Union Republic, good decor, poor food

Is anyone surprised that I’ve chosen a restaurant from Jersey City again? After last week’s foray into Grove Street, I’ve decided to take a break from Manhattan and spend more time with our underrated neighbor on this side of the Hudson. This week, my friends and I ventured into the Historic Downtown to locate a restaurant recommended to us by Jersey City locals.
Union Republic, located on Newark and Third looks and sounds more like a bank than a restaurant. It’s what we kept telling ourselves to justify spending an hour to locate what was literally in front of us. When we finally entered, the three of us immediately fell in love with the decor. UR’s theme is modern, with an open kitchen and minimalist dining furniture. As for food, the restaurant advertises itself as being a “progressive American cafe featuring ramen.” It’s a good way of saying it carries Japanese themes while circumventing the need to feature sushi.
We ordered three dishes: A Hen Full (Ramen, $13.00), Yes Ve-Gan! (Ramen, $11.00), and the Ramen Burger ($9.00). I’ll start with the bad. Do not order the Ramen Burger. The RB is an overhyped fad and as a result, I imagined crispy medium-rare steak between two crunchy uncooked buns of ramen. The steaks, of course, would be excellently done because it is a Ramen Burger and all Ramen Burgers are delicious. What I received was a glorified pulled pork sandwich that had a diameter the size of my pinky. The ramen buns were soggy from the pulled pork and I ended up using a knife and fork to eat my burger. Dashed hopes aside, I was also disappointed with the size and quality of the burger. Avoid this item at all costs.
Now for the good: the ramen was great. I really liked A Hen Full and Yes Ve-Gan! but surprisingly, I thought the latter was a lot tastier. Unlike the Ramen Burger, UR gives customers huge portions when they order ramen. Even with the three of us at work, we couldn’t finish either bowl.
Now for the surprise category: the horrible. The service is horrendous. Twenty minutes after we ordered, our wait staff brought out appetizers of slices of baked bread, homemade hummus and mashed eggplant. We then had to watch the kitchen (ten feet away) prepare and cook food for a little more than an hour. Another funny moment was when we tried to order our dessert halfway into our entree, as we half-jokingly reasoned that it would take another hour and a half to show up. Our waitress reassured us a Creme Brulee would take “about five minutes to come out.” We believed her and waited another half an hour for them to “quickly stick it in the oven and add powdered sugar.”
Overall, the bad negates the good aspects of this restaurant. The vibe I received from Union Republic is that it tries hard to provide a different dining experience. It alters conventional restaurant standards on all fronts: from how long it’s acceptable to make customers wait for a meal, (80+ minutes) to the delicious appetizers of baked bread, hummus, and eggplant and the well made ramen (no sarcasm this time). I reluctantly recommend this location to any who love ramen and wouldn’t mind horrible service.