Hard Grove Café

Hard Grove Cafe, a restaurant that was a staple of Jersey City’s dining scene for a quarter century, has closed for good as the space prepares to be turned over to a recreational cannabis dispensary and lounge.

Over the weekend, the Cuban eatery shut down at 284 First Street. The restaurant had been a mainstay of Downtown for almost 25 years and held their last service to say goodbye to diners on March 24.

Jersey City’s planning board recently announced a special meeting to be held on March 28 to discuss a dozen cannabis dispensaries scattered throughout different neighborhoods.

Perhaps the most significant would be located at 284 First Street, an address that could house the city’s first consumption lounge. Per our exclusive reporting from last week, a Freehold-based company called The Perennial Group is looking to bring an endeavor called Cream Dispensary and Lounge to the current Hard Grove Café space. The company has already launched a website and hopes to open by late 2022.