We were looking for a new restaurant while in Spring Lake, and Amelia's By the Sea came up. We…read moredecided to try it out, and we were glad we did! We chose to sit in the enclosed veranda at the front of the restaurant; Amelia's is located on Ocean Ave. and has some beautiful views! We started with a few cocktails - my partner got the Lavender Martini, which she said was very good. I got the Pineapple Margarita, which was excellent! I saw meatballs on the menu - I always order meatballs when having Italian cuisine (Amelia's represents itself as '...a blend of old school Italian and contemporary continental cuisine..'. They were some of the best meatballs I've ever had. Amelia's blends pork, veal and beef for its meatballs - they're tender and seasoned perfectly! The marinara was excellent and there was a dollop of ricotta to stir into the sauce. It was an epic appetizer! For our entrees, I ordered Wild Caught Shrimp Oreganata with mixed vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes. The shrimp were butterflied and quickly grilled - they had a plump, tender interior with a grilled exterior, in a delicious sauce. The potatoes were very good, and while I'm not a big fan of the mixed vegetables, they were good. My partner ordered one of the specials - the Lobster Capelinni. - 6 oz. of lobster on top of angel hair pasta with a delicious tomato-brandy sauce! We couldn't believe how much lobster was on the pasta - it was tender and very tasty! After 2 excellent entrees, we decided to try the desserts. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. I ordered the Carrot Cake (one of my favorite desserts) and my partner ordered the Chocolate Cake, one of her favorite desserts! My 'carrot cake' wasn't a cake but a conglomeration of icing and thick layers of 'fudge-like' cake. Visions of a fluffy, rich cake with freshly grated carrots and 'warm spices' flew out the window! My partners chocolate cake was dry and not moist at all - I've had Duncan Hines chocolate cakes that tasted better!! While the desserts were a big disappointment, the meal was excellent and we will return to Amelia's on our next visit to Spring Lake.

Anything good about Amelia's was drowned out by a "Wall of Sound" aural experience that would have…read moredone Led Zeppelin proud. This was by far the loudest "fine dining" venue I've ever visited. I don't usually whip out sound meter apps in the middle of dinner, but the noise level here was so extraordinary that I was moved to check it out: Average sound level at our corner table in the main dining room was 83 db, with peaks to 89. That's a shout-to-be-heard sound level, equivalent to using a blow dryer or standing at the bar in a very loud nightclub. The table and conversation noise was exacerbated by a wall-mounted speaker that pumped out bassy, thumpy, club-style dance music that was completely inappropriate to the venue. Other than the noise: The table was set with dirty water glasses that had to be sent back. The service was polite but hectic. The server said, "I don't mean to rush you, but I want to get your order in before the large party next to you arrives." I guess it was considerate of him to anticipate a slowdown and want to get our orders in, but in a well-managed dining room this shouldn't have been an issue. He ran off with our dinner order before the one member of our party who wanted a cocktail had had a chance to order it -- she had to "collar" him later to put in the drink order. The food quality was mixed. One of our party thought the lobster bisque was very good, and all thought the fried calamari appetizer passable in terms of tenderness and flavor. I had the filet mignon. It was a good piece of steak, but cooked closer to medium-well than to the medium-rare I'd ordered. It was also a bit difficult to manage with the blunt table knife supplied - a steak knife would have helped. The accompanying spinach was lukewarm; I got the sense that the plate had "rested" a few minutes too long before being brought out to the table. Desserts were reasonably good, but not great. Total time spent was just about two hours, and the place showed definite signs that the staff were eager to close down and go home when we left at about 10:30. Mercifully, someone turned off the music.

Food and atmosphere was good (though indoors I won't say it was anything extraordinary). If you're…read morea foodie, there is better, but for NJ cuisine, it's standard for "high end" What was disappointing to me was: the fact that I was there enjoying a nice steak dinner with colleagues, and I was saving half of my steak for my husband to take home. It had a side of roasted elephant garlic, which my husband absolutely loves, so I couldn't NOT save it for him.But the thing is, they took it away without asking me if I wanted to pack it or not. And I brought this up, not once, not twice but -- 3 times-- with the wait staff. When I asked one of the waiters what the manager said, He replied " I'm not going to lie, I don't remember" Before I left, I asked my server if I could speak to the manager-- The manager finally met with me. He said that he was "trying to find you to give you my card" because "he did hear about the incident and he feels really bad." Mind you, even after I spoke to the first person about this incident, we were there for close to another 30 minutes (at least). Sitting at our table, having dessert and drinks . No one came back to address the situation, no one offered to make another plate of food for my husband to make up for the food they accidentally threw away. He offered his card, but I declined because I will not be going back. Honestly, poor service and optics for a high-end restaurant, at best. If you're used to high-end haute cuisine and have an eclectic palette, I'd skip this restaurant. If you want "the usual" nice-enough restaurant with good with a decent-enough ambience-- this is a good-enough place. For me, a place like that-- with "standard fare" cuisine, should have above average service. That's where they fell short.

Our third time there. Each time we enjoyed it…read more We had a terrific waitress The food was excellent. The venue is beautiful. This for me the ambience the setting the service... Fantastic. A must.

Amazing fresh and innovative food! Love the seasonal menus as well as the "staples". Never had a…read morebad meal here. Portions are quite generous. Special shout out to the pastry chef. The boos orange Olive oil cake was to DIE for. With ginger snap ice cream - *chefs kiss* Top that off with our amazing waitress we had a fabulous night!

Great experience overall. Menu was the best I've seen in a long long time. From specials to apps…read moreto pasta to entrees I'd go down the line and order every last one em but you gotta focus up !! Oysters dressed like it's a black tie event with caviar and pomegranate. Chicken Savoy is the greatest chicken dish and should enter competitions. BYOB I'm with a liquor store next to the restaurant makes it easy. Check this place out. Looking forward to coming back.

A really cute Italian restaurant. They use ingredients from many local farms, fishermen and…read morebusinesses. The ingredients tasted really fresh! They served fresh bread in the beginning. The bread was delicious. The fig and beet salad was really refreshing! My favorite was the Caesar salad. I loved the dressing and enjoyed the little anchovies on top. I would definitely get it again to share. We ordered the carbonara and tagliatelle which which were good. They had nice flavor and we enjoyed the pasta, but was a little underwhelming. We also ordered the halibut dish to share which was delicious. It was moist and flavorful. For dessert, we ordered the Zeppolis to share. It was a nice treat, but we would probably order another dessert, like the evoo cake. It is a little cramped inside and can be really loud. It was hard to hear our party of four when talking with each other. I would definitely come back to try more of their local meat entrees and pasta dishes.

Truly disappointed was very, very excited to try this place for the first time as a Buddy was…read morebragging about the pork chop. Needless to say I ordered the cod with what was supposed to be a hassleback potato. The Cod had absolutely no flavor whatsoever. I gave it a one star just because presentation was beautiful, but that potato was so dry and overcooked no flavor whatsoever completely shocked at how bad it was. Now onto the real horror story my wife's pasta supposed to be a lemon infused. It tasted like it came from the garbage of the sea. It was so disgustingly potent. I don't know how anyone could eat it. My wife took a few bites and she's not one to complain, so she just took it home and threw it away but what a waste of money and time. Then the kicker John, the general manager decided maybe because we didn't order appetizers or desserts just $200 with the 4 of us for entrees . He told us you had a nice meal. Have a great night and basically told us we had to leave without telling us we had to leave. I don't think we had been there more than an hour. Very uncomfortable I will never be back personally. I've talked to other people who said the quality is definitely gone down because they're trying to do too much with too little. Very disappointing for such an expensive bill.

Amazing !! Chef Bass is magic ! The staff is great. Kind and…read morehelpful to all your needs. Be sure to bring you favorite drinks. They will keep it cold for U. Enjoy !!

Six of us went to dinner here, under new ownership. I cannot rave enough about this place, and I'm…read morein an extremely extremely picky eater :-) We had for appetizers bacon wrapped dates and crabcake. Phenomenal. For my entrée I had the strip steak with Frites. I'm not typically a steak person, but this was amazing. You could literally cut it with a fork. Delicious. My husband had the pan seared scallops and said they were wonderful. Our other friends had fish dishes and said they were top-notch. The desserts were delicious. We had banana Foster, flourless chocolate cake, cheesecake and crème brûlée.Flawless. Chef Bass came over to our table and was so friendly and lovely. After we ate all of this mountain of food, he found out that my husband loves pasta Bolognese. He ran into the kitchen and insisted my husband try some lol it was great. Just a wonderful experience as far as service and delicious food and wonderful caring ownership.

Planned to go to Judy's for a date night with wifey. Made a reservation over two weeks in advance…read morefor an early Saturday night dinner. Arranged the babysitter to watch the monster. Etc, etc. A little over a week before, received a call saying they couldn't honor the reservation due to a "booking system oversight" with Resy. They first offered to move my reservation to Friday or Sunday, which didn't fit our schedule. I requested a different time on Saturday night, and was told they were not accepting guests at all that night. Then they offered to move us to a completely different restaurant a few towns away, as in not the beach town we were hoping for. The whole experience was shady, and I don't buy the "booking oversight". It just seems like my reservation was bumped for another party or event. It would've been better to simply be honest. I understand the efforts to still get my money, but if you won't honor the original reservation to begin with, why would I trust you enough to make another one? At the very least, compensation for the disappointing experience would have been nice - drinks on the house, free dessert, anything really. I wanted to go here to try food by the up and coming Chef Viana, but it seems he cares more about being on the Food Network than his actual customers.

Judy's is everything you want and more for a perfect dining experience. I highly recommend arriving…read moreearly to your reservation so you can also experience Harry's, the dark and sophisticated cocktail lounge directly attached to the restaurant. Here we were given a small welcome drink immediately upon arrival, which set the mood & expectations for the rest of the night. Our drinks were unique and absolutely fantastic. The manager let us know our table was ready, and carried our drinks over and took our coats. Judy's is bright and beautiful, and I loved the contrast between the two concepts. The menu is brilliant and each dish we ordered was incredible. An absolute MUST order is the latke. Another standout was the lumache seafood pasta, which had the most perfect, light yet creamy sauce. Throughout the night, service was nothing short of perfect. Special shout-out to Emily and Mike for making the night truly special. All of the staff is kind and funny and really make you feel like family. Judy and Harry's hits all the right notes and easily made a spot for itself amongst my highly recommended restaurants.

We held my daughter's babay shower there yesterday and it was a huge success! Everything was…read moreabsolutely perfect! The venue, the food, and the staff were all amazing! I cannot say enough about the attentiveness, care, and genuine concern for the success of our party that was exhibited by every member of the staff. They went above and beyond and it was truly appreciated. Superior service!!!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

This place is soo good! I cannot say enough good things about the food. We sat at the bar with a…read morecouple of friends and had dinner on a Sunday night. We ate so good and the vibe was everything. The view overlooks the water. I definitely recommend this place & cannot wait to go back. Our waiters were awesome. Matt made the espresso martinis perfect. We also had wine and beer. All cold and perfect!

Went for lunch today with my family and we liked it!…read more Pretty cool ambience, good service and good food. I liked the music they were playing, too... The Fish Tacos were good, though they were just a bit warm as if they may have been sitting for a bit, and not under a heat lamp. My daughter liked her taco bowl with beyond meat... I very much enjoyed the Frozen Strawberry Daquiri. I wouldn't say it would be a favorite of mine, but I would go back if I lived in the area.

Great service and food that was OK. The place was nicely decorated and had a good vibe. I guess…read morethey prepackaged everything because we asked if we could have a small dish of clams for our little granddaughter who just discovered them, and we were told they don't have clams. But you do, I said, it's on the menu in the seafood boil. The waitress went to the kitchen and return saying we don't sell them separately. It's a seafood place for crying out loud. So we ordered the seafood boil as an appetizer and took the clams out. I ordered the fish tacos, which were just OK. The worst thing about the dish was the bland rice and the black beans that were served apparently right out of the can with no seasoning. You could've at least thrown some spices in them. I had to ask for a side of salsa to give the beans some flavor We had several appetizers and quite a large group. The waitress handled the group very well.