The Swine Bar — Restaurant in North Wildwood

I had mixed up the reservation dates and Rick, the host was gracious enough to set us up with a table even though they were very busy. I appreciated that. We really wanted to love this place and we were excited to dine here for the first time. First the pros, our server was friendly and for the most part attentive though we were missing some silverware throughout the dinner, no biggie. The view is absolutely stunning, great place to watch the sunset. Cocktails were good and of decent size though the Paloma did not come with a salt rimmed glass as it is traditionally prepared in Mexico. Now for the cons. Server did not mention prices when offering specials and I was rather shocked when bill came and 1 dozen oysters charged at $48! This is excessive! Portions are ridiculously small, arugula salad could be finished in a few bites and at $14 there isn't much value to be had though flavors were good. Halibut at $42 consisted of a tiny 6 oz portion of halibut served on top of sone very bland risotto, there was mention of chanterelles in the menu description but I was pressed to find any in the dish, there were a few measly slices of something under the fish which I assume were the chanterelles. I was left feeling like they just wanted to include a fancy element to the dish’s description without much concern of how it actually tasted and looked. The accompanying sauce was of good flavor but I had to ask for extra sauce because there was literally only a little dollop on the plate, not even enough to go with the tiny little fillet! Dish was pretentious and poorly executed. After eating 2 courses and the oysters I was not near anywhere satisfied, I think if you spend $22 on an appetizer and $42 on entree you should not leave feeling hungry, so for 3 people, we had 1 doz oysters, 3 apps, 3 entrees, a $50 bottle of wine and 2 cocktails and bill was $400 with tip, not worth the price in my opinion. I would go back for drinks at the bar but for the prices they are charging and what you get I would not go...

Very pleasantly surprised. Wildwood is definitely not known for it's fine dining even though there are some great places to eat, but The Swine Bar surpassed our expectations on both the food and drink side, and was complimented by a very friendly server, Eric who was attentive. It's located on the upper deck of a dockside restaurant with western views of the sunset making it nice for a more upscale evening than anything I've experienced in Wildwood. The atmosphere and service is casual and friendly, definitely don't go expecting multiple servers and a sommelier. The food and drinks all were amazing. We started with a couple of cocktails, a negroni for my wife and I asked for a negroni spagliato which is a negroni with prosecco instead of gin, and the bartender made it perfectly. We then shared some oysters and shrimp cocktail. Highly recommend anything with their cocktail sauce which had fresh horseradish on top. Both were fresh and excellent. For entrees my wife ordered the pork belly and a salad. Again the scallops with the pork belly were fresh and perfectly cooked, the pork belly also was tender and flavorful and salad also very good. I order the seared tuna special, fearful that it might be overcooked but the chef did not disappoint cooking it a perfect seared rare. The fish was incredibly fresh. We had a glass of wine and a couple other cocktails all that were made made and complimented our meal. Note that this restaurant shares an address with the downstairs restaurant which has a different menu and is more casual. Highly recommend if you want a nicer meal...

Dear Gentle DIners, As part of our ongoing research on dining in greater Wildwood metropolitan area, we decided to treat ourselves to a sunset dinner at the Swine Bar. Recommendations did not disappoint. Reservations for prime time viewing is a must. Use the phone as Resy was totally inaccurate. We ordered a few cocktails before we ordered to ensure that we would be dining through the sunset climax. We shared an order of the pork belly and scallops. Delicious. Just right for us as we love small plate dining. For dinner, I ordered the Char Siu Salmon and my wife had a special - local flounder francaise with parmesan polenta. Both were spectacular. The salmon was glazed with Char Siu sauce and served on udon noodles (perfectly al dente) in a sweet/slightly spicy Asian broth with sugar snap peas, cabbage and seaweed salad. One slight ding was that I requested my salmon to have a pink center. It was done well, but still tender. The broth was steaming, so that could have contributed to carry-over cooking. Still wonderful. The flounder was done perfectly and was wonderfully lemon-y due to the Meyer lemons. The polenta was smooth and creamy and was accompanied by steamed sugar snap peas. Neither of us could finish the portion. All of this occurred during a most magnificent sunset.(See pics) Post-sunset coffee and sambucas topped off a glorious evening. Needless to say, we will return in September for our anniversary. Kudos to our waiter, Bill, and our...