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‘Iconic’ Center Bar in Woodbridge closing after decades in business

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‘Iconic’ Center Bar in Woodbridge closing after decades in business

WOODBRIDGE – A Port Reading neighborhood bar and pizzeria is closing its doors this weekend after decades in business.

And a Garden State rock band, with Central Jersey roots, is among those wishing the family-owned business, which specialized in thin-crust pizza and Italian dishes, good luck in the future.

This week Center Bar & Pizza, 46 Marion St., in the Port Reading section announced on its Facebook page that the business, located near the Carteret border, is closing.

“The DeSantis Family has made the very difficult decision to close our doors after being a Port Reading neighborhood staple for several decades,” the post states.

“Due to the rising costs of well…everything, we can no longer maintain a level of business to provide service to you all and sustain ourselves in the process. We have been so blessed to have served many generations of families and countless numbers of wonderful people that have come through our doors and have shared life’s trials and tribulations with us…we consider you family,” the Facebook page states.

“Having watched your families grow alongside ours has been just as joyful and rewarding. We will miss seeing friendly faces cozy up to the bar for a cold drink and hungry families settling into the dining room for pizza and mussels. We are truly lucky and blessed to have had you in our lives,” the Facebook page states. “It has been an honor and privilege to have served our friends in the surrounding communities for all these years. Once again from our family to yours, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

More: ‘A neighborhood institution’: Iconic Liberty Tavern in Fords closing after 74 years

The post states the last day of business will be May 12, but with the upcoming closing they will only be serving what they have in stock so some dishes may begin to sell out and become unavailable.

“I was there last night,” Mayor John E. McCormac said Thursday evening explaining he went to the restaurant with Councilman Brian Small after attending a park event in the Port Reading section.

McCormac said Small sent him the Facebook post Thursday morning about the closing. Small said the business dates back to the 1950s.

“It’s such a great little neighborhood bar,” McCormac said. “I certainly hope someone buys it and keeps it as a neighborhood bar because there are fewer and fewer of them left.”

“The Center Bar is iconic. They had the best food of any neighborhood bar that I’ve ever seen. Their pizza and wings and Italian food was better than some classy restaurants,” McCormac said.

The Facebook post featured dozens of comments from people sharing their memories of celebrations at the bar’s apparent 70-year run which was a staple for both the Port Reading and Carteret community. The comments indicate the bar was a destination for pizza parties and after ball games and meetings. One woman wrote the bar was the place where her son-in-law asked her husband for their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Members of The Smithereens rock band were fans of the business.

“Wishing the best of luck to the DeSantis family and thank you for the memories! The members of The Smithereens grew up in Carteret and have eaten countless pizzas at Center Bar! We stopped in for a pie just last year when we were in town,” The Smithereens wrote on the bar’s Facebook page.

The closing of Center Bar & Pizza comes a little over a year after the Liberty Tavern, another long-time neighborhood bar in the Fords section, closed its doors.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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