Yes, another layover question...

My wife and I and another couple will be flying back from Dublin with a layover in Newark on Tuesday the 19th. Originally this was supposed to be about a 3 hour layover, but United cancelled one of our flights, so now it is 6 and a half. We are supposed to land at 3:30pm and takeoff at 10pm. We will probably not want to do much because of getting back from the trip and still being used to Irish time, but I was looking into options to pass the time. My question is basically is either of these options possible based on how busy Newark/NYC gets with traffic/public transportation Tuesday evenings. From what I am seeing, Dublin has US Preclearance, so we shouldn't (?) need to go through customs when we land.

Option 1 - AirTrain to the NJ Transit station, take this to Pennsylvania station in Manhattan, walk around a bit, maybe see Times Square and get some food (getting "real" NY pizza might be cool, going to Chicago on the departure flights for 8 hours so probably getting pizza there) for an hour or two, come back same way to the airport. This seems like it could be pushing it though because of possible delays.

Option 2 - Same thing, but just take a train to a station still in Newark or close by for food and to be out of the airport (also to actually "count" it as being to New Jersey since I at least have never been there).

If we do either, I assume option 2 is better if option 1 is even something we should try. But does anyone have any experience around these times to say if it is a terrible idea or not? If just staying in New Jersey, any quick suggestions on somewhere to walk to close to a train station?