New Restaurants, Hotels Coming To Woodbridge

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Mayor John McCormac gave his State of the Township address Monday, March 30. In it, he announced a lot of new business news in Woodbridge, many of them new restaurants:

What's new:

A Trader Joe's and Ross Dress for Less opened across Rt. 1 from Woodbridge Center Mall last year. In 2026, "a well-known casual restaurant and two small retail stores" will come to that same shopping center, said the mayor, but he did not give more details.

"We remain in final negotiations with the restaurant to be located at the Trader Joe’s shopping center," McCormac spokesman John Hagerty said Thursday. "We will offer details when available."

Around the corner, a restaurant called Saffron Social will replace the former Woodbridge TGI Friday’s.

In Fords, Dolce restaurant at the former Villa Borghese plans to build a new restaurant with rooftop dining. Construction on that is supposed to start soon.

Violette’s restaurant is about to open across from Woodbridge Town Hall. Once it opens, there will be five restaurants on Woodbridge's Main Street: Castello’s, Strickland’s steakhouse, Pino’s and Angelina’s Kitchen, which opened last year.

Also, Strickland’s is expanding: They took over the building next door and are turning it into a banquet hall and party room.

A new restaurant will open on the ground floor of the Avenue & Green apartment building, but its name has not been revealed yet.

McCormac is often criticized for allowing too much development in Woodbridge, and he responded to that Monday:

"The next time you hear someone complain about the apartments downtown, remind them that these restaurants, along with many other new businesses like Playa Bowls, Perla and Siwa Thai, would not be here without the customer base provided by the new housing," said the mayor.

Another restaurant will open at the 95-unit apartment building that just started construction at Main Street and Fulton Street, but that opening is a long way off, as construction just started on the building.

It's not restaurant news,but construction will begin soon on the self-storage facility that's coming to where the Woodbridge Bowling Center used to be.

And here are all the stores/eateries that are either opened or will open very soon at the new Cloverleaf shopping center, at Rts. 1 and 35:

Sprouts organic food market, Nasto’s Ice Cream, Honeygrow salads and bowls, Paris Baguette, LaserAway, Habit Burger Grill, Norman’s Hallmark, Club Pilates, Hummus Republic, AlphaFit Club and Tropical Café Smoothie.

And, two new hotels coming to Woodbridge:

Woodspring Suites, an extended stay hotel facility, is currently under construction in Menlo Park Terrace.

And a new five-story hotel is coming to where the former City and Star motels and The Spot dive bar used to be located on Rt. 1 south in Avenel. It will be a Cambria Suites, with 104 rooms and a restaurant on the ground floor, Patch previously reported.

Those derelict buildings were torn down last year. (Rt. 1 Motels Demolished For New, 5-Story Hotel Coming To Woodbridge)

Finally, Woodbridge Twp. is seeking developers for the six-acre site on Rahway Avenue in Avenel that was supposed to be the site of the new School #4/5.

The town hopes it will become a medical office.

"We are still hoping for a medical use, but in no instance will we approve apartments or a warehouse at that site," McCormac promised Monday.

And the million square foot warehouse in Avenel on the former site of the Woodbridge Developmental Center will soon
have a tenant; a lease is very close to being finalized, said the mayor. The tenant plans to build a parking deck there.