8 Best Restaurants in New Jersey Shore, New Jersey

In operation for more than 150 years, the Renault Winery has become a destination in its own right encompassing an 18-hole golf course; Château Renault, a 55-room hotel; festivals and seasonal events. Dining options include the Renault Wine & Beer Garden; the Parisian-inspired Café la Fleur, perfect for pastries, cookies, and coffee drinks; and Taste 1864 which offers classic American fare.  To get here from Atlantic City, take U.S. 30 west for about 30 miles.

Casino dining often equals buffet and buffet often equals disappointment. At the Borgata, they strive to remove the disappointment from that equation. Hand-carved prime rib, sirloin, a variety of shellfish, Chinese standards, sushi, salads, pasta, tables full of desserts—almost all the usual suspects are here (sorry king crab leg fans). Popularity keeps everything fresh and the room rates and table minimums at the casino keep the quality high. The dining room is pleasant, with deep comfortable booths, but its more functional than fashionable.

It's not much to look at, but there's a reason people line up to get into this Greek-style diner. Decadent helpings of waffles and french toast for breakfast and hearty Mediterranean favorites for lunch and dinner keep locals and summer residents coming back again-and-again. BYOB.

Watch the boats come and go from dockside in Gardner's Basin as you linger over a breakfast of Frisbee-size blueberry hot cakes or omelets and grits---some think it's the best breakfast in town; for lunch, there are sandwiches, hot dogs, and crab cakes. The food is obviously just as good inside, but it's worth a wait for a seat on the dock. There's another location at the Tropicana, as well as two other New Jersey locations. 

This may be 30 miles west of Atlantic City, but for meatloaf that tastes homemade, mashed potatoes, and fresh seafood it's worth the detour. Pies and bread are baked daily and the rotating soups specials bring regulars on certain days to slurp their favorites (chowders and bisque are especially popular). You can get breakfast here too, and a kids' menu is available.

A friendly soul food and barbecue joint that has become a fast favorite in a town with an endless stream of fried chicken and waffles coming out from the kitchen. Located just south of Gardner's Basin, it makes for a good pit-stop when you're coming to town, or going home.

Local fisherman deliver fresh sea fare seven days a week right to the dock at the always-rollicking Lobster House. Cape May salts, a petite and briny oyster, are harvested from the restaurant's beds in Delaware Bay. Dine inside on checked tablecloths, at the raw bar, or outside on the dock for the full maritime show. Of course, the eponymous crustacean is all over the menu—in bisque and salads, its tails stuffed and served with steak, and steamed or broiled whole.

The only thing "mad" about this spot, which is credited with starting Cape May's restaurant renaissance in the 1970s, is the wild popularity of its bountiful American breakfasts and brunches. Be prepared to wait. Or book a table for lunch or dinner. Request the porch to watch the action on Jackson Street and sample the dishes that are their greatest pride and joy: the buttermilk pancakes, the clam chowder, or the lump crab cakes.