The Local Mainstay Bar & Lounge

"Go the bar food or the seafood route at this restaurant at the start of Cookman coming from the beach. There are plenty of outdoor tables as well as an expansive dining room with floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows for excellent streetscape people watching. For dinner, consider raw bar items, fish and chips, sausage and clam stew, or linguine with clam sauce." - Celia Buckley, Melissa McCart

"If we were to discuss seafood at the Shore, you’re certainly going to think about dockside dining, plastic lobster bibs, and overly aggressive seagulls. And while you wouldn’t be wrong as you drive through the beach towns of Monmouth County, The Bonney Read is not that. Rather, it’s a tavern-style, seafood-focused restaurant that does a few specific fish dishes really well.  Sure, it’s a worthy spot for a beer and to shoot some raw oysters and clams, but we’d suggest checking out their fish tacos, which are large and fried and crispy with a cool crunchy slaw, as well as their fish and chips and crab dip. The Bonney Read is a great option for lunch while checking out the shops on Cookman Ave., or a late afternoon snack or early dinner after the beach before you blow out of town. At brunch, be sure to check out the kitschy oversized Ultimate Bloody Mary, served in a beer mug and overflowing with seemingly half of the raw bar in each glass. " - Michael Sinatra

"If we were to discuss seafood at the Shore, you’re certainly going to think about dockside dining, plastic lobster bibs, and overly aggressive seagulls. And while you wouldn’t be wrong as you drive through the beach towns of Monmouth County, The Bonney Read is not that. Rather, it’s a tavern-style, seafood-focused restaurant that does a few specific fish dishes really well. Sure, it’s a worthy spot for a beer and to shoot some raw oysters and clams, but we’d suggest checking out their fish tacos, which are large and fried and crispy with a cool crunchy slaw, as well as their fish and chips and crab dip. The Bonney Read is a great option for lunch while checking out the shops on Cookman Ave., or a late afternoon snack or early dinner after the beach before you blow out of town. At brunch, be sure to check out the kitschy oversized Ultimate Bloody Mary, served in a beer mug and overflowing with seemingly half of the raw bar in each glass." - Michael Sinatra

"If we were to discuss seafood at the Shore, you’re certainly going to think about dockside dining, plastic lobster bibs, and overly aggressive seagulls. And while you wouldn’t be wrong as you drive through the beach towns of Monmouth County, The Bonney Read is not that. Rather, it’s a tavern-style, seafood-focused restaurant that does a few specific fish dishes really well.  Sure, it’s a worthy spot for a beer and to shoot some raw oysters and clams, but we’d suggest checking out their fish tacos, which are large and fried and crispy with a cool crunchy slaw, as well as their fish and chips and crab dip. The Bonney Read is a great option for lunch while checking out the shops on Cookman Ave., or a late afternoon snack or early dinner after the beach before you blow out of town. At brunch, be sure to check out the kitschy oversized Ultimate Bloody Mary, served in a beer mug and overflowing with seemingly half of the raw bar in each glass. " - Michael Sinatra

"There are few seafood restaurants as good as the Bonney Read in New Jersey or New York. It’s located in downtown Asbury Park in a corner space, with plenty of outdoor seating spread along its frontage on bustling Cookman Avenue. Big and extra briny, the raw oysters were harvested nearby in Barnegat Bay, and they don’t get any fresher." - Robert Sietsema