16 Best Restaurants in New Jersey Shore, New Jersey

This six-table, deli-style café sells fresh, high-quality food, such as salmon encrusted with pistachios, crisp salads, sandwich wraps, and baked goods. Although the chef is Italian, he sometimes cooks thick, tender Irish pork chops smothered in a secret sauce and sauerkraut, which is excellent. Eat in if a table is available, or buy food for a picnic or to take back to your room.

In operation for more than 150 years, the Renault Winery has become a destination in its own right encompassing an 18-hole golf course; Château Renault, a 55-room hotel; festivals and seasonal events. Dining options include the Renault Wine & Beer Garden; the Parisian-inspired Café la Fleur, perfect for pastries, cookies, and coffee drinks; and Taste 1864 which offers classic American fare.  To get here from Atlantic City, take U.S. 30 west for about 30 miles.

In the traditionally Italian Ducktown section of Atlantic City, this restaurant serves family-style beef, veal, and seafood dishes. The braciole (rolled veal stuffed with sausage and cheese) is perennially popular, the wine list is extensive, and the kitchen is open late on the weekends. Its brick exterior certainly doesn't impress, but inside is a welcoming, if minimally adorned, dining room that recalls the mom-and-pop eateries that used to be common throughout town. The surrounding neighborhood has seen better days. It's advisable to drive or take a cab.

It isn't fine dining, but for fast meals and late-night cravings along the Boardwalk, those in the know turn to this lilliputian food counter where dollar bills stand in for wallpaper. They sling burgers and dogs, but simple Greek food is where they excel. Grab a gyro on the way to the beach or back from the casino, or opt for a quick breakfast, which is served all day long. In the summer, they're generally open 24 hours a day.

Casino dining often equals buffet and buffet often equals disappointment. At the Borgata, they strive to remove the disappointment from that equation. Hand-carved prime rib, sirloin, a variety of shellfish, Chinese standards, sushi, salads, pasta, tables full of desserts—almost all the usual suspects are here (sorry king crab leg fans). Popularity keeps everything fresh and the room rates and table minimums at the casino keep the quality high. The dining room is pleasant, with deep comfortable booths, but its more functional than fashionable.

It's not much to look at, but there's a reason people line up to get into this Greek-style diner. Decadent helpings of waffles and french toast for breakfast and hearty Mediterranean favorites for lunch and dinner keep locals and summer residents coming back again-and-again. BYOB.

Watch the boats come and go from dockside in Gardner's Basin as you linger over a breakfast of Frisbee-size blueberry hot cakes or omelets and grits---some think it's the best breakfast in town; for lunch, there are sandwiches, hot dogs, and crab cakes. The food is obviously just as good inside, but it's worth a wait for a seat on the dock. There's another location at the Tropicana, as well as two other New Jersey locations. 

This may be 30 miles west of Atlantic City, but for meatloaf that tastes homemade, mashed potatoes, and fresh seafood it's worth the detour. Pies and bread are baked daily and the rotating soups specials bring regulars on certain days to slurp their favorites (chowders and bisque are especially popular). You can get breakfast here too, and a kids' menu is available.

Steps from the Boardwalk, you'll feel like you stepped into a time capsule at this former speakeasy turned Irish pub. It's a great spot for lunch away from the casinos serving traditional pub fare like sandwiches, salads, and burgers, and there are numerous beers on tap as well as an Irish gift shop.

Local fisherman deliver fresh sea fare seven days a week right to the dock at the always-rollicking Lobster House. Cape May salts, a petite and briny oyster, are harvested from the restaurant's beds in Delaware Bay. Dine inside on checked tablecloths, at the raw bar, or outside on the dock for the full maritime show. Of course, the eponymous crustacean is all over the menu—in bisque and salads, its tails stuffed and served with steak, and steamed or broiled whole.

The only thing "mad" about this spot, which is credited with starting Cape May's restaurant renaissance in the 1970s, is the wild popularity of its bountiful American breakfasts and brunches. Be prepared to wait. Or book a table for lunch or dinner. Request the porch to watch the action on Jackson Street and sample the dishes that are their greatest pride and joy: the buttermilk pancakes, the clam chowder, or the lump crab cakes.

Order large, cracker-crisp pizzas at this pizzeria with dinette tables. The white pizza is delicious, as is anything with the Italian sausage. Or you might try the fried calamari, then choose your favorite pasta combined with your favorite sauce to make a meal. They jar the most popular sauces and sell them to-go. They recently added a family style dining menu, where each item ordered serves up to four people.

You might try veal Parmigiana, a tender New York strip steak, or flounder marechiare (with shrimp). Both service and food are first class, yet the restaurant is casual enough that you may wear nice shorts and deck shoes. Breakfast and lunch are served on a long, sunny enclosed veranda near the pool. Lunch choices include burgers, club sandwiches, and pizza.

Head to this butcher shop and deli and get in line for take-out. Tom Bailey's functions like a New York-style deli, churning out sandwiches, wraps, and salads for a steady stream of locals and summer residents. You can also pick up prime cuts of meat, homemade sausage, and even a selection of cheese, fruit, and desserts. On summer evenings from Thur.–Sun. waitstaff services the outdoor garden patio. At other times, you can take food to go or seat yourself.

The place claims to have made more than 23 million overstuffed sandwiches since 1946. Make sure you grab a sub (don’t call it a hoagie, hero, or grinder) to enjoy on your trip home; there's also a location at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. You’ll probably need an Italian sub or a White House Special (similar to the Italian sub but with more of everything) to help you recover from all the fun you’ve had. Celebrities seem to love it too; check out the walls of photos and memorabilia, where even a framed towel used by Frank Sinatra during his last Atlantic City performance doesn't seem all that odd.

Munch on sandwiches—house roasted turkey or corned beef on rye are reliable choises—at the old-fashioned lunch counter. Or eat in the spacious dinette area, for hearty and reasonably priced meals. In summer, the deli stays open later and has entrées such as succulent pot roast. Who's on Third is open for breakfast, too.