Jack’s Tavern

We live the next town over and just noticed this place. So I checked the reviews on Unilocal and they were good. When we walked in we were a little unsure because you walk right into the bar and we wanted to sit and eat. If you go to the left though there is a little restaurant that was out dated but nice. They have a really nice fireplace (wish they had a fire going). Anyhow, my husband ordered the clam bisque and I tried his, it was so good I had to order my own. I just ordered an app. For my dinner and that was plenty. (artichoke franchise). It was really good and full of flavour. My husband ordered a steak and really enjoyed it. Will go back for sure!

Jack’s used to be a good place 20 years ago, so hubby and I decided to give it a try for old times’ sake today after we left the beach. We sat at a table outside since it was a nice day.
After perusing the lackluster lunch menu, which consisted of mostly fried food, and watching the bus girl repeatedly dropping glasses and manhandling the tines of our forks (eew!), we should have left but that would have meant looking for a new parking spot, so we decided to go with omelettes off the Sunday brunch menu, thinking this might be the safest bet. I ordered a broccoli and cheddar omelette with ham on the side, and a side of home fries. The omelette arrived smothered in what looked like melted Cheese Whiz. The home fries were cold and had absolutely no flavor except of old potatoes. The side of ham was slices of boiled deli ham which had been lightly grilled. That’s a new one on me!
A cocktail was supposed to be included in the brunch price, but we chose to get ice teas instead and had to argue with the waitress to get her to take them off our bill. (Honestly, doesn’t a cocktail cost more than tea??) Also, I need to mention that our waitress’s clothes were noticeably dirty.
This is the worst restaurant meal I can ever remember!!! Couldn’t wait for it to be over so I could go home and eat! After reading other recent reviews and my experience today, I cannot imagine how this place stays in business!!!

Really, the chef is such a dickhead here that our waitress is in tears. Seriously? He refused to make a cheesesteak sandwich (off of the lunch menu) for me because he is pissed at the server. Really dude– grow up. And the owner is nowhere to be found, which is typical for this place. It’s a shame really as this used to be a great restaurant when they employed an additional (normal/​nice/​talented) chef. So, let’s hope the assh*le chef doesn’t spit on my sandwich or worse. (Read: Fight Club) I do not recommend this establishment. Fini.

I hate to leave bad reviews because I know how much they can impact a business… But unfortunately this review will not be a positive one.
We visited this establishment about two years ago and to this day I still have discussed that night at Jacks Tavern with many people, it was just bad.
So we chose this restaurant because I wanted to sit outside and eat somewhere that had some fresh seafood, I was dressed up, visiting the shore, and my husband and I just wanted to find somewhere to eat some delicious food and have some drinks while enjoying the gorgeous weather. We drove around for a while looking for what seemed like a great spot. We pulled up to Jacks and had a glance at their menu and thought it looked like a good place. The outdoor seating was really nice and charming so we decided to try it.
It was a Friday night and they were slow, but it was pretty early so we thought maybe we beat the rush. Our server approached us and seemed to care less that we were there. We ordered two beers only to see him standing and talking to the hostess 10 min later while we waited on our drinks. He finally realized he had forgotten our beers when he noticed us staring at him from outside.
When he came back to our table I kid you not he was high as a kite. He was making no sense and laughing ridiculously at nothing.
We finally placed our order for soft shell crab and my husband got a steak.
My soft shell crab was drenched with thick lemon sauce and was so disgusting I could barely touch it. It literally was the grossest thing I’ve seen. But what was worse was that my husband’s steak tasted BAD, as in rotten bad. Our mashed potatoes were cold too so we sent all of our food back.
The saddest part about the whole night (other than wasting three hours of our time) was the woman who was managing the restaurant seemed helpless and sad. She stood there and looked around as her staff did whatever they wanted and could give a crap about the customers.
She clearly has no control over how bad of a restaurant her business has become because it seemed as though us returning our food was a common thing. She did not seem eager to please us, eager to lead her terrible slacking pot-​smoking teen staff, and she seemed like she wanted to hide in the corner.
Jacks is definitely a good candidate for Kitchen Nightmares. By the taste and quality of their food, I don’t want to even think about what their walk-​in looks like. Sad sad restaurant.
Don’t waste your time!

I really want to love this place. With the exception of a few fantastic servers/​bartenders the service is not great. Just the other night we sat at a table for 10 minutes before anyone even came to
our table. We left and walked next door to federicis. But I do enjoy the food a lot. Eclectic menu with items to fit different cravings. More often than not drinks are made weak. But the prices are good. The reviews that call this a local joint are correct.

Went here after an event at the beach. The waitress was a bully! The food was just so-​so. Possibly they favor their regulars, which we certainly won’t become! They don’t really want you in here if you’re not from the immediate few-​mile radius. (note: started this review a year ago but just found it in drafts and had to share since this was truly the worst experience I’ve had at the Monmouth County shore area — hopefully things have improved but with so many other options, we won’t be finding out!)

Cozy local joint with American fare… seafood…Italian food and fresh draft beer. The onion rings are really good. I like to sit outside in the summer.

This used to be a good place… about 20 years ago. Now its a poorly run,
«locals only» kind of establishment known for bartenders with piss-​off attitudes, 60’s décor and more recently beer taps that either don’t work or pour flat beer. I will say if you want a good screwdriver though this is the place as the OJ is fresh squeezed.
As far as the food goes it depends on your own standards so although you might get a good meal, don’t be surprised if you don’t — I stopped eating here long ago after a couple bad experiences. That and the fact that there are plenty of better restaurants within a 10 minute drive.
Jacks seems to have more than its share of patrons still trying to relive the place’s glory days because with this level of quality they certainly can’t be winning over any new/​repeat customers. But I suppose if you were a local and wanted to go see familiar faces, this is probably the place.

Did not enjoy our visit. Under staffed and received minimal service. Granted it was busy but 3 of our 4 meals were served cold. The steak and burger were also overlooked. I said something to the waitress and the manager came over and offered a drink or a dessert which we declined. They did not take anything off our check for the cold overcooked meals. Then I had to walk my credit card over to the waitress because she was too busy to get it from us.

Very disappointed. I am a new local to Belmar and finally decided to check this out. While the menu choices and food is pretty good, the horrendous service is enough to stay away. As more people were seated, the waitress seemed to get more annoyed and I heard her cursing and complaining. The food took awhile and when it finally came, we asked for more bread, which never came. In addition, my drink was never refilled because she seemed too busy to come back to the table. Working in a restaurant before, I know it can get chaotic, but she seemed so annoyed and bothered, that it was just an unpleasant experience. There was an extra beer added on the check. We could not get the waitress’s attention so we called over another server. He said he could do nothing to help us and didn’t bother to tell the other waitress that we needed her attention. When she came over, She then proceeded to argue with my bf that he ordered that beer. While walking away, she said loudly under her breath, «Yeah you did.» While she eventually took off the extra charge, she continued to argue that we ordered the beer and didn’t remember. There was no way another beer was ordered as she basically forgot about our table halfway through and bossed around one of the teenagers working there to fill everyone’s drinks. Well, I won’t be going there again. I can understand feeling annoyed and overwhelmed in a restaurant setting, but taking it out on the customers is not cool.

Nice little local joint with good food. No non-​locals please!!!

Recently had our first and last experience at Jack’s Tavern. The service was horrible on an evening that was not busy. The waitress seemed nice enough, but we had to ask for our salads and bread after all the other tables around us received theirs. We didn’t see her at all after our meal was delivered (no refills) until we flagged her down for our check. The check was charged incorrectly and my daughter’s meal was taken away while she was still holding food in her hands and had more than half of her meal left on the plate. I was looking over the incorrect charge and didn’t notice her plate was gone until it was too late. My husband and I ordered two separate seafood dishes and barely ate because it was poorly prepared.

If you are a sixty something white trash chain smoking burnout, then Jacks Tavern is the place for you! Don’t let the high prices fool you into thinking that the food you will eat here is high quality, in fact; it’s just the opposite. I would caution against eating anything that has at anytime been in the ocean, as it tastes as though it was prepared a few days ago using old dishwater as a marinade. Can’t speak for the burgers as I mistakenly ordered the seafood, but based on their low health rating, I’d opt for getting it well done (hopefully that will mitigate the e coli and other fun stuff living in the meat). Most folks that dine here are not likely to read this as they are probably busy dropping syringes at the nearby beach, but if you happen to see this… steer clear!

Jack’s Tavern has an old school feel. The waitresses are a friendly bunch. The food is very good. I ordered the hot roast beef sandwich with French fries. My wife ordered a pastrami sandwich. Both were delicious! Big portions and not expensive. We were there for lunch but there seemed to be a good sized crowd at the bar (ala Cheers), locals all laughing and having a good time. They advertise a ‘fresh-​squeezed’ screwdriver which I’ll have to try next time. If you are down the Shore, and are hungry, I suggest you stop by Jack’s Tavern!

You feel like you traveled back to the 70’s when you go in here which I can’t really decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
The food was actually quite good for the price. I did a really good carrot ginger soup and had some balsamic stuffed mushrooms.
The service wasn’t that good though, server was slow and a bit grouchy but she looked to be in HER 70’s.

The bartender is a jerk. i told my waitress the keg must be blown cause my beer tasted flat and the bartender wouldn’t even attempt to fix it. Even she said he was a jerk.
Food was mediocre, left to Connolly Station where a beer is poured right and the food is much better.
Never again Jack!

Pretty dumpy joint but a nice burger to be had here. Their claim to fame is their screwdrivers are made with fresh squeezed orange juice. Truth be known Tropicana does a better job.
Eat in the smallish dining room and you will think you have gone back in time. Everything is retro here but the prices…

Service is always friendly, nice cracker and cheese platter instead of bread, great burgers and decent entrees. Great for lunch or dinner!

one hit, one miss. I liked the dinner, It was what I expected and we had choices from fish to steak. I mistakenly went there for lunch and ordered a sandwich. I was charged $ 7 for wonderbread and kraft singles. Don’t order the cold sandwiches.

I can not believe this!!! Nobody has rated Jacks??? Tisk Tisk LOL!
This was the first place I ever had a screwdriver and they still fresh squeeze the orange juice! I had a wonderful steak and scallop dinner and it was superb! Crackers and port wine cheese while waiting for dinner. Great Salad and main course. This place has improved ten fold over the years. Got to go here after the beach and you will be a happy camper!!!