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    Hooked Cafe

    4.4 (126 reviews)

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    HOOKED CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Dogs allowed

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    Recommended Reviews - Hooked Cafe

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    Open sign on at 6:30am, says they open at 6. Very clearly not open. All the stools are up and no one answering the phone.
    April N.

    I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what is going on with this restaurant. I was at the beach watching the sunrise and it was too cold so I decided I needed something to warm me up. Used Yelp to find restaurants near by "open now". First to come up was Hooked. I used to love this place so I was excited to visit again. Now, Yelp has them listed as opening at 6am. Google says 7am. The door of the restaurant says 6am. Their website hookedcafe.com is down. I called, no answer (there was no recording or voicemail, just the generic default robot so I can't be 100% that it was even the correct phone number for this business). They have not one, but two Instagram accounts, neither of which have been posted to since 2020. However, one post from December said they opened at 8am. So, I don't know what the story is. I pulled up at 6:30 and the "Open" and "Coffee" signs were on but the parking lot was empty and all the stools inside were up and there were no lights on or people inside. If this business is still open, they need to do better because I shouldn't have to spend 20 minutes just trying to figure out if you're open or not. Please get it together, I used to love your restaurant!

    Diana M.

    Came here for breakfast today with my girlfriends and we all loved the food. We sat outside and they have these cute little tiki tables. Service was quick and friendly. 3 of us got the egg, cheese, pork roll, rigged (hashbrown), and avocado on a roll.. It was amazing! The bread was nice and soft and all the flavors just came together to make a bangin' sandwich. It hit the spot. The iced coffee was average and the inside of the place is nothing special. However, I recommend coming here and sitting outside on a nice day. There is parking right in the plaza. Its located near the family dollar.

    Gerald S.

    This small cafe along the tracks in Belmar serves a very good breakfast with strong java and friendly service. Our french toast, corned beef hash and 3 egg omelet were all superior plates beyond the expectation of what is a closet size kitchen with a single grill. Large portions. We took part of the egg dish home. Special mention for the hash side dish which was about the best I've had the pleasure of eating. A light crunch and rich flavors, especially when dosed with a run of the table syrup. A little sweetness to mix with the salt and peppery chunks of meat, potato and onion. Great suggestion! Outside dining under dark blue umbrellas for a warmer morn beckon.

    Fish taco with gross old avocado.

    Stopped by for fish tacos based on the photos and great reviews. Unfortunately, they were old reviews. The fish is now battered and fried. The itself was pretty good but the taco shells were a flour tortilla that was cut into a triangle and put on the flat top. They were hard and dry and small. Worst part was they were served with old, bad avocado. My wife asked if they had any fresher avocado and the "chef" came out and said the avocado was fine. She argued it was just the brown part near the stem. Didn't offer to do anything.

    Kiichi R.

    Visiting the infamous Jersey Shore, girlfriend happens to choose here. What an excellent choice! I am a huge supporter of local eateries and boy does this place shine bright like a diamond. Not an overly large place, with room for 20 inside and another 20 outside. Menu has a variety of typical breakfast items as well as specialty sandwiches with an emphasis on seafood. We had the fish tacos and fried clam sandwich - all of which were SUPERB! I am already "hooked" on this place to come back. Also, you MUST have the homemade Key Lime Pie - to dieeeeee for! Additionally, Peggy, who is the co-owner with her husband, was a darling of a server/conversationalist. She seems to be the hub of all the locals as she seemed to know everyone that walked through the door. Have any questions about the town? She can guide you in the right direction! The Shore is a winner! And foodies, make it a point to check it out!

    Short stack with egg and bacon
    Linda M.

    Great breakfast spot in Belmar plaza. Right of the train tracks. I had the buttermilk pancakes with an egg and bacon. Bacon was crisped up nice and pancakes were fluffy with a distinct buttermilk flavor. Coffee was average. Best seating is outside.

    Egg cheese pork roll hash brown sandwich
    Janelle L.

    Came for breakfast with my girlfriends after going out for our one friends bachelorette get-together. My one friend created her own sandwich and I got the same. It was egg, cheese, pork roll, hash brown, and avocado. It was sooooo good and I was so stuffed after eating the whole sandwich, but I could have done without the hash brown. Hash browns have that greasy taste too it and. bait of an after taste for me....but the sandwich was still delicious. The atmosphere was very cute with hut umbrellas on the outside seating. Downfall is the inside. If you need to use the bathroom you have to go to the back of their kitchen area and it smelled so bad walking through that area. They also use the bathroom as storage of soda and such on shelves close to the ceiling. I have watched out particles float through the air when you flush so I found this to be not so clean to store items in here. Other than the bathroom this place is a must try. We all enjoyed our dishes!!

    the outside of the restaurant
    Sue T.

    Had a wonderful breakfast here with my daughter. It is located at the train station in Belmar. The place is small with 4 picnic tables outside under umbrellas. I looked inside & received a very warm greeting from the gentlemen behind the counter. I noted a few stools at a counter with several editions of the Daily Times sitting on the counter, presumably for patrons to read. It was a glorious day so we opted to sit outside. We were greeted by a very personable young woman almost immediately who took our drink orders. She came out several times to take our orders but we were taking our time & just enjoying the company. She was not pushy in the least & had no problem with our procrastinating. I finally decided on pork roll, egg & cheese on a roll with hash browns (my guilty pleasure). The sandwich came out quickly & hot & was quite tasty. My only negative was that the hash browns came out on the sandwich, which I did not expect. I would have preferred them on the side. My daughter however loved the hash browns on her sandwich. I will definitely return to this little breakfast nook.

    Seafood chowder
    Win C.

    Cute cafe by Belmar Train Station. We came here to eat before going to the Octoberfest Beer Festival nearby. Owner was a pleasure to talk to and the food is pretty good. My favorite dish was the broiled flounder sandwich. It had a bite of a kick to it but the flavor was amazing. The old bay grilled shrimp and mango wrap was good and I heard great feedback about their burger. Seafood Chowder had a lot of seafood in it, but i found it to be a little bit more on the salty side. Great prices and awesome service!

    Taylor Ham and cheese with home fries
    Gina C.

    Amazing Breakfast Spot! Taylor Ham and cheese was crisp and the roll was delicious!!! Corned beef hash was the best I've ever had and my friends enjoyed the hash brown and home fries.

    French Toast!
    Melinda M.

    Always fresh and delicious! Great friendly service! Open early for breakfast, Hooked is a great spot to enjoy breakfast or brunch!

    Breakfast menu

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    10 years ago

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    7 years ago

    Great place , love the Breakfast hang , small but not too small , nice owners , more room outside too, call in to go orders too , Peace

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    8 years ago

    Great little place. Good omelette, fast and polite service, local crowd, good prices.

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    11 years ago

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    10 years ago

    Love this place. The food is delicious and the people are soooooo nice. AND they delivered my breakfast.

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    7 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    10 years ago

    Best fish tacos I've ever had, hands down! Service was excellent, fun vibe for a casual Friday night dinner!

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    8 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    Peggy R.

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    10 years ago

    Come here often for breakfast love it! Delicious food and wonderful service! Highly recommend...

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    8 years ago

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    10 years ago

    Fantastic service. Fish tacos were supreme and fried clam sandwich was awesome. Fresh and not tough. Highly recommended.

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    9 years ago

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    9 years ago

    Food was delicious however not much seating and long wait time. For me it was worth it since I'm in no rush today.

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    Peggy R.

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    11 years ago

    Very good food. Great breakfast wraps. Good fresh fish options too and prices are very reasonable.

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    Peggy R.

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    Page 3 of 4

    Ask the Community - Hooked Cafe

    I know this use to be called the Express Station a few years ago. Are there new owners or is this just a new name?

    Hi Kirsten. We purchased the Express Station from our friend, Richard, 3 years ago when he was ready to retire.

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    4.0(93 reviews)
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    DREAMY SPACE. DREAMY FOOD. DOG FRIENDLY…read more BRADLEY BEACH: Hatch 44 Cafe might just be one of the dreamiest breakfast & brunch spots we have discovered! Located right in the heart of Bradley Beach, Hatch 44 Cafe is an oasis of beautiful vibes, incredible food, amazing drinks, and genuinely wonderful service. BRIE APPROVES! Small dogs are welcome inside All dogs are welcome on the beautifully decorated, shaded patio Monday-Thursday Happy Hour: 8-10 AM with specials including lattes, cappuccinos, loose tea, coffee & even a juice-only cocktail! And the FOOD?! We had the incredible "This Chick Is Vegan" and "Lox Benny," but the real showstopper was the Dulce Plantain Pudding Latte -- complete with a crème brûlée plantain right on top! We grabbed seats at the coffee bar and got to watch barista extraordinaire Bethany work her magic, keeping the caffeine flowing while chatting with us. She was the absolute sweetest and Brie was OBSESSED. She even busted out her signature attention-getting dance!

    Heard great things about this place so came on a Sunday around 11:30 am to see if it was worth the…read morehype. When I walked into the restaurant, there were 6 people standing ahead of us at the hostess stand. Tables were emptying out but no one even acknowledged our existence for - no exaggeration- 15 minutes. We made conversation with the people around us that it was almost comical that no one even said they'd be with us in a moment. It was odd and we almost left and walked to The Buttered Biscuit down the street, but we stuck it out. Once we were seated we were given a tiny placard to scan the menu with our phones. Service after being seated was surprisingly consistent after our long wait time to be seated with no acknowledgment from staff. I have a gluten allergy and the online menu did not have specific information showing what was GF or GFA. When I asked the sever about it she rattled off some GF options but of course I couldn't remember all of them, having them marked on the menu would be so helpful. I ordered the Birria Omelette but chose to have the tortilla strips on the side since they were in a shared fryer. The dressing for the side salad was light and tangy. The omelette was supposed to be French style but wasn't creamy in the middle. Birria meat was tender and kind of overwhelmed the overall taste of the omelette. I also had an iced decaf mocha latte and it was good, not too sweet and pretty much coffee flavored chocolate milk. My dining companion had the classic French toast, which looked delicious and he really enjoyed it but I didn't taste it because "gluten." Ambiance is really nice, tables are well spaced and the restaurant is well decorated. Not sure if I'll be back but glad I tried it!

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    The James Bradley - breakfast

    The James Bradley

    4.8(13 reviews)
    1.6 mi

    Absolutely perfect from check in to check out. Hotel is conveniently located near the beach, but…read morealso near the main street and public transit. The hotel is beautiful and it felt like every single piece of furniture and decorations were chosen intentionally. Perhaps the best part of our stay was the phenomenal, friendly and attentive service from manager Emily. Truly a gem of a person, and made sure everything we needed was available. Would also like to highlight that Emily reached out even before our stay begun to ask if we needed anything upon arrival or had any questions. All requests were met and Emily was prompt to answer all questions. I would highly recommend The James Bradley to anyone thinking of visiting. If you're looking for a quick vacation out of this city, this is the place, so easy to get to, the town has wonderful restaurants/bars and the beach was beautiful (even if it was too cold to hang out). Can't wait to find a reason to return.

    The lobby and dining area, porch and sitting areas are beautiful. Our room was also quite lovely…read morebut could've used some more amenities like perhaps a place to sit and eat as we ordered food, utensils (we ended up getting some from the front desk) and a trash can? I'm all for minimalism but there needs to be functionality behind it. As for breakfast; more gluten free options please! And the soft boiled eggs we chose were either cooked too hard or way undercooked. The yogurt and fruit was delicious! Our server was great.

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    Christmas at The James Bradley

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    The Promenade Avon - Chicken fingers and fries

    The Promenade Avon

    2.4(81 reviews)
    1.3 mi

    Arrived with the family and the establishment was fine. It was pretty empty which should have…read moreserved as a clue of what was to come. The service was lacking. Our server was not sure of the menu and the specials. And although it fairly empty, the servers seemed lost. We ordered our meals. They were out of calamari. How does that happen? We put in our order. Got a pitcher of some sort of cocktail. It was completely watered down. Tasted like nothing. There were a few pieces of raspberry floating around. They too tasted like nothing. So we switched to wine. Appetizers came out. The house salad was ok. Nothing to write home about. The clams casino were something else ... and not in a good way. The taste was bland and the consistency was that of rubber balls. There was no easy way to get them down. The mussels - blah. Dinner was pretty much the same. Their special fish of the day was a red snapper. Totally unrecognizable as red snapper. They messed up my son's order and we had to wait. He said his steak was ok. I got the lobster roll poached in butter. Seems like it was poached for a few days straight. It was dry and stringy. There was a VERY mild taste of lobster. But mostly, and oddly enough, it tasted like popcorn. I would venture to guess the lukewarm corn nibblets and the fact the lobster was drowned in butter brought that phenomenon about. Although most of us could not get through our dishes, we definitely turned down the take home boxes. We decided to not even attempt to order dessert and left the establishment. To summarize: the establishment as a restaurant has potential- great views of the ocean. The food-- abysmal. The service - almost as abysmal as the food. The prices - way, way overpriced. Terrible experience. SKIP IT!

    Hello Darlings!…read more Another day, another review. You might be thinking that Your Host and his hubby get out a bunch. Trust me, it's a mere coincidence this weekend but to be clear, I think I'll be cooking in next weekend. Be that as it may, Hubby decided that we should lunch at what was once known as the Avon Pavilion, now known as The Promenade...ooh-la-la! Before we get to the deets of this here review, this spot has undergone a bevy of changes during Your Host's 61 years on the planet. The Promenade is about the nicest to date. ATMOSPHERE: It's really pretty, clean, and offers stunning views of the boardwalk and beachfront. In fact, it's located right smack dab on the boardwalk at the Woodland Avenue beach entrance. It easily converts to an indoor-outdoor space and is quite casual since it draws the beach goers. Additionally, there is a take-out counter right behind the restaurant itself for those desiring to chow down on grub while sunning themselves on the beach or on one of the benches on the boardwalk. The staff is nicely attired and quite friendly. FARE: As we've only had lunch here, the offerings are things like burgers, salads, and sandwiches. We did see that they have a breakfast menu so at some point we'll check that out. Food quality is quite good (it was smash burgers for us) and you can't really go wrong here. The price point is moderate and won't necessarily break the bank. The only negative that both Your Host and the hubby had is that the side comes with potato chips instead of fries. For what it's worth, this is a nice place, and, in my view, they could have made a better decision about that. While we did order a side of fries to share, our burgers came out and by the time we had each consumed half of them, the server told us that the fries were on their way. At that point we simply told them to cancel the fries. That was the only gaffe, not a huge issue but worth a mention. DRINK REFILLS: Soft drink and iced tea refills are free! Yay! Hey Columns: perhaps you might consider this? Your porch is nice I'll admit but freebies on soft drink refills are better SERVICE; our server was a polite, accommodating young man. Generally speaking, all of the staff members that we encountered were polite and cheerful...just like Your Host. Most of the staff are young adults / teens and it's great to see young people gaining experience in dealing with the public and providing good customer service. OVERALL: this is a great spot to check out if you're enjoying a day at the beach in Avon and want to enjoy a nice sit-down lunch. We haven't had dinner here yet, but rest assured, darlings that a separate review will be forthcoming as that develops. Gotta keep the reviews coming...Jonathan would agree! Enjoy darlings! Your Host

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    The Promenade Avon - Welcome

    Welcome

    The Promenade Avon - Ribs

    Ribs

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    The outside

    Hooked Cafe - cafes - Updated September 2026

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