Walk down the narrow path off Coryell Street toward the Delaware and you will still find the alley that regulars have used for decades to reach the Boat House, Lambertville's tucked-away speakeasy with the whaling harpoon hanging from the ceiling and the two-story clutter of nautical junk that somehow reads as design rather than mess. The harpoon is still there. So is the bar's compact, lived-in charm, the kind that makes first-time visitors ask how long this place has been here and get a different answer depending on who they ask.
What changed is the building across the courtyard, the one that spent three decades as Hamilton's Grill Room and, more recently, as Brian's at the Grill. That space now operates as Revolution Woodfire Grille. If you have driven past and wondered whether the town lost something when Jim Hamilton's old dining room finally closed for good, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes.
The Detail Most People Miss
Here is what does not show up in a quick scroll past the new signage: the man who bought both the restaurant space and the Boat House is not a stranger to the address. Ron Gorodesky, owner of Refined Hospitality, was Jim Hamilton's very first client back in 1990, when he consulted on the programming and operations that turned Hamilton's Grill Room into the place Lambertville came to think of as its own. When Gorodesky's company acquired both properties in August 2025, in partnership with Brickstone Realty and Trax Partners, it was not an outside operator picking up a distressed asset. It was someone returning to a building he helped shape thirty-five years earlier.
That context matters more than the menu. A lot of small-town institutions get bought by people who see square footage and foot traffic. This one got bought by someone whose professional relationship with the building predates most of the current regulars' memory of it. If you have been skeptical of the changeover, that is the fact worth weighing before you decide.
What Actually Stayed, and What Didn't
The renovation kept more than it replaced. The glassed-in front dining room is intact. The private dining room, now seating up to 40 guests, still occupies the same footprint. The outdoor garden, expanded with a canopy of lights strung through mature trees, is a bigger version of something that was already there rather than a bolt-on addition.
| Stayed the Same | Changed |
|---|---|
| Glassed-in front dining room | Menu shifted from Hamilton's Mediterranean focus to woodfire proteins and open-kitchen cooking |
| The Boat House's nautical decor, including the whaling harpoon | New cocktail menu built around the woodfire concept |
| Courtyard layout connecting the two buildings | Expanded outdoor garden dining under string lights |
| Private dining capacity for events | New ownership under Refined Hospitality |
The kitchen's direction is the clearest break from the past. Where Hamilton's leaned Mediterranean, Revolution Woodfire Grille runs an open kitchen built around a wood-fired grill, with lunch and dinner menus that include grilled bronzino, shrimp-and-scallop skewers, and chicken schnitzel alongside tavern-style entrees and pastas. A review on the restaurant's OpenTable listing points to a three-course prix fixe dinner priced at $29, a straightforward way to try the new format without committing to a full à la carte night out.
Ask Around and You'll Get Two Different Answers
Talk to enough people who have eaten there since the April 2026 reopening and you will hear two versions of the same restaurant. One camp describes a warm, reimagined space with attentive service, praising the window tables that overlook the canal and the new garden as a genuine upgrade for date nights. The other camp, including at least one detailed account from a self-described regular of the New Hope-Lambertville dining scene, described a service breakdown on a special occasion, cold entrees, and a kitchen that seemed to lose track of an order.
That split is not unusual for a restaurant roughly five months into a relaunch under new ownership, and it is worth knowing before you book a table for something you care about getting right. If you are planning a celebration, a Tuesday or Wednesday visit, when the kitchen is likely less stretched, may be the safer bet than a Saturday night with a full private dining room running in parallel.
The Rest of Lambertville Didn't Wait Around
The Coryell Street story is the headline, but it is not the only thing worth knowing if you already live within walking distance of Union Street. Lambertville in late summer runs on a set of fixed points that do not depend on who owns which storefront, and reading the Revolution Woodfire story against that backdrop tells you something about how this town actually works.
- Sundays, 9 a.m. to noon: the Lambertville Farmers Market sets up outside the Lambertville Library on Lilly Street, a weekly fixture built around the same regional food economy the town has leaned on for years.
- Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., year-round: the Golden Nugget Antique Flea Market on Route 29 keeps running as it has since 1967, recently recognized with a 2026 Hunterdon Happening Award, still drawing the same mix of longtime dealers and first-time browsers hunting for something specific.
- First and third Wednesdays: Mitchell's Cafe on Church Street hosts its long-running Irish Session, a fixture for anyone who wants live traditional music without a cover charge.
- Friday nights each summer: Under the Moon on North Union Street runs Friday Nights in the Garden, its recurring warm-weather tradition of a fired-up grill, frozen cocktails, live music, and fire pits.
- Thanksgiving morning: the Two Town Turkey Trot, now in its 8th year, sends nearly 1,000 runners and walkers across the free bridge between Lambertville and New Hope, a shared event that neither town claims exclusively.
None of these institutions changed when the corner by the Boat House changed hands. That consistency is the actual point. Lambertville's identity was never built on any single restaurant staying exactly the same forever. It was built on a town small enough that when something does change, the person taking it over usually already has history there, and the surrounding rhythm of markets, sessions, and Friday nights absorbs the change without missing a week.
What This Means If You Live Here
If you have avoided walking back into 8 Coryell Street since the sign changed, the honest read is that you are not walking into a stranger's restaurant. You are walking into a building whose new owner has a longer relationship with it than most of the regulars complaining about the change. The kitchen is different. The reviews are mixed enough that a Tuesday reservation makes more sense than a Saturday gamble. But the alley, the harpoon, the courtyard, and the garden are still exactly where you left them.
That is the version of Lambertville worth paying attention to this fall: a town where the businesses on Union and Bridge and Coryell change ownership more often than they change character, and where knowing the difference between the two is worth more than knowing what's on this month's menu.
If you are watching how neighborhoods like Lambertville hold their character through changes like this one, and you are curious what that means for property values, buyer interest, or timing a move in this part of Hunterdon County, B&B Luxury Properties spends its time exactly here. Request a private consultation when you're ready to talk specifics.
