When you crave seafood, you won’t have to travel far beyond Ocean Township, New Jersey. The Jersey Shore has you covered with the freshest catches from the sea, from crabs to clams. While you’ll find many dynamic places for dining in and around Ocean Township, the following seafood restaurants take top honors on our list, and we bet they’ll become your favorites too.
Mar Belo
Infusing Long Branch with a distinctive blend of Portuguese and Spanish cuisine, Mar Belo offers creative dishes starring local, sustainable ingredients. Mar Belo’s interior decor exudes luxury, with elegant table settings and exquisite menu items that captivate your eyes and taste buds. Following the tradition of Portuguese cuisine, Mar Belo prepares its plates of the day around fish, meat dishes, and soups. Dishes change depending on the season and whatever the kitchen can get fresh that morning.
The current Mar Belo lunch menu offers guests a medley of Mediterranean-inspired dishes. The Pork and Clams Alentejana combine pork, clams, and cilantro in an Espanhola sauce over cubed potatoes. One taste of the Bacalhau Minhota will redefine how you think about codfish. Mar Belo’s preparation pairs salted codfish with sauteed onions, red peppers, and Spanish potatoes.
Dinner entrees will treat all your senses to an experience of the culinary innovation from the Mar Belo kitchen. Paelha Valenciana is Mar Belo’s interpretation of classic Spanish paella, featuring lobster, shrimp, scallops, mussels, calamari, clams, pork, chicken, and sausage cooked in rice infused with saffron. Bronzino features a whole grilled fish served with hearty yellow potatoes and broccoli.
In addition to its main dining space, Mar Belo offers a private party room you can reserve for birthdays, business meetings, and wedding receptions.
Location: 611 Broadway, Long Branch.
Telephone: 732-870-2222.
Rooney’s Oceanfront Restaurant
Explore carefully crafted coastal cuisine at Rooney’s Oceanfront Restaurant. Tucked away in Long Branch, this dynamic seaside dining destination features a bi-level outdoor deck offering picturesque Atlantic Ocean views.
Whether you’re visiting for brunch, lunch, or dinner, Rooney’s delivers a memorable dining experience for any occasion. Choose from several selections on the raw bar menu, including oysters on the half shell, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and bloody mary shooters. Rooney’s crabcake entree features decadent crabcakes coated with a cornflake crust and served with grilled asparagus, fingerling potatoes, and red pepper aioli.
Dinner specialties include monstrous 9-ounce Brazilian lobster tails served with drawn butter and your choice of two sides. Grilled swordfish pairs with a coconut curry risotto and kabocha squash puree for a sumptuous entree that hits all the right notes.
Don’t pass up the shrimp or lobster frittatas when you’re visiting for brunch. The Carolina Benedict upgrades the classic eggs Benedict with crabmeat, toasted cornbread, poached eggs, and Old Bay hollandaise.
Location: 100 Ocean Ave. N., Long Branch.
Telephone: 732-870-1200.
SeaGrass Restaurant
With access to the best farms in the country and a desirable Atlantic Ocean location, SeaGrass Restaurant serves memorable seafood dishes for guests to enjoy. Whether you dine in for lunch or dinner, you’ll find that the most delicious, sustainably harvested seafood will await your taste buds at SeaGrass Restaurant.
Clam chowder fans can enjoy every spoonful of the delicious New England Clam Chowdah infused with rich cream and the meatiest clams imaginable. The Lobster BLT is a sumptuous creation of fresh Maine lobster meat served on brioche toast with chips. For the ultimate seafood experience on your plate, order The Fried Seafood Plate. This entree features shrimp, scallops, and codfish served with house-made chips and onion rings.
The dinner menu will delight seafood lovers. Whether you select the sesame-encrusted ahi tuna or seared scallops drizzled with basil oil and served with asparagus risotto, your palate will enjoy experiencing the freshest ingredients from land and sea on your plate.
Location: 68 Main Ave., Ocean Grove.
Telephone: 732-869-0770.
The Bonney Read
Take a short drive from Ocean Township to Asbury Park for a comforting, casual dining experience at The Bonney Read. At its heart, this chowder house delivers sustainably procured, locally sourced seafood in creative culinary preparations. A full raw bar features a rotating selection of shucked-to-order clams and oysters served raw, hot, or in the rough.
Start with the small plates menu if you’re unsure where to begin your dining discovery. New England clam chowder, steamed clams, and coconut shrimp make excellent choices to whet your seafood appetite. Large plates are always a delight for diners. From Baja fish tacos served with chipotle tartar sauce and pickled cabbage to a whole Maine lobster roll, hearty appetites can savor every bite of these tasty seafood dishes.
Location: 525 Cookman Ave., Asbury Park.
Telephone: 732-455-3352.
The Iron Whale
Located on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, The Iron Whale surrounds guests with the seafaring spirit with its seaside-inspired decor accented by gas lanterns, ropes, and reclaimed wood. Under the leadership of Executive Chef Charles Collins, The Iron Whale’s menu features an inventive take on classic seafood dishes with offbeat combinations of ingredients and preparations. Open seven days a week throughout the year for brunch, lunch, and dinner, The Iron Whale makes a perfect spot for weekday or weekend dining.
The Iron Whale divides its menu into several components: small plates, raw bar specialties, handhelds, salads, main dishes, and the fish taco bar selections. Savor the taste of Jamaican-inspired jerk shrimp with a coconut cucumber salad and cilantro-garlic aioli. The cedar plank-cooked salmon on the main dish portion of the menu shines with a peach bourbon glaze, peach pico de gallo, sauteed Swiss chard, and pine nuts.
Raw bar specialties include the following:
- Local Jersey Shore clams.
- Long Island blue point oysters.
- Chilled jumbo shrimp.
- Maryland Chesapeake oysters.
Location: 1200 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park.
Telephone: 732-361-5185.
No matter what type of seafood suits your fancy, you can be confident that the above seafood restaurants will satisfy your taste buds. What did you think about the restaurant selections we’ve presented here? Did we overlook one of your favorite seafood establishments in the region? Write to us and let us know. Our team will be happy to update this article with your best seafood restaurant recommendations.
Lobster by Jessica Weiller is licensed with Unsplash License
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