Belmont Shore Stroll & Savor

Update: at the final Stroll and Savor (the only other one I went to, so it may have changed earlier) George’s dropped their plate back to 4 tickets and upped their portion sizes. Good move George’s!

Well, I come down here in the humid, hot & disgusting weather to stroll & savor.
Since my Chocolate Stroll was a 3 Star train wreck
that & this based on my primarily relevant to a customer experience was more of the same, to a degree.
Business owners were trying to set up, get organized, make things aesthetically appealing to most of you, instead of appreciation, understanding and how the weather might just make it a little time consuming, hot, and difficult-​you did NOT!
Instead of understanding, being patient & human, you chose to exhibit some of what I pen here!
And, some the ticket sellers were mobbed & pushed (many to the ground) by the drunken denizens from local libation establishments!
YOU, yes you people that were harassing them shouting:
«Get it together, you’ll never make it in your business with this type of slow service!»
«What gives, no free samples while we wait?!»
«Out of my way»
«No, you get out of my way, we were here first!»
«Hey, don’t you talk to my girl like that!”-display of chicken wings now all over the side walk due to testosterone induced, how insecure heterosexual males attempt to impress their women ensued!
«Hurry up, I bought my tickets early, and you’re not ready?!»
This was occurring up one side of the street & down the other, I just gave you some highlights that make a reality TV show look like a legit TV program!
Oh, did I mention the parents who should have condom machines in their bedrooms & their spawn, either in strollers that were like the semi trucks that you cannot pass travelling on a 2 lane high way through Nebraska, because you cannot see around them or, the spawn on foot pushing, shoving, grabbing and whining as they steeped on my feet & others feet, all the while messing with the displays?
These business owners were truly doing their best to get set up for a what was supposed to be a nice event, but instead this stroll turned into one of the worst exposures for me & others to some of the most affluent White Trash I have ever experienced.
As for the rest of us who were NOT like the 15% of you I speak of based on my primarily relevant to a customer experience, we made the best of it, yet I did one thing better, I sold my tickets to a group of sub-​humans who were harassing some staff from George’s Greek Café and headed home.
The only reason I gave this poor excuse for nature’s carelessness in human behavior 2 Stars, is for the hard working business owners, their staff and other individuals who did their best to make this event a success.
YOU people of whom I speak at this event, I swear from me:

I absolutely love going here cause it’s basically a street food buffet. You buy tickets $ 10 per 12 tickets to be exact. Then walk at Long Beach 2^nd St and sample food from different restaurants. Almost every known restaurant in 2^nd St have a booth in front of them to serve you samplers. Each samplers cost an average of 3 tickets so not bad. They have live music almost everywhere you go in the strip and the samplers have big portions. You really make your money’s worth. My favorite booth to go is definitely Natraj Indian Cuisine cause of their samosa with tamarin sauce; Starbucks for a beverage grande sample for 1 ticket; and every pastry place their is for dessert. Hey you have yourself a dinner for $ 10 and trust me you will have tickets left.

My grandkids and I really enjoyed their dessert Stroll & Savior a few months ago! They said it was the best day of their lives! Lol. One of the best was Sweet Jill’s!

Lots of fun strolling down 2^nd street, getting to taste restaurants and dessert shops that I wouldn’t normally try but are super delicious!
$ 10 cash will get you a booklet of 12 tickets which you can go around and spend! Stroll & Savor occurs a couple nights each month during the summer!
My favorite places:
— Nick’s on 2^nd — ALWAYS has the best food! I’ve never been to Nick’s before Stroll & Savor because it’s too pricey for my budget, but their food is AMAZING! Their butter cake is TO DIE FOR! They also did a fried chicken & waffles before — yum!
— Sweet Jill’s Bakery — OH MY. Gotta get here early otherwise they run out of those amazingly large cinnamon rolls! I always have to get this when I’m at Stroll & Savor.
— Panama Joe’s — Last night they had a white chicken mole enchilada and a bacon jalapeño mac & cheese for 3 tickets — that enchilada was soooo amazing! It was small but because it was sooo yummy I didn’t mind!
— Simmyz — Brussel sprouts SOOO GOOOD
— The Shore Pubic House — Just opened where BJ’s used to be. They had some good food: sliders, skewers, wings, and ceviche. It was a long line all night!

It’s a tragedy Stroll & Savor has been happening for a while and it was my first time this week! Arrived around 5:45 and parked on a resedential street. There were a couple spots open. but for those getting off work late, it might be a real pain to find parking. Tickets are sold at random tables outside Chase or we got ours near Polly’s Gourmet Coffee.
Thai Gourmet = 3 tickets spent. Tried the pad thai and pad see ew (shared half/​half with a friend). Personally enjoyed the pad see ew better but wish it had meat in it instead of just tofu! Saw Phucket Thai have chicken pad see ew if you want meat in yours. Owner was friendly. She overheard we wanted to split half ours each and gave us another bowl to do so.
Natraj Cuisine of India = 2 tickets spent. For what they gave, this deal to me was a steal! I got an order of naan and something similar to chicken marsala. Naan paired perfectly with it, although it was almost too burnt and overly cripsy.
Starbucks = 1 ticket spent. Passion tea /​green tea /​iced coffee. DEAL! You’re going to need to hydrate. The thirst was real yesterday.
Shannons = 5 tickets spent. Instead of the regular tri-​tip sandwich, opted for just the tri-​tip, with extra sauce. They give a good amount of meat (even cut it up for you) and sauce! The tri-​tip wasn’t THE BEST but i mean for the price you really can’t beat it. The sauce though. pretty mesmerizing.
Powell’s Sweet Shoppe = 1 ticket spent. UMM cute little ice cream cones with rasberry sorbet?! SOLD. Not overly sweet, perfect consistency.
Overall, if you spend wisely you can get a good amount of items and fill yourself up. Towards the middle of the night, it gets a little more crowded and lines are a little longer but they also go quick. Gets a little difficult to walk on the sidewalk due to people congestion! Great place just to take the family /​significant other /​friend.

Love stroll and savor! It’s such a great way to experience foods all over second street. There’s so many options here and it’s great to have a chance to try a few at once.
It’s $ 10 for 12 tickets. Plenty of restaurants participate and each one has different «prices» for different plates. Some restaurants offer large portions for a small amount of tickets, others are the opposite. There’s so much to choose from and I think there’s really something for everyone.
I would recommend staying clear from sushi and chain restaurants. You can go to a Jamba Juice or BJs anytime. But when there’s great one of a kind restaurants on second street why would you go to a chain? Use the tickets to experience these awesome places :) as for the sushi. It’s sitting outside in dishes for a few hours as they hand you rolls or whatever you order. Sushi should be as fresh as possible and this is not the place to try it.
Get out there and experience this event! It’s wonderful in the long summer nights.

i’ve been Strollin’ & Savorin’ for 4 years now-can’t do any better with $ 10! $ 10 will get you a book of 12 tickets which you can use at various participating restaurants. I think this year, there are over 40 participating restaurants/​shops along 2^nd Street including some newer spots that have recently opened up. «How could I possibly get full off of only 12 tickets,» you ask? Trust me when I tell you that unless you are an overeater with a ginormous appetite and stomach, you WILL be full by the time you’ve used about 5 – 6 tickets. You can use the rest for desserts that you can take home. Here are some helpful tips that I learned over the years:
1) Do NOT bring a huge ass stroller to this event. In fact, do not bring ANY strollers to tote your child/​dog. Just because it’s called «STROLL & Savor» doesn’t mean you should take it literally. You will not only piss off the masses by trying to push your cumbersome stroller along 2^nd Street as they are trying to enjoy their food on the sidewalks, you will only make it harder on yourself to get through the crowds with your child in tow. I suggest you wear your baby in a carrier. Just do it.
2) DO get there when it starts-5:30pm, if you can manage to do so with work. This event gets crowded QUICKLY, and you will be waiting in a long line at the most popular spots and have trouble making your way through the crowds as the evening progresses.
3) DO head to Sweet Jills before you do anything else-​yes, it’s a PITA to carry around your dessert while you are S&S, but they sell out of their delicious and not-​so-​nutritious desserts if you wait too long.
4) DO save a few tickets for Frosted Cupcakery-​one ticket for one mini cupcake. Salted Caramel cupcake? Yes, please!
5) DO go to George’s for the best bang for your buck. 4 tickets will get you a plate of beef/​lamb gyro, two small pieces of pita bread, hummus, tzatziki (or however you spell that), greek salad and a spanikopita. Caveat: Although I do feel like this is still the best deal for S&S, they have really gotten chintzy with their portion sizes. I guess they realized they were giving away too much food over the past few years!
6) Do NOT waste 9 tickets on Open Sesame. I love Open Sesame, I really do, but I would rather pay $$ for a real meal there than waste 9 tickets on what you get. Definitely the worst deal for the amount of tickets required.
7) DO expect different portion sizes depending on where you go. Some places are very generous, while others are super small.
8) DO a full lap around both sides of 2^nd Street and see what is available before you start spending tickets-​you will avoid the inevitable «what do I use these last few tickets on?!» anxiety if you know what is out there. Of course, this is the Type A/​OCD in me.
9) DO bring a reusable tote or bag for you to carry your to-​go desserts in, otherwise it’s a real PITA to have to juggle that as you are wading through the crowds and trying to eat your food without getting it all over yourself.
10) DO check out different restaurants and share plates with a friend-​you will be able to try a wide variety of foods this way
11) DO avoid any and all sushi along the way-​unless you have a death wish and would like to be bowing to the porcelin god all night
12) Do NOT be that asshole who pushes his/​her way through and cuts in line-​relax. This is supposed to be a fun event. It’s not a race. Sheesh.
Enjoy!

Let’s STROLL and SAVOR some good food!
This is probably one of ZZZZZ-​BEST things to EVVAAA happen in Belmont Shore! I am sure they copied off some other city but who FRICKIN cares! It is much like the Taste of Newport in Newport Beach!
I used to live down here and it was always a blast when this was happening! During the summer it seems to run every month. So if you miss one you’re bound to be able to catch another one if you can wait a few weeks! The tickets are around $ 10 for a book of 12 tickets and each restaurant will ONLY EXCEPT TICKETS! But if it is toward the end and you don’t have tickets they will sometimes take cash if they are trying to get rid of the food and NOT throw it away! Just a little note! You can get your tickets at the ticket table which is usually right in front of the Chase Bank on Nieto! Sometimes they will have a couple ticket stations set up! But that one is always there.
Parking is HORRENDOUS because it’s a beach city so parking is ALWAYS HORRENDOUS! It’s the price one pays to live at the beach! I would just park at home and walk down super convenient when you live down here! Be prepared to pay with coins/​debit or credit card at the machines! There is NO where to get change once you are down here unless you are prepared to buy something. You can always try your luck at the neighborhood parking or you can park in the lot down by the beach and walk up to 2^nd street!
The streets are SUPER DUPER crowded so probably better to leave Fido at home even if this is a dog friendly city! You wouldn’t want your pet accidentally kicked or frightened because of the crowds of people or loud noises or worse have him bite someone because he is frightened and trying to protect you! But if you do bring your furry friend keep him leashed because the police have no problem in giving out tickets for unleashed pets and you can probably score some treats for your pooch as well. It is a dog friendly little city.
Depending on the time you come it can REALLY get shoulder to shoulder and you spend most of your time standing in line at the more popular restaurants and walking sideways so other people can pass along with yourself. Just be patient it is a REALLY NICE EVENT aside from the mass of people that descend on the area like locus but it is an EXCELLENT way to try a new restaurant at the SHORE!
In the winter time shops that do not do so well shut their doors and by Spring time a new one is in its place! So unless your favorite restaurant is doing well you may not find it during the STROLL and SAVOR in the summer! It can be a bit of a revolving door down here with shops and restaurants! And the rent on this street is ASTRONOMICAL!
Living down here was great when this would happen because I had usually already tried every place so I was able to just walk right in a get a seat without waiting! It REALLY makes dining out great if you want to eat an actual sit down meal because there is no waiting and many of the restaurants don’t have people inside! Sometimes you can still sit out on the patio area and people watch as they walk by with plates and cups of this and that from different restaurants trying to juggle and balance everything like they are part of Cirque Du Soleil! It’s can be pretty funny!
Other food type events are the «Chocolate Festival» held in February where you can purchase different chocolate treats from the different shops. I think this is like the 9^th or 10^th year this event has been going on. There is a Chocolate Contest for the best cakes, pies, cookies, brownies etc. which anyone can enter with an entry from.
But if you’re looking to try something new and fun the STROLL and SAVOR is held once a month from May until September for two days each! So there is plenty of time for you to try some REALLY AWESOME RESTAURANTS! I have NEVA EVVAA had food from a restaurant down here that was not TOP NOTCH! Even the places that are no longer down there! Sniff, sniff!

I’ve been here twice, and both times the food has been pretty good! It’s such a good deal for $ 10, you get 12 tickets. There are a lot of participating restaurants, even franchises such as Starbucks and yogurtland. The best deal was Georges Greek, for 4 tickets you get a whole plate with different items. Starbucks was doing one ticket for their tall tea drinks and Frosted was doing one ticket for their mini cupcakes. Overall, this event is a great time for friends and families to come out and sample different restaurants enjoy what Belmont Shore has to offer.