A new Caribbean restaurant is quickly cementing itself as a local favorite on the Upper West Side.
Bar Manje, located at 520 Columbus Ave., joined the community with a soft opening back in December 2025 with a focus on offering several traditional Caribbean dishes with stand-out, bold flavors. By day, the space is held by Good Enough To Eat, a comfort brunch/lunch spot, with Bar Manje taking over at night.
The restaurant is led by owner Jeremy Wladis and Chef Kingsley John, who started working together several years ago.
“I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to work with [John] again. I thought it was the right timing,” said Wladis. “I reached out to him about doing something different than what we were doing at Good Enough to Eat at dinner time, and so that’s kinda how it came about. I think we both wanted to put something that was new and interesting and exciting in the neighborhood that’s different to the Upper West Side.”
When developing the Bar Manje menu, John, first and foremost, wanted to focus on quality food at reasonable prices. There wasn’t a particular item that they felt had to be on the menu, but John wanted to experiment with classic dishes and put his own twist on them.
“We didn’t go into about the menu with must-haves. We just wanted to have a good price and a good quality of food,” said John. “I wanted the Caribbean food to be more fun. At other traditional Caribbean restaurants, everywhere would give you curry goat with rice. Oxtails, rice and beans. Some of these are my favorite, but they’re more just me playing around with different textures and flavors, and seeing what happens.”
Some of the more popular dishes include the jerk chicken, the oxtail lasagna, and the Jamaican patty, which is offered with three different fillings (goat, beef and veggie) and John only makes 15 patties a day. Other menu items include the Curry Crab Fried Rice, Ackee & Saltfish Spring Rolls, Bake & Shark (made with real shark), BBQ Lamb Ribs, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, and Jerk Octopus.
Though the restaurant has been open for a short period of time, both John and Wladis agree that word of mouth and social media have really helped spread the word about Bar Manje.
“People are telling people. I think what impressed me the most is the elderly people, a lot of them come to the restaurant and they enjoy the restaurant in the neighborhood,” said John. “I think that’s what really stands out to me, that a lot of my guests are repeat, older folks that have been coming there and they appreciate the restaurant being in the neighborhood.”
“It’s just so cool to see, on the Upper West Side, a place where everyone feels comfortable and it is the nicest group of people. To me, it’s just wonderful,” said Wladis. “Business is definitely picking up since the weather changed and people are walking around and seeing what’s going on, I think it’s really changed where things are going in the right direction in a big way.”
As the restaurant continues to flourish in its Upper West Side home, both Wladis and John hope to be able to have Bar Manje engage in the community while keeping to their high standards for food.
“We’ve made a lot of decor upgrades to make it look even more Caribbean and more fun, and I think it’s kind of something that this neighborhood really needs, it’s something that’s a little more fun,” said Wladis.
“I wanna activate more dishes for the menu. I want to do a vegan night, because I’m really into vegan food. I also think I have one of the best fried chicken, so I want to do a fried chicken night,” said John. “I want to do a pop-up where different chefs can come and collaborate with me and cook.”
Bar Manje is open in the evenings every day of the week. For more information, visit www.goodenoughtoeat.com/barmanje.
