The Grove Station — Restaurant in Jersey City

Well this place has bad reviews and now I know why. Shout out to the food - and chefs because that is the ONLY reason this place got 1 star. I had previously been there with no issue so I thought for happy hour with friends and my husbands birthday I would go again. BE WARNED! The happy hour specials say Half Price apps, but the staff NOR managers can figure what out what that exactly means or what the deal actually is. I took 8 of my friends in. Now we are all servers ourselves and know that even if we ordered half price apps, we would have tipped our waitress based on the full price. Our waitress told us the happy hour deal was half price apps - up to 3 per person. Wow! So we all ordered a bunch of apps. After we had ordered, however, she came back and said that it was actually up to 3 per table!! So a bunch of us canceled orders and conceded on food and that only some of us would get the price deal, and others of us offered to pay full price. Unhappy but not completely deterred we stayed. Mind you our waitress never apologized or offered to make it right. She did offer some bread to go with some of the dishes (which, okay, but whatever) Our meal came pretty much on time and was tasty. Then our checks came - NOBODY got the half price apps. So then I made our waitress aware of the issue and she took back our checks. Then she took FOREVER to give them back - applied the discount, but then applied a 20% gratuity on top of the original price!! Now I know for large groups it is customary for resturants to apply a gratuity especially for 8 - which is fine - had the waitress not messed up the happy hour deal info, not apologized for it, not made up for it, and tried to charge us ALL full price and not honor the happy hour special at least for some of our apps like she originally said. The stupid bread she offered - never came out - and then when my friend finally spoke up about the bread - gave us WHEAT TOAST to go with things like muscles, gnocchi, etc. Is she kidding at this point? So then by this point I was pretty frustrated and asked to speak to a manager. The manager told us a completely different happy hour special - NONE of which was clearly posted anywhere or stated by our waitress. Nor had our waitress tried to apologize or attempt to correct the problem. Then I told the manager what SHOULD be honored and done with our checks - and STILL our checks came back with this stupid waitresses 20% gratuity!! When my friends pointed this out, the 1st manager said "Don't worry about it" and laughed and walked away. Ummm...So finally a 2nd manger corrected the problem entirely and we paid (and even tipped this stupid waitress) but entirely out of guilt and moral oblogation. Hiwever, I will say she honestly deserved none of our ties. Suffice to say I will NEVER...

Disappointing Experience, Not Welcoming to POC

I really wanted to like this place. It’s a fun bar with affordable drinks and a great vibe overall. Most of the staff were professional and friendly, but unfortunately, my experience was overshadowed by two individuals who made me and my girlfriend feel extremely unwelcome.

From the start, there were subtle red flags. I overheard one staff member: a tall, dark blonde man who seemed to be a supervisor, telling another that “we had been there for hours,” even though we had only been there for about 30 minutes. I brushed it off at the time.

We were enjoying ourselves: had a couple of drinks, sang karaoke, and I briefly took off my sweatshirt, revealing my undershirt. A staff member politely asked me to put it back on, and I complied immediately.

As we were wrapping up the night, we ordered two final shots before leaving. That’s when things took a turn. The tall staff member approached my girlfriend and told us we had to leave because “you can’t dance here, we don’t have a cabaret license,” referring to me spinning my girlfriend briefly. If he was referring to the Prohibition era 1926 New York City Cabaret Law, that was repealed in 2017, and as far as I’m aware there is no NJ law. Moments later, another bartender, a shorter blonde guy with long hair, came over and accused us of making out and being indecent, which was completely false.

When we calmly asked for clarification, they continued to change their reasoning and claimed we’d been given “multiple warnings,” which never happened. They also mentioned the owner was “watching the cameras” and didn’t like what he saw. Honestly, that just came off as bizarre and invasive.

They made us feel like we had done something wrong when we were just trying to enjoy our night like everyone else. While we had a few drinks, we were not rowdy or inappropriate. Their behavior felt more like discomfort with our presence than any real issue. My girlfriend ended up in tears, and it was a very upsetting experience.

I recorded most of the conversation on my phone.

I returned the next day to speak with the manager. He was polite and said he would speak to the staff. However, I never heard back, which is why I’m writing this review. We spent quite a lot of money that night between food and drinks, bad business to not want to have repeat customers. Should have made a charge back on my credit car.

It’s a shame, because this bar has potential and the rest of the staff was great. I hate leaving a negative review, but I don’t want others to go through the same experience.

Again, I recorded part of this...

I was literally harassed by another patron while I was waiting on my orders and I simply suggested that the bar no longer tend to the patron. I was approached with hostility after asking what the name of the “manager” was due to the fact that I had already reached out to the manager on duty about this and the bartender with freckles refused to provide her own name, and rushed to alert the other bartender not to disclose the manager on duty’s name. This is highly suspicious and I had no choice but to report the venue to the BBC due to its shady practices. They risked my safety along with the safety of my partner at the time of our venture to the Grove Station bar and we were literally blamed for the way we were treated. I have reported this management team and they dismissed my claims. Disgusting behavior

UPDATE 01/03/2025 Still have not received any evidence to support the alleged claims that I was the aggressor in this matter, nor have I heard back from a different supervisor or owner with the Grove Station management team. They clearly don’t care about the well being of new patrons as they victim blame and side with as well as prioritize their regulars who are displaying beyond drunken behavior.

UPDATE 12/13:2024 The restaurant’s response is from the same manager on duty that I reported the incident and his response posted for all to see. I have not heard back from a different manager nor the owner, and the establishment did not provide any footage on their baseless claim. I was in the bar towards the very end of the night (2am EST on a Tuesday ) which your bar closes at 3am and it’s questionable how many patrons were around to negate my claims according to your reply. You allowed an overly drunken man to harass me after I reported his behavior and to cover your own tail, you are accusing me of being the aggressor. I will continue to update the responses provided by the management team so the public will know how your team talks to its patrons, no matter whether I’m a first time customer or returning, everyone should receive a modicum of respect when they’re approaching the staff for help in a situation involving a...