SeaGrass Restaurant — Restaurant in Neptune Township

My wallet would definitely thank me if I hit up BYOBs more often. After a solid beach day just across the border in Bradley Beach this past Saturday with my top-tier chums, some sustenance was on the docket. Ocean Grove doesn't have a ton of dining options - you can hoof it the 10 extra blocks to Asbury if there's an emergency - but SeaGrass looked like the most legit option. We grabbed a wine bottle and headed over to the downtown area in the late afternoon. I was a little nervous about the inability to make a reservation but aside from a few tables on the sidewalk and maybe one or two inside, it was pretty empty. We were able to secure some of the last available outdoor seating; very pleasant on a warm, sunny evening.

I'd perused the menu beforehand like a responsible patron, and the marinated lamb pops caught my eye. We got some to share, and they were pretty scrumptious. It's not a huge serving by definition - a few legit bites - but the meat was very tender. The raspberry glaze was a good idea but I thought it was bland; even when I doused the lamb pop in it, it was a little difficult to detect on the palate. The other app we ordered, the whipped ricotta, was perfectly fine as well. This is a personal palate issue, but for me the accompanying rustic Italian bread was a little tough and needed more effort to chew - not a big deal at all. The star of that smaller dish was very clearly the ricotta concoction, which had honey and crushed red pepper, among other ingredients. I'd get both of those apps again without hesitation.

I didn't have to linger too long in the Sea section of the menu to know exactly what I wanted - the herb-encrusted halibut with lobster risotto. Big fan. The halibut had some pleasant seasoning on it, was flaky and scrumptious, and the lobster risotto was awesome. My only nitpick there was I thought they went too light on the risotto; if you look at the accompanying pic, there's still a solid percentage of the plate that's basically empty and could have used another scoop, if only for the optics. But overall, I didn't regret my decision. My top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality almost immediately grilled the waitress on how fresh the fish was, and this was a rare time where the response was an aggressive (in a good way), resounding answer - "very." I mean, you'd hope so when the ocean is literally a few blocks to the east, but you never know these days.

The service was perfectly fine. We were initially a little concerned because we'd been placed at the most extreme table right on the border of the outdoor seating (I think to the point where it literally might have been in front of another business) and there was a fear that there would be difficulty noticing us. But those concerns were moot - our waitress was over regularly and though it was a leisurely meal befitting a vacation weekend, we didn't wait a particularly long time for everything. A nice pleasant pace.

Honestly, nothing was mind-blowing here to the point where I'd go out of my way to visit, but there also weren't any real issues so if I did happen to be back in the area, I'd absolutely go back. Just don't forget your...

Never going back due to the rude hostess and average food. This hostess has a bad attitude and acts like she is doing you a favor by seating you. I just chalked it up to her just not loving her job but today she took it to the next level and was extremely weird and passive-aggresive. When we arrived she said there was a 30 minute wait so I asked her to open a bottle of wine and for some wine glasses so we could have a drink while we waited. This is a pretty standard thing most BYOB s are happy to do. There was no one else behind me waiting for her but she acted so annoyed you would have thought I asked for her right arm. She said "I'll give you some cups". So I thought ok, maybe this BYOB restaurant can't spare the wine glasses so she will give me regular drinking glasses, ok fine. So I waited about 5 more minutes while she milled around and chatted with a couple tables. She then saw that I was still waiting for her to open my bottle and give me glasses like she said she would. Finally she asked a waitress to open the bottle which she did right away. After a little while longer of standing there and her chatting people up while they're trying to eat, she goes into the kitchen and comes back with those cardboard takeout containers that you put soup in to go. I find it hard to believe that this restaurant could not even spare a couple of drinking glasses. I was annoyed but all I said was "nevermind" and took my bottle and went to wait. Here's where it gets even weirder... five minutes later the rest of my party arrived and my friend went in to tell them we were all here. She asked my friend if she was with "that lady" and told her that I seemed annoyed but they didn't have enough glasses but now they do so she gives my friend 4 actual wine glasses for us to use while waiting. Then she starts acting all sweet to my friend who she doesn't know. She actually put her hand on my friend's face and said "you're so pretty" as she was walking by her in the restaurant. When it came time for us to be seated, instead of walking over to us she gave me a nasty look and waved me over from about 20 feet away. This woman is so bizarre and unprofessional. I don't need to spend my money in places that are going to be rude and make the customer feel like an annoyance. I will not be going back here because of this strange woman with a...

Horrible experience here. If you want to spend a little extra money and get some good food that place is not here. Go elsewhere. Our experience started out ok. We called ahead for a party of 12 and they reserved a spot for us. When we first got there the service was ok. They forgot a place setting for my dad and they also didn't realize my uncle didn't have a drink. Then problems got worse when my uncle and aunt ordered an appetizer that took almost fourty minutes to come out. Like its an appetizer? By this time we were wondering why this happened and how long are food was going to take. After about an hour or twenty minutes of waiting for food it still had not come out. At this time we wanted to talk to a manager. We had waited too long for food it was ridiculous. The waiter did not even apologize when we asked for a manager. He didn't even tell us how long the food would be out or apologize for the wait. Very poor service at this point. He should have updates us several times on the food if it was taking this long. Then we asked for a manager who came out and seemed agitated and was rude to us for complaining. She didn't even apologize for the wait or offer any compensation. She then came back a second time to tell us it'd be another five minutes. Which means she still didn't have our food ready after about an hour and thirty minutes now. She didn't apologize she didn't offer any money off our bill either. She was also very rude and unprofessional and acted upset with us because we were complaining. Like its our fault you can't get your food out in an hour and a half? After that we were all very upset. No one wanted the food. And we heard bad complaints from a guest next to us as well saying they ordered shrimp pasta get this with no shrimp in it! After the bad service, horrible manager, and thinking we were going to get our food and it be cooked wrong, we all got up a group of twelve and left. We didn't pay for our appetizers but who cares all the staff was horrible. And to think that waiter would get an automatic gratuity of 18%. He didn't deserve it at all. I work at a restaurant and this service was completely unacceptable. I'm not just saying this to say it, but DONT GO HERE. But hey if you wanna get horrible service and not even good food then go here. You'll...