A popular hospitality group that runs restaurants in The Heights and Hamilton Park will be expanding west in Jersey City as Rumba’s Café is preparing to launch their newest location.
The original Rumba’s Café has been holding it down along Central Avenue for over 20 years. The authentic and casual Cuban restaurant was a local favorite for years before the ownership group opened the more upscale Rumba Cubana in Hamilton Park back in 2018.
Local developer Paul Silverman recently posted about a tour he took of the upcoming restaurant with Rumba’s owner Alan Lopez. The new restaurant will be located at 564 Newark Avenue across the street from the Hudson County Courthouse and replace the short-lived Cilantro eatery.
The Rumba in the restaurant’s name comes from the Spanish word “rumbear,” which means to party. In the case of Rumba’s Café, the party is slated to last all day as the Newark Avenue location will follow in the original restaurant’s footsteps by opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Breakfast plates at Rumba’s Café include combos of eggs and other goodies, while their Cuban-style sandwiches are what first put them on the map. Highlights from the lunch and dinner entrees include camarones al ajillo (or garlic shrimps), fried red snapper, or a breaded beef steak.
The restaurant’s location in The Heights has daily rotating specials that include soups, appetizers, and entrée deals that will hopefully make their way to the new location when it launches. An exact opening date has not been announced for the new Rumba’s Café, but construction is humming along briskly at the site.
This stretch of Newark Avenue has transformed from a culinary standpoint over the last decade, as Rumba’s Café will be joining Cafe Peanut, Ling Long Xuan, and Yubi’s as neighbors on the block, with the upcoming Frank Guarini Justice Complex set to open in the coming weeks.
