Had the most perfect girls night here! Small little restaurant but great service! Super accommodating staff and our server, Luca gave us GREAT recommendations. I also love that it's BYOB. Makes the place more homey? But in a good way! I got the mushroom risotto. And WOW. It was delicious, the seafood there looked amazing as well! read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Risotto Tre Funghi - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

Concealed inside the ground floor of a condo complex (?!) is a wonderful surprise- delightful Italian cuisine in an unpretentious setting. Dwith a larger group and made a reservation in advance. Were seated without delay and Service was not overly solicitous- which may be reflected in the other reviews here. Main dishes came at different times for people- but this to me was not a damnable offense since the food served was high quality. Did not see a formal waiting area- this could be a problem if you're with a large group with children. We had kids with us but know that this is not a place where coloring books & balloons are provided. A distinctly Euro feel with the somewhat relaxed service of Italia. read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Special: lobster ravioli with sweet crab & shrimp - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

Great food. Here is current menu. Service terrific . An Avalon staple! Dine in take out and a byob. read more

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Great service and decent food. Their chicken Fontana was delicious but I wish it came with a side of pasta or potato/vegetable. Nice ambiance, parking was easy, and it's a BYOB. I would suggest more signage as it's easy to miss. Would definitely go back! read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Pollo alla Fontana - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

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Small, out of the way restaurant but food is very good. BYOB is great! We go several times per year.

We've been here before and the food was pretty good, so we came back. For starters...the place has about 70 seats and 3 employees! No kidding. The waiter is also the host and the line cook is also the busboy sometimes server. People consistently wait in the lobby for 20-30 minutes with no one helping them. It's actually kind of comical to watch everyone look around in amazement. One person can not handle the workload of seating people, opening bottles of wine, informing of specials, taking orders, serving drinks, bussing tables, serving dinners, refilling drinks, packing to go containers, dropping checks, and running credit cards. The fried calamari was way overcooked! The dinners are actually good. The deserts are also decent. Keep your expectations very low and you might not be disappointed. read more

An absolute must!!!! This restaurant is awesome, and I'm writing a review to update and clarify some things. First off, currently the restaurant is open and does have outdoor seating. The seating location is actually great and we got to watch the sunset while eating dinner. It was fantastic. It is BYOB so make sure you bring a drink with you if you care for one. I booked us for 9 people over the phone. I looked at the yelp and google reviews after and didn't love the lack of pictures/stars, but once we were at the restaurant, I was very impressed. There were several delicious-sounding specials including burrata with prosciutto and melon, and artichokes wrapped in prosciutto in a delicious sauce. All the food we got was AMAZING and the portions were perfect, not giant but big enough. The kitchen is far from where the seating is, so the waitresses and waitors were hurrying back and forth to make sure they were addressing all needs. They were polite and able to provide everything we needed when we needed it. Definitely recommend, and nice that it's a little out of the way so you're not right in the downtown part of Avalon with tons of other ppl walking around. read more

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Ask for Mario! He's genuinely happy to make your experience here wonderful. We had the grilled calamari appetizer followed by the Seafood Risotto. Seafood pescatore sand clams vongole. We were very pleased with our choices and our dining experience. read more

Had the worst experience tonight at this place, unfortunately we didn't get the opportunity to eat here because of how terrible they run their reservations logistics. We had a large party reservation and after waiting over a half hour (with 0 insight as to how long the wait would be and no apology or acknowledgement) we left. Same thing that was happening to us was happening to 3 other parties waiting in the lobby- one woman told us she had been waiting nearly an hour despite having a reservation. The host was nowhere to be found and just avoiding addressing the wondering patrons. Poor way to treat customers, super unfortunate! read more

Wasn't very fancy for the price of a BYOB ... Food was sub par as the pasta was cooked in the ocean water tasted the beach like ... The service was not satisfactory , only came to our table two times in @45 mins plus our drinks weren't being refilled either until we finished dinner??? Hostess brought us to table that had a huge blowing air duct above us , not really happy of being a Pittsburgh steeler fan sitting in the cold air for 45 mins when it was 72 outside ??? read more

They are open and eating in the parking lot. I have to hand it to these little restuarant's, they are making it work. La Vecchia Fontana had wonderful food despite the fact that they were in 'Unusual Times'. They wait staff was understaffed and running around like crazy. My only complaint was the water...tap and a bit brackish. I started with the sautéed octopus- tasty, well prepared and seasoned to perfection. Next was mushroom risotto. Very good, actually more than I could eat. The mushrooms appeared to be porchini with, possibly morrels. Mama K started with artichoke hearts and progressed to gnocchi & with a light cream sauce. She was pleased! Glammom K also did the artichoke hearts and moved to devour Bronzino w/angel hair pasta. Wine: since it's byob, we brought our own: 2016 Meyer family vineyard- fluffy billows cab 2017 J Lohr hilltop cab Worth it but wait until it's cooler - (7/31) read more

As I was winding up a 2-week vacation in Avalon NJ during the COVID-19 pandemic summer of 2020, we booked a a reservation for 5 at this Italian Restaurant in a resort turned condos. We'd been to the site several times before, but long enough ago that it may have been different ownership. So we were skeptical. Also, during this vacation we inly cooked at home or had takeout. And our home-cooked meals were far better than the takeout which sometimes crested $300 for family of 5!! Anyway, we were immediately impressed by the table spacing in the new parking lot dining room. And as guests arrived, we were also impressed by the hustle of the short-staffed team. Having just had a subpar takeout Italian experience at a *similar* restaurant on the island, we asked our waiter enough questions to be classified as "picky". But as experienced diners we were just trying to order within the parameters of the sweet spot for the day. The end result was hands-down the best meal of vacation 2020! Perfectly cooked shrimp and lobster over linguine. Excellent mushroom risotto. Fragrant Spaghetti a la Fontana. Deliciously tender grilled octopus with the sweetest red onions. Also the staff was friendly, fast-moving and smiled continuously (with their eyes and voices--they all wore masks) while essentially running a marathon. There were some pauses in the service due the minimal staff, number of tables and the overall situation. But the overall result was excellent. Seriously the best food we had on 7mi island!! Give them a try on the north end near the inlet. You won't be disappointed. And the bill was considerably under $300 for a hungry party of 5 including dessert. read more

The food is amazing but the service is a hot mess. Great authentic Italian, but literally nothing comes out as it should. The servers are completely lost. The bread was rock hard and the bill was a complete mess. Wait staff seemed overwhelmed and does not want to take any accommodations for customers or even take requests. It's a shame because the food is sooo good. But just a horrible dining experience read more

Probably one of the best restaurants for Italian in the Avalon/Stone Harbor area. I've never had a pasta I didn't like, especially any of the dishes with fresh seafood. Their burrata special with grilled eggplant was also delicious. It is BYOB and there is a parking lot! Hard to come by in the area. read more

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Came here after not being able to get our table at Polpo - loved it! Penne vodka was delicious and the service was great. They did their best to accommodate our large group of 9 last minute. Definitely will be back! read more

La Vecchia Fontana - penne vodka with shrimp added - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

We (6 of us) had an excellent meal here. The food was fresh and delicious; included osso buco, rigatoni arrosto (lobster), gnocchi, calamari, we loved it all. Nice atmosphere, more intimate than its sister restaurant Polpo. Service was great. Highly recommend! read more

Delicious Italian restaurant with a fun ambience, wonderful waitstaff, delicious food, and pretty table ware! Visited here with my family and I had the Pomodoro Fritto, Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli Special, and the Limoncello Mascarpone Cake. Everything was delicious, and our waiter was very friendly and funny! This was my second time here, and both times were wonderful visits. Will definitely be back! read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Pomodoro Fritto - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

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No side dishes are included with the meal. Ordered one dish of broccoli rabe and one side dish of sautéed spinach . When the check came, we were charged $17.90 for each. Questioned the waiter regarding the price. He explained the overcharge was a mistake, that he accidentally "pushed the button" twice. He then presented a "corrected" version... this time the broccoli rabe was $10, and the spinach was $9. Once again, the math did not add up. Confronted the waiter once again, and his explanation was .. there was no explanation! Not going back here. Felt ripped off! read more

Excellent food. Got carryout. Memorable Italian and I've eaten some great Italian. Osso Bucco

I don't care how good the food is, it's not worth it. We had 7:45 reservations but weren't seated until 8:20. It's incredibly noisy, so you have to lean in and yell to have a conversation. We ordered the eggplant appetizer, and had the pleasure of biting into pieces of walnut shell. Our entrees were good, but my dad ordered chicken piccata and they served him chicken francaise. Our waiter was very nice, but this place is clearly not managed well. Do not recommend. read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

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Went here for the outdoor seating during Covid and it was fantastic!! The servers were professional and really made sure to keep their distance, and there was plenty of space between other tables as well. The food was absolutely outstanding, easily one of the best meals I've ever had here in Avalon. I seriously plan on eating/ ordering food here at least once a week now, I loved the food that much! read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Penne alla Vodka - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

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BYOB. Worth the trip to enjoy great food in a throw back to 70s like environment. But authentic. No nonsense service and staff. Professional staff. One word of advice, if you want a special ask the price. We had the special pasta and then learned it was almost 2x price of menus pastas. Anyway, check it out. read more

horrible experience. ordered through doordash and restaurant waited over 1.5 hours to then refuse the driver when he arrived. offered no apologies. DO NOT patronize this place. Shady, unprofessional operation. complete garbage read more

The food was good. The service was ok. As soon as we got there we were seated in the worst table at the place. For the first 40 minutes we sat next to a table completely blinded by the sun. 3/4 of us had to hold menus up to block the sun because it was so uncomfortable. At one point the AC went off and it was disgusting hot in there. Then we had to wait 25 min, and request twice, to get a bucket of ice for our wine. By the time it got there, my wine was warm from sitting in the heat. All they have to do to fix the problem is get a shade. Such an easy fix That said, the food was pretty good. But due to the extreme discomfort we experienced, none of us would be going back. read more

We have eaten here twice. It is a Avalon staple for us. Everything is tasty and good. I do not balk at the price compared to some other places like Avalon brew pub. The food is really good and just like their sister location in Sea Isle. read more

Number 1 item. BYOB!!! Hard to believe other reviewers don't say this or put so deep into the review. This restaurant is in an old hotel now a condo I believe. As such it it retains the characteristics of a typical hotel restaurant mediocre food with high prices. We had Bolognese and veal française. The veal was fine but the pasta dish was over salted. The wait staff was very nice and did a good service. read more

Below average. Take out arrived cold, without bread and with a piece of tinfoil in the gnocchi. Not rushing back.

Had a reservation. No hostess. Finally seated. Waited 30 minutes. Waiter took care of other tables that came in after us. We questioned it and he was arrogant told us he would be right back and disappeared. read more

We had a large group Saturday night , the entrance is located in a hotel lobby that off season is closed so in our case the dark lobby and lack of a hostess was a little confusing. However if you can get by that the food was worth the initial impression. Caesar salads were great , we shared a gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce which was really nice for a starter course. Entrees included chicken w lemon butter wine sauce -awesome, veal special with shrimp and light lemon sauce was very good and the old standby Chicken Parmesan was really nice , great sauce and fork tender meat. The 3 waiters for the small restaurant did a great job handling the crowd albeit a few missed silverware settings. Give it a try in Avalon BYOB too !! read more

You can have this place... subpar Italian with a manager who thinks a 10 top can be turned in 1.5 hrs. Double booked again and they tried to tell us they backed us up 15 min even though we booked 1 month in advance. Frozen calamari which was mush, and risotto that was not anywhere near the classic creamy firm dish. Vodka penne.... blahahaha Good luck. read more

Made a reservation for a Saturday night via Open Table, called and cancelled the reservation on Thursday due to a change in our flight schedule from airline. The hostess told me it was cancelled. On the following Monday I was charged a $100 no show fee. I called the restaurant immediately and the woman who answered said they would take care of it. 3 days went by and no refund so I called again, this time the woman said I needed to call earlier in the day and speak to a manager. I called the following day and spoke to the man saying he was the manager and he claimed he needed to contact Open Table to reverse the charge. I contacted Open Table and they said the restaurant charged it and the restaurant has to refund it. I called him back again (this is the 5th or 6th time I've contacted the restaurant at this point) and he said he would refund it. I called every week and it was not done. Finally I disputed it with my credit card company and they refunded the $100. HOWEVER THE RESTAURANT DISPUTED IT BACK! I have tried emailing the restaurant, the restaurant group, etc to no response. I am so disappointed as we had frequented all of their restaurants on Sea Isle and in Avalon and this customer service is SO dishonest and shady! We are there every summer and we will never visit another of their restaurants. Thankfully there are so many other good spots to frequent! read more

great food and date-night ambience. friendly service, but they do not serve alcohol so BYOB.

Have been twice in past month and both times service was poor, poor, poor (hope reigns supreme :) . In each instance, had to request service several times. Including host, a grand total of a staff of 3 to seat, serve, bus for an absolutely packed and noisy house. To be fair, the 2 servers were hustling but overwhelmed. Got it that servers/bus staff leave after the summer BUT knowing that happens every year, need to address the issue! BYOB is nice (bring your own corkscrew if you want bottles opened in a timely fashion), no ice bucket offered or brought to the table. Food is definitely good--veal, seafood pescatore, arugula & beet salad. Pricey but not out of line w/area. Off season it is a captive audience, a shame to take advantage of it. read more

Been vacationing on the island for over 50 years but never tried this restaurant. We needed a last minute reservation and this was one of the few restaurants available so we took a chance (all our usual go-to restaurants were fully booked). So glad we did as our group of four had a great meal - excellent service, excellent food. The risotto with seafood and shrimp dishes were excellent. No question that we will be back again this summer. So glad we tried it - and really enjoyed it. read more

Dinner was very good however when we got the bill we were appalled to find out that the specials were double the prices on the menu. An arugula salad with apples, goat cheese, and walnuts was 15.95 Prices of specials should be told to customers especially when they are so much higher than regular items. The specials were not worth their value. read more

La Vecchia Fontana - Special salad: arugula, two walnuts,dressing, crumbles of goat cheese,few slices of apples =double the price of a regular salad? - Italian Near Me - Avalon, New Jersey

Well my meal was very underwhelming. First the Caesar salad was nothing special. Small for the price and the dressing tasted like it was from a bottle off the supermarket shelf. I ordered the Veal Marsala. Meat was tough. Virtually zero flavor. It was like they forgot the salt or used cheap Marsala wine. Almost like there was no foundation to the Marsala sauce. Specials were $41.95. Yeh right. I would not order them just on principle. So I ordered off the menu. The portions on the specials also looked small for $41.00. My companions said they were good, not great. Maybe people don't care about price or quality, but I do. I will not be returning. The only good thing about this place is that there is a parking lot. read more

We had a brunch for 32 at Le Vecchia. Their new Chef, Ciro did a great job of planning the menu. He was easy to work with and very accommodating. The food was delicious! I particularly liked the Chicken Marsala and the Salmon Amalfi. The fruit salad was terrific and beautifully presented. The food was abundant and our guests were very complementary. We went home happy and look forward to our next Chef Ciro meal. read more

Summer of 2021 when most places are over crowded, no staff and poor food this place has found a way to deliver. The service was good and food bordering on excellent. Everything we ordered was on point; calamari, fried tomato with burrata and pesto, Caesar salad, veal Fontana, pasta w/ seafood. Not to mention excellent Italian bread ordered in from AC. We are going back. read more

The staff at La Vecchia Fontana could not be more rude. Beyond rude. I have never felt so unwelcome at any restaurant and this was after spending $250 in an hour and ten minutes for a party of five AT A BYOB. In this time, we were rushed three courses, and then at the 1:10 mark a staff member approached us and asked to leave BEFORE our coffee and wine were even finished. Apparently, they over-scheduled their restaurant and had several people waiting in the lobby and since we paid our bill, we were expendable. In fact, they crammed so many tables in the restaurant that it was nearly impossible to get to your table and once we arrived the table, it was placed next to the door so the sunlight was so blinding that they put a table cloth over the door. And with so many tables, It was so loud you could barely hear the people at your own table. Exactly the ambiance you want for a $250 meal. But mostly, I will never get over how rude they were. We will never go back. read more

3 stars is generous but I'll give it anyway. We were an 11 top booked months in advance. Like others said, it was BYOB. No ice buckets. The appetizers were very good (mozzarella, calamari, caprese). Caesar salad was really good. Entrees were hit and miss. My rigatoni bolognese was amazing (very garlicky), the chicken parm was ok but the chicken picatta was over cooked and my husband and sister's veal was terrible. My sister sent hers back but my husband made the mistake of eating his anyway and spent the night dealing with food poisoning. The waiter had to be asked to remove my sister's veal and was pretty clear that he was annoyed about it. The bread was good. Like another reviewer said, it is a VERY loud place. Very difficult to have a conversation even with the person sitting next to you. I probably wouldn't go back. read more