There's no place quite like the Jersey Shore in the summer--sand, sea, the boardwalks, amusement piers, and food...lots of good food. Wildwood is one of the more well-known shore towns. Whether you visit in season or during the quiet winter months, you'll find a significant number of restaurants, because this is, after all, a resort. Separating the wheat from the chaff can be daunting unless you subscribe to the theory that locals and regular visitors know best.
Urie's Waterfront Restaurant has been around since Bobby Rydell sang about Wildwood days. First opened in 1956, the restaurant boasts a large pillared dining room, but even better, a deck for outdoor dining in the summer, complete with bar and overlooking a marina. All-you-can-eat crabs (Dungeness and Alaskan Snow) are offered every night, and there's live entertainment on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Urie's provides an "early bird" menu for the thrifty. Entrees from the regular menu run between $19 and $26, as of early 2010. Voted "Best Water View Dining" by South Jersey Magazine, the restaurant is easy to find--just look for the big pink Urie's on the roof next to a neon palm tree.
Urie's Waterfront Restaurant
588 W. Rio Grande Ave.
Wildwood, NJ 08260
609-522-4189
uries.net
If beef is your thing, try Jersey Girl. Located on Atlantic Avenue a block in from the Boardwalk, the decor is casual contemporary and the menu is diverse. While Jersey Girl offers a full array of the obligatory seafood entrees, the New York strip steak with Old Bay-spiced onion rings is reportedly to die for. Fans also mention the Braised Lamb sandwich and Braised Sirloin Sliders. Entrees start at $15 and run to $26; the Baja Burger will set you back $9 (as of February 2010). Jersey Girl also has a rep for really good specialty martinis. Outdoor dining is available in the summer months.
Jersey Girl
3601 Atlantic Ave.
Wildwood, NJ 08260
609-523-1800
jerseygirlwildwood.com
New Jersey is famous for its cheesesteak subs, and the Alumni Grill is famous for its cheesesteaks. The grill was voted best by a local newspaper in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009--and that's saying something, because the place has only been around for six years, as of 2010. Ultra casual, it's owned by a brother-and-sister team, Jennifer and Michael DeClemente. The place is so good and draws so many avid sub-lovers that it outgrew its original location within its first two years of operation. Everything on the menu is homemade, mostly by Michael, and the Alumni Grill offers more than just steak subs. A full menu includes wraps, panini and salads, and you can pretty much feed a family of four here for under $40. The heartbreaker is that the place is closed in the off season from mid-October through mid-April.
Alumni Grill
3316 Pacific Ave.
Wildwood, NJ 08260
alumni-grill.com
Dining on the Boards mostly involves anything you can hold in your hands and lift to your mouth while strolling. Think hot dogs, corn dogs, fried clams...and pizza. The best of the best is Mack's Pizza, with two locations on the Boardwalk. Mack's pies are the descendants of Mack's Tomato Pies first created in Trenton by Anthony and Lena Macaroni in the 1940s, and the pizzas are still homemade. In 1953, the Macaronis found their way to Wildwood and the rest, as they say, is history. People rave about the cheese toppings here. Hint: they use cheddar in the blend.
Mack's Pizza
3218 Boardwalk
Wildwood, NJ 08260
609-522-6166
