Boardwalk Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Point Pleasant Beach

When I came to Pt. Pleasant as a kid in the 80's and 90's, we always ate at the restaurant across the way. But now with a more refined palate for food besides pizza and cheesesteaks, I suggested to my group that we try Boardwalk Bar & Grill. We looked at the menu and were satisfied with the options. The person at the front desk explained the difference between upstairs and downstairs - upstairs has a view of the beach, downstairs had certain drinks at half price (for lunchtime on a Wednesday). None of us were drinking, so we took the view! The view is great, even if the left side of the view of the beach and ocean is blocked by the restaurant across the street.

There is a salad that comes with chicken - I asked if we could swap it out for salmon. The waitress let us know that the kitchen would refuse such a request - in that I could get salmon on the side, but I would still be charged for the full price of the original salad, even if I got it without chicken. Sounds pretty ridiculous, but I appreciate the fact that the waitress knew this already and sided with the customer. So instead, I picked the Strawberry Avocado Salad and added salmon on top. It was a great choice. For being served on a rooftop in the heat of the midday July sun, the greens and strawberries were really fresh. The avocado was perfectly ripe and the pecans added a nice crunch. The salmon was grilled really nicely, with wonderful char lines and a good flavor.

My pescatarian teenager ordered the fish and chips, which is a go-to for them at seafood places. However, they aren't the biggest fan of battered fish and are fine peeling the batter off and just eating the cod or whatever is in the inside. They did that with the first piece of fish and described the fish as tasting too sweet. My kid tried a second piece of fish from their plate and said it tasted the same and that they didn't like it. No big deal, we swapped proteins. They loved the half of the salmon I shared, while I struggled to de-batter the cod (I don't like the batter either). The fish did have a sweetness to it that was unexpected, but it wasn't bad. It just wasn't that good either. I prefer fresher prepared fish, not something that's fried up like this. But I ate it all and my kid ate all the salmon, so the fish was consumed. Salmon was top notch, fried cod was just so-so.

For being a rooftop restaurant open mid-day in the summer is tough. Boardwalk Bar & Grill did a great job of providing umbrellas for enough shade upstairs that it was comfortable to sit out there even at noon. And like I said previously, the view to the right is fantastic, the view to the left (the direction I was facing) isn't as nice.

In the end, Boardwalk Bar & Grill is a great place to eat at Pt. Pleasant if you are looking for something lighter and fresher than the usual boardwalk fried heaviness. Sit upstairs, order some fresh fish, and enjoy the views of the beach...

Will not be returning. Would frequent the resturant multiple times throughout the season year after year basically because the view is great. The food has always been average, but let's be honest you pay for the location not the food. Was there today and it was awful. The food and service. And it wasn't that busy for a weekday lunch. Ordered an appetizer and our meals at the same time. Our waitress put in both to come out the same time. In resturant systems you can push it later even if entered the same time. That is just not caring on our waitress' part or lack of training from the management team. So I had to decide which I was going to eat cold since both were in the table and couldn't eat both at the same time. Then my meal was different than described on the menu (I took another menu to make sure I didnt mess up by accident - and I didn't). I was ok with the itty bitty piece of fish that didnt come close to filling the tortilla shell (once again I understand it is all about the location not the food). It was the sause it was swimming in not listed on the menu. I would of ordered it without the sauce if listed. Since I usually never send food back, I tried to scrape off the sauce it but still was still all over. FINALLY when our waitress returned from the abyss she offered me a new one, but my daughter was almost done with hers so why bother? The meal was done. I asked to speak to a manger not for anything for free, but to inform them of the situation because I am not the only person that happened to that day. And I didn't want to be confrontational, but from looking at the negative reviews service is an issue and if it was my business, I would want to make sure it does not happen again in the future with things like proper training of your staff. Most people just leave and never go back. And from the reaction of the manager, she would rather of me just go away rather than bother her with my petty issues I genuinely felt she could care less when we spoke. And I told her truthfully I do not plan to return when I had to leave hungry. I almost laughed out loud when she said well "I was going to offer you a gift card but since you are not coming back....." It felt like she was baiting me to say ok, I will take the gift card and that the only reason I spoke to her was for something for free. Which was not the case. It was really just that bad and turned me off forever. And I was hoping someone else would not have the same experience...

There was an older woman who was the hostess upstairs who upon meeting my 14 year old grandson an I, asked us in a nasty tone who sent you up here? I told her the hostess downstairs told us to come up, for some reason she greeted us nasty and then when she goes to seat us, i asked her if we could sit closer to the boardwalk area and she said no you can’t sit over there because that’s a table for 6!! Then she walked away. Our waitress was very nice! When I had to go to the bathroom I asked the waitress where it was so she directed me so I go to the bathroom I come out of the bathroom and I’m walking back to where my table was, which was to the left side of the bar, As im walking back to my table this hostess started yelling at me, I cannot go that way !!! This was the way I was directed to go and I’m almost to my table and my grandson who is sitting literally 20 steps away.. why would I have to walk all the way around the other side of the bar to go back to my table and she proceeded to yell at me and then have the security guy that’s standing right there yell at me also.. I couldn’t understand why so I walked around and I sat in my seat then I walked over to the bartender and I said I do not know who that hostess is but she’s not nice!! she was not nice when we walked in and she still not nice just mean and grumpy… that hostess is definitely not a customer service person we went there with good intentions to eat in a good atmosphere and with her yelling and being nasty and the greeting that we got was just horrible I wouldn’t go back there! I rated our waitress she gets five stars! The hostess gets zero! I ordered the strawberry salad which was very good their shrimp was good and fresh however my grandson ordered the penne vodka sauce which didn’t come with any bread any salad nothing don’t order Italian food because you don’t get a piece of...