So, you want to grab dinner with some friends, but they don’t imbibe so you don’t necessarily want to go to one that has a bar — where do you go?

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In New Jersey, BYO (Bring Your Own) restaurants can be a big piece of the puzzle for food scenes. There’s only so many liquor licenses to go around in the each town — specifically about 1 for every 3,000 residents (Fun fact: hotels with at least 100 rooms automatically get a liquor license under state law, i.e., Watt Hotel, when it opened as the former Hotel Indigo in ~2008). That’s why in some towns, liquor licenses can run into the seven figures — a big impediment for any potential investor, especially in a business as tough as restaurants.

Anyway, the October reader poll, sponsored by RahwayisHappening.com (Special Improvement District): What’s your favorite BYO place in Rahway?

1. Il Forno A Legna, 44% (8/18 votes)
2. Beana’s Para Siempre, 11% (2/18)
3. Mi Casa, 13% (2/18)
4. Rahway Sushi, 13% (2/18)
5. Hugo’s Restaurant, 6% (1/18)
6. Cook’s Kitch’n, 6% (1/18)
7. Olivia’s, 6% (1/18)
8. La Malinche, 6% (1/18)

Since coming to town a few years ago, Il Forno has fared well in reader polls – cheers to them! They took home first in the Favorite Soup poll by a pretty wide margin, a respectable 8th-place finish for Favorite Sandiwch, and have been battling it out each year with Nancy’s Towne House for Favorite Pizza.

The previous Favorite BYO poll champion (circa 2016) was Beana’s Para Siempre. The funky Mexican joint on St. Georges Avenue near Maple Street grabbed a third of the overall 55 votes in that poll. This time around, a much lower turnout for some reason, Beana’s was 2nd, but it only took 2 votes — yet it was 11% of the vote. That’s what happens when only 18 vote are cast. C’mon people! 😛 OK, maybe too many restaurant-related polls? I’m open to suggestions!

This poll was different from July’s Favorite restaurant poll. For this poll, restaurants without a bar but with table service were included. Maybe we’ll do another restaurant-related reader poll — Favorite Takeout?

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