A $14 plate of cheesesteak egg rolls can tell you a lot about a place. At Flying Pig Tavern & Tap in Riverside, it says this is not the sort of tavern where the menu gives up after wings and fries.
Yes, there are wings. Yes, there are burgers. Yes, there is beer. But then come the Bang Bang shrimp, the ricotta hot-honey pizza, the cedar plank salmon, the smoked-sounding cocktails, and the very important realization that you may not be leaving after “just one.”
The Riverside location sits at 33 Lafayette Street, connected to The Madison catering hall, with hours that stretch until 11 p.m.
Sunday through Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday. That matters because Flying Pig seems designed for the exact kind of night New Jersey does well: dinner first, drinks after, and no rush to move along.
Riverside just got the kind of tavern people actually linger in
The address is doing some real work here. Flying Pig Tavern & Tap moved into 33 Lafayette Street in Riverside, taking over the bar and dining space tied to the former Madison Pub and Towne Tavern setup, while The Madison continues on as an event and catering space next door.
That gives the place an interesting little advantage from the start: it is not trying to squeeze a big-night-out feeling into a tiny corner bar, and it is not pretending to be a white-tablecloth destination either. It lands right in the middle, where South Jersey honestly needed more options.
You can come in for a burger after work, meet friends for cocktails, split a pizza before a show or a family party, or stretch dinner into a two-hour “we should really do this more often” kind of hangout. The official Riverside page keeps the pitch simple with “seriously tasty food” and a “laid-back vibe,” but the hours tell the fuller story.
Flying Pig is open seven days a week, from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11:30 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, which means it covers lunch, dinner, late-ish drinks, and those weekend nights when nobody wants to be the person who says, “Should we get the check?”
The space has 85 seats including outdoor seating, so it is intimate enough to feel like a neighborhood spot but large enough for groups that show up hungry and slightly indecisive.
That is usually where taverns either shine or fall apart. Flying Pig seems to understand that the hangout is the product as much as the food is.
A family hospitality story with serious South Jersey roots
Before Riverside got its Flying Pig, the people behind it had already spent years figuring out what makes a room work.
Niko Mazzella and Massimo Mazzella are the day-to-day operators and owners associated with the Riverside location, and the broader Mazzella family has more than 20 years of hospitality experience connected to event spaces and restaurants across New Jersey, including The Merion in Cinnaminson, Lucien’s Manor in Berlin, and the Grand Marquis in Old Bridge.
That background matters because event families tend to notice details casual restaurants sometimes miss. They understand flow.
They understand big groups. They understand that one person at the table wants a serious entree, someone else wants tacos, someone else is only there for drinks, and a child may need mac and cheese before the adults have finished debating appetizers.
Riverside also connects directly to The Madison catering hall, which gives this Flying Pig a slightly more event-minded personality than a standard tavern.
The brand’s own story frames Flying Pig as a response to a familiar gap: plenty of places function as bars, and plenty function as restaurants, but fewer manage to combine quality food, a strong tap program, and an atmosphere that makes people want to stay.
The first location opened in Bordentown with a focus on elevated bar food and curated taps, and Riverside is described by the company as a more elevated, social, event-driven version of the concept. In other words, this was not built as a quick flip of an old bar space.
It was built by people who know that South Jersey gatherings rarely stay neat and tidy. Someone orders another round. Someone adds fries. Someone says, “Actually, let’s split dessert.” Flying Pig seems ready for all of that.
Elevated bar food makes this more than a quick bite
The easiest way to understand Flying Pig’s menu is to start with what it does not do. It does not treat “bar food” like an excuse to phone it in.
The shareable side of the menu has familiar crowd-pleasers, but they come with just enough extra personality to make the table pay attention. Cheesesteak egg rolls are served with spicy ketchup for $14.
Bang Bang shrimp comes with Thai chili aioli for $16. House-made mozzarella sticks get tomato sauce instead of mystery marinara, and the Bavarian pretzel comes with cheddar cheese sauce, because pretending you are not going to dip every last piece would be dishonest.
Even the vegetable-adjacent options are not afterthoughts: Bang Bang cauliflower is $13, crispy Brussels sprouts are $15, and the Flying Pig salad combines romaine, carrots, cucumbers, pickled sweet peppers, fresh mozzarella, shaved Parmesan, and white balsamic vinaigrette.
That gives the menu enough range to work for the person who wants a proper meal and the person who swore they were “just picking.” Then the larger plates widen the lane even more.
This is a tavern where you can order penne alla vodka for $19, chicken parm for $22, BBQ ribs for $25, fish and chips with Yuengling beer-battered cod for $19, or brick oven cedar plank salmon for $26. The prices mostly live in that very New Jersey sweet spot where dinner feels like dinner without turning into a special-occasion-only bill.
It is still casual, still tavern-friendly, still good for game-night grazing, but the kitchen clearly wants the food to hold up even if you skip the beer and come strictly hungry. That is the difference between a place that serves snacks and a place that can anchor the whole night.
Burgers pizzas and shareables lead the table
Here is where Flying Pig gets especially dangerous for anyone who claims they are “not that hungry.” The burger lineup alone can derail that plan.
There is a Classic Cheeseburger for $16, a Big Pig Burger with bacon, onion straws, jack cheese, and barbecue sauce for $17, a Blue Cheese Bacon Burger for $17, a French Onion Burger with caramelized onion, gruyere, and au jus for $16.50, and a Trenton Burger with pork roll, American cheese, and a sunny-side-up egg for $17.
The Riverside Smash Burger is the one with the local spotlight, and for good reason: two patties, pepper-jack cheese, candied jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, onion, and burger sauce for $18. That is not a shy burger.
It is a napkin-stack burger. Pizza brings the same “fine, twist my arm” energy.
The Flying Pig Pizza layers spicy sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, asiago, sausage, and bacon for $18, while the Fig & Pig goes in a sweeter-savory direction and the Ricotta Hot-Honey Pizza brings exactly the kind of sticky, spicy, cheesy drama that makes everyone at the table reach for a slice.
The 12-inch pies are built for sharing, but they are also very easy to justify as one person’s dinner if you are committed to the bit.
Add in tacos, wings, loaded tater tots, pork potstickers, nachos, and that bacon trio rack, and the table can go full tavern tapas without ever officially calling it that. It is a smart menu because it gives groups permission to order messily.
Nobody has to agree on one cuisine, one mood, or one level of hunger. The burger person, the pizza person, the appetizer person, and the “I’ll just steal some fries” person all get handled.
Seasonal cocktails and curated taps keep the night moving
The drinks menu has the same useful split personality as the food: familiar enough to feel easy, specific enough to feel like someone cared. Flying Pig’s Riverside drink list includes wines by the glass and bottle, seasonal cocktails, and mocktails, with cocktails priced mostly between $12 and $15.
The Strawberry Basil Smash mixes vodka, honey syrup, fresh strawberries, basil, and club soda for $12, while the Wild Eden brings Tito’s vodka, St. Germain Elderflower liqueur, pear puree, hibiscus syrup, lemon juice, and hibiscus petal for $13.
The White Sangria keeps things breezy with Pinot Grigio, mango vodka, peach schnapps, lemon juice, lemon-lime soda, and fresh mint, and the Yellow Jacket takes gin, elderflower, lemon, honey, and black pepper syrup in a sharper direction.
Then there is the Tequila Old Fashioned, made with reposado tequila, mezcal, bitters, cherry, and orange, with the option to have it smoked. That is a nice little flourish for a tavern that could have stopped at rum and Cokes and called it a night.
The mocktails are also worth noting, especially because more restaurants are finally realizing that non-drinkers deserve something better than soda with a lime.
Flying Pig lists a Hibiscus Refresher with pear and hibiscus syrup, lemon juice, and lemon-lime soda for $8, plus a Blood Orange Sparkler with blood orange syrup, cranberry juice, lime juice, and ginger ale for $9.
The brand’s bigger promise includes an evolving tap program, and Riverside’s whole setup feels built around that second-round moment when dinner is technically over, but the conversation is not.
Why Flying Pig feels built for groups celebrations and casual nights out
Some restaurants are best with two people. Flying Pig feels like it was planning for the group chat.
The Riverside location is connected to The Madison, a private-event and catering facility, and the restaurant side has 85 seats including outdoor seating, which gives it a built-in advantage for birthdays, casual reunions, family dinners, work drinks, and those nights when “just us four” somehow becomes nine people by 6 p.m.
The menu even quietly acknowledges bigger parties, noting that 20% gratuity is added to parties of six or more.
That may sound like a small detail, but it signals the restaurant expects groups rather than merely tolerating them. The kids menu helps too, with $9 options like cheese quesadilla with fries, grilled cheese with fries, mac and cheese, spaghetti with butter sauce or marinara, and chicken fingers with fries.
Meanwhile, adults can order cedar plank salmon, pork tacos, smash burgers, cocktails, or a bottle of Josh Cellars Cabernet without feeling like everyone compromised into the same narrow dinner plan.
Flying Pig also offers takeout, delivery through DoorDash and Uber Eats, reservations, vegetarian options, gluten-free options, and a kids menu, so it has the practical stuff covered behind the scenes.
But the real reason it works is simpler than that. It feels made for the way people actually go out in New Jersey: not always fancy, not always fast, usually hungry, often with a few extra people, and almost always with someone saying they only came for one drink before ordering the hot-honey pizza.