Downtown Jersey City families have a very specific dinner problem. One parent just stepped off the PATH at Grove Street, the toddler wants “just cheese,” the ten-year-old has discovered opinions, and the teenager went plant-based last month. If you’re searching for a family friendly restaurant Jersey City households can rely on without a negotiation, the honest answer is a neighborhood pizza shop with a menu deep enough that nobody has to compromise.
A family-friendly restaurant isn’t about a cartoon logo. It’s a menu that covers every age at one table, food kids recognize, flexible ordering, and a spot on the routes families already walk. Two Boots at 133 Newark Ave, on the Newark Avenue pedestrian plaza a few minutes from Grove Street PATH, checks those boxes almost by accident.
Here’s a parent-to-parent playbook: what “family friendly” should mean, how to order for a mixed table, what to do with the sauce skeptic, how to feed a vegan sibling, a local family-day-out guide, and how to handle a party order.
Key Takeaways
- Two Boots Jersey City sits at 133 Newark Ave in downtown Jersey City, a short walk from the Grove Street PATH station and right by the Newark Avenue pedestrian plaza.
- Pizza Face, a kid-friendly face pie that comes in a small size only, is the go-to pick for younger kids.
- Sauce-skeptic kids can go white: The Meg, Larry Tate and Mel Cooley all skip red sauce, and Create Your Pizza starts from a plain cheese pie.
- A full Daiya-based vegan lineup, plus catering for parties and school events, means one order can cover the whole family or the whole class.
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The Downtown Parent’s Checklist
When parents type “family friendly” into a search bar, they rarely mean atmosphere. They mean: is dinner going to work? Here’s the checklist we’d use ourselves.
- Something a small kid will eat without a fight. Familiar food in a familiar shape. Pizza starts with an advantage.
- Something interesting for the adults. Parents shouldn’t have to eat chicken fingers in solidarity.
- Room for dietary differences. Vegan, dairy-free, “I don’t eat anything green.” The more one menu covers, the fewer side trips.
- Flexible ordering. Sit down, grab a box on the walk home from the PATH, or order ahead.
- On your route. Downtown families walk, so a spot on Newark Avenue near Grove Street fits pickups and commutes without a detour.
- Scales up. The same place should feed four on a Tuesday and forty on a Saturday.
A good neighborhood pizza shop is one of the few places that can say yes to all six.
Family Friendly Restaurant Jersey City Parents Can Count On: Why Two Boots Fits
Two Boots opened in 1987 on Avenue A in Manhattan’s East Village, founded by Phil Hartman. The name refers to the two boot-shaped places on the map, Italy and Louisiana, and the menu still lives in both. For families, that means a classic Italian side for cautious eaters and a Cajun side for adults who want crawfish, andouille or Creole chicken on their pie.
The cornmeal crust is crisp with a texture you notice right away, and it holds up when a kid takes ten minutes to finish one slice or when the box rides home from Grove Street.
The names help too. Our pies are named after pop-culture icons, so ordering becomes a small game. It’s a lot easier to get a seven-year-old to try “The Dude” or “Mr. Pink” than a list of toppings.
Whole pies are listed on the menu in 10″, 14″ and 18″ sizes, so it’s easy to size an order to your family, and the Order Online button on our Jersey City location page means dinner can be waiting for you instead of the other way around.
Ordering for Every Age at One Table
Here’s what most listicles skip: what to actually order when the table spans a toddler to a grandparent.
| Who’s at the table | Pie to order | Add-on that seals the deal |
|---|---|---|
| Toddler or preschooler | Pizza Face (small only) | Garlic Knots (3) with a side of marinara |
| Picky grade-schooler | Create Your Pizza from a cheese pizza, or The Meg | House-baked chocolate chip cookie as the reward |
| Kid who “hates sauce” | Larry Tate or Mel Cooley (white pies) | Basil Pesto dipper |
| Plant-based teen | V for Vegan or Vegan Cleo | Vegan House Salad |
| Hungry athlete back from practice | Cleopatra Jones or Super Newman | Meatball Parm sliders (andouille meatballs) |
| Adventurous parent | The Bayou Beast (marked spicy on the menu) | Cajun Ranch dipper |
| Grandparent who likes it classic | Grandma Bess on a thin, square Sicilian crust | Caesar Salad |
| Everyone sharing | One 18″ white pie plus one 18″ red pie | Chicken Parm and Eggplant Parm sliders |
Share plates do the heavy lifting. Garlic Knots come three to an order, tossed in butter, parsley, garlic and Parmigiano with marinara on the side, and they buy time while the pies finish. The sliders are served on house-made garlic knots with marinara and fresh mozzarella, in Chicken Parm (breaded chicken), Meatball Parm (andouille meatballs) and Eggplant Parm (breaded eggplant). Put a mix in the middle and let everyone grab.
Watch the spicy tags. The Bayou Beast, The Bird, Night Tripper, The Divine, Meat the Mets, Hot Knots and the Jalapeño Pesto dipper are marked spicy on the menu, so maybe not for the little ones. Keep them on the grown-ups’ side.
Dipping counts as fun. The Classic Calzone (and the Vegan Calzone) comes with marinara, and for a lot of kids dipping is half the meal. Drinks keep it simple too: Spindrift, Sweet Leaf teas, Boylan sodas, Hal’s seltzer, Coke and Pepsi cans, and bottled water.
Picky Eaters, Sauce Skeptics and the Pizza Face Fan Club
Every family has one: the kid who only eats “normal” pizza, the kid who scrapes off anything red, the kid who lives on cheese.
The cheese-only kid. Create Your Pizza starts from a cheese pizza, and you can stop right there. If you want to nudge, add one topping they already like.
The sauce skeptic. A good chunk of our menu is white pies, meaning no red sauce at all.
- The Meg is “our very white pie”: provolone, parmigiano, ricotta, mozzarella, roasted garlic and oregano.
- Larry Tate is organic spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic on a white pie, a sneaky way to get something green onto the plate.
- Mel Cooley brings sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers and basil pesto on a white pie, a good bridge toward bigger flavors.
The little one. Pizza Face is our kid-friendly face pie, and it comes in a small size only, which is about right for a small person. Add Garlic Knots and you’ve handled dinner for anyone under six.
The one-bite negotiator. Point them at Emily Litella: breaded eggplant, sweet red pepper pesto, ricotta and mozzarella. It tastes a lot like the eggplant parm many kids already know.
If anyone at your table has a food allergy, please ask the staff about ingredients when you order.
When a Sibling Eats Plant-Based
Plenty of Jersey City families have one vegan or dairy-free eater, and that used to mean a second stop. At Two Boots it means a dedicated lane on the same menu, mostly made with Daiya non-dairy cheese:
- V for Vegan: artichokes, red onions and wild mushrooms with a criss-cross of sweet red pepper pesto and basil pesto, plus Daiya.
- Earth Mother: marinara with organic spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms and red onion, and no cheese at all.
- Vegan Larry Tate: the vegan twin of the regular Larry Tate.
- Vegan Cleo, Vegan Mr. Pink, Vegan Tony Clifton, Super Vegan and The VCBGB round out the lineup.
The Vegan Calzone and the House Salad (which is vegan) work as sides. For mixed families, order in pairs: Larry Tate plus Vegan Larry Tate, or Cleopatra Jones plus Vegan Cleo, so nobody feels like they got the “other” pizza. Our earlier vegan pizza guide for Jersey City goes deeper.
A Downtown JC Family Day Out, Ending on Newark Ave
Two Boots sits on the stretch of Newark Avenue that’s been turned into a pedestrian plaza, a short walk from Grove Street PATH. That puts it in the middle of family routines: the commute, the weekend walk, the “we need to get out of the apartment” Saturday.
The big day out for downtown families is Liberty State Park, the New Jersey state park on the waterfront with open lawns, a long walkway along the water and views across the harbor. It’s the kind of outing that ends with everyone suddenly, urgently hungry. Closer to home, the plaza itself makes an easy family stroll, and Grove Street is where one parent meets the rest of the family after work. Our post on casual restaurants near Newark Ave has more on the plaza.
| Family outing in downtown JC | What to order | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| A long Saturday at Liberty State Park | An 18″ Cleopatra Jones plus a Pizza Face | Big appetites after a day outside, and the little one gets their own pie |
| Meeting the commuting parent at Grove Street PATH | Slices plus Garlic Knots | Fast and easy, no wait for a whole pie |
| A stroll down the Newark Ave pedestrian plaza | A slice each and a chocolate chip cookie | Keeps the walk going instead of ending it |
| School pickup that turns into “can we get pizza?” | Pizza Face and a cheese slice | Small portions that won’t ruin dinner, or that become dinner |
| Rainy-day movie night at home | An 18″ The Meg and an 18″ Grandma Bess, ordered ahead | One white, one red, ready when you walk in |
| Grandparents visiting downtown | Grandma Bess and Larry Tate with a Caesar Salad | Classic flavors and something green |
| Vegan cousin in the group | V for Vegan plus Vegan Calzone | Plant-based without a second stop |
| ## Feeding a Party, a Team or a Whole Classroom |
Birthdays, end-of-season soccer parties, PTA meetings, class celebrations: this is where our Jersey City catering comes in. Catering is drop-off delivery, with packages built around group size and vegetarian and vegan options, and it needs 24 to 48 hours of notice. Our catering FAQ mentions regular Two Boots pizza parties and events for 500+ guests, so a single classroom is well within range.
A simple formula for a kids’ party:
- Start plain. At least one cheese pie for the kids who will eat nothing else.
- Add a white pie. The Meg or Larry Tate for the sauce skeptics.
- Add a crowd-pleaser. Cleopatra Jones or Mr. Pink for older kids and parents.
- Cover plant-based guests. V for Vegan or Earth Mother.
- Add share plates. Garlic Knots and a mix of sliders.
- Finish sweet. House-baked chocolate chip cookies and the Gluten-Free Brownie.
Skip the spicy-tagged items unless you know the crowd, and save The Bayou Beast for the grown-ups.
Conclusion
A family friendly restaurant in Jersey City doesn’t need a gimmick. It needs a menu that works for the toddler, the picky kid, the plant-based teen and the parent who wants crawfish on their pizza, all at one table. Two Boots on Newark Ave does that with Pizza Face, white pies, a Daiya vegan lineup, knots and sliders to share, and catering for the bigger days.
Find us at 133 Newark Ave, near Grove Street PATH, and plan your next family pizza night from our Jersey City location page.
FAQs
Is Two Boots Jersey City good for kids?
Yes, the menu works well for kids. There’s Pizza Face, a kid-friendly face pie in a small size, plain cheese through Create Your Pizza, several white pies with no red sauce, Garlic Knots with marinara and a house-baked chocolate chip cookie. The shop is an easy walk for downtown families and close to Grove Street PATH.
What should I order for a toddler or a picky eater?
For a toddler, start with Pizza Face and an order of Garlic Knots. For a picky eater, go with a plain cheese pizza through Create Your Pizza, or The Meg, our very white pie. Kids who don’t like sauce often do well with Larry Tate or Mel Cooley.
Is there a kids menu at Two Boots Jersey City?
No separate kids menu is listed. Pizza Face is the kid pick on the regular menu, and plenty of other items work for kids, including cheese pizza, white pies, Garlic Knots, sliders and calzones.
Are there vegan options for kids?
Yes. Our vegan pies mostly use Daiya non-dairy cheese and include V for Vegan, Vegan Larry Tate, Vegan Cleo and Earth Mother, which has no cheese at all. There’s also a Vegan Calzone and a vegan House Salad.
Is there anything gluten-free on the menu?
The only gluten-free item listed on our menu is the Gluten-Free Brownie. There’s no gluten-free crust on the menu. For ingredient questions, please ask the staff when you order.
Can we order pizza for a kids’ party or school event in Jersey City?
Yes. Jersey City catering is drop-off delivery with packages based on group size and vegetarian and vegan options. It needs 24 to 48 hours of notice. A good mix is one cheese pie, one white pie, one crowd-pleaser and one vegan pie, plus knots, sliders and cookies.
