Hamilton Pork

I visited a friend in Jersey City and we had a much needed night out at Hamilton Pork for dinner. Formerly a Vespa dealer, this barbecue restaurant offers a simple sustainable menu of meats, sides, tacos, sandwiches, and cocktails. They also offer happy hour and brunch.

There were a few people waiting by the hostess stand when we walked in. We were told it would be a 15-20 minute wait. No problem. There’s nowhere to wait except for outside or you can stand against the wall like we did and dodge whoever walked in and out. They were true to the waiting time and we were seated at a large booth.

The menu and cocktails sounded good.

We needed drinks of course. I ordered the Grapefruit Cooler – ruby red vodka, blood orange extract, and lemon juice. It was pretty sweet, but you could still taste the vodka. It was like a spiked Kool-Aid. I didn’t taste grapefruit at all. My friend enjoyed her Pineapple Aqua Fresca with rum, pineapple and lime.

My friend is a vegetarian, but she didn’t mind coming to a barbecue joint since they offered dishes she could have as well.  She ordered the Mac N Cheese and Roasted Cauliflower. She really liked them.

The mac and cheese was made with rigatoni and sprinkled with parmesan.

The menu offered seven meat options. I tried ordering a 1/4lb of brisket, but the minimum order is 3/4lb. They should really note that on their menu because I wanted to try other meats, but it turned out to be a good single serving. I went with the beef brisket and pulled pork.

For sides, I tried the sweet potato mash and regular coleslaw. They offer a spicy version as well. The coleslaw was fine. It was not heavy since it had a more vinegar-based dressing.

The sweet potato mash was good and topped with crushed pecans. You definitely tasted the cinnamon. The texture was very creamy and the nuts added some crunch.

The pulled pork was okay. It was pretty bland, but the barbecue sauce helped a bit.

The brisket was very dry and needed several dashes of their barbecue sauce to help it. The platter came with pickles and a small pile of pickled red onions that I needed to add to almost every bite to add some flavor.

We ordered another round of drinks. This time I went with the Cucumber Margarita and my friend ordered the Tea Quiero made with bourbon, peach schnapps, iced tea, and housemade lemonade. The margarita was pretty good and fairly strong with a faint refreshing taste of cucumber. The Tea Quiero was pretty good too.

They only had one dessert and we decided to split it. It was the Churro Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich. The waffle was a bit well done and crispy. I wish it was on the softer side. The ice cream seemed to be plain vanilla with a dusting of sugar and cinnamon, as well as on the waffle. I was not getting much churro flavor.

I’m glad my friend brought me here for dinner. It’s always nice to catch up after awhile. Although the brisket was dry and the dessert was underwhelming, I would come back to try other items like the lamb belly and gigantic beef rib. I enjoyed the casual rustic ambiance as well. With so many restaurants and bars popping up around Jersey City, I really have to go more often.

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Hamilton Pork
247 10th Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302
(201) 957-7245
Website