Drink selection and knowledge :2/5 Food: 2.5/5 Overall: 2/5

I would not...

Stopped in at 1:20 AM for some late night eats after a long night drinking. It is a small place and mostly the front of the bar was still open and the back was closed, but it was clear there was still enough people scattered in this restaurant.

Ordered the Nachos with chicken and jalapeno cheese fries, um it was amazing!! I know that although we were drinking it may not be the best account but I was still sober and we were just snacking before we ended our night and literally it may be the best nachos that I have had in my life.

Chicken nachos, piled HIGH with guacamole, sour cream over a mound of nacho chips and cubed chicken pieces. The whole dish was clearly assembled then tossed into the oven so that all the cheese would melt nicely over the chips, it was literally amazing! Not sure why it was so good, but maybe it was the quantity of food, cheese, and guac or maybe I was just so surprised by the dish at this random bar.

Cheese fries were piping hot, cheesy and very nice. Would definitely order both items again the next time I am here. Drinks were standard quite nice, nothing to really complain about. Prices are standard for Hoboken, was just ecstatic to be pleasantly surprised before the end...