Portuguese Fisherman

The atmosphere is great, the food is beautifully presented and excellent and the waitstaff is on their game and very attentive.
This is Portuguese food done just as well as Newark ‘s Iberia, why travel?
I can’t say enough good about it. It’s very inviting and friendly, with a neighborhood feel you don’t get say, in Newark. If your serious about your food being great, this place rocks it.

Been in several corners of the world, but this place has the best caipirinha ever. The secret? they don’t use syrup for the mix, but real sugar and is made with fresh limes. Gusto grill also offers the same drink, is awful and expensive.

We went for a Friday dinner; we had reservations and were seated in time. I had special dietary restrictions, but they were not very accommodating. The meal came with a salad, but unfortunately, my salad was grainy and couldnt be eaten. I had the while fish broiled and I asked that it be made without any oil, but there was plenty of oil on it. The others in my party liked their food, they got stuffed flounder and stuffed shrimp. Mine was okay, kind of bland. We had flan for dessert which was okay.

This rustic restaurant, with heavy european rustic doors are the business card of this restaurant. Gorgeous. From Seafood to Steaks are perfect. It is no so many restaurants knows how to prepare good seafood. Most of them overcook. The fishes are dry, the calamari is like a robber. Fisherman Portuguese Restaurant in South River really know to prepare their seafood. Hummmmm!!!

This restaurant was remodeled after being destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. They did a tremendous job with the remodel. The service was alright. The waiter was not very personable at all. The food, however, came out in a timely matter.
The bread came out lukewarm and it was average at best. The butter with chives was outstanding though. There was also a side salad included. It was a typical garden salad with their homemade dressing. The dressing tasted like a creamy French dressing. It was very good.
For an appetizer, the shrimp in garlic sauce ($ 12) was ordered. The garlic sauce was wonderful, but most of the shrimp was tough which was disappointing. There was lots of shrimp in the appetizer.
I ordered the stuffed flounder filets ($ 21) for an entrée. The flounder was stuffed with crab meat. There was also a side of Spanish rice, vegetables, and chips. The portion was huge. There were 3 pieces of flounder with lots of crabmeat. The flounder was tasty along with the crabmeat. I am not a huge fan of crabmeat, but really enjoyed this. The vegetables consisted of carrots and string beans. They were bland so I mixed those with the Spanish rice. The chips were alright. They were not very crunchy.
For dessert, tartufo ($ 7) was ordered. The vanilla and chocolate ice cream was solid along with the chocolate shell. There were no complaints here with this fine dessert.
Will I go back? Yes.

There are no good Portuguese restaurants in my hometown of Syracuse, NY. I was pleased to find an authentic Portuguese place when we were visiting family in New Jersey. The restaurant and bar are very clean and is a really cool atmosphere. The service is excellent I have to say off the bat. We had reservations for 830 but took chance and went early and got in right away. We had fried calamari (not my choice) and garlic shrimp as appetizers. Anyone who knows their calamari would know the best pieces are the tentacles which they did not have. That usually tells me it’s frozen and not fresh but it was tasty anyways. The garlic shrimp wasn’t too heavy on the garlic which I’m am good with, but the shrimp was a little overcooked. We had a couple pitchers of sangria which was sweet and not very strong, as I prefer. My entrée was a pork and clam dish, which has an different name that I don’t remember. It was very tasty. The dish had cubes of potatoes in it also and the flavor was excellent. Overall I was pleased but the consensus with our table was that is was real good but not great. My wife had a rice dish with scallops and shrimp and she was satisfied. My uncle had a steak and said it was tender. All in all I would come back the next time I am in town.

If you’re looking for a great place for a date night or a big group, even for formal occasions, this is the place. The food is FABULOUS. I always leave stuffed and satisfied. I’ve literally never had anything bad from here and the Sangria is off the chain!

Absolutely delicious! We were a table of 10 and had a little of everything. Garlic shrimp, mariscada, octopus, garlic chicken, pork cubes with clams and sangria and everything was delicious. Great food combined with great service and ambiance makes it a restaurant I will definitely return to.

Sangria is best in the county, food is among the best Portuguese in the county, service is pretty good but if you eat at the bar it can be inconsistent at times, but overall good. Has a mom n pop establishment feel to it which is always a plus. Although the only issue I have there is that it is kind of loud, there’s needs to be paintings or similar to absorb some of the sound. Otherwise highly recommended, one of the best options south of newark and Elizabeth.

This is my favorite Portuguese restaurant in the area. I eat here very often. My favorite is the filet mignon in the sizzling clay dish with Spanish potatoes with string beans and carrots. I also get the salmon with rosemary, which is also amazing. They also have an amazing white sangria. The staff is great and provide amazing service. The owner is also nice and always stops by tables to make sure everything is good. I recommend it for anyone looking for authentic Portuguese food.

I met a friend here for an early Sunday dinner. We didn’t need reservations then, though the place packed up as the night went on. The food was delicious and portions plentiful. I got the Portuguese soup (kale and sausage) and then we split a seafood entrée. Both were delicious. If I come back to South River, I’ll definitely be stopping at this hidden gem.

My wife and I dropped in Friday night for dinner, and easily found both parking and a seat in the restaurant. The bar is very attractive, and I can see people having a good time there either to drink or have some food. The restaurant, on the other hand, is a bit more crowded with the tables close to each other. There isn’t a lot of real estate to work with on the two-​person tables and, when you add the bread and sangria and appetizers you find that you need to do a lot of juggling to keep from spilling.
As for the food, the Picadinho (sauted pork cubes) was very tasty, and I even found myself eating spoonfuls of the sauce. It was really good, and I regret not getting a refill of our bread basket. For our entrees, I went with the Paella Valenciana while my wife got the Stuffed Shrimp. Now, I’ve had paella at a number of places, and even made it myself in my own paella pan, and I was a bit disappointed with this one. There were a few mussels and clams, a couple of shrimp, three slices of sausage, and a couple of chunks of chicken. The big show is the half lobster draped across the top. Unfortunately, the fish was all overcooked and rubbery, but the dish was almost entirely rice. Really disappointing. My wife enjoyed her shrimp, but the waiter dumped her leftovers instead of packing them like we asked. Again, disappointing.
The highlight of the evening was the Red Sangria and, if we didn’t have to drive, I would have ordered another pitcher. But, to be honest. the best feature of a restaurant shouldn’t be the drinks. We may give them another chance in the future, but I’m in no rush.

Maybe it is just I am not a big fan of Portuguese food but I found this place only okay.
All the dishes tasted fine but for the price they charge it feels underwhelming. I had the Carne Alentejana which tasted good but the pork is a bit too lean and chewy. Wife had the Paelha and it was good which you would expect from a Portuguese place. The portion of the dishes are generous and that’s one good thing about it.
The service was spotty. Our waiter disappeared for a large stretch of time which probably cost us an extra 30 minutes of sitting around.

First the good. My party had two different entrees, a standard seafood paelha and the grilled tilefish special of the day, both of which I found enjoyable.
[Note: Paelha appears to be the Portugese equivalent of paella. As far as I can tell, the difference is that the dish is cooked in a cast-​iron dutch oven instead of a paellera. With paelha you won’t get the layer of soccarat (crunchy rice) that you get with with paella, but everything else seems the same.]
The seafood in the paelha (lobster, shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels) was of good quality, sufficient quantity and properly cooked. I’m surprised at how many places sadly overcook the seafood in their paelha/​paellas, or use seafood of questionable quality; Portuguese Fisherman does neither. The paelha is huge, with enough seafood in it to make you feel like you got proper value. The menu says it feeds 2, but I think it can feed 4. The grilled tilefish was exactly what you would want: a simply grilled fish that was properly done, crispy in all the right places, paired with potatoes, olives and sautéed vegetables. I especially like how they didn’t mess the dish up by fussing too much with it. I finished the meal with an espresso that was well worth the $ 1.50 it cost. Décor is attractively industrial in a masculine, suburban way: exposed brick, Edison lights, attractive wooden bar. Many TV screens scattered around the restaurant keep you up to date with the latest sports events.
Then the meh. For some odd reason, salt was used unevenly in both the paelha and the tilefish, with scattered over-​seasoned and under-​seasoned zones. The rice in the paelha was just ok; good enough to be better than filler, but slightly underwhelming. The desserts are not very good. We had a subpar flan and a sorbet that seemed to be in the freezer for way too long. Service is uneven; some of the servers were very helpful and attentive, while one of the younger servers seemed like he was enjoying neither his job nor his life. I came in earlier than my party and was dressed pretty casually, so my waiter looked at me rather dismissively. I can’t say I blame him – I must’ve looked like a college freshman on that day – but I really respect restaurants that give all their customers their best and most courteous service. Service got better when I was joined by my 65 year old friend and his family.
All in all, Portuguese Fisherman is A-​OK. You’ll have an enjoyable time here, and if you stick to what they’re good at, you’ll probably like your food. The service is uneven, but hey – you’re in New Jersey. Consider it local flavor.

Really enjoyed coming here for dinner with a friend. The décor is very modern and clean, the service was just right. Cannot comment on the food too much since I ordered and ate very little, didn’t order an entrée, but everything I saw looked good. I have nothing to critique, and 4 stars is an excellent rating. I would give 4.5 if that were an option.

Came here for my sister’s birthday cause she lives in town. There’s parking on the side of building in parking lot, but it is a bit dark and creepy. Place has been renovated, so it looks nice and clean!
Highlights:
Bread
Butter
Sangria
Fresh potato chips
Lowlights:
Stuffed shrimp dish (fake crab in stuffing)
Shoddy service– slow, inattentive, though nice
Ambiance
No great dessert options
Underwhelming experience. Perhaps I made a poor dinner choice, but I just can’t believe they used imitation crab meat and overall the dish lacked flavor.

After revisiting the fisherman I believe the place deserves one more star on top of the three they already have from me. Friendly staff and welcoming atmosphere is a plus.

Beautiful building, atmosphere was very charming. However noise level for the small crowded room made it difficult to hear each other. We were sat at a 2 top table and honestly the restaurant dining room is so crowded that the waiter kept bumping into my husband. Made for a really uncomfortable dinning experience. The food was good but nothing amazing. Maybe Im a little spoiled growing up in Newark with all the amazing Portuguese restaurants. But I am glad this is closer to home than driving to Newark. My fish soup was ehhh don’t think Id order it again. Felt like it was thickened with corn starch like some of the sauces you would get from an Asian fast food restaurant. My husbands soup caldo verde was very tasty. I ordered broiled cod fish. My plate was swimming in EVOO and although Im a fan of the stuff there was way too much on my plate. I actually had to pour some out into one of the bowls on the table to be able to eat the fish. Other than that the cod was well done. My husband ordered Paella Valiance. It was good, maybe a little soupy for his liking but the flavors were good. The sangira was spot on though :)
Might go back to give this place a 2^nd chance, but honestly with sooo many other choices in our area not sure Id want to waste my time,$$, or calories here. Sorry.

This was the worst meal I ever ate in a restaurant. I will say that I strayed from the norm and ordered baby back ribs thinking they would be good… Man was I wrong.
Picture an unseasoned rack of ribs quickly cooked at such an intense heat til it was a dry, flavorless, tasteless dog toy. Awful texture coupled with a side of cheap generic BBQ sauce. I ate three and didn’t take the rest home. My girlfriend got the stuffed shrimp. How could that go wrong? Well, it did. 4 «krab» stuffed shrimp with no sauce or anything on them. I say krab because even an amateur can tell the difference between fishy tasting bright red imitation krab and the real thing. To top that off the shrimp weren’t deveined. Repulsive. The rice was ok at best and the rest of the sides were completely devoid of any flavor at all. Absolute disaster.
My waiter put the food on the table and never came back not even to fill my water. Water that I so desperately needed to flush that salty bitter flavor that can only be achieved by searing all the flavor out of a piece of meat. So I ended my meal hungry, thirsty, and irritated. We paid the bill and left only to see some employees smoking right out in front of the place. Unprofessional. I will not return.

spotlessly clean Portuguese bar and restaurant with good food at reasonable prices with large servings. tried the lulas grelhadas (grilled squid which was was served with boiled potatoes in olive oil and a little salad) and a great collard green and Portuguese sausage (chourico) soup in a potato broth called Caldo Verde. They have a generously stocked liquor bar, the standard Portuguese beers available in bottle (Sagres standard and Sagres Bohemia, Super Bock), and a variety of Portuguese wines, ports, brandy, etc. I have been to Portugal a couple times and spent a lot of time in Brasil, so I am quite familiar with Portuguese cuisine. Some quite tempting looking desserts. Lots of the customers were speaking Portuguese, but many also speaking English, an ethnically diverse crowd actually, so no matter where you are from and what language is your native tongue, you won’t feel out of place here. The bar has a really nice atmosphere, was pretty full on a Friday evening but not overcrowded.