Porter Collins Restaurant in Hoboken NJ Opens

You might be wearing the perfect little black dress, your blowout on point, and be accompanied by the perfect date, but a night out on the town always runs the risk of going south—especially if you’re trying out a new restaurant for the very first time. Unless that restaurant is Porter Collins in Hoboken NJ.

There are no wrong turns once you walk into this newly opened “Inventive American” dining spot. Turn left to enter the main dining room, a laid-back mid-century modern-style space perfect for enjoying Chef Anthony Pino’s menu of inventive American fare. Turn right and you’re inside the Oyster Room, where an impressive raw bar of super-fresh seafood awaits.

We recently stopped by for Sunday dinner (Saturday night was completely booked, even though I tried to get a reservation more than a week in advance—this place is hot, folks!), and the vibe was perfect for a date night. Nice but not intimidating, a buzzy but not too noisy bar area, and I loved the fun-but-not-formal waitstaff uniforms—dress pants, gray vests and ties on the guys; dress pants and suspenders on the ladies.

We started with the Tableside Caesar Salad ($12), which we heard is a signature starter here, typically prepared tableside, and tasty, with organic baby Romaine topped with Parmesan and garlic crostini and dressed with the perfect amount of creamy Caesar dressing. We also ordered the Raclette Flatbread ($15) starter, a unique blend of wild mushroom, egg, and hot peppers on crispy flatbread. It might have been our favorite dish of the night.

For the main course we went with the Littlenecks & Spaghetti ($24), and we must say, it was very good. Our waiter persuaded us to order the full-sized portion, as the half-sized was, in his words, “kid-sized.” When our dish arrived with only four clams on it, we were glad he did! To the chef’s credit, however, they were cooked to perfection, sautéed with tomatoes, garlic, and pepper flakes, and paired with the most delicious little chunks of pancetta.

We also went with our usual go-to—The Porter Burger ($21)—and were very happy with the juiciness of the meat and the generous toppings of grilled onion and Gruyère cheese. The brioche roll was extremely fresh, and the Porter sauce added the perfect amount of kick without being overly spicy. Of course we had to devour the hand-cut fries, which were perfect—crispy on the outside; soft and potatoey on the inside.

We were too full for dessert, but we did sneak a peek at the menu to see what were we missing out on. It was mostly the usual suspects, but the bananas foster bread pudding definitely caught our eye. It might just be worth coming back for.