Casey Fullum 
After initially announcing the new location in Fall 2025, Çka Ka Qëllu, an acclaimed Albanian restaurant, has opened its first New Jersey location. The Westwood location at 328 Kinderkamack Road is the business’s fourth location, joining spots in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Stamford, CT. The restaurant has received many accolades, including New York Times Top 100 Restaurants in New York for four years in a row, and is a favorite of celebrities such as Dua Lipa and Rita Ora. Read on for more about Çka Ka Qëllu in Westwood.
History
Owner Ramiz Kukaj was inspired to open Çka Ka Qëllu (pronounced “SHA ka chell-OO”) after his son wanted to bring friends to try authentic Albanian cuisine. When they couldn’t come up with any options, Ramiz decided to open an Albanian restaurant himself. The team is “dedicated to preserving Eastern European cooking traditions while adding our unique twist to Mediterranean favorites”.
They were looking in and around Westwood, and the historic Five Corners building caught their eye. The building was originally constructed in 1927 and underwent a significant renovation in 2024. The restaurant’s interior space has been completely renovated in the past year and is unrecognizable from the previous restaurant, Craft Taco Company, which closed in 2025.
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There is gorgeous greenery throughout, and the walls and floors are stone and brick, giving old-world, castle-like vibes. While you’d think that might feel heavy and dark, there are tons of windows, high ceilings, and even a large skylight that gives off tons of natural light for an airy feel. Following the footsteps of the other locations, the Bergen County restaurant is full of artifacts on display as soon as you walk in and throughout the space, making a visit here feel so much more like an experience than just going out to eat.
The Food + Our Recs
Casey from Team BG dined on a Wednesday night, and the restaurant was packed, proving that this was a much-wanted addition to town. As traditional Albanian cuisine was new to us, Nicole, our server, walked through the whole menu, providing lots of suggestions and sharing the most popular dishes. The menu is big but not overwhelming, with lots of small plates, and we found the best way to try a little of everything was to share.
We started with a cheese pickled pepper, Ajvar (roasted red pepper spread with eggplant and garlic), and the sesame baked cheese. This all came with warm pita bread for dipping and had familiar flavors of other Mediterranean dishes but was still unlike anything else we’ve tried, especially the cheese pickled pepper.
One of our goals was to try the most authentic Albanian dishes. We chose Fli, a traditional Albanian dish of layers of hand-baked batter brushed with butter, as well as Mantia, which are baked dumplings filled with veal with a yogurt dipping sauce.
For the next course, we decided to pick from the Tava section of the menu, which means the food was cooked in a traditional clay pot and went with Fasulë, a white bean stew which is a staple in Albanian cooking. The last savory dish we couldn’t pass up was described as “bringing the rich flavors of the Shari Mountains to your table”, the Qofte Shari. This had a veal and beef mix with melted cheese, plus veggies and a cabbage salad.
We ended the night with their baklava, which had the flakiest texture, tasting like it must have been baked seconds earlier. Everything we had was so delicious and something that felt like we couldn’t get anywhere else.
It was so fun trying out such a special new place, and we recommend going with a group to try as many different dishes as you can. The restaurant is BYOB, so make sure to bring your favorite wine or mocktail. Çka Ka Qëllu is located at 328 Kinderkamack Road in Westwood, and is open Wednesday through Monday for lunch + dinner from 12PM to 10PM. It is closed on Tuesdays.
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