Paleio Portuguese Bistro & Lounge

We were around 1120pm in NJ looking for food and everywhere seemed closed, that’s why we came here to eat since this place seemed open until 3am. The kitchen seemed closed at early time. The only type of food available was appetizer. The appetizer pricing was a bit pricey compared to other places. They were in the order of $ 11-​$ 15…
The restroom seemed a bit rundown to its standard. One side was lit and the stalls were unlit and the doors broken. Definitely need some fixing…
The waitress was very attentive to our needs as she kept checking on us every 10 minutes if were were doing good. And she tried her best to convince us to eat there even though we could have gone somewhere else to eat (MCDs, Wendys, etc). I give her my thumbs up for her effort!
The food was great specially the Clams Bulho de Pato. The clams were clean and fresh. The sauce was tasty and great. This is definitely a must order dish!
The other dishes were not so great. We had the Chourio Bombeiro which was a bit salty even though it had a flashy entry by putting the sausages under blue flame of a fire. And the Lulas Fritas were ok.

We sat along side the opened windows, musicians playing familiar tunes, dimly lit on a nice summer Saturday night. Grown up décor. Good vibes. I like places that give you an experience as well as good food. People wanna feel good.
Our host was nice, everything at a comfortable pace.
The salmon was juicy and the topping just the right amount of herb and spice. The same for the seafood rice. Someone was going to work in that kitchen. It was like home food, really. We can do this again for sure when I’m in this parts of town. 5-​stars speaks for itself, this place was great. I’m just adding my compliment.

Fantastic food. Big, shareable portions. Friendly, efficient service. Nicely decorated. Will make this our new go-​to place in the Ironbound!

This is the skirt steak. Absolutely delicious especially with the sauce in the middle. Salad well seasoned as well. Only complaint I have is that it said it came with potatoes so I was expecting a baked potato but instead I got Spanish fries. Didn’t like the fries at all. Tasted like cardboard. Everything on the menu sounded so delicious! Def coming back. Espresso and cappuccino were scrumptious

Just had a birthday dinner there tonight. What a great experience! We started with a delicious passion fruit sangria that the wonderful waitress recommended. Bread was nicely warmed and offered with a delicious herb butter… we went thru 2 baskets… yumm. Appetizers were delicious. .we had the shrimp in garlic sauce and grilled octopus — can’t tell you which was better as they were both delicious. Next we tried the mango sangria… even better. Our entrees were delicious and plentiful… we all brought leftovers home. Will definitely be returning and recommending Paleio to many. I think its one of best restaurant in Newark right now

My family and I were at the Prudential Center for my graduation when we decided to grab something to eat. We wanted a nice restaurant at reasonable prices. Then I discovered Paleio.
What was more impressive than the food was the service by Carlos. I have never felt so respected at any restaurant. Of course, we were the only ones there, but each request of ours (we were a large party) was handled with so much care.
The décor of the restaurant was casual formal, nothing over the top but elegant and clean.
Our experience was heightened by the delicious food. Everyone ordered something different, but loved their dishes. I ordered the Chicken Paleio which was light but very flavorful. The chicken seemed to poached in the sauce, but my mouth waters thinking about it. I had tried a piece of the beef peppercorn to know what I will be ordering next time if I decide I do not want the Chicken Paleio. Prices are reasonable, even if they seem a little high. You get a lot of food which tastes phenomenal in a comfortable setting, so you should not expect any less.
We decided to get the flan for dessert and it was also delicious as well. Overall, we saw there was also a bar which was busier than the restaurant side, and it looked like a nice atmosphere. Even though we do not live nearby, my family and I always talk about going to Paleio once again, as we had an excellent experience the first time around.

Alone in the dining room… that was boring. We were early. First time here, the reviews looked good. Our waiter was very energetic and enthused but not attentive.
Ordered chorizo in oil and garlic, it was over cooked. Curled and dry. Ordered salad, very light vinaigrette but all iceberg lettuce. Dinner was cod fish, their trademark baccala, with garlic and peppers and olive oil. A beautiful presentation but Waaay Too salty to eat. The red potatoes were excellent. My husband ordered a daily special… pork chops in garlic and oil. Overlooked and dry, too thin, not special. Served with rice and potatoes, redundant.
The olives they served while waiting for the meal were excellent. We won’t return. We don’t recommend it.

Wonderful place, I will definitely be back. Enjoyed every part of my meal, from the delicious olives to the cinnamon stick in the cappucino. I had a Brazilian fish stew from the specials menu and will be enjoying it again for lunch and dinner today thanks to the generous portions!

It was odd to come to a huge establishment on a Friday night prime dinner time and to be the only table seated. There were alot of table flies and the water jug had some weird unidentified object at the bottom twice (we asked for a new jug and it came again with a smaller piece, the third didn’t have one). Despite all that, the food was decent. The bread and olives were a nice complimentary appetizer, the chorizo they set on fire tableside and it was hearty. I ordered the short rib with beans and rice. A little on the salty side but great beefy flavor and charred nicely on the outsidE. The baccalao the bf ordered was a bit heavy with oil and other stuff going on but was ok, huge portion though. At the end of the meal they gave us all cappucino on the house with cinnamon whipped cream which was nice. Weird experience, nice staff, ok food.

Delicious fresh food. Good service. Based on prior reviews of this place we ate here last night. We shared the octopus as an appetizer with a pitcher of sangria. Octopus was flavorful and tender. I had the costella hubby had the salmon yummmmmm. We’ll be back. Definite hidden gem.

This place is a hidden gem.
The bartender speaks absolutely no English but is very nice.
I ordered the skirt steak. I was shocked when I see a boat on my table. The portions are huge. Will have plenty of left overs.
Steak was cooked perfectly. Came with delicious potatoes and salad.
The shrimp appetizer was absolutely delicious. Was soaking up the sauce with the crusty bread.

As I said before, this is a hidden gem in Newark in my opinion. It’s somewhat hidden, though on a corner with 3 streets intersecting it. At the same time, the place isn’t so noticeable. When you find this place, you want to keep it a secret. We came again and sat in the bar area, had a really nice dinner. We had the much anticipated and much reviewed Picanha. Boy! It was totally awesome and reminded me of traveling in Central and South America. For those of you that don’t know… Picanha is a cut of beef popular in Brazil and actually in much of Latin America. In the USA it is little known, but referred to as the rump cover or rump cap. Americans probably use it for ground beef, but it needs to be eaten as a steak!
The waitress/​bartender named Jeannette (not sure of spelling) was totally awesome and accommodating. She is the best wait staff they have. I hope she sees this. THANK YOU! Please give her a raise!
Oh and the dessert… the best flan and crepes we have ever had in our entire lives!
During the latter part of our dinner, a DJ setup his equipment and it was Karaōke night! There were some fantastic emotional singers in the audience and it was a pleasure to see so many Portuguese folks with awesome voices. We were a party of 4 and also participated as well. It was an awesome night of fun!

We stopped by this place for dinner on the way back to NC from NYC. It was our first time having Portuguese food, so we were really excited.
We had a delicious meal. We picked up stuffed mushrooms and flambé sausage for appetizers. The stuffing in the mushroom was a seafood stuffing that was extremely yummy! The sausage was delicious, although it may have been doused with a little too much alcohol that didn’t manage to completely burn off.
Our entrees were stellar. We had a crab and scallop stuffed salmon fillet, and pork chops. I’ve never had anything like that stuffed salmon before in my life… it was quite delicious! The pork chops were huge, juicy, and nothing short of heavenly. We also really liked how the boiled potatoes that came with both entrees were not generic boiled potatotes– each had its own distinct flavour that melded perfectly with its respective entrée.
It is a shame there are no Portuguese restaurants in the Raleigh-​Durham area. We’ll definitely miss the great food we had at Paleio!

Last night was the first time I had ever spent more than an hour in Newark, and I could not have found a better place to spend time than at Paleio. Though we were worried about being the only party in the restaurant section (the bar was quite busy), we were pleasantly surprised by the high quality of our meal: the service was excellent and our dishes were all delicious.
For starters, we shared the clams with «addictive trash garlic sauce». No idea what trash garlic sauce means, but it was quite addictive and paired perfectly with the toasted, crusty rolls they brought to the table. (They also bring out olives, which are impossible to scoop up but so delicious.) For entrées, we ordered short rib (costela), the Portuguese sea bass, and the mariscada à portuguesa (the waiter readily accommodated our request for green instead of red sauce). The dishes were all delicious, but beyond that, they tasted like comfort food, each dish simple but flawlessly executed and accessibly authentic. So many restaurants try to add interest to a dish by slathering on fancy sauces, but Paleio really allowed the quality of the ingredients to speak for themselves. The short rib in particular had no accompanying sauce, but was our favorite dish of the night as the tenderness and rich taste of the meat took center stage. The portions were also enormous, easily enough food for another meal.
Our server was polite and very helpful, recommending a Portuguese red wine with great depth of flavor, and his advice about what entrées to choose left us all very satisfied with our meal. He also recommended the mango crêpe — a crêpe draped over mango ice cream with mango sauce and mango chunks drizzled over top — for dessert. It was so decadent and delicious (and huge!), a perfect ending to an unexpectedly excellent dinner.

A hidden gem amongst the more popular spots in Newark. Me & my husband stumbled upon this place after trying unsuccessfully to get last minute reservations at several other spots nearby. So glad we found it. Excellent food, excellent service and a really nice atmosphere. If you sit near the bar area they have live music. There is also a really nice looking lounge area downstairs (opens after our bedtime… lol). Prices were very reasonable.
Only negative was there is no parking lot but street parking was not an issue.
Save room for the crêpe with ice cream for dessert ;)

We have been going here for years. It has changed hands but the female chef in the white hat is still there she is excellent!

I worked with the owner victor to create an awesome ambiance and menu for my staff party and the guys at the restaurant were more than accommodating to our every need!!! It was PERFECT!!! I hope this will be our annual holiday dinner! They are so nice and I can’t wait to go and eat there delicious skirt steak! Raved reviews on that

I was extremely worked when I walked in here and found that the restaurant was empty, but I trusted my fellow Unilocalers and their reviews and sat down for dinner. The olives they put on the table were delicious and the menu was amazing. I had the Shrimp Paleio and it was fresh and super tasty. On the side of my shrimp was a pile of freshly made potato chips that were amazing. I cleared my plate and if I had some extra bread I would have scooped up the sauce with it — instead I tried to use the chips for scooping! The staff was friendly and the atmosphere great (I loved the fabric on the ceiling). Overall a nice dinner in a not so nice looking area of town.

We really liked the first time — great food, waiter staff and life music. There were 3 of us and all appetizers and main courses were very tasty. Portions were big and the waiter gave very good food recommendations and wine pairings.
Second time we came back to this place with a group of 4. We’ve all ordered different dishes than the first time. The food didn’t disappoint. Again alcohol recommendations hit the spot just right. Now we are just looking for an opportunity to come back to this place again.

I had the short ribs which was really good.
When I went it was very empty —
The décor wasn’t spectacular and I felt like I was sitting in an old home but I went for the food and loved it!