My wife and I have been here multiple times and we've never been disappointed. The food is always amazing and they've even made customized items for us. The servers are always attentive and pleasant. They have also catered several events for us and some business organizations. Everything was always delicious and on time for us. If you're looking for some great Italian food, make a reservation and grab a bottle of wine and enjoy! read more

Where do I begin??? It doesn't matter if you are loyal customers or not, Dina will treat you like garbage. They are unorganized and if you say one thing Dina will scream at you. This woman takes no accountability whatsoever. The husband Rich used to be the only one interfacing with the public and it's easy to see why. Filthy bathroom, dated restaurant and food that used to be good is now mediocre and overpriced. I will never return read more

Our first dining experience at Dina's. Very cosy spot; cutely decorated. Was greeted warmly as fresh bread & butter were brought to our table. Server introduced herself, poured us a glass of our BYOB wine. Started with an app of incredible clams casino (sadly only 5 clams). Dinners were chick parm and shrimp & crab ravioli. Both portions were HUGE and the flavors were delicious. We took home as much as we ate. Will return. Highly recommend. read more

Dina's Bistro - Chicken parm with side of penne - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

I echo the recent post by Kathy M. Dina is not a nice person to deal with and takes no accountability whatsoever. I have been to this restaurant several times this past year. A few weeks ago, I called to book a private party. I spoke at length with Rich who was very pleasant to deal with. He confirmed that the date was available and that I would have the entire room for the party from 3-6pm. He asked when I would be able to come in to solidify the menu and to leave a deposit. I explained that I lived an hour and a half away but would be willing to drive down the next day to finalize everything. I met with Rich, who again was very pleasant to deal with. It was going fine until his son and Dina got involved and both refused to allow Rich to book the party from 3-6 unless I agreed to use half the room and share the other half. When I explained, I only drove down to pick the menu and leave a deposit, and that everything else was already agreed to, I received nothing but anger and rudeness in return. The only reason I was using Dina's Bistro was for the private room. If I wanted to share space with others, there are 50 better restaurants in the area that I could have chosen from. They had no respect for my time and could care less if I was ever a customer in their restaurant again. I will say that Rich felt genuinely bad that they were totally breaking their word and treating a customer this poorly. His son has a lot to learn about how to deal with people. This is why restaurants have a difficult time when the next generation gets involved. Customers need to be very aware of the type of people they are dealing with. If you looking to book any kind of party here, be careful. Their word means absolutely nothing. read more

Food and service are always good here and I would normally rate them higher, but we came here during Jersey Shore Restaurant Week. After we were seated our waitress informed us that there was a cutoff time of 6:00pm for the JSRW Specials. It turned out that the notice for this was posted on the JSRW website, and not on that of Dina's Bistro. Live and learn I guess. read more

Service was great and the place is very warm and cozy. We loved the trio appetizer with the meatballs and long hots. The sea bass special was delicious. Portions were great. read more

Our food was delicious. Cute cozy restaurant with excellent service. BYOB Make a reservation by calling their restaurant. read more

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What an amazing dining experience from start to finish! We basically tried the entire menu -- clams casino, oysters Rockefeller, bang bang shrimp, antipasto, Caesar salad, eggplant rollatini, calamari, Chilean sea bass, stuffed shrimp, surf & turf, risotto, and the best chicken parm my daughter has ever had (her new all-time favorite!). Every dish was bursting with flavor and beautifully prepared -- you can truly taste the love and care that goes into everything they make. There were seven of us and we still couldn't finish it all -- leftovers for days! Our waitress, Marcella, was absolutely wonderful -- friendly, attentive, and made us feel like family. The entire staff was warm and welcoming, which made the evening even more special. And the desserts -- wow! The homemade banana cake and pistachio cake were out of this world. They even made my birthday unforgettable with candles that lit up the night and made everyone smile. This family-owned and family-run restaurant has such heart -- you can feel it in the food, the atmosphere, and the people. I didn't even take enough pictures because we couldn't wait to dig in -- that's how good everything was! If you haven't been yet, go. Between the amazing food, the warm atmosphere, and the incredible service, this place is a true hidden gem. You'll leave full, happy, and already planning your next visit! read more

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Always soooo good Delicious and friendly service Treat you like family here! From the bread to the dessert and coffee Yummy and fresh!! read more

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Was there for a repast but the food they kept bring out was delicious and filling. Would definitely go back for a regular meal but I enjoyed what I had. read more

Dina's Bistro - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

Excellent!! Great comfortable atmosphere, BYOB! Food is top shelf ! Delicious home made Italian specialties

Although Dina's has been open for over a year this was our first visit. A nice spot on Route 37 occupying two store fronts in a small strip mall has become a popular destination for the Toms River locals as well as travelers like the four of us tonight. Cozy ambience and friendly efficient staff as well as on site owners make for an excellent dining experience. Our food was delicious and to say portions were large would be an understatement. Thursday being prime rib night three of us opted for this excellent selection and one for stuffed flounder. Along with a big plate of long hot peppers and olives. Salads and house made desserts were included with the prime rib specials. Plenty of take home here for sure. Please see the attached photos. We will return again in the near future. read more

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The best restaurant I've been to in a long time, the food is delicious and the portions are amazing, please make the time to stop by and enjoy a great evening, bring a bottle of wine too. PS the prices were reasonable too. read more

If your a foodie like myself, you will love Dina's Bistro. The owner Richie and his wife were so welcoming from the minute we walked through the door. The atmosphere is one of the most comfortable I've seen in a restaurant. The food. Steller. Gorgonzola meatballs, chicken Scarpelli and short ribs. Make sure there is room for dessert. The tiramisu was perfect. We will be back to sit with Richie again for wonderful food and great conversation. Cheryl and James. read more

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Went for special NYE dinner. The food was very good. Good flavor, good portions. Service was less than adequate, especially since they were charging $100 a head. Waited over an hour for our salads, and some ppl in our party got their entree essentially with their salad. While we were getting our entrees, someone asked the waitress a question and was told "I only have two hands." read more

February 2026 update: My wife and I have been here a number of times now and have never been disappointed! We celebrated New Year's Eve here and had another delicious dinner with outstanding service! Bella and Marcella were awesome servers and the fellow who seated us was very pleasant and welcoming! Despite the craziness of New Year's Eve, the food, ambiance, and service were awesome! Definitely, worth a try if you haven't been here yet! We'll be back! Thank you! read more

We had the calamari appetizer. It was an eight out of 10. And that was the worst part of the meal I had to beef ribs. They were unbelievable. She had a mixed seafood pasta that was out of this world. We got a pistachio cake for dessert unbelievable. read more

Food was outstanding service was top notch the dinning room decor was nicely done.we had the best meal here we will be back to try some more delicious food. Keep up the good work. read more

Dina's Bistro - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

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We came here for a special occasion in early February. Service was very welcoming and professional! They made us feel right at home. that's my best description of Dina's bistro. It reminds me of a comfortable home party. Great atmosphere! Great people! Great food! The appetizers were exceptional. We enjoyed a mix of a charcuterie board and also some calamari! it was perfect! For dinner we had pasta and chicken cutlet again perfectly seasoned the sauce was exceptional and it tasted great. Throughout the meal, the waitress staff was exceptional and very attentive to what we needed. Our entire Party all had a great time. We highly recommend for either a special occasion or with a group of friends. Magia! Gratzi Meile! read more

Excellent dining experience. Love the food and the service. Very attentive owners and staff. Great variety of dishes! read more

Dina's Bistro - Penne vodka with sausage - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

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Every thing was great ...the service, & the food. Enjoyed the option for BYOB. Highly recommend trying Dina's.

Went out with the family for dinner in a busy Friday night. Had a 6:15pm reservation for a party of 6. We were seated right away and greeted ted by Marcella who provided exceptional service. Everything we ordered was excellent..chicken parmigiana, bolognese, and penne vodka. read more

Dina's Bistro - Chicken Parmigiana - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

came here for my anniversary and it was wonderful. food was great and would definitely recommend it here! read more

Dina's Bistro - filet mignon - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

Great venue, friendly service, nice ambiance, and delicious food. The food quality and service is a fair match to the slightly elevated cost (not super expensive but definitely a higher than average cost meal). This is a great restaurant for a family dinner or even hosting a family party or special occasion with a group. Lots of seating and well spread out. Every employee from the hostess to the bread/water person to the server to the managers that came out to greet guests and check on tables were all very welcoming and made us feel like they truly appreciated our business and were genuinely interested on how we enjoyed the meal. I'll definitely be back. read more

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Absolutely amazing!!! The bolognese was so good! Adding a big scoop of ricotta cheese on top makes it!! I highly recommend! Everything I've eaten there has been spot on! They really make you feel like family when you're there. Friendly staff and go above and beyond for anything you want or need. It's very small inside but they get packed at dinner time. Be sure to make a reservation because if not you will miss on this place! read more

Family owned , very accommodating , excellent service , nice ambiance & excellent food ! My family made late lunch reservations- many of us are gluten free &/or vegan. The calamari was gluten free & upon request- most of the other entrees were made GF. The owners are so friendly & we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. (a BYOB) read more

The food was beyond our expectations! The dishes were creative and seasoned with fresh, interesting ingredients, that made the flavors outstanding! Service was attentive. read more

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Horrible Horrible!! Beet salad out of a can! Entree proteins frozen product! Way overpriced for subpar food. Don't waste your money or time here.. read more

Back at Dina's Bistro last night for dinner, always welcoming, friendly and. Absolutely delicious food. They had there $30 prefix menu (Tuesday and Wednesday) my friend ordered off of that the rice balls with LOBSTER was great for appetizer and the shrimp parmigiana was delicious, to finish off we had the homemade banana cake WOW. I didn't order of the prefix because I was dead set on the short rib with mash potatoes and asparagus (I had that 3 times now.. Richie is nothing but the best !!!!! If you haven't been here you will be aggravated that they have been here for a couple of years and you have been missing out... Thank you again Richie for great food and conversation!! read more

Dina's Bistro - Crab stuffed shrimp - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

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Great Italian restaurant. Food was excellent and abundant. Marcella our server was superb and gave us great recommendations. Very clean upscale restaurant. They have great specials on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will return as much as we can read more

ABOVE EXPECTATIONS. please try the linguine with white clam sauce and extra garlic, it is outstanding. I really really like this place. read more

Dina's Bistro - Pasta with clams - New American Near Me - Toms River, New Jersey

We just ate at Dina's Bistro. Everything was truly amazing. The service. The food. The ambience. We had 2 specials. Onion soup Chicken, perfectly cooked Porterhouse. I had the stuffed Shrimp with lobster risotto. Yum! BYOB. Make sure you make this one of your stops read more

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I am also amazed this place gets great reviews. We came here back in April with a 7:00pm reservation. Seemed like they were overbooked. We were told it would be 15 minutes. Cramped in a small waiting room and we're NOT seated until 8:00pm! Food took FOREVER to come out. We got our food after 9:30pm, unacceptable. Last night by accident we booked it again and realized it was the same place that we swore would not return. Here we are giving it another chance with a 6:30 reservation. Seated immediately. Took our order at 7:00/7:15 no problem. Food again came out almost 9:00pm! Not sure what the problem is with this place. When asked about our food to the waitress no apology and just said they have another side of the restaurant to take care of as well. Food was good, not great. Our friend got the filet mignon over cooked. My husband's chicken dish was not hot. read more

Stopped in last night for restaurant week. Our first time there. We enjoyed the food. Our server Shannon was excellent a true professional. Gave us great recommendations and wonderful service. We had a nice evening and will definitely return. Really glad to find a place with such great service and food. read more

Yum! So we actually stumbled on this little gem on a Friday nite In November. We came down last minute for the weekend and had no idea where to go but found this place on Yelp and yes we loved it too Great prices great food and friendly service We had the scallops with lobster risotto And Chilean sea bass over spinach cous cous with black olives both dishes were Packed with great flavors and the basket of bread was freshly made too! read more

Ughh! I had way better food in South Philly. The portions here are small and the quality is fair. The prices are high. My RAZOR THIN chicken topped with a RAZOR THIN eggplant was SUPPOSED to be a main course. The service was fair. The only exceptional part was the coffee. The ambiance was ok but nothing to write home about. By the time I got home I was hungry. Unless you are on a diet and need to lose weight and money, skip this place. In response to the owners statement, the only thing I can think of is that most people eat before going there! There is NO WAY someone did not bring up small portions read more

Called for reservation and was told, "Our menu online is the same one we have had for several months." So, we checked it out on Saturday morning. That evening, went to dine at Dinas and there were many changes: 1. Prices, everything at least $2. more than online, which BTW were higher than 6 months ago (eg. My previous review Crab cakes $25, online now $28, menu 6/17 $30; inflation?). 2. Items on online menu not available, not on menu 6/17, eg. Veal osso buco $38 and Rack of Lamb $39. which were actually two items that interested us. We arrived at 515 pm as reserved. Shannan was our attentive server. Ambiance pleasant. Food good. We ordered Beet Napoleon $16, Pork Osso buco $34, and Chilean Seabass $45 (price listed on menu). Everything a few dollars more than current online menu. I thought, oh well Seabass went from $43 to $45. What really irked me was on the bill (see pictures) they charged $46. for Seabass when menu in restaurant had $45. One dollar is insignificant when your total bill with tip is over $125. but it is the principle of price changing that annoyed me. We go out to eat often and are surprised Dinas keeps raising prices. read more

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I am shocked that there are any good reviews of this place. We went here the other night with my brother in law's family. 9 people in all, 5 children including a baby. We had a reservation for 6:40. They weren't prepared for us and rushed around to prepare a table. We were then seated and had to wait another half hour to even be greeted. When we asked if they could at least decant the wine, we were met with eye rolls. I then flagged that we didn't even have menus, and we had made the reservation early because we have young children with us and I was informed that the kitchen was backed up and we'd just have to wait. At 7:15 we were finally served bread and they opened the wine that we brought. We ordered our food and the waitress got parts of the order wrong despite us repeating ourselves multiple times, but by the time the food came it was too late to fix it with the kids. The one meal of the order that's worth flagging in particular, though, was my husband's order of the surf and turf, which was $80. The steak looked like it was boiled - zero grill marks. It was also a super cheap cut of meat, with butter on top that didn't melt, because the steak wasn't hot enough. The lobster tail was over cooked and rubbery and served with watered down butter. It looked so unappetizing that he passed on eating the whole thing. Which was fine, because by the time the food finally came out the baby was melting down and my husband just ate my pasta instead. We understand that the shore is busy especially near holiday weekends. We also understand rush hour and that rush hour can be particularly busy when you offer karaoke on top of it (which, by the way, we would have preferred to know in advance...we may have gone somewhere else for that simple fact alone). Regardless, I would have probably let everything above go if it wasn't for the disdain and apathy from the staff. At one point we had a manager (owner?) come to the table and I almost followed her toward the kitchen to chat with her about her attitude. It was spectacularly unprofessional. We also did note our displeasure at the end of the meal and they did nothing - not even apologize - for our experience. The bill was over $300 and it was BYOB, so that was solely for terrible food with terrible service. Hoping we can save others from making the mistake of spending time and money at this business. There are far better restaurants down the shore with good quality food and kind people who treat others with decency. read more

EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING *SERVICE *FOOD * ATMOSPHERE PERFECTION Add it to b y o b. Don't miss a chance to dine here. It's like your a famous Hollywood star They treat you with warm, welcoming respectful treatment. I'm going back tomorrow. Deb read more

Food was awesome. My Osso Buco was the best I have eaten. It was moist, tender, and savory. My wife's chicken milanese was the same. Waitstaff were very friendly and hardworking. They could use another person to improve the time to service. read more