Downtown Tenafly got two well-known names from across the Hudson this October, and their hours never overlap. PopUp Bagels at 6–8 Washington Street opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. Serafina at 25 Highwood Avenue opens at 4 p.m. and serves until 10 p.m.
The Borough's parking rules also change over the day, in ways that matter for each visit.
An hour where neither one is open
Here is a weekday on Washington Street and Highwood Avenue this fall, going by each business's posted hours:
- 7:00 a.m. PopUp Bagels opens, seven days a week.
- 8:00 a.m. The two-hour on-street limit on Washington Street starts.
- 10:00 a.m. Lots marked with an asterisk on the Borough's parking map open to three-hour shopper parking without a permit.
- 3:00 p.m. PopUp Bagels closes.
- 4:00 p.m. Serafina opens, seven days a week.
- 6:00 p.m. The Washington Street two-hour limit ends.
- 10:00 p.m. Serafina closes.
Between 3 and 4 p.m., neither new spot is open. The bagel shop works for mornings and the Italian dining room for evenings. The parking rules fit around them differently too, so the rest of this guide takes them one at a time.
The morning trip to 6–8 Washington Street
PopUp Bagels opened its first Bergen County shop on Friday, October 9, 2026, according to NorthJersey.com. It is the chain's second New Jersey store. The first opened in Westfield in July. The brand had already been to town before signing a lease. YeahThatsKosher reported that PopUp ran earlier pop-ups in Tenafly and Midland Park before settling on Washington Street, and that the Tenafly shop is run by a franchisee, Just Pop.
If you expect a neighborhood bagel counter, the format takes a minute to get used to. YeahThatsKosher described the house rules:
- No slicing, no toasting and no breakfast sandwiches
- Bagels come out of the oven hot and sell whole, by the bag
- You tear them apart and dip them into whipped schmears
- The bagel lineup is plain, salt, sesame, poppy seed and everything
That format suits a morning stop. A bag of hot bagels is something you carry home or bring to someone's kitchen table, not something you sit down with downtown. NorthJersey.com reported that the store's motto is "grip, rip and dip."
The Tenafly shop is kosher certified under National Kosher Supervision. YeahThatsKosher reported that the certification covers the bagels and the plain and scallion cream cheeses. The rotating flavored schmears are not certified. Opening day also brought a Tenafly-only Capon's Carrot Cake Schmear, made with chef Josh Capon of Capon's Chophouse in Hackensack and sold while supplies lasted. If you missed it in its first weeks, check at the counter before counting on it.
Morning parking runs on a different clock
An early bagel run is where downtown parking gets tricky, because the most flexible lots aren't open to shoppers yet.
The Borough's downtown parking map marks its Park & Shop lots as free for shoppers and customers, with a three-hour limit. The map also lists commuter and employee lots that need permits. Some of those, marked with an asterisk, including Franklin Street and the Washington St. By-Pass, allow three-hour shopper parking without a permit only after 10:00 a.m.
A 7:30 a.m. stop at PopUp Bagels comes well before 10. So the free Park & Shop lots and the designated free on-street spaces, which the map allows for up to three hours, are the ones to aim for. Arrive before 8 a.m. and you also beat the start of Washington Street's two-hour on-street limit, which runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. under Borough code.
The same map notes that Tenafly residents can buy daily parking passes for $3.00 from the Office of the Borough Clerk at Borough Hall, 100 Riveredge Road. Signs posted at each lot are the final word, and it's a good idea to check them, since the map summarizes rules that the Borough sets and can update.
The evening trip to 25 Highwood Avenue
Serafina is the New York City Italian restaurant's first New Jersey location. It sits just off the main downtown stretch, and the Bergen County Girl reported that the project had been underway since signage first appeared in 2024. Boozy Burbs and The Bergen County Girl gave slightly different opening days in mid-October, but both reported the restaurant opening that week.
Longtime residents will know the address. According to WhatNow, 25 Highwood Avenue was previously home to Sachun House, Asian Fusion Restaurant and Hong Bo Suk. Boozy Burbs described the new interior as redesigned, with velvet seating, warm lighting and a full bar.
The brand opened its first restaurant in 1995. The Tenafly location works from an all-day menu, which in practice covers 4 p.m. to close. A few dishes from the Tenafly menu give a sense of it:
Lobster ravioli in lobster bisque Serafina burger with Australian Wagyu, fontina, caramelized onions and fries Caprese with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil pesto, listed at $25
Reservations go through Serafina's online reservation page, where you pick Tenafly, a date, a time and a party size. The restaurant's site also offers online ordering, and the Tenafly phone number is (201) 606-2283. Takeout is handy on nights when a sit-down dinner doesn't fit, and it's the one way to have Serafina at home on the same day as a morning bag from PopUp.
Evening parking gets easier as the night goes on
The parking picture flips after dark. By Serafina's 4 p.m. opening, the asterisked lots have been open to permit-free shopper parking for six hours. At 6 p.m., Washington Street's two-hour on-street limit ends. The Borough code also puts two-hour limits on sections of Highwood Avenue, so the posted sign on the block where you park tells you how long you can stay. For a 7 p.m. reservation, the three-hour limit in the Park & Shop lots covers a long dinner with time to spare.
Here are both trips side by side:
| PopUp Bagels | Serafina | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 6–8 Washington Street | 25 Highwood Avenue |
| Hours | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily | 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily |
| How it works | Hot whole bagels by the bag, dip-style schmears | Sit-down dining room with full bar, reservations or online orders |
| Parking timing | Before 10 a.m., use Park & Shop lots or free on-street spaces, since asterisked lots still need permits | Asterisked lots open to shoppers, and Washington Street's two-hour limit ends at 6 p.m. |
The Saturday after Halloween
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and the following Saturday, November 7, gives carved pumpkins a better end than the curb. Tenafly Nature Center at 313 Hudson Avenue lists a Pumpkin SMASH that day. Participants bring their own aging pumpkins and gourds, which the nature center and Tenafly Community Compost, also called Neighborhood Compost, will compost. The listing doesn't give a start time, so check the sign-up details on the Tenafly Nature Center site before loading the car.
If the smash happens in the morning, a bag from Washington Street on the way home fits well before PopUp's 3 p.m. close. If it runs in the afternoon, the timing points to Highwood Avenue once Serafina opens at 4 p.m.
New restaurants are some of the first things my clients ask about after a move, and they're often what longtime residents mention when friends visit. If you're settling into Tenafly or anywhere nearby and want local recommendations, in English or Korean, Margaret Kim is always happy to share what's new downtown. Let's Connect.
