New and classic favorites: The best dive bars in New Jersey
The term "dive bar" used to be something derogatory. Nowadays it's more of a badge of honor to say to own one, go to one, or work at one.
Dive bars have become chic in a way. If you ask just about anyone where to find a dive bar in their area, they won't miss a beat in rattling off at least one or two.
Dive bars have been getting a lot of attention recently.
24/7 Tempo recently listed The Hudson House Bar in Beach Haven as New Jersey's best dive bar.
Meanwhile, a list on Trip Savvy thought that honor belonged to Tom's Tavern in Farmingdale.
Our favorite dive bars in New Jersey
The website Mediafeed.com listed the best dive bars in each state. That's actually impossible to do. What exactly constitutes the best dive bar?
Their conclusion for New Jersey is the Ivy Inn in Princeton. People rave about it and that's all well and good, but how does it compare to a dive bar in South Amboy or Riverside? So we came up with a list of the notable dive bars in New Jersey.
We started in South Jersey, stopped A LOT in Central Jersey and ended in North Jersey. We left out the Jersey Shore bar because there are just too many to choose from. If your favorite isn't on the list, don't be offended, just tell us about it.
Here we go.
JAYS ELBOW ROOM — Route 73 Mt. Laurel
THE HIGHLAND TAVERN — Gloucester City
TOM FISCHER'S TAVERN — Haddon Twp
LITTLE SPOT TAVERN — Somerdale
THE CORNER BAR — Pilesgrove
CRAWFORD'S CORNER BAR & KITCHEN — Riverside
HOB TAVERN — Bordentown
MCGUINN'S PLACE — Lawrence Twp.
AL'S AIRPORT INN — Ewing
EXIT 8 — East Windsor
TOMS TAVERN — Farmingdale
DOCKS'S CORNER — Monroe Twp.
IVY INN — Princeton
HILLBILLY HALL — Hopewell
33'S TAVERN — South River
LAST CALL — Sayreville
THE 244 SPOT — South Amboy
PATRICKS'S PUB — New Brunswick
RIVERSIDE INN BAR — Cranford
JOE'S PLACE — Union
PADDY'S PLACE — Union
DILLON'S TAVERN — West Orange
THE DEEP INN — Newark
DONEGAL SALOON — Kearny
OLD CANAL INN — Nutley
CLIF TAVERN — Clifton
HOOVER'S TAVERN — Morris Plains
GYP'S TAVERN — Branchville
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Gallery Credit: Jordan Jansson
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.
