Rockaway Eatery

Located at 4835 West Wendover Avenue in Jamestown, Rockaway Eatery serves globally influenced cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as coffee drinks. It is open seven days per week, and specials change regularly. Catering is also available.

It is a common practice for pizza places and delis in this area to advertise their Big Apple bonafides (or delusions thereof). Restaurants with Manhattan, Brooklyn, or even just New York in their name are hard to miss. Rockaway Eatery, on the other hand, takes its moniker from a peninsula in Queens. This appeal to (relative, and by the standards of the area, at least) obscurity is just one of many ways the eclectic eatery bucks the norm.

Walk inside, and you may immediately find yourself wondering if you made the right decision. The interior features bright orange paint and an almost comically large wrap-around front counter. Said counter’s dimensions are necessary to provide enough room to display the full extent of the menu. For the fickle and indecisive, this place is a nightmare.

Everyone else, however, will likely see uncertainty fade into joy upon perusing the menu. Want bagels or a breakfast sandwich? Rockaway has them. Want a burger, salad, or wrap? Rockaway has those too. How about a vegetable and rice bowl featuring jerk chicken, tikka masala, or Salisbury steak? Check, check, and check. What about those same toppings….over fries with cheese curds? Yes, Rockaway Eatery offers several kinds of poutine as well. Add to that coffees, smoothies, and desserts, and one would be very hard pressed to run out of interesting things to try here.

Fortunately, there is more to Rockaway then just a fun and funky menu. During our visit, staff were patient and accommodating while my wife and I figured out what we wanted, and our food came out relatively quickly. She opted for a southwest burger while I went for the Salisbury steak poutine and a lean green smoothie (because balance). The flavors all around left no room for complaint. The poutine’s gravy was rich and savory while the burger came with a delicious chipotle ranch sauce. Both dishes used Rockaway’s tri-blend meat, which was quality. The fries, in either their regular or gravy-slathered incarnations, were salty and crisp while the smoothie (mango, pineapple, banana, spinach, kale, and apple juice) was suitably refreshing. The only demerit goes to the burger being served somewhere between medium well and well done instead of the requested medium.

Much like the similarly eclectic Toshi’s Café, Rockaway Eatery isn’t a cheap breakfast or lunch option. Smoothies come in a 24-ounce size only and run $5.50, poutine goes for $7.50 to $9, and burgers are $8.50 to $11.50, fries included. Also much like Toshi’s, the quality relative to nearby fast food/fast casual makes the prices paid worthwhile.

Having sampled only a fraction of what Rockaway Eatery has to offer, it would be difficult to gauge whether the rest of the food is as tasty as the few items we tried. With a menu that large, there are bound to be weak spots. However, the breadth of options available, coupled with friendly service, encourages several return visits.