Lucy’s Restaurant

The pastry chef at Civile in Metuchen, Juan, told my husband and I about Lucy’s, which he manages, so tonight we tried it. The chips and salsas are amazing: one is a salsa verde, and it’s just the right amount of hot; the other is slightly red, chunkier and not as spicy. I love spicy food, so I ate two bowls of one and one of the other. The fish taco was bright and tasty, the Mexican chorizo quesadilla was hot, cheesy and good, and my husband’s Cubano sandwich will be tomorrow’s lunch. Oh, and we had a bowl of the chicken-​vegetable soup — delicious. Our waitress was friendly and unobtrusive, and the restaurant was warm and cozy (it was cold out!).

Great little Mexican/​Peruvian place, never crowded and always delivers an authentic home made meal.
Huge cheap burritos, amazing torta, spicy home made salsas with home made chips, place is great, try the tostadas !
$ 2 tacos !
If you don’t like that, I don’t like you !
Try it out, love this place
We frequent a few times a month

My mom loves finding authentic Mexican food, and so after some research, we went to check out this place last night. It was awesome. I had a chicken burrito, which was stuffed with well flavored ingredients, and my mom had the enchiladas verdes; both were super good. :)

Very tasty Mexican food in a small storefront. My dinner was tasty enough that I came back the next day for lunch!
They have only a handful of tables indoors so it has a very homey feeling. They also have only a handful of people who work there so it feels like a family run business.
Definitely try their flautas. These were the closest to what I ate when I lived in Guadalajara. Light and crispy served with a bunch of lettuce and cream over top.
Everything else I saw come out of the kitchen looked delicious as well!

I had such high hopes for this place. Just tried chicken mole, rice and beans and I hate to say I’ve had better. The entire dish wasn’t seasoned right. Very bland.
The carne al pastor taco was very good.
The staff was very friendly and very accommodating to our requests.

BEST Mexican food I’ve ever eaten. Chips are fresh and homemade and tostadas are amazing. Steamed fish is so flavorful and healthy. Just go eat here… You won’t regret it! Just ignore the hole in the wall kinda look :-)

Never had Mexican food this fresh and this good. The food here is simply the best! The chicken burrito is superb. Can’t wait to revisit this place.

I really love this place! The staff is vey nice and food is amazing!!! Highly recommend

Small and quaint. Stopped by on the way home for some takeout. The fellow making the food was very nice. As was the lady who brought the food out. The Ceviche was pretty good. As was the skirt steak. I really enjoyed the fried yucca that went with the steak. The fried chicken that goes w/​the green spaghetti is a thin fried chicken breast. I had hoped it was more like a drumstick/​thigh kind of thing. I also got the chicken mole. I didn’t love it but I don’t think it was because it was bad. I had never had it before. I think it was more of a, just not my cup of tea, kinda thing. The fresh pinapple drink was yummy.

This place is a hidden gem. The food is outstanding. The best taco in New Jersey in my opinion. Lucy is friendly and outgoing and the portions are fantastic. You can’t go wrong eating at Lucy’s. I would go every day if I could!

The hostess/​chef was really cool! Really attentive & patient. Food was decently priced and good. Overall restaurant is pretty small inside but didn’t matter for a take out dinner

Ok I will keep it short and sweet. Everyone needs to go and eat here. This place is one of the best authentic Mexican restaurants I have ever eaten in. Trust me. Best empanadas both chicken and beef ever. I had the skirt steak and was quite possibly the best steak I have ever had. The rice was absolutely perfect as well. Cant wait to return. O yea the service was incredible too…

Fine dining place with very good food
Has good vegetarian options
Good collection of wines

Chicken Tortas are on point. So is the Peruvian fried rice. ⁵⁄₅ on both. Others in the party also liked the enchiladas and tacos.

This place is legit. Hole in the wall type restaurant with some serious mexican and Peruvian food. We walked in and were the only ones there at first. We got some fresh made tortilla chips and 2 sauces brought to our table which were great. You could tell they were fresh.
We split the ceviche, chicken mole, empanadas, and pork tacos. The tacos were insane. I’m not exaggerating. Super tender pork and tons of flavor bursting with each bite! And holy mol-​e about the chicken… So tender and served with some rice and beans as the perfect compliment.
Wow wow wow. I cannot wait to go back. When we left, the place was packed and the waitress was also one of the cooks in the back! It was clearly her and her husband ONLY bussing, waiting, cooking, hosting all at once. They worked their tails off and you could see that they wanted to give you a truly good experience.
Don’t be fooled by the look of the place, You will leave happy after an authentic experience :)
Ah yes AND the fact that it’s BYO is a plus !

Another hidden gem in my town — I went here based on Jeff B’s review so I knew the place was going to be good but it turned out to be great (better than expected which is rare). I am sure one can argue that it’s a small (4 to 5 tables), have no parking and services is not that great… but their food makes up for it (in my opinion). What they do best is the authentic Mexican food, and their menu is a reflection of it. There are few good Mexican/​Spanish restaurants nearby and they are all worth trying and this place is no different. I had a great dinner & lunch here and I am sure I will back soon but this time will try to take advantage of the BYOB option.

We come here almost once a week. I have been to hundreds of Mexican restaurants (my favorite cuisine) and Lucy’s is by far in my top 3. It’s super casual, the owners are the kindest, happiest people and very accommodating (giving me half rojo and half verde enchiladas because I couldn’t make up my mind!!!). Everything is cooked fresh, and the flavors are amazing. The chef used to work at a Peruvian restaurant so there is a lovely little section on the menu, too. The ceviche is AMAZING, as is everything else.
For the reviewers complaining about the TV. If it’s really bothering you that much, ask to change it??? My husband grabs the remote and turns on basketball for himself ha :)
Everything is very reasonably priced, also. Highly recommended!!! I love Lucy’s!

Lucy’s is amazing food. I often get cravings for Mexican and go to Unilocal for inspiration. I found this little (like 6 tables in total) restaurant on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. The owners are amazingly welcoming and low key. They took our order with a huge smile and brought us chips and salsa (homemade and sooo good). The food was cooked to order. We asked for guacamole (which wasn’t on the menu) and were quickly whipped up a large batch in the kitchen. We ordered chicken empanadas and verde chicken enchiladas. The verde was better than any 5 star restaurant we’ve been to.
Food is amazing and décor is beautiful. However; as previously mentioned — the tv was blasting law and order svu (on an episode about gang banging and gay for pay). Would do much better with some music or less graphic tv.
Anyways. Will be back soon.

This is a little «hole in the wall» type restaurant that serves up excellent food, along with big smiles, at very reasonable prices. I don’t have a Mexican mother, but if I did, I imagine the food would taste similar to Lucy’s. This is a restaurant where everything is home made, incl the salsa (red & green), the chips, and all the sauces. The chicken enchiladas I had were truly excellent. You could taste the individual flavors, and I finished every bite. My colleague and I went through two baskets of homemade chips and salsa — I probably could have done a third, but wanted to be able to walk to my car unassisted. Yes, i tmigh tbe nice if the soda was served in a glass or mug, instead of the can or bottle, and I could actually do with a little more «heat» in my food than is standard here, but at these prices that would be nit-​picking.
The ambience at Lucy’s is nothing fancy, and it’s BYOB, but everything is clean & cozy, and I do like the «storefront» style restaurant. It’s a nice respite from the endless strip malls nearby.
If you are looking for very good Mexican food, served by friendly people, and for a very reasonable price, look no further.

Leaving New Brunswick via Livingston Avenue, and crossing the invisible border with North Brunswick, I saw the sign for Lucy’s Restaurant. Although I was not fully hungry yet, the sudden urge for Mexican food overcame me. I found a parking spot on the street and went inside.
The atmosphere was bright and airy, with cloth covered tables and light wood chairs. It was way early for lunch, but a woman who introduced herself as Lucy greeted me warmly, and invited me to sit at a table along the front windows. The room was cozy and I could hear the work in the kitchen. The radio played a little Mariachi as the aroma of fried carnitas announced itself poignantly. I ordered what I thought would be something small — Sopes de Carnitas.
First came the mandatory Chips and Salsa. Chips were very fresh, and the Green Salsa sufficiently piquant to start my sinuses running. Very nice! Lucky I had plenty of naps. When the Sopes arrived I was confronted with an open faced sandwich piled high with shaved lettuce, onion, jalapeño, tomato, goat cheese and excellently grilled pork on the bottom.
Authentica totalmente!
When it comes to Mexican restos, I save the high praise designation of «Hole in the Wall,» for only those places that meet my two-​prong criteria; 1. it is a divey bar at its core, and 2. the food is excellente. Esto no esta un agujero en la pared. The space is too bright and clean for that. Plus, it is not a bar at all. So, while the food was surprisingly good, it is not a place where you have to worry about the guy with the scar sitting at the bar surrounded by empty cervezas, ni vasos de chupitos (shot glasses).
No, Lucy’s can stand alone as a very cool place for a wonderful Mexican meal. He de volver.
4 Estrellas!