Ask a longtime Livingston resident what Eisenhower Parkway is for, and the answer is errands. Dry cleaning. A prescription pickup. Maybe a haircut squeezed in before the bank closes. It is the kind of stretch you drive without noticing, four lanes of shopping centers between South Orange Avenue and Route 10 that exist to get things done, not to linger.
That reputation no longer matches what is actually happening on the ground. Over the past several months, the same storefronts that used to house dry cleaners and dentist offices have started drawing restaurant groups with real ambition, and the clearest proof sits at a single address: 277 Eisenhower Parkway.
One Storefront, Two Very Different Restaurants
Three years ago, that address became the Livingston outpost of Mezza, a Mediterranean spot expanding out from its original Westwood location. It was BYOB, casual, the kind of place you'd grab braised lamb shank or a grilled octopus plate on a Tuesday without a reservation.
This past May, that same storefront reopened as Blu Livingston, the second location for Blu Hospitality Group, whose original Weehawken restaurant built a name on Hudson River views and a New York City dining feel. The Livingston version, led by executive chef Juan Carlos "JC" Ortega, centers its menu on seafood towers, dry-aged steaks, house-made pastas, and a sushi program with dishes like bluefin toro topped with Kaluga caviar. The space itself was designed by Peggy Leung Design, whose past work includes Scarpetta and TAO Las Vegas, and it includes a four-season loggia with a retractable roof connecting to the bar, according to BroadwayWorld's coverage of the opening.
That is not a casual replacement. That is a different category of restaurant occupying the exact footprint a BYOB Mediterranean spot vacated in under three years. Diners on OpenTable have already flagged the ricotta gnocchi as a recurring favorite and note that business casual is the expected dress code, treating Blu as a special occasion destination rather than a weeknight stop. The shift from Mezza to Blu is not just a name change on a sign. It is a signal about what kind of restaurant now believes it can succeed on this particular block.
What's Actually Lining the Parkway Right Now
Walk (or more realistically, drive) the parkway today and the range is wider than most residents probably assume:
- Blu Livingston (277 Eisenhower Pkwy) – upscale seafood, steaks, and sushi in a design-forward space
- Lithos Estiatorio (405 Eisenhower Pkwy) – a Greek Mediterranean restaurant with a full dinner menu running most nights until 10 or 11 p.m.
- Shake Shack (292 Eisenhower Pkwy) – the reliable fast-casual anchor at the other end of the price spectrum
- Plaza Cafe (354 Eisenhower Pkwy) – a lower-key lunch and takeout option in the same retail run
That range, from a $15 burger to a caviar-topped sushi roll, all within a half-mile stretch, is the part that gets lost when people still describe Eisenhower Parkway as a place you go for shopping, not dinner.
The Other Restaurant Row Nobody's Talking About
Here's the detail that makes this more than a parkway story. While Eisenhower Parkway has been absorbing new arrivals, South Livingston Avenue has quietly been building its own cluster of ambitious dining, anchored by a restaurant that has outlasted almost everything else in town.
Nero's Grille, on South Livingston Avenue, is celebrating its 55th year in business this year, according to OpenTable's local restaurant coverage. It has been the town's steady, familiar fine-dining option since long before anyone was talking about a restaurant scene in Livingston at all.
Now it has company. Vette Ristorante at Calabria opened this year at 588 South Livingston Avenue, inside the well-known Calabria building, led by chef and sommelier Maurizio de Rosa. It reworks the traditional trattoria format with a curated wine program and a more refined menu, effectively adding a second serious fine-dining option to a street that used to have just one.
So the honest picture of Livingston's dining scene right now is not one restaurant row. It's two, developing at the same time, a few minutes apart, each pulling in a different kind of ambition. Eisenhower Parkway is where hospitality groups from outside Livingston are placing bets on strip-mall visibility and parking. South Livingston Avenue is where the town's own restaurant history is deepening, with a new arrival choosing to sit next to, not instead of, the restaurant that's been there for over five decades.
Why This Matters If You're Just Trying to Decide Where to Eat Tonight
The practical version of all this: if you want something under twenty dollars and no reservation, Eisenhower Parkway between Shake Shack and Plaza Cafe still covers that. If you want a night that feels like an occasion, both corridors now have an answer, Blu Livingston's loggia on one end of town, Vette Ristorante or Nero's Grille on the other. And if you've been putting off trying Lithos Estiatorio because Eisenhower Parkway still reads as errand territory in your head, that instinct is a few months out of date.
None of this happened through a single announcement or a ribbon-cutting everyone noticed. It happened storefront by storefront, the kind of change you only catch if you're paying attention to what's actually filling the space next to the bank, not just driving past it.
If you're already planning ahead, Livingston Recreation and the West Essex YMCA are hosting the annual Bike Livingston event on Sunday, September 27, a reminder that this town's calendar keeps moving even when the storefronts change quietly in between.
Whether you've lived on this side of town for two years or twenty, the parkway you thought you knew is worth a second look, ideally with a reservation this time.
Richa Garg has spent fourteen years watching Livingston change block by block, from the restaurants that open to the streets that quietly become the ones everyone wants to live near. If you're curious what a shifting local scene like this means for the neighborhood you're watching, or you're ready to talk about a move of your own, Garg Homes is a call away. Book an Appointment.
