On Christmas night in 1939, a high school football team from Garfield traveled to Miami and beat the hometown favorites 16 to 13 in the Orange Bowl for a national championship. The Boilermakers were the sons of Polish and Italian mill workers, and that win gave this town the nickname it still wears: the City of Champions. Spend a little time here and you understand why nobody has let it go.
Nearly ninety years later the mills along the Passaic are gone, but the working-city DNA is fully intact. Garfield is one of only three true cities in Bergen County, about 32,000 people on roughly two square miles, with kielbasa still smoked in town, Dominican pernil coming out of kitchens on Lanza Avenue, and two NJ Transit rail stations inside the city limits. It is also the most attainable front door to Bergen County. Here are the five reasons my buyers keep landing here.
1. Starter Homes Still Exist Here
Say “starter home in Bergen County” in most towns and people smile politely. In Garfield it is still a real category. Zillow puts the city’s average home value near $590,000, and Redfin’s median sale price came in around $640,000 as of May 2026. In a county where plenty of towns start north of a million dollars, that is the difference between buying now and renting for another five years.
The housing stock is honest and workable: century-old capes, American Foursquares, and colonials on compact lots with sidewalks, plus one of the deepest benches of two- and three-family homes in the county, generally listing between the mid $500s and the high $800s. I have put first-time buyers into two-families here where the rental unit covers a serious piece of the mortgage. That math barely exists anywhere else in Bergen County anymore.
2. Two Train Stations in Two Square Miles
Most Bergen towns would love to have one rail station. Garfield has two. Both Garfield station and Plauderville station sit on NJ Transit’s Bergen County Line, which runs direct to Hoboken Terminal. Plauderville, on Midland Avenue, is the workhorse of the pair, rebuilt with high-level platforms and full accessibility, and the ride to Hoboken runs about 30 to 32 minutes. Trains reach Secaucus Junction in roughly 20 minutes, where you can transfer for New York Penn Station, or you can ride through to Hoboken and catch the PATH or the ferry into downtown Manhattan.
What that means in practice: whole neighborhoods of Garfield are genuine walk-to-train blocks at a price point where that phrase usually does not apply. When I show two-families near Plauderville, the commuter math is often what closes the deal.
3. A Food Culture You Cannot Manufacture
Garfield’s Polish community built an infrastructure of smokehouses, delis, and bakeries that developers cannot replicate and chains cannot fake. Piast Meats & Provisions smokes its own kielbasa in town and makes pierogi by hand, and people drive in from all over North Jersey for it. Bratek Deli has regulars who make a weekly pilgrimage for cold cuts and hot dinners.
Layered on top of that is a newer wave: Dominican kitchens on Lanza Avenue, Peruvian ceviche on River Drive, old-school Italian on Midland Avenue. This is what a healthy immigrant city looks like on a plate, and it is one of the most underrated quality-of-life assets in the county.
4. The City of Champions Still Acts Like One
That 1939 championship came out of a town where neighbors knew each other, and that culture survives. Garfield is dense the way a real city is dense, with front stoops, corner businesses, and Boilermaker pride that gets handed down like a family recipe.
Let me be straight with you about schools, because I would rather you hear it from me than discover it later: Garfield’s district posts modest ratings, with the high school carrying a B minus on Niche. Families choose Garfield for value, community, and access, and many of my clients happily trade a rankings bump for a mortgage that leaves room to actually live. If top-decile schools are your non-negotiable, I will show you other towns. If building equity in a real community is the goal, Garfield delivers.
5. Dahnert’s Lake, Two Rivers, and Easy Roads
For a compact city, Garfield has real green space. Dahnert’s Lake County Park packs a lake with a center fountain, gazebos, a playground, a hockey rink, and a paved walking loop into ten acres on Midland Avenue. On a warm Saturday you see the whole city there: strollers, fishing poles, birthday parties under the gazebos.
The city is framed by the Passaic and Saddle rivers, and the road access is a quiet advantage. Route 46, Interstate 80, and the Garden State Parkway are all minutes away through neighboring Elmwood Park and Saddle Brook, which keeps drives across Bergen County and to the bridges very manageable.
Where to Eat in Garfield
Garfield eats like a city three times its size. Polish smokehouse tradition, Dominican comfort food, Peruvian seafood, and two generations of Italian cooking all operate within the same two square miles. Here are five spots, all inside the city limits, that show what this scene really is.
Taste of Smakosz
Smakosz on Main Street is the full Polish experience under one roof: a deli counter up front and a restaurant serving freshly prepared dinners with a rotating daily menu. The pierogi, stuffed cabbage, and crispy pork cutlet are the standards by which I judge Polish food in North Jersey, and the Polish Plate lets you try the whole lineup at once.
There is also a banquet hall that hosts communions, birthdays, and family parties, which tells you what role this place plays here. Dinner service runs Tuesday through Saturday, and Saturday nights go late.
Why locals love it: It tastes like a Polish grandmother’s Sunday table, made fresh that day and priced like a neighborhood spot.
GoodFellas Ristorante
GoodFellas on Midland Avenue has been Garfield’s white-tablecloth Italian institution since 1991. It was founded by Dr. Daniel Conte, who actually appeared in the film Goodfellas as “Dr. Dan,” and his son runs it today. The veal, the pappardelle, and the linguine with white clam sauce draw consistent praise, and there is live entertainment Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
This is where Garfield goes for anniversaries, holidays, and any night that deserves a tablecloth. Reservations run through OpenTable, and the dining room fills up on weekends.
Why locals love it: Classic red-sauce-and-veal Italian with a real story behind it and service that treats regulars like family.
Ceviche 517
Ceviche 517 on River Drive is the strongest evidence of Garfield’s newer food wave: a Peruvian restaurant and pisco bar that food reviewers have called one of the best Peruvian spots in New Jersey. The three ceviche variations are the headline, and the lomo saltado, chaufa, and creative pisco cocktails back them up.
The room leans lively, with karaoke and live music nights that make it as much a night out as a dinner. Bring a group, order across the menu, and let the kitchen show off.
Why locals love it: Restaurant-quality Peruvian seafood and a proper pisco list without driving to Paterson or the city.
El Rincon Cibaeno
This family-run Dominican spot on Lanza Avenue opened in 2018 and quickly became a neighborhood anchor. The mofongo, pernil, and oxtail are the kind of slow-cooked comfort food that earns loyalty, and the doors open at 7 in the morning for los tres golpes, the classic Dominican breakfast.
The owner talks about food as love for the community, and the generous portions back the sentiment up. Takeout and delivery run steadily all day.
Why locals love it: Generous, authentic Dominican cooking from a family that treats the neighborhood like extended family.
Osteria Italiana
Osteria Italiana in the Riverview Mall on River Drive covers the other side of Italian dining: a ristorante and pizzeria with a menu that leans into Sicilian flavors, open Tuesday through Sunday. It handles everything from a weeknight pizza run to a proper sit-down pasta dinner, and the reviews have stayed strong since it opened.
Between this kitchen and GoodFellas, Garfield has both ends of the Italian spectrum covered, casual and celebratory, within a five minute drive of each other.
Why locals love it: A dependable everyday Italian kitchen where the pizza and the full menu are both taken seriously.
What Garfield’s Food Scene Says About the Town
A Polish smokehouse, a Dominican breakfast counter, a Peruvian pisco bar, and two generations of Italian dining, all within two square miles, tells you this is a city that keeps welcoming the next wave and keeps its character while doing it. Towns with food scenes like this one do not stay undervalued forever. The people lining up for kielbasa on Saturday mornings figured that out a long time ago.
Ready to Make Garfield Home?
If you have been priced out of the towns you started your search in, Garfield deserves a serious look before the rest of the market figures out what two train stations and a $600,000 median really mean. I know which blocks walk to Plauderville, which two-families actually pencil out, and where the value is moving. If you are weighing city-style density against a leafier setup, my Teaneck guide makes a useful comparison.
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Tom Lee | NJNest
Phone: 848-565-1425
Email: tom@njnest.com
Website: njnest.com
Tom Lee is a licensed real estate agent with 2Win Realty, specializing in Bergen County residential real estate. With deep local expertise and a client-first approach, Tom helps buyers and sellers across all 70 Bergen County municipalities make confident real estate decisions.
