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I just purchased a nice home off of Main Street (on Myrtle Avenue) and was wondering about some recommendations for local businesses and entertainment?
We love to order pizza, enjoy good food and I also noticed a cigar shop near the station.
I'll take any info on Metuchen concerning anything. Good food (delivery), good walks, parks, entertainment, etc...
I know that Mildred Moss school is very good. My 2 year old will be there soon.
Well they have a nice Indian restaurant on Main St. (Spice Melange is the name, I think). The coffee shop / cafe called Brewed Awakening is nice for a cup of coffee and dessert (and it's relaxed enough for the little one to run around in) and sometimes we've gone there for Sunday brunch. There's also an ice cream shop on Main St. that we've been to and of course the little kids love that; and there's a bakery on Main St. (close to the train tracks) too.
Hmmm ... it sounds like all we do is eat, huh? :-)
I agree with the previous post... all those places are good. Also for good bagels I would go to the bagel place across from friendly's and Vinnie's Pizza on the corner of Main and Amboy Avenue has the best pizza I've tried around here.
Hi, CRSO -- My husband, 2-year-old, and I just bought in Metuchen this spring. Like you we're off of Main Street, and we love being so close to restaurants and the train. For pizza we like Antonio's. They are very child-friendly, too. We also like Dick's Dock for brunch or lunch, or WOW Cafe for wings. We take our son to Music for Aardvarks (at the ice cream shop) and to events at the library too.
16 year resident of Metuchen - live on Lake Ave, across from Tommy's Pond. Perfect location for us, as I'm a 3-time RU grad (hence the username) and still involved in many RU activities and sports (12 season tix for football and 4 for hoops), so I like being close to New Brunswick and I work at Merck, in Rahway, which is only a 15 minute commute from Metuchen. Great town to raise a family in: our 15-year old son is still friends with all the kids he went to Edgar DayCare with (across the street from our house, which was nice) and we're still friends with all those parents - you don't get that kind of stability and community in most places. Another nice thing is that a good friend of ours runs open mike nights in town every other week or so and they're lots of fun - they alternate between What's the Scoop (the ice cream place) and Brewed Awakenings (coffee/sandwich/dessert place). Overall, it's a great community, with a vibrant downtown and we love it. With regard to favorite places and things to do, besides that, here's a few...
For pizza, we like La Rosa and Roberto's the best; Antonio's and Skinny Vinnies, not as much; all deliver, except Roberto's.
Best bagels are Bagels4U, across from the train station; Bagel Pantry, across from Friendly's has weak bagels, in our opinion, but awesome porkrolleggandcheeseonahardrollwithsaltpepperandke tchup.
For restaurants, the nicest restaurant in town is the Metuchen Inn, on 27, located in a beautiful old 19th century mansion; excellent upscale nouvelle cuisine in a lovely setting.
Mei Ling's Chinese, on Main, is mediocre. Would recommend going to Edison to Penang or Meemah's for Chinese/Malaysian; Jade Dynasty on Amboy Ave. in Edison is probably the best traditional Chinese place.
Sawadee on Main St. is decent Thai, while Radhana, tucked away on Pearl St., is much better Thai, IMO.
Rumor has it that Sawadee is going to be converted to a brew pub, which would be awesome, as the town needs a good pub. I think there are only 5 liquor licenses in town and 2 of them are at dive bars (NJ's and Metuchen Bar and Grill); Sawadee has one, as does Novita (Italian - used to be the Cornerstone; food is lousy, but has a good bar and some good live music on some nights) and the Metuchen Inn.
Spice-Melange, the relatively new Indian restaurant is very very good (and I'm a huge fan of Indian; as an aside, a few miles away, in Iselin/Edison, is little India with dozens of very good Indian restaurants and shops - walk around there and you'll actually feel like you're in India).
Main Street Trattoria has good Italian (and nice gourmet pizzas), as does Alessio's, also on Main Street. Speaking of Italian, Fresco's Italian deli is awesome for homemade Italian food and catering (we use them for almost every New Year's Eve party).
Cafe Paris, on Main, is also a nice place to eat; very good sandwiches, crepes and salads. And Mr. Pi's Japanese/sushi is pretty good.
Bottom line is Metuchen has some real nice restaurants and places to hang out, although it's no New Brunswick, which may be the best restaurant location in NJ.
With regard to entertainment, I mentioned the open mike nights. There's also antique car show nights in the summer (don't recall dates) and some good town fairs (again, don't recall the dates, but they're well advertised), where they block off Main Street and vendors fill the street. Fireworks are held downtown on Labor Day and New Year's Eve (supposedly there's a good First Night on NY Eve, in town, but our friends and we are usually too busy getting hammered at our house to notice, lol).
There are lots of small parks with playgrounds all over the place, but I will say Metuchen's parks aren't the best (wish we had more and bigger ones).
There's also an active sports community in town: I coached our now 15 year old son in the rec soccer league from age of 5 through 13; the rec league is very laid back and focuses on fun; there is traveling soccer for serious players. I also coached baseball for a few years, until my son tired of playing. All the other usual sports are offered, of course, and are usually well attended.
One last thing: in winter, all the kids in town come to Tommy's Pond, across the street from us, to sled. It's a depressingly small hill, but for kids under 10, it works (my son and I spent hours there any time it snowed; now that he's older, we go skiing or out to Schooley Mountain in Long Valley, for sledding).
Ok I'll bite. I used to rent a place in Metuchen for a few years. Nice little town. Great location. Was able to walk to the train which I loved.
I agree with many of your reviews expect I wasn't a big fan of Main St Trattoria. We tried it a few times and the service is just lousy in there. Food wasn't good either IMO. We thought Novita was so so and overpriced. Prefer Torino across the street. Food isn't anything spectactular, but it's a nice little place to get a bite and drink a bottle of wine. Good service. Nice atmosphere.
met some really friendly moms at Olmezer Park when i visited, the preschool was having a party. they seemed happy w the town overall. good luck, I'm sure you'll like it!
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