Ref’s Tap House & Grill

Went to Ref’s with my family a few weeks ago after picking my parents up from ACY. I’d been here before when it used to be a diner.
The menu selection is pretty good and the beer selection great.
The food we ordered was pretty tasty, well-​prepared, and the prices were very reasonable.
I got the Cowboy Burger and loved it. Good stuff!
After going back and forth about whether to try the Lobster Roll or not, my wife gave it a shot. It turned out to be pretty damn good! Good amount of lobster and minimal extras (which is a good thing). And… you got TWO LOBSTER ROLLS for $ 15. Nice! It could have used a bit more mayo for her, but it was a solid lobster roll.
Our server, Glen, was awesome. He was very attentive, polite, and just a good guy.
The only negative was the dining area itself. It could use a little sprucing up and a few more TVs.
Overall, I’d definitely go back here again if in the area.

This place was very unimpressive. The food was mediocre at best. There was literally NOBODY in the restaurant at all when we got there around 3 in the afternoon. I’m not sure if it is always like this or just a slow day. The food again was nothing special at all, but the waiter Glenn is great, #goodguy. Anyway, I probably wouldn’t go back.

I know that there are plenty of other Unilocalers that go out to eat more often than they eat in. I go to restaurants about twice a week/​10 times a month, which is more than enough to experience my fair share of restaurants and write this review. There are maybe two other restaurants I can write this sentence about… I have never had a bad bite of food here.
In a nutshell, this place is way too good for it’s own good. It isn’t fancy. It isn’t much to look at. It isn’t in the greatest location. All of that is unfortunate. But I go out to eat for one reason… to eat. Anything you order here will exceed your expectations. The menu isn’t huge, but it has enough variety to satisfy any craving. The servers will all tell you that they make everything in house… and they do. From the corned beef or brisket to the salad dressings, everything is made in house. They have fantastic happy hours where you can score craft beer drafts for $ 2.50 and half priced appetizers. Their buffalo wings are carefully seasoned (spicy and flavorful) and just crispy enough without being dry at all. The ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing that comes with the wings is of course, homemade.
My woman ordered a Lobster Roll for about $ 15. The lobster roll (s)…yeah, two come in one order, were served on a perfectly prepared poppy seed roll and were both full of lobster meat. I had a Ruben sandwich and although I have never been huge on them before, I love them from Ref’s. The servers are all really friendly and make terrific recommendations and the chef comes around to share some secrets from the kitchen. The food and drink prices are way beyond reasonable and you won’t regret eating there if your primary reason for going out to eat is to eat.
Oh…they have an amazing Karaōke night on Thursday nights. Ref’s is a great place to go…

As I pulled into the lot my son rattled off a list of people giving this place bad reviews but I didn’t listen. For the second time now I have trusted the reviews on Unilocal to assist me in finding a good local place to eat that is not a chain restaurant, and I am so done.
The place is run down, no big deal doesn’t mean the foods not good. Inside, the décor eh… needs an update big time, again not a deal breaker. The girl at the door was nice, I ordered one of the craft beers they serve. Our waiter was a nice guy very accommodating, it was his birthday. First we had the appetizer sampler, some fries, two mozzarella triangles, maybe three chicken tenders and two poppers $ 13.95, not a whole lotta food for fourteen bucks and had it been anything special I would not have noticed the price. My son ordered the honey fried chicken $ 14.95, he said the meal was good but missed the salad with ranch dressing that (according to the server) came with his meal. It never came. And I was looking for a salad, we were going to go to Jalapeño’s were we usually go but when I looked up the menu for this place online the salads looked like they were a «thing» so that is what I ordered. It states on the menu the dressings are made in house, a bonus. I was reluctant to write this negative review but by the time I got home I had worked myself up and what made things even worse was when I realized I paid $ 18.00 for a bowl of lettuce with about four cut in half grape tomatoes, about five chopped thick slices of red onion, three slices of cucumber, two of which were translucent due to maybe being frozen, and about six slices of blackened chicken. The home made blue cheese dressing was so thick I had to scoop it out of the cup. Did I mention it was EIGHTEEN DOLLARS!!! The food wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good and $ 18 for a LAME salad. The only reason I gave then two stars, they are for the nice employees. Next time Im going to Jalapenos, lesson learned… finally.

Great service. Great Happy Hour. Had the wonton chicken tacos and calamari fries. They were good. Then we shared a Burger. Which had a lot of flavor! The owner came to the table to check on us. He was very personable and friendly. And the waiter was spot on!

Awesome place. Great menu. The food is fantastic. Had the new york strip. Cooked perfectly with tasty onions and mushrooms with gorgonzola cheese. And the service was almost too good!!! Could have hung here all day!

Interesting place. It was a former diner turned into a family style sports pub. Food was good, we had burgers and sandwiches. Higher end and higher cost items were available. I thought it was missing a few tvs for a sports theme, but we enjoyed our family conversation. 4 adults 4 kids and the bill was 200 dolllars. I thought the mixed drinks were done right, and Dean our server was really personable. We were in the area for the SI plunge and this place worked for us.
I would visit again.

Me and my girlfriend had a great dining experience a few weeks back. We grabbed a salad and a burger, all seemed extremely fresh. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium. The staff and owners greeted us and seem to have some great new ideas for the place. We will return.

We heard the food at Ref’s was excellent. We stopped for lunch and it was well worth it. We had the crab stuffed mushrooms and house salad with chicken along with their homemade bleu cheese dressing. The stuffed mushrooms were overflowing with a generous portion of crab meat. They were extremely tasty. The house salad with chicken and their homemade bleu cheese dressing was outstanding. Everything was perfect and the dressing was the best we have ever tasted. We eat out about four nights a week and enjoy bleu cheese dressing a lot. This dressing, by far, is the best we have ever tasted. The owner, a Marine, runs a first class establishment. Eat there. You will walk out full, pleased and it does not cost much to eat there. What more could you want?

We really loved the food and the service. Our server was a big friendly guy that greeted us promptly, put us at ease and couldn’t do enough to make sure we were happy. Excellent. Both of our orders came with soup and apparently they make their own daily and all from scratch. We can vouch for the French onion and chicken noodle soup, both hearty and tasting like grandma was slaving in the kitchen. Excellent. My husband loved the Pork chop dinner with grilled apples and a sweet potato. Again, excellent. I ordered the Fish and Chips and considered it way up to par with what you’d get if you ordered it in New England. Big thick chunks of very fresh batter dipped cod that tasted even better than it looked. Oh, and it was served with both homemade cocktail sauce and homemade Tartar sauce. Try to find that someplace else in south Jersey. I highly recommend it. Again, excellent. We’ll be back.

Wow kind of two places, a bar side and like a diner side. Pork chops are awesome so is the salmon wow. Good wings (the mild have a bit of kick) good French onion soup, shrimp tacos and we loved the sides. Obviously everything is made fresh and to order. About as nice a guy serving (Glen) as you’ll ever find too.

If you are looking for a great dinner choice reasonable prices clean and friendly atmosphere then Ref’s is a great choice. I have been eating breakfast at Ref’s since it open but decided to try dinner, to say the least we were not disappointed, in fact our dinner was better then some of the high end restaurants in the area including Atlantic City. We ordered salmon, lobster rolls with fresh made crinkle chips, mussels and I had to try the chili, excellent. Give Ref’s a try you will not be disappointed.

Excellent: food, service wonderful. A real gem!
We had lobster roll, Salmon, mussels, everything was very fresh, beautifully presented and very delicious. Very reasonably priced!

I came here for family breakfast. We walked in around 10am on a Sunday and were seated immediately. There were only a few other diners, but there was only one server on at the time so she was very busy.
It took our server a good 15 minutes to greet us because she got seated with several tables at once, but after that the service was prompt. She was very polite and patient, especially with the 2 kids in our party. I was really craving scrapple, so I ordered the 2 eggs and breakfast meat meal. It was a sizable portion and everything was cooked to my specifications. I liked the crispy potatoes and the scrapple was cooked just how I like it — extra crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We were a table of 6 and everything came out perfect and everyone enjoyed their meals.
Also, it looks like there is a really cool bar area on the other side of the restaurant. They seemed to have a good selection of craft beers for the area and plenty of TVs. I will definitely have to catch a game here at some point.
I really think they’d be better suited to have 2 servers on for the Sunday morning shift to make sure people are accommodated without having to wait too long.
I still prefer the food at the Shore Diner, but this is much closer and has less of a «diner» feel. I will definitely keep this on my short list of brunch spots in EHT!

Great burgers, cooked perfectly! Drinks are delicious and the atmosphere is laid back and friendly.

Looking for somewhere different for breakfast we came across Refs right here in Unilocal.I thought it was the old diner on Cardiff circle and was correct.
Not knowing what to expect when I read the «no color» sign on door I was pleasantly surprised
Clean, friendly, fast service. Three important firsts. And very good food.
We had French toast & bacon-​pancakes –turkey sausage-​egg white veggie omelette with delicious home fries (also important point) and I had oatmeal & fresh fruit bowl. Although the oatmeal was obviously instant, a bit watery, the fruit bowl was the best I’ve had anywhere in this area! Fresh berries, bananas & mandarin oranges (those canned) all in abundance. No skimping here!!! I mixed the berries and bananas in my oatmeal and I was a happy camper
And very reasonable.

Fuzzy navels and lobster rolls! Yummy! My husband is the one who actually ordered the lobster roll, but he so graciously gave me one of the two that comes with the meal after I started going crazy after one bite! I gave him half of my burger, which was good as well. The staff was kind and patient with me, because I tend to be a bit indecisive when I try out a new restaurant. We will definitely be back and we know what we’re getting! Great place!

definitely an upgrade over the restaurant/​bar that was here before. The dining room is full of comfortable booths, has a big screen TV, with about 10 – 15 seats facing it, The food was good, not much selection on the menu, but it was good food especially for a place that sells alcohol, the bar is in a separate room from the dining area. I’ve been to the bar area under the previous owner, looks about the same. Bar has a few big screen tvs with a few booths and seating also at the bar.

Stoops here tonight. Owner and staff were very friendly. Had the chicken pot pie was awesome. Never been here before but will definitely
Go back.

Great place! Small but solid selection of craft and draft beers. (The owner said he’s expanding the beer selection soon. He’s super friendly! Chatted with us about the bar.) The menu has a great selection of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, and salads. Expect to pay at least $ 10 for your entrée. They also offer more expensive options, so it’s good for either going out for casual drinks or a more fancy dinner. They have house made waffle fries that you have to try! The staff was incredibly friendly. They have a variety of fun events (trivia, karaōke, live music) throughout the week. It’s a relatively new place that’s looking forward to some new upgrades like a new bar with more taps.