Val's Tavern is a roomy spacious restaurant with a vibrant bar scene. The waitress was actually the bartender too. We ordered some holiday drink, a Sugarplum Martini, and a tasty beer. Very delicious. Pizza was our main course. The pizza is thin and very delicious. It's a good place for a quiet meal or a big group get together. read more

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My wife and I recently dined here for our anniversary, and it did not meet our expectations for a number of reasons. Spicy Margarita - Unfortunately, it was more sweet than spicy. Adding fresh sliced jalapeños would help deliver the heat and flavor that a spicy margarita should have. Fried Calamari Appetizer - The calamari tasted like a store-bought product rather than freshly prepared. The portion was also surprisingly small, especially considering it was served with two fairly large containers of dipping sauce. Surf and Turf - The steak tenderloins were overcooked, and the shrimp were also on the overcooked side. The scallops, however, were cooked well. Overall, the dish lacked seasoning and could have benefited from more salt and flavor. Eggplant Parmesan - The pasta was undercooked, and the eggplant was sliced so thin that the breading overwhelmed the actual eggplant flavor. On a positive note, the sauce had good flavor and was the highlight of the dish. Service - Our server was friendly and pleasant, but rarely checked on our table throughout the meal. The food runners also seemed disengaged; when we thanked them, they simply stared at the table without acknowledging us. Additionally, one server's attire appeared unprofessional for the dining environment, which detracted from the overall experience. Overall, I would not recommend this place for more than bar food (Pizza, burgers, & beers). read more

After a few years of living in the area, finally got around to trying Val's. It's a very "neighborhood type"establishment filled with both families and singles at the bar watching the current games. They do have live music but we were there for an early dinner. We tried their burger and the eggplant fries. Both were good. However the burger did not move to number one in my book. I still have my favourite in Rumson. Their pies looked good- thin crust. Service was friendly. They have been around a long time and will continue to be a popular local spot. read more

Val's Tavern - Interior - Pizza Near Me - Rumson, New Jersey

Went here one night during a visit with a friend that lives in town. Nice size bar with high top and low tables. They had live music ... which was a little loud but after a short amount of time the owner adjusted it and it was nice. The menu was great - lots of options and something for everyone. One of the chefs, Michael came out to check on us and give some suggestions which was very nice. We also got the artichoke appetizer but I didn't get a picture- amazing!! I would definitely go back! read more

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Came in on a Friday around 2pm for a quick lunch after the beach. Place seemed understaffed, so understandably the server wasn't too attentive but the place itself was more or less empty. Drinks weren't refilled, we weren't checked up on once after we ordered until the manager brought us a to go box. Food was mediocre at best, wouldn't recommend. read more

Megan our waitress was wonderful. Helpful and sweet. Food was delicious. Thai chili wings were amazing. So good. The beet and goat cheese salad with arugula was yummy with a side of pizza!! Ha!! They went together perfectly. Since it was our first visit we had the plain small pie. It was plenty. We also had the crispy calamari. Our belief is that when trying a new place go with classics so that you test against the baseline. VALS succeeded! Will go back read more

Val's Tavern - Thai chili wings what's left - Pizza Near Me - Rumson, New Jersey

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We came here after having Saturday night dinner at Ristorante Giorgia to hear live music. There was a very good solo guitarist, he even did interpretations of old Led Zeppelin songs. We met Chris, one of the owners and a very nice host. I liked that they had some many craft beers on tap. One of my favorites is the Carton Brewing Boat beer from nearby Atlantic Highlands. I think I had 2 1/2 thanks to Jeff the bartender. And my friend had a few Espresso Martinis mixed up by Celeste. The staff and overall atmosphere were great. I hope to be back someday soon... read more

Great vibe at an affordable price. Hard to find in this area! Your typical American bar food, the best!

After being "greeted" by a not so friendly host we were seated among throngs of children, all running around while the unaware parents sat around talking to each other. We went specifically for the famous lobster pie which had a weird taste combination. Not what was expected. Neither was the lipstick stained glass at the table either. I ordered the chicken cabrese panini which was very tasty. The server was friendly and accommodating. But...considering this tavern is in haughty taughty Rumson, the experience was a lot less then expected. read more

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Shout out to Val's Tavern in Rumson. Great place to grab a bite and listen to live music on the weekends. It's also a great place to have event's! There is a private room upstairs and we recently had had a great event there, my 60th birthday and a surprise wedding. The food was great, thanks to Chef Courtney. The staff was fantastic, very attentive and accommodating to what we wanted. Thanks to Timea & John for the planning and hosting us, great drinks, great food, great friends and family, the party was a hit and everyone had a great time. I highly recommend Vals for a private event. read more

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Great food, pleasant atmosphere but awful bartender. It was a hassle trying to get a drink every time. He had a terrible attitude and the owner and manager watched while he was a complete pain to deal with. He asked if I wanted to box my pizza up and he took in the kitchen and ate a slice. The pizza went back with 5 slices and came back out with 4. A place with good food and a nice atmosphere should have a friendly, accommodating bar tender especially in that area. Instead they have a grumpy old man who gets drunker by the hour. The place has gone downhill and I will not go back nor recommend to anyone. read more

Cute place, good service, absolutely awful food. Had an overcooked burger and a salad that literally came out of the plastic bag and tasted like garbage read more

Another box checked off of our list of places to visit in the Sea bright NJ area. Val's Tavern is a local Tavern situated in Rumson NJ since 1942. A small group of us visited Val's because one of our favorite bands was playing this past Saturday night. Val's has live music every weekend and on this particular evening local favorite Ten String was on. The place was very crowded on the first floor, the bar is surrounded by TV's and there are high top and dinner tables surrounding the area. There are two patios for outdoor dining that I noticed. We were offered a table on the 2nd floor which was great as it was away from the large crowds and we could still hear the music and watch it he NFL playoffs on the TV's upstairs. Reservations are not available. We went with basic Jersey shore bar fare, chicken wings, pizza, salads, crab cakes, tuna bites, burgers etc. The dressings were very good as was the pizza. The tuna bites weren't overly seasoned but the Wasabi cream sauce that accompanied them was fantastic. The service was very good all evening. If there is one gripe, their Soda mix was not good. I am not sure if it was a bad batch or simply the brand they use. I changed from a mixed cocktail to Whiskey straight up because of it. It was great to have a venue to visit for live music in the off season. As you should know this part of the shore has live music venues open just about every night of the week from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Looking forward to my next visit. read more

Val's Tavern - View from the back of the first floor - Pizza Near Me - Rumson, New Jersey

Maybe the staff was tired from a long Memorial Weekend Friday, but our bartender Bruce showed zero enthusiasm taking our order, preparing our order, or serving our order. C'mon guys, you're in the service industry! The cocktails were prepared home bartender style - pouring a little of this and that into a glass. No cocktail shakers or garnishes. With this observation, I think that beer would be the better bet at Val's. Perhaps we'll give it another shot and sample the live music. But for our first foray at Val's, it was an underwhelming experience. read more

Had a great lunch at Val's. Service and food was terrific. The ambiance looks like it was done recently and we all enjoyed our lunch. read more

Ate here the other day and had over cooked parm sandwich and bland pizza! They definitely favor regulars as well to the detriment of other diners . Multiple times I've ordered delivery (via Slice) and had my meals stolen. Val's does nothing to help. Not returning! Barnacle Bills will be seeing more of us!! read more

Grossly overpriced. Very tiny portions. French onion soup was like dish water. Save your money definitely don't go there.

Got the wrong order, over priced. Food was just okay, really cant understand any hype over this place. Wayyyy too expensive for the quality of food read more

I wrote a review of Vals awhile back and I now have to eat crow. We ordered from Vals (DoorDash) because we keep hearing how different it is and we're happy we listened. We got a meatball and ricotta pizza and an order of wings . The pizza was delicious and the wings were crispy and had lots of flavor! read more

Amazing cuisine. Mark Byrne's live performance was fantastic and splendid. Great service from waitstaff. Reasonably priced for quality and quantity of meals. Wonderful experience. Definitely our new go-to spot at the shore. read more

Food is so inconsistent. Over priced. Pizza sucks. Bar scene can be fun but they desperately need to improve food

Walked in -seated nearly immediately. Hosts did a great job with the hospitality! Shea was our server and she was so pleasant - matched the great food. Had the tuna bites to start. A must for an app! Very tasty. The blackened chicken Alfredo was fab! Can't wait to come back soon. I typically get a burger but glad I tried something different finally Thanks Shea. You were wonderful! read more

Great food , great atmosphere, pleasant place to take the family! Staff is terrific as well, love this place.

Food was Excellent. Bleu cheese burger was awesome. Tom Vincent was the highlight of the night; awesome performance. Nailed Bowie's space odyssey, not to mention his rendition of Andre Bocceli. read more

Fantastic Friday afternoon lunch. Best fried pickles in town and top notch salad pizza. Lovely staff to boot! Will be back very soon. read more

Val's Tavern - Salad pizza - Pizza Near Me - Rumson, New Jersey

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3.5 stars... I ordered via Door Dash so I can't attest to the restaurant itself. The food was good-not spectacular, but good enough that I ordered twice from Val's. The artichoke was well prepared and flavorful. We also ordered a pizza and burger. Pizza was pretty good, but I probably wouldn't reorder it. Burger was a good size and well prepared. read more

Arrived into town late in the evening and placed an online to go order for Beet Salad, Garlic Puffs, and Val's Meatballs. The ordering process was super simple and the meal was prepared quickly. The salad came with tons of pine nuts, which I'm not mad about. I did wish there was more goat cheese because those bites had a fuller flavor. I was excited by the thought of garlic puffs because garlic, bread, and cheese are my favorite foods, however these lacked any garlic taste and half of them were burnt while the other half was inconsistently cooked. The accompanying marinara sauce was good but nothing super special and did not save the flavor of the puff. The meatballs (2) were the size of baseballs and were a nice texture. They crumbled a bit, but I didn't mind it as it felt like the food was melting in my mouth. In a bind, Val's Tavern will kept you fed with decent food, but if you're looking for robust flavors you will have to order differently or go elsewhere. If you place a takeout order, there is a separate space in the back to grab your food. read more

Ordered a lobster pizza and had it delivered through the Slice app. Also ordered eggplant fires and they were all delicious! My mum wasn't as impressed but I will definitely order the lobster pizza again when I am back in NJ! read more

Stopped by for dinner after a day on the beach. Super friendly staff, amazing apps and dinner and great atmosphere. Wish I had this place closer to where I live, but will definitely stop by again next time I'm in the area. read more

My husband and I just experienced one of the worst service and meal experiences we've had in awhile. We understand the b.s. surrounding the pandemic (even though it's now September 2021), but the lack of care by the two individuals that served our table was beyond appalling. They took our order brought out food and that was it. They didn't even follow up with a "how's everything here?" Comment. Completely disregarded the fact we needed drinks so asked for water at the very end of the meal, when we were almost choking on our food since it was so dry. At this time there was only one other table that hadbasically finished their meal so no excuse for lack of service. As to the food, started with chicken fingers that we shared, which were quite good, but then came the crab cake sandwich, mostly breading and wayyy over fried, basically flavorless. Big disappointment there. The pizza was so so at best, we ordered a meatball, onion and ricotta pizza which was mostly onion, very little meatballs and were charged $20 for a small thin crust cardboard tasting pie. Sad to see Val's has fallen to such a disgrace my husband's been coming for years. What the heck happened? Too bad the new renovations didn't fix the food. read more

We were 6 people for dinner last night. We ordered the spicey shrimp for an appetizer. Much to our surprise, it came out with 5 measly shrimp for $16. The pizzas were fine, but the shrimp were ridiculous. Should have just sent them back read more

Went to Val's for dinner with 2 friends on Saturday Aug. 19 at 6:30 PM. As soon as we sat down, a band started playing that was way, way to loud for a small room with a low ceiling. They were putting out enough watts to play MetLife Stadium. You could not talk to the person next to you without screaming in their ear. The servers could not hear you to take your order. We complained to the server, the hostess and the bartender. They all said they had multiple requests to turn down the music and told " the manager." We asked to be moved outside to the terrace. Nothing was done. The table next to us made the same complaints. We will never go back to Val's again. read more

I ordered some food for the first time here. They blew past my expectations! Great customer service and The food was beyond amazing! The owners are so nice and so was the staff. I would definitely recommend this place to anybody! I will be eating here more often! They have a variety of options from delicious and fried to extremely healthy alternatives. Seriously the best Caesar salad I have EVER had. (I recommend it with shrimp). My friend also loved their grilled chicken sandwich. They have a great lunch specials! read more

I cannot thank Vals Tavern enough for helping to plan my mom's surprise 60th birthday party. We used the upstairs private room with our own bar and balcony. John, the event planner, was attentive from the very beginning, and provided helpful information throughout the process of planning. It was such a pleasure speaking with John and working with him. We owe the success of the party to John and his caring staff. Jeff, the bartender, ensured each of our guests were always taken care of, along with being so polite and friendly. Courtney, the manager, was fantastic to work with. She ensured everything ran smoothly for our party. They were all beyond professional while being such kindhearted people to be working with throughout the night. Our guests raved about the food and customer service. Everyone went above and beyond to make our night one to never forget, and I owe it all to Val's Tavern for such a wonderful party. read more

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This was my first time at Val's Tavern and it won't be my last! I celebrated my 60th birthday yesterday there with family and friends. They have a private event room upstairs which was very cozy and well lite. There was no need to go downstairs. Everything you needed was right there. Private bathrooms, balcony and stairs leading to the parking lot. Hats off to John, the party planner, who is amazing. And to the 2 bartenders...they greeted me and were so attentive to detail. No one ever had an empty drink. Every good party should have good food, however, my party had Great food. They offer many different packages. When you go, please order the flank steak, eggplant parm and tortellini Alfredo . They also provide a TV that you can upload pictures, which added to the personal touch. Thank you ,Val's Tavern , for making mine 60th birthday so amazing. read more

What happened to Vals? The food was always well prepared and service attentive. Tonight the eggplant was burnt and the margarita pizza the worse i have ever had. read more

We stop by every time we're in town. The bar staff is quick and kind. A great place to watch a game. Live music on weekends. The asian sesame wings are my favorite. We weren't very impressed with their famous lobster pie. We've ordered it twice and it's been so burnt every time. But, those wings are always worth the return. read more

Love the burger.... Would try again and sorry about all this bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla

The remodeling is really great. Please can you get the pizza figured out. Some nights it's good some nights it's bad. This is been my experience for a long time here. I just ordered a small special pizza. It came out as I ordered well done. However, it supposed to have Sausage and peppers. Well it came out well done as ordered, but it had and I counted 7 pieces of sausage on it. Literally one per slice. How can you charge me 19+ plus for a pizza that has basically nothing on it. Somebody please take a look at the QC measures in this place!!!! The owners need to get this corrected! read more

Okay, I am truly hesitant to give a negative review to any restaurant during covid. Everyone in the industry is struggling. What ultimately convinced me to do so is the terrible treatment of the staff who did not deserve this. I've worked in Rumson; I know what I'm getting myself into when I eat there. The customer base is largely entitled, drunk, obnoxious people who were born on third base and stayed on third base. Fine. I'd never blame an establishment for its customer base. This was beyond the pale. A group of nine 13-14 year old boys came into Val's and took up two tables in the middle of the restaurant. A kid immediately mentions they can do whatever they want because they know the owner. Turns out he's the owner's son. They scream, beat the table with their hands, throw food, and treat their poor server (who was not much older than them) terribly. The owner's son goes into the kitchen to get them food numerous times which seems unhygienic. They actually order takeout from some other restaurant to eat there. All the while, the diners around them are forced to tolerate this nonsense. Even more ridiculous, a few adults who are clearly parents of some of the other kids come over but do nothing to curb the behavior. The whole debacle completely ruined our experience. The ultimate reason I'm writing this review is that the staff was amazing and did not deserve this. Our server was great, the obnoxious kids' server was great. The busboys were attentive and helpful. The manager was attentive. I didn't want to complain about the boys in the moment because I didn't want the staff to be put in an awkward position with the owner. Surely, the restaurant owner has a house with a basement. Can't those kids eat takeout there instead? It'd be preferable to tormenting your truly outstanding staff and ruining an otherwise fun experience for your customers. read more