Walk through the corridor between Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus around 12:30 on a weekday and the mall's options included sit-down meals at Ruth's Chris or Legal Sea Foods and the food court. For shoppers with thirty minutes, quick-service choices were more limited.
Two additions over the past year have broadened the mall's dining options.
The Mall's Existing Dining Options
The mall's sit-down dining has always been strong. Ruth's Chris Steak House serves USDA Prime beef broiled at 1,800 degrees. Legal Sea Foods anchors the first floor with a bright, booth-lined dining room. Benihana and The Cheesecake Factory round out the reservation-worthy tier, and the Hilton Short Hills adds The Dining Room for a more relaxed breakfast and lunch service. Neiman Marcus even runs its own cafe upstairs for shoppers who want a break between racks.
For shoppers looking for a quick bite between errands, quick-service options were more limited than the mall's sit-down dining choices. Reviews have noted limited quick-food options. The mall's lineup included restaurants for special occasions and a cafe for shoppers taking a break, while these newer openings add more quick-service choices for people with limited time.
Eataly Adds Quick-Service Options
Eataly opened its Short Hills location in November 2025, taking over 17,000 square feet in the space once occupied by Primo Mercato. It is the brand's 13th North American location, which matters because Eataly by this point has a proven formula: quick-serve counters for pizza, pasta, and gelato sit alongside a full 230-seat restaurant and bar called Eataly Ristorante. You can walk in, order a slice and an espresso at a counter, and be back at your car in fifteen minutes. Or you can sit down for a full Italian dinner. The same building now offers both formats, adding another choice to the mall's dining mix.
Pura Vida Adds Another Fast-Casual Option
Eataly added quick Italian options, and Pura Vida Miami brought another fast-casual choice to the mall. The Miami-based fast-casual chain opened its Short Hills location on April 16, 2026, at 1200 Morris Turnpike, marking the brand's 50th location nationally and its first in New Jersey. The menu runs on all-day breakfast, wraps, kale Caesar salads, açaí bowls, and cold-pressed juices, cooked without seed oils, with vegan and gluten-free options built in rather than bolted on.
Pura Vida picking Short Hills for its New Jersey debut, ahead of a long-rumored Hoboken location that still hadn't opened by the time Short Hills did, says something about how the mall is positioning itself. It's no longer just chasing exclusive luxury boutiques. It's chasing the brands that people already follow on their phones and want closer to home.
The Retail Side Is Shifting Too
The dining additions didn't happen in isolation. The mall's retail mix moved in the same direction over roughly the same stretch.
In December 2024, Romero Britto opened his first Northeast BRITTO store at the mall, with the artist himself on hand to sign purchases for visitors. Lucas Vidal, CEO of BRITTO Group, called it a milestone as the brand expanded into the Northeast. In May 2025, Victoria Beard Boutique opened its own storefront. Performance apparel brand Rhone also joined the lineup, bringing athletic wear built for daily use rather than occasion dressing.
None of these are the traditional department-store fashion the mall has leaned on for decades. They're art, wellness, and lifestyle brands, the kind of stores that assume you're already a regular rather than a once-a-season shopper. Paired with the dining changes, it reads less like a random string of leases and more like a mall recalibrating around the people who actually show up week after week, not just around holiday foot traffic.
What This Actually Changes on a Saturday
For anyone who already treats the mall as part of a weekly routine, here's what's different heading into fall.
You can now build a full morning around it without a single reservation. Start with coffee and a pastry from Eataly's counters, browse BRITTO and Victoria Beard while the mall is still quiet, and grab a bowl from Pura Vida before the lunch rush hits. If the weather holds, Reeves-Reed Arboretum is a short drive away for a walk after lunch, and Paper Mill Playhouse is close enough to make an early dinner and a show a realistic plan for one trip rather than two.
The mall has retained its steakhouses and luxury boutiques while adding dining choices at different price points and times of day. Together, the openings add quick-service dining and new retail choices to the mall's existing mix.
For longtime Short Hills residents, this fall brings a broader range of quick-lunch options at the mall.
Shannon Xavier keeps a close eye on what's actually changing in Short Hills and the surrounding towns, not just what's for sale. If you're weighing a move to this corner of Essex County and want a read on the neighborhood from someone who pays attention to it year-round, Schedule Your Concierge Consultation with Shannon Xavier.
