Waters Edge (Formerly Gunnar's Landing)
The Man 
Calico696 Holy Crap!!! Luigi's is seriously DOWNsizing.....
Sad to see that old Luigi's building (a landmark!) sit empty...
When is this happening? Is Luigi's still open?
JeffersonRepub 
Mansfield mama 
ted So that means Luigi's ISN'T moving? The LANDLORD of Luigi's bought Gunnars???
Confusing...
The people who leased Luigi's (meaning the lessee, not the lessor) are the people who ran Luigi's. If they bought Gunnar's, I would assume the restaurant operation is moving. Maybe they weren't doing enough business to justify paying to lease that huge space?
ianimal Yes, I heard a strip mall as well. Luigi's leased the building they were in. The Luigi's people bought Gunnar's. As far as I know, they are continuing as Luigi's in the new location. This was info I got from a frequent customer, but could easily be incorrect. I thought the same as mansfield mama that the new location is much smaller.
I've never been to either of them.. but I'd happily drink some beers at either place if they let me beep around the yard. :P
Josh The Luigi's building is owned by an investment group who are no longer interested in leasing the current building.
Myself, I'm all in for a gentleman's club or a religious retreat.
Hank ArthurFigured something was up at Gunnars. Passed by a couple days ago and saw a large dumpster filled out front.
Vic "Myself, I'm all in for a gentleman's club or a religious retreat."
I'm all in for a religious gentlemen's club. ;)
Or perhaps a go-go bar gun range.
JUST what is needed ?? An "average" restaurant to replace a biker bar!! Developer won again !!
Geedo 
pmnsk why do we need a strip mall??.....The A&P plaza is half empty!! No need to keep building!!
peter Weis Markets tried to buy the Luigis Rancho property a few years ago. At that time Weis was going to build a supermarket behind the existing Luigis Rancho building and the restaurant would have stayed open.It would be very sad to see such a local landmark demolished.
Urf yeah that area needs another empty strip mall like it needs another half-finished development. unfortunate.
Sad unless it was Shoprite. Then it would be a worker's union paradise!!!
So glad our politician's family has commented. Never an error there, it's the equivalent of God's judgment.
That area is a pretty place to live, but is definitely the Land of Meh where dining and retail is concerned.
In my opinion, the Luigi's building may be a landmark due to its age but the restaurant fare always struck me as no better than average diner food. Other places in the area never seemed to break above that level, either. Lui's pizza, which I last had about 9 years ago, seemed decent enough though.
Johnny's Hot Dogs is the outlier in the group, for reasons that would take some explanation.
A strip mall seems foolish, especially if it looks like the cursed-by-god former A&P location. BTW, if you ever shopped in that A&P and felt like you were being robbed....all the while being told what fantastic savings you were getting....you would know why god (or karma) did this.
jjmonth4 GC you always have an issue or a temper tantrum. Cheer Up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20
Folks, I'm only telling you from what I understand and that it's Luigi's going into the old Gunnar's building. I don't know about these strip malls.
Aside from the seasonal motorcycle groups traveling rt.46 in the warmer weather, I just don't see the locals supporting any of these places on a daily basis ( someone above stated "last time had pizza there was 9 yrs ago " )
Very few businesses survive along that corridor anymore .
I do believe a gun range would do quite well in the area ...although I am certain the locals would not want that in the area.
Just my observation.
Steven Steven, I am a "local" and do support these businesses. In the past month, I've been in the Rancho 3-4 times, Lui's pizza once and Hot Dog Johnny's 2-3 times. Every time in the Rancho, there are usually 3-4 tables and some couples at the bar that I know. Everyone at the bar at Lui's know each other. So yes, "locals" do support these businesses.
Music gal Music Gal, let me correct myself...."There are not enough" locals from the immediate area's limited population to support any new business ...and regardless, New business do NOT seem to survive on the 46 corridor in this area.
10 persons( even 40 ) visiting an establishment 3 -4 times a month hardly supports a business venture long term.
Payroll, insurance, utilities, etc....unless you are a huge company that can be subsidized during start up, not an easy task to get any new business started and maintained .
I see the same dumpster in the same spot outside the former Gunnar's building for about 3 months now.
Is this move not going to happen anymore ? Zero progress for 3 months.
The Rhyme Animal I drove by the Rancho this past Monday evening and it was PACKED. Some sort of special that night? My wife and I were like WOW.
They renewed their lease with the owners of the Rancho, they scrapped their plans for a strip mall.
Great news to read, thank you The Man for that update.
Places like Luigi's make this part of NJ unique to the rest of the state. We have plenty of dead strip malls, just like the former A&P Belvidere site and the occasionally empty space for rent Bagel Smith strip mall right at Rt.46 & 519 intersection.
I see Luigi's always fairly packed on the Fri/Sat nights, and sometimes during the week.
The amount of business that have gone under between Rt.46/519 and A&P former plaza a mile or so up is pretty large. Wiser minds prevailed, for now, and avoided another empty eyesore strip mall in place of a building with some rustic charm.
Didn't Luigi's buy Gunnars, or am I mistaken on that? If so, it's strange that they would abandon the project even if they are staying in their current location. You would think that they would continue to fix it up and then sell it or make another kind of restaurant.
There are owners of the building and there are people who lease the building. The people who lease luigi's own the liquor license. From what I am told the people who lease luigi's bought the old Gunners and were going to open there when they thought they were not going to be renewing. Things happen.. All you can do is speculate why they don't want to fix it up and sell it. Maybe no money or maybe they just don't want to
Phew... I think this is my longest post ever
Disclaimer: This is only what I know to be true. I was not influenced in any way by the Clinton machine
Thanks, I thought Luigi's bought Gunnar's. Makes more sense if it was the owner's of the Luigi's building and now scrapped the plan.
I wish someone would by poor old Flannery's.
Drove by tonight, saw a sign on the roof "Water's Edge". Building is looking better, I would guess they are getting close to opening?
So is Luigi's staying open? On their FB page they were hiring "for their SISTER restaurant, Water's Edge"... "sister" makes it sound like maybe Luigi's isn't leaving?
Luigi's will remain open at the present location. The owners of Luigi's, the business, do not own the building it is in. They rent it. They bought the old Gunnar's when the owner of their current location was looking to sell the building. That sale never happened. All that said, they (Luigi's) will operate both restaurants going forward.
I saw they further embellished their signage on the roof of the building- but lots of junk in back still to move before opening
I've been hearing that this place is going to open "in two weeks" since before Mother's Day. As far as I know, it's still not open yet.
Does anyone have any new info?
BJ I noticed the cars when I went by yesterday, it looked pretty packed and the back deck was open for business also.
So, I decided to stop by last night around 9p. Let me tell you, they have put alot of money into the place, but it really was worth it, it is very nice inside now.
Me and my GF each had a burger. The burger was obviously fresh chop meat and the roll was delicious they put it on. The fries were pretty good too. Overall, good food, in terms of the burgers we had.
Beer wise, I had Heineken on tap, it was exactly what hit the spot, cold and tasty.
If you are familiar with the former Gunnars, the bar and dining area's have swapped spots. So, when you go in from the side entrance, you are going into what formerly was the bar area. The bar area is new and has a couple of TV's going. The dining area look nice and new and has a nice feel to it.
Price wise, decent- the burgers were about $11 each, nothing out of line and the beer I believe was in the $4-$5 per pint range- which again is in the ballpark of market value right now.
The bar area is going to be the hot spot, will be interested to see how it works out when it is crowded in there.
Overall, very good first impression- and plan to make another trip.
I heard last week that it FINALLY opened. A few friends have gone already and liked it. They said that it is really nice inside. We are looking forward to trying it, but will wait to try it for food after the initial madness dies down. Might stop in later in the evening for a beer though.
We tried it last night. The place is really nicely renovated and they have a good beer selection on tap. We ordered a large pizza. My husband liked it. I thought meh. The crust was thick and dry IMO. The service was good, so we will probably go back and try something else. The menu is on the small side, but they do have daily specials. They have a pretty big deck, so I'm sure this place will be packed next spring and summer.
Luca I just realized I forgot to post about our second visit a few weeks ago. We went with another couple. Husband and I had personal pizzas and asked for them to be made with a thinner crust. The were very good. The other couple had burgers. Onion soup burger and bleu cheese bacon burger. They said they were awesome and they looked big and juicy to me. The service was good.
MB How much was the cover?
Wait....does the Edge have police presence across the street. Aha!
Strangerdanger Had lunch there last week. Wife had a burger & I had a roast pork sandwich. Both very good and the fries were crisp and plentiful.
EVV On Wednesday Luigi's Rancho has an Italian special for $14.00. You get a glass of wine, salad, soup, entre and garlic bread. Their lasagne is delicious. Plus they have live music although I think the music can be a little loud sometimes. I sit on the other side of the restaurant. Overall, I think their food is consistently good.
Ragdoll My husband and I went there last night. I had the personal pizza which was one of the best I've had in this area!. Husband had a special...pasta with shrimp creamy tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes. He was delicious as well. Service was excellent. We will definitely be going back
hkts456 
Hadenough My friends and I were there the other weekend and the food was great. Sat at the bar, wasn’t a lot of ppl there so we didn’t have to yell over anyone else to talk to eachother.
Then the bill came. We paid it and left a cash tip for the bartender. I checked my bank account, SHE OVER CHARGED MY CARD AND GAVE HERSELF ANOTHER TIP!!
Ridiculous. Called and called and never got a return call from the manager.
BE CAREFUL WHEN USING YOUR CARD THERE, THEY MAY STEAL YOUR MONEY TOO!
Did you scribble through or write "cash" on the tip line on the merchant's copy of the receipt? I always do this when I pay with a card but tip in cash. I would call again and ask to speak with Saren, the owner.
How many people in the party? For them to self tip other than a posted party size is horrible.
Definitely did a line they where it said tip and handed the cash and receipt to the woman and said “we left you a cash tip”. Only 4 of us there.
Lamppost Just call the credit card company and get your money back. They will handle the rest.
Went to WE a couple weeks ago, it was very nice. Great burger, good fries. nice room, nice people. Bar was nicely filled as well. Plenty of parking, but folks were heading to the back lot after I took the last spot up top.
Humpty's still gets my vote because I love the ole drive-in feel, nice folks, and great burgers, but will be back to WE once the deck becomes active. Not to mention the alcohol.
Had lunch Friday at Water's Edge. EXCELLENT!! Started with Jerk sauce wings which were just hot enough to satisfy my need for heat and hot enough to give SueR a mouthful of fire, the wings were crisp and meaty. a great start.
I had a pastrami Reuben that was fantastic with hot crisp fries. I don't care for fries that much so fries have to be quite good for me to say they're good. SueR had chicken parm sandwich that was delish, the bread was soft and warm and the sauce was so fresh.
I will be back and soon.
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