The Beach Gallery — Restaurant in Keansburg

My honest review. I wasn't going to write this in respect to one of the "silent owners" that asked us not to but it's now Thursday, I'm 6 months pregnant and I cannot get over how horrible Mother's Day went for me and my family. On Mother's Day, my grandma had reservations at a different restaurant but my one of my family members figured to go to this place (worst decision possible). They had a good experience in the beginning when this place first opened up. After hearing about their previous experience, I was excited to go there with my mom, aunt, and grandma. My gma canceled her reservation. Once we got there the parking lot was full, so we paid for street parking across the street. Once we got in we waited about 20 mins until we sat on the 2nd floor. I didn't realize it was 'buffet style' but I got up to get food, no plates were there so we had to wait to get plates. There was a boy literally ear shot away from us hearing us complaining about plates and didn't say anything, until we asked him. The food was DRY, there was about one scoop left of breakfast potatoes (I tried to wait for them to bring out "fresh", but they never did), the French toast and bacon was ok (not worth $50), roast beef and mac and cheese was completely dry and flavorless. Once I got back to my seat, I saw my niece getting frustrated because she couldn't cut the waffle and I knew it was going to be bad. Everyone at the table had a drink at this point so I waited for the waitress to come so I can get mine, my sons, and my bf. She never came so I had to call her over. I asked for 3 cokes and received 3 diet coke. It was so obvious, we didn't even drink the whole thing. I asked 2 different waitresses to fill the glass water jug for the table and each time they gave us a single glass of ice water. The first ice water was given to another relative, not even me. Once I found out the price to this place, I had a huge flash of heat rise over my head (idk if it's because I'm pregnant or what). My bf and I walked over to find the manager and after 15 mins of waiting he finally came. The manager KNEW and agreed how horrible the place was, made every excuse possible, he told us someone screwed up and booked everyone at 11am and all the food came out then. Meanwhile, we got there at 2 something so you mean to say you can't make fresh easy breakfast food within a few hours. Also, the place did not seem busy at the time and there was definitely a lot of workers. Probably more workers than customers so idk what the issue was with having horrible cold food and service. Anyway, the manager said he would give us a discount, asked us not to write a bad review, he would even comp us free tickets to whatever event they have blah, and to give them a second chance. Honestly, after talking to him I was in high hopes that he would actually give us a good discount, considering you can go to Dennys for better, HOTTER, cheaper food (which we told him, and he agreed). I really was thinking maybe I'll give them another chance as long as it's not buffet style, I guess. Oh, and towards the end I saw my nice return to the table with a chocolate mousse cake? So, I decided to get up and get one and everything was gone and was never refilled. In the end, after everyone was done eating, we literally waited 45mins just for someone to give us the bill. The manager even came by our table asking what we were waiting for, and we told him the bill... our waitress finally came over an it turns out the manager literally gave us a 10% discount BUT if you use a credit/debit card it's a 3% charge, which really was only a 7% discount. I was fuming. We wouldn't mind paying the amount of money IF the food was actually good and the service was on point. I literally left that place still hungry and we all just wanted to get out of there and try to enjoy the rest of our "Mother's Day". This place really put a sour taste on our day; I was so embarrassed telling people about our experience there. On different days, my grandma and my bf tried to call them and heard...

Had a 30 person birthday party on their rooftop. Originally booked with a super easy going event coordinator, Mike, who promised us what I thought we paid for: a buffet dinner and 4 hour open bar, no stipulations. 2 weeks prior to the party I got a call from a different event coordinator, Caden, who was much less accommodating. No where in the contract did it stipulate what the open bar consisted of and when we booked with Mike we were told it was all liquor, I even recall asking about hard teas. Come the night of the party, we ordered surfside hard tea to start and the bartender asked us to pay for them insisting the open bar was only well drinks, certain beers and wine only (of course telling us this after we ordered). This was new information to me and I questioned Caden who never even had the decency to come back over and respond to me…We were promised a dedicated bartender for the rooftop, but there was only one inside and it was clearly his first day with no training. My entire party spent most of their time waiting for a drink at the bar which was super frustrating! The food was decent, a few complaints it was cold, but I didn’t experience that personally. We also came early to setup and noticed there was no space for a dance floor after explicitly telling Caden the week before that we were bringing in our own DJ and expected to have space to dance. Luckily it was early enough and they did move some things around to accommodate, but it should have been done to begin with. The way the cabanas were setup were cumbersome with large pieces of wood sticking out for a tripping hazard. I wouldn’t have had them combine the cabanas if I knew that would be the case, as they suggested it. Also, I purchased small, covered candles as favors and placed them on the tables for people to grab as they left the party. The staff took it upon themselves to start lighting them in the middle of dinner without even asking... I had to go over and ask them to stop since it was a favor and not meant as decoration, I thought it very rude for them to make assumptions without asking the host. Overall, the venue needs to clarify in writing if they plan to have bar exclusions and in my opinion, needs a seasoned bartender and more friendly event coordinator to...

What a disappointing experience for Mother’s Day Brunch. We had an 11am reservation for 9 people- upon arrival, host did not have our reservation. I showed my email confirmation from Derick - which turned out to be the host (or manager?). Instead of making an effort to seat us, the host promoted future events to every all of the tables ahead of us.

After every other party was sat, we were brought to a table missing chairs, place settings, and no more available high chairs (which had been requested in email reservation).

We made our way to the buffet to find little to NO food. Nearly every chafing dish was empty, empty cheese/fruit/pastry platters, no plates, dry and sad looking carving station, and inexperienced pasta cook at the station.

I spoke to the host/Derick about our disappointment - his responses lacked hospitality/acknowledgement and made the situation worse. He claimed that Easter Brunch was a success (how this has anything to do with our current experience is beyond me), the kitchen put food in ovens late (unacceptable excuse and not my problem), asked “did I tell my waitress there were no plates?” (Why should I have to? where are buffet runners / bussers replenishing the buffet? Her focus is on her tables - drink orders and bussing). He then brushed me off and said “go talk to the owner, John- he is upstairs.

I spoke with John. His lack of restaurant experience and customer service was also apparent. It was clear that he was beside himself and completely unprepared. Blamed it on kitchen call outs. He apologized but ultimately provided no reason for us to ever return.

We received 10% off our bill, $36! This did not even cover 1 adult meal ($50).

Holidays are challenging for restaurants- I empathize with the extra stress and high volume. It’s the restaurant GM/owner/Chef responsibility to anticipate call outs, hungry folks (buffet), and that something is bound to go wrong. This team is inexperienced and set themselves up to fail - ultimately providing one of the worst dining experiences for a handful...