Secaucus Neighbors Complain After Outdoor Concerts At Blackjack's

SECAUCUS, NJ — Blackjack Mulligan's will no longer be hosting outdoor bands, after multiple neighbors complained last month about loud music, both Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli and Blackjack's owner Anthony Kingslow confirmed.

Blackjack Mulligan's is a popular Secaucus restaurant and watering hole and — because of the restaurant restrictions put in place by the state — they converted their parking lot to an outdoor dining area. In March, Blackjack's hosted two outdoor concerts with live bands, the first on St. Patrick's Day weekend and a second show the following weekend.

Both outdoor concerts were on Saturday night and the bands stopped playing at 10 p.m. both nights.

Nonetheless, residents who live nearby the bar complained.

"I personally got four phones calls about it," said Mayor Gonnelli. "Now, one or two phone calls, OK. But when you get four calls about something it's really an issue. They are located in a residential area. And all these people hear is music, music, music. They have to abide by some rules."

Gonnelli said the complaints mostly came from residents on Minnie Place, right next to Blackjack's parking lot.

Kingslow said he was informed by the town that people complained and, after a meeting with the town, he agreed to not host anymore outdoor bands.

"We gracefully agreed; we want to work with the town and be good neighbors," he told Patch. Going forward, he said he'll still have live bands but they will have to perform inside his restaurant.

"Maybe some day we'll review it," he said. "At the end of the day, we're all about the food and making people feel welcome and happy. We want to work with the town."

Kingslow said now that the weather is getting nice again, business is back to doing well at the Secaucus Blackjack's (he also owns the Blackjack Mulligan's in Garfield). But the past year of operating a restaurant in the pandemic was "incredible."

"Oh, it's been unbelievable for restaurants. We just took it one day at a time," he said. "The hardest part was keeping people working and employed. Like, if you have a chef you don't want to lose him. But our Secaucus location has being doing beautiful."

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