I write this with genuine sadness, not anger. Sagres Bar and Grill was once a place I frequented with fondness and loyalty. I have been coming here for years and watched it slowly--but unmistakably--decline. What I experienced on December 18, 2025, however, crossed every possible line of decency, safety, and responsibility. What I personally witnessed that night was repulsive and deeply alarming. There was open drug use and apparent drug selling happening in plain sight, treated as if it were completely normal. Even more disturbing, two men were openly engaging in sexual activity directly in front of other guests. People around me were visibly shocked and uncomfortable, myself included. This behavior continued in the presence of minors, who were dining with their parents. No establishment that claims to be a restaurant--or a place of community--should ever allow something like this to occur. I immediately brought this to the attention of the manager, expecting swift action. Instead, I was met with complete indifference. The manager did absolutely nothing. No intervention. No concern. No attempt to protect guests, families, or the basic standards of public decency. That lack of response was as disturbing as the behavior itself. What was once a fun and social karaoke environment has also been completely destroyed. The manager now allows anyone to access and interfere with the karaoke laptop. As a result, songs are routinely cut off mid-verse or mid-sentence simply because someone doesn't like what's being sung. It has turned what was once entertainment into chaos and hostility. To make matters worse, dangerous confrontations and fights appear to be common. The atmosphere feels volatile and unsafe. Frankly, this place feels one or two drinks away from a serious tragedy. The absence of oversight, accountability, and basic crowd control creates an environment where someone could easily be seriously hurt--or worse. This review is written as a warning. What Sagres Bar and Grill has become is not just disappointing--it is unsafe. Until ownership and management take immediate and serious action, I cannot recommend this establishment to anyone, especially families or longtime patrons who remember what it used to be. What once felt like a neighborhood gathering place now feels like a place to avoid at all costs. read more

We came in excited for a good dinner, with outdoor dining but unfortunately, the experience was a letdown. We ordered the salmon with shrimp, Steak in Garlic Sauce & Portuguese chorizo for appetizer. The steak medium--it came out well done, dry, hard, and completely lacking flavor. Although we didn't complain, he ate as much as he could. The salmon wasn't terrible, it was OK the chorizo was delicious! For the price, we expected much more. There are plenty of great places with amazing steak in the area--sadly, this isn't one of them. I won't be returning. For the price. Service was fine, he was pleasant. read more

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Not what it used to be. Would go there for late family dinners a couple years ago. Different crowd now, nothing wrong with that, but I do miss the old Sagres. read more

This was a really fun bar to stumble across on a Monday night late night when we were staying overnight in Newark. Our bartender Igor was wonderful. I ordered a cosmo and it was perfect. He made my husband a passion fruit pornstar martini that was also perfect. It was a fun vibe. read more

I used to love this place but now the refuse to serve me saying that I didn't pay my tab. I don't appreciate being slandered like this after having been a loyal customer for years. And I don't eat sardines. That is offensive in itself. read more

Newark gets bad reputation cause of restaurants/bar like this.. service was poor, we ordered drinks, apps and main course, sangria pitcher that came out with no ice, server put on the table for us to serve ourselves and not even to bother bringing some napkins for the table, after an hour appetizer and just 1 of the main course come out and what about the other plate ?? Never come out. The server didn't charge us for the food but still, really frustrating go out to have dinner with someone and no get your whole order, plus I did order pasta with shrimp instead of chicken and guess what? They gave me chicken, ask for water, no water at all... read more

This is what you will get for 25us, uncooked potatoes, no even a quarter of pound of chicken/meat picadinho. The waiter bartender doesn't even ask or check after served, absolutely poor customer services skills. Kitchen sucks & lame service. read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Hard uncocked potatoes. - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Wanted to watch soccer and sit outside so this did the trick. The food is ok. We had Chicken croquets- ok Sausage - salty Mussels in green sauce- if mussels are thing try it! Sardines - yummy! Topped with garlic you can't go wrong read more

Actually food was really good and the karaoke on a Saturday night was fun. They have a big menu but we had a cheeseburger and rice/black beans. And they're open until late. read more

The food is really bad, my wife and I asked for a burger with chipotle sauce, and the "meat" looked like vomit, we just went there because there was no other place nearby that served food at 12am. read more

Very cozy environment nice to catch up with friends or family over good vibes and of course the best sangrias I love how they make me feel safe and are always quick with service read more

This place was so cute and quaint and you can sit outside or at the bar. It's small but popular for their sangria so when you're in the Newark NJ check out. read more

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Since my last visit my next few visits have been much better. Now that I know how and what to order. Again, the sangria is the best on Ferry St. The fish bite appetizer is amazing as well as other appetizers. But I will stop there. The dinner meals are not impressive. Happy hour prices are just right. Service is good and friendly. I love sitting at the bar with the bartenders. I will continue to come back for the Sangria read more

I've just had my first Portuguese food experience and was happy it's been here. The waiter was from Portugal and knew the menu inside and out. I had two empanadas to start to be safe and they were excellent. One beef, one chicken. The bread was extremely fresh and tasty with the little pieces of extras from the appetizer and adding butter. For dinner I settled on the Bitoque. I wasn't disappointed. It was a thinner steak topped with a dark garlic type sauce comparable to Worcestershire. I recommend this restaurant for sure. Good food and great service! read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - a plate of food - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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Food was salty, nachos were stale, place was rowdy and loud. You're also charged to use a card and an 18% tip is included no matter what. Go elsewhere. read more

I could give more stars. It's a nice place with open doors to the street and friendly staff, perfect for summer nights. Yummy drinks, but their cheese fries are a joke. If it was my business I would be embarrassed to serve such thing (see picture). They threw four cheese slices on the top of the fries and I guess put them inside the oven. The fries were soggy and the cheese was disgusting. I would remove it from the menu. It's just bad. read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Cheese fries. - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Ambiance: loud, vibrant The restaurant is intimate. Our group of 12 was the largest in the diningroom, there were other group tables besides ours. Service: So-so. There seem to be only 2 wait staff who functioned as a bartender, bus boy and food runner. Our waitress was decent in terms of friendliness. Unfortunately, it took about 2 hrs to get our food. One member of our party's food came out wrong despite waiting that long. Not the waitress' fault, the kitchen had a hard time getting out our food. Food: Appetizers: portugese sausage - was kind of like a kielbasa. Empanadas (chicken & corn was good but the beef one was not cooked all the way through, it was cold in the center) Brazilian croquettes were filled with shredded chicken and corn, it was tasty! Fried calamari was kind of rubbery. Entree: Paella valencia ($40) with half a lobster was a bit too soggy and salty. Otherwise, it had a decent amount of seafood in it. read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Portugese sausage - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

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This was a randomly chosen place to eat after dropping friends off at EWR. We arrived about 7:30 on a Tuesday evening during a light rain that ended soon and sat at one of about 8 tables outside under an awning. The bronzini was excellent and the chicken penne pasta with a vodka sauce was tasty. A light white wine and Portugese Super Bock nicely complemented the meal. The service could not have been better. Sagres is reminiscent of a casual Parisian sidewalk cafe, an ethnic neighborhood bar & grill, as evidenced by the fact that I did not understand a word being spoken at the other tables. An enjoyable and relaxing evening, we plan to return. read more

Fun music, nice staff, good drinks! Will definitely come back! I like small city bars and that's exactly what I found. I love it!!!

If you're looking for ambiance and good sangria then this is your place. I ordered garlic shrimp and was disappointed because they were swimming in oil and garlic. The waitress was polite, however I had to ask for seltzer 3 times. I wouldn't bother going there if you are looking for a good meal read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Passion fruit sangria - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

Lobster ravioli .... enough said. An exquisite lobster sauce served with cheese ravioli to enlighten any palate. Yum. Awesome karaoke singers on Saturday night. And the most attentive server Nelson, Sagres is definitely worthy of my 5-star rating. read more

Didn't eat here because the Yelp menu is not a true representation of their true menu. Had only a sangria pitcher for $47.00 which was out the bag. read more

Absolute disaster. Met a small group there for dinner before the U2 concert at the prudential center. We had some drinks at appetizers and then about an hour before we had to leave ordered meals. Waited, waited, waited, waited - the only thing breaking the silence of our waiting was the other diners walking out because of the waiting. I finally got up and paid the bill and walked out - just as our meals were finally coming. Rest of my party sat back down but I had to get to the arena to grab our tickets so missed the meal. Owner just stood there with a "sorry, what do you expect me to do..." look on his face as about 3 tables walked out pissed off. Do not go to this place if you are going to an event and have a time restriction. Total disappointment. read more

I have been here three times and each time I been the food was delicious the last time me and my daughter went and she had the Mango Sangria was delicious the atmosphere and service was great will go again. The first time I had the chicken and shrimp picadena then I had the Salmon and then Steak Will definitely go back and Groupon offer a coupon read more

Cozy environment small local place. Good food, service and Karaoke nights on Friday and Saturday. People get crazy late at night, fun to watch - love the music. read more

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Came here on a Thursday night and was super hungry... Big mistake!!! It took about an hour for our party to receive our food. Mind you the restaurant was only half full and my party was only four people. I ordered the fish sandwich... It was okay, definitely nothing to write home about. We also ordered a couple of pitchers of Sangria. Like some other reviews report it is pretty good, even though it was served with plastic disposable cups... Smh. After making quick work of the first pitcher we ordered another, well to no surprise they messed up the order as brought us a pitcher of white sangria instead... Since it took about 15 mins, we just decided to accept it. While it wasn't terrible, it definitely wasn't as good as the red... And at $25/pitcher it was a little steep! Overall this place is over priced for the quality of food and service received. I don't know that I'll be paying another visit to Sagres suing my time here on Newark. read more

Incredibly Bland I only have it two stars because the cashier at the front was super friendly warm and inviting. I had never eaten here before so the cashier was helpful in making me choose I was excited because it seemed to be pretty crowded and customers kept coming in to order takeout. I started to get anxious when I realized it was taking super long to make an order or grilled chicken, black beans, white rice, yucca and salad. Ok I finally get home and open my takeout and I was super disappointed the chicken looked beige I couldn't tell if it was grilled baked or what and it looked so dry & dehydrated and after tasting it I realized it tasted worse than it looked. Okay unto the beans and rice first off they weren't black and they were pinto and barely seasoned I make better beans myself. Ughh And the rice was slightly soggy yet kinda crunchy weird. I attempted to eat it any way as i hadn't eaten all day but I couldn't do it and I hate to waste food but this just wasn't hitting any spots and tasted super bland to be Latin spot. Never again read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

I am now on my 2nd hour and I am yet to receive the dinner I ordered. I ordered ribs platter and they brought the rice and fries an hour ago yet the ribs are no where to be found. The rice is now colder than the iceberg who sank the Titanic and by the time they bring me the ribs they will have to bring me a new rice. We also ordered 2 drinks and finally while writing this they brought us 1. There is absolutely no organization here, I don't even think the waiters know which tables they need to serviced. We requested the bill and the ribs that never arrived are actually there. This place is in desperate need of new management. read more

Sagres Bar & Grill - Bars Near Me - Newark, New Jersey

This used to he one of my favorite restaurants / bars in Newark. I would patronize this business at least twice per week. The service was great and the staff knew me by name. Now, the service is horrible. The staff are not attentive or sanitary. They handle food and drinks without washing their hands. Also, they're more concerned with being on their phones than attending to the customers. The food doesn't taste the same and neither do the drinks. It's sad, this place used to be packed, but now it's terribly empty. I don't know what happened. read more

Highly recommend: tomato soup. Sangria suggestion: passionfruit Service is slow, but friendly. read more

Quaint little Portuguese restaurant, definitely a locally known place, with cute outside seating, had a lovely live duet singing and playing guitar. I ordered the steak with garlic sauce, was really good but over cooked to my liking, I asked for medium rare, came out, medium well, language barrier maybe? The sauce it was in was amazing. My husband got the Brazilian chicken with garlic, which was actually not very good it was over cooked and very small cuts of chicken that had barely any meat on the bone Get the yuca fries they were really good! Sangria was the winner of the evening! Delicious! And strong! And the brownie with Ice cream and cappuccino was great also Service was a little slow considering the size of the place (very small the bar is bigger than the restaurant itself) I'd comeback again and just get sangria and the steak and make sure they understand how I like it prepared read more

Good sangria Heard the passion fruit is great. We sat outside on a nice night and had the tiramisu which was ok. Waitress and staff were friendly and helpful. Lol waitress actually was honest for a change instead of just saying it's good to try and sell a dish. I haven't had an entree there I usually just go for sangria. read more

Took 45 mims for the first dish, and that dish was the bread!! Which usually only take less than 5 minutes to come for most restaurant Missing one of my order, and delivered wrong dishes Insensitive waitress who didnt care if the finished dishes were taken away read more

An hour long wait for a burger and quesadillas. The burger was literally straight out of a middle school lunch cafeteria. The bun was horrible and the burger meat itself was very obviously some cheap frozen meat. The quesadilla was tiny and barely had anything in it. Way over priced, food was shitty, service was extremely slow. read more

Sagres = "to devote" This is what it means in Portuguese. Here at Sagres, there is no such thing as "Devotion". Not to their food or to their customer service. On two different occasions, one for lunch and one for drinks, the bartender and server didn't know the menu nor did they speak English. Luckily, my Spanish and with the help of my Portuguese guest and with my hand motions and pictures from our phones we were able to place our orders. It was like pulling teeth from a llama! I remember rolling my eyes every time we had to repeat ourselves. So frustrating. As far as the food goes, I think I would've rather eaten at Peruvian "hole in the wall" joint in Paterson, NJ. I come to Ironbound to have "par level" food quality. Big disappointment at Sagres. Just to give you an idea what was ordered, here's the short list: Steamed Cod Fish with rice and vegetables, a large entree of steak with onions, potatoes, rice and black beans, garlic shrimp app and chorizo app. White and Red Sangria drinks and Caipirinha. Nothing was delicious to me. I just felt like my mouth was moving but there was no affect to any of my 5 senses. No great smell. No pretty presentation. Didn't hear any orgasm happening my mouth and when I touched my veggies it was cold. All I wanted to do was leave the restaurant ASAP and have a fireball shot in one hand and in the other a sharp fancy fork. Pure embarrassment. As I am writing this review now, I am surprise how the business stays open. It can't be due to the quality of food, drinks or customer service. The drinks were not even prepared correctly. Too sweet, uneven portions and not enough booze. Avoid this place. Spend a little a more money in restaurants like Casa Vasca or Fornos. read more

HOOD FOOD. Ironbounds' best sidewalk cafe. Sit inside, outside at the bar who cares, you're not going anywhere. Get tapas share you'll do the same with their specialty drinks. Yaaasss that good. Service could be slow but friendly. So why not 5 stars the bathroom ...Yuk read more

It was my first time here it's a nice place, the food was good but the Red Sangria was better. I would definitely visit again and recommend.

I'll be honest. I probably won't ever come here for the food. Somehow, I don't think it's going to be comparable to other restaurants in this area, but the fun I had last Thursday night AMAZING! These bartenders are into what they do. I love just watching them making drinks. Huh? Yup! And the drinks are strong. Their Sangria is pretty solid. It has a crap load of alcohol. I felt like they were pouring for 3x the number of seconds than other places. As I watched one of the bartenders make a pitcher. I didn't know what it was at first, and he offered a small glass for me to try and then we ended up getting one. Excellent marketing. Lol. The DJ played some fun songs. Thursday is also karaoke night. One girl just absolutely brought the house down with her voice. Crowd was really fun, drinks were great, music was great, service was spectacular. They paid attention to all of your needs. What else do you look for when you go out? Nuffin! read more

Bar scene? Decent. Better on the nights with karaoke and in the summer where it's all open to the outdoors seating. It's a tiny place but comfortable. Food? It's not a fancy place so you won't be impressed if you've gone to the iberias and sol mars of the ironbound but they do shrimp in garlic well and their seasoned olives. Bitoques are good too. I actually recently had pasta here (I know. Come to a Portuguese place and order 'Italian'!?) and it was actually real good! Specifically beef stroganoff and penne vodka. In the summer this place is poppin'. The whole sidewalk becomes outdoor seating! Oh yeah and sangria. If you've ever been to a Portuguese place you know we don't mess around with portions, this applies as well to the amount of liquor ;) so yeah. Sangria. read more

Patron shots. However they do it the British way I saw when I studied at Oxford that they gave ... lemon wedges. Here in 'merica, or Texas at least, we use limes. But oh well. Patron doesn't really need anything since it is smooth. It is not Montezuma or the other bottom shelf fratboy tequila I usually go with that is a unique blend of cheap and awfulness that makes you feel like a unique blend of dirty, disgusting, and bad life choices. And then we moved on to draft Blue Moons. Here they did it correctly in the 'merican way to use an orange slice, rather than the incorrect way of using a goddamned lemon. I hate lemons unless they are the Earl of Lemongrab or Liz Lemon. All other lemons are UNACCEPTABLE. So that is why I am glad they did the orange correctly. Whipped out the iPhone to Shazam song - so good music they have going. Good atmosphere. Some people eating in the tables behind the bar, active people at the bar drinking and being mostly respectful. I was just amused principally because there were two large black men on a first date sitting at the bar drinking, and they looked like they would make a cute couple, but they were arguing and getting louder as the night went on. It was not love at first sight apparently, but it was amusing to overhear since they were loud enough it was not eavesdropping, it was more like experienced an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond at 9am on a Saturday morning when your 90 year old neighbor loses her hearing aids and decides that goddammit, she really wants to watch television and she is going to just turn it up until she can hear it properly, with total disregard for what other people might want to listen to at that hour - it is so loud you are aware of what is going on without even trying. I was here two other nights in a row and it was different each night. The second night was much more quiet and we could watch the Rockets disgrace themselves in peace. And then the third night was much more festive and when a certain song came on the music got ratcheted up to blasting. I suppose I am a bit of a grumpy cat that I want to hear music but not get it blasted, especially to the point where it is so loud that your first thought is "that frog-humping son of a bitch better turn that music down so I can hear!" It is a bit too loud. The song was "Molly" by Cedric Gervais. Which was not even my type of music so it was ten times worse. Had it been "Afterglow" by Phaeleh or anything from the XX or any other kind of jammy-jams then I would not have minded so much. read more