Scales Grill & Deck Bar

Stopped at the taco truck before heading home after an Atlantic City date night with my hubby… They offer 4 kinds of tacos, each topped with some tasty pineapple slaw, jack cheese & roasted red pepper sauce. I tried the Korean Beef and the Cuban Pork — both were juicy and flavorful but the pork was definitely my favorite… Sooo good! My husband had the Crispy Shrimp and the Mahi Mahi taco and enjoyed both. I would have liked to have had some chips and salsa to munch on along with the tacos, but didn’t see any on the menu.
In my neck of the woods, 2 tacos for $ 10 is a little pricey, but since we were sitting at a nice picnic table overlooking the bay, I would say they were definitely worth the price. Not to mention the guy running the truck was very nice. We will be stopping here again for sure :)

Awesome hidden spot in Atlantic City! Me and my husband wanted to get away from the boardwalk. We came here on a Tuesday, sat down at the bar and had a great time! The bartender Mary made the best drinks. I had a Long Island ice tea (one of the best I’ve ever had) and my husband had a margarita. She also told us we could order food with her at the bar and it comes from the food truck next to the bar. My husband ordered the shrimp tacos and I ordered the Korean beef. Let me just say these were the best tacos I have ever eaten! We were in AC for the week so Mary recommended we come back Friday night for live music. So we came back on Friday night and had a blast watching the sunset with live reggae music. I can’t wait to come back to this place next year!

I am not sure where to even start. The original Scales (prior to Sandy) was fabulous. I never had a bad meal or drink and the service was always top notch.
Since Sandy, there is now a Taco truck that not only serves the most amazing tacos that a person could ever ask for, but also small platters and they have weekend specials. I have honestly never had a bad meal off the truck. I know some people see the truck and turn their nose up at it because it’s a food truck. I have not found better tacos anywhere. They make a pineapple slaw that is put on the tacos and it is out of this world.
The service from the truck is outstanding. The staff is always very friendly and you can tell they defiantly like their job.
There is also an outside bar that sits within steps of the truck. The drinks are great, my favorite is the Bob Marley. The staff at the bar is also very friendly. The bar is pretty unique looking itself. It brings the whole Key West feeling when you are there.
The view is unbelievable. It is outside seating right on the water. You have the best view in Atlantic City sitting right there. It is the perfect location to sit and enjoy some good food and drinks with friends.
I manage to get myself there at least once a week. It’s the thing to do when you DOAC!

What a delicious and fun place! Right in the marina! We had wonderful service and everything raised great! Awesome happy hour spot!

Scales is alive and well! Sandy did destroy the building but the area has been rebranded with a great outdoor bar with awesome views and a food truck that can rival some of the greatest restaurants down at the shore! The fish taco’s are some of the best I’ve had!

I am very picky, but I have loved the fresh, well-​prepared food each time I have taken my kids to Scales. The view is awesome, with the scallop boats coming in, Revel lit up, etc. I have always wondered why it’s so difficult to get fresh seafood at the shore. Scales is a great restaurant for fAmilies, and the live music is fun and not too loud.

Pretty awful. There’s no excuse for a restaurant literally on the water to serve frozen seafood. Everything was frozen and then over-​fried. I was severely disappointed.
Salad was the best part of the meal.
Mussels were full of sand, as if they were completely unaware that they had to soak them. Calamari app was frozen, over-​breaded, over-​fried. Same for the fish and chips dinner.
There’s a reason why the restaurant across the street (and not on the water) is much busier. Wait it out across the street.
I would never come back here.

Food was good (a little pricey, but that’s what you get at a resort area)… Service was good, waitress was pleasant and helpful… We had the clams casino (so-​so), apple walnut salad (very good) and shrimp tacos (very good). The view was very nice while sitting out on the deck/​patio… We would go back…

3 & a half stars for the view and soup.
Staff is friendly, and the views are great. My crab cake sandwich was meaty and price the price was OK (a bit pricy). It wasn’t the best sandwich, but it wasn’t bad either. The view was very nice and if it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have eaten here. The creamy chowder was very thick but delicious and that as the highlight of the meal. Although our waitress was nice, she forgot about us and we had to go look for her to give her our credit card and the place was totally empty. I would come here again but I would just order soup and enjoy the view.

I think Scales is a nice little restaurant in Gardiner’s Basin. It has a decidedly seafood leaning menu and is a bit of a breath of fresh air AC. AC is crowded with theme chain restaurants or overpriced casino restaurants. Scales is right on a pier next to charter boats and aquarium. It is a reprieve from the über-​busy Pacific Ave. The food was good, my service was fast and pleasant. You can’t ask for much more than that. I would certainly go back for more.

Sometimes on Unilocal,you have to wonder. How do Vegetarians come here and expect wonderful service? It’s all in the name… Scales. Scales /​Fish, Fish /​serves seafood, IHOP /​Pancakes, IHOP /​Cheesesteak, no.
I enjoyed my meal here. I got the crab cake sandwich and devoured it in a split second. I also tried my mother’s mahi-​mahi tacos, which were excellent as well. I was here on a Monday night with my mother and the service was attentive. All the food here was fresh, and I took note of it. The seafood definitely had not been sitting around. Crab cake was fried to perfection.
Scales has the absolute hottest women on the planet working here. I don’t know where they all came from, but my neck hurt with all the eye candy here. Blondes, brunettes, wow you name it… all 10’s on the scale at scales.
We didn’t sit outside, it was too hot, but looked lovely.

Terrible food and service!
Granted, I am a vegetarian, but I went with my omnivore friends. They only have 2 options (1 being a salad, the other a grilled veggie plate) for vegetarians.
When i explained to the waitress I was vegetarian, she was really not helpful when I asked for other vegetarian options.
I ended up getting a side salad of the apple walnut salad & a grilled cheese (off the children’s menu). The menu description of the salad made it seem flavorful: it wasn’t. It was so bland. They did use field greens and not iceberg lettuce, so I’ll give them that. The grilled cheese was very salty & over-​grilled. It was served with very salty, bland chips.
My dinner-​mates had the crab-​cake sandwich & shrimp tacos. They were so-​so.
The verdict here is that the view is great– but maybe better for drinks (none of us ordered any so I cant comment on those) or just enjoying the view of the bay.
(ps the service was also very slow & the waitress only partially attentive)

Kind of a secret spot in AC. If you don’t know Gardner’s Basin, please find it. It’s a gem. Scales is a great little place on a beautiful day. Overlooking the inlet with good food. Good beer selection, great bloody marys.

I’m baaaaaacckkk!
Yea, it’s a nice view. And yes, it’s in Gardiner’s Basin, a decidedly safer and prettier side of AC. But that’s about all Scales has going for it.
Boyfriend and I came here on a weekend early afternoon for a little brunch and cocktails action. This is definitely NOT a Key West vibe… I know, because I’ve been to Key West. The enclosed patio where we sat had no décor to speak of, and the inside wasn’t much better. No music, no atmosphere, and our waitress didn’t seem particularly thrilled to have us.
I tried an Arnold Palmer (sweet tea vodka and lemonade) that was so sickeningly sweet, I couldn’t get halfway through it. Boyfriend had beer. I ordered shrimp tacos and we split an order of calamari for an appetizer. I forget what boyfriend ordered (not a good sign), but I know he asked for a side spring apple walnut salad.
The calamari was okay. A little too heavily fried, but soggy. The sriracha dipping sauce was the saving grace here and so was amply used to dunk said calamari. Good thing I ordered shrimp tacos… since the waitress brought out mahi mahi tacos. They were good… but if that’s what I wanted, I would have ordered it. Boyfriend liked his side salad, but I don’t get down on apples or walnuts so my superior palate cannot comment on it ;)
It was a $ 65 lunch and I’ll be honest: not one thing about the experience left us with the impression that we’d want to go back. Also I’m pretty sure we were charged the entrée price for the side salad, even though «side salad» is clearly an option on the menu.
One nice thing they have going for their food is that there are a decent amount of un-​fried options on the menu, which is refreshing. Why do waterfront restaurants feel a need to fry everything to hell? This is why we’re fat!!!
Anyway…there are about a billion places to get better seafood overlooking the water. My condo is one of them.

I went to scales and got «grilled vegetables» which really means veggies that have been grilled and then put on ice. They were literally cold. I didn’t really understand that. Our soup was cold as well. This place doesn’t have good food, but it has a great view. My rating is purely based on the food. However, I would suggest going for a drink and the view and eating at Back Bay before. I’ll never eat at this place again.

Scales is a fun place with a Key West kind of vibe. We went for dinner at sunset, which I recommend. Deck seating on the marina right next to the water. Grey Goose martinis are priced under the market at only $ 8.50. Good start. I ate delicious seared scallops wrapped in bacon followed by blackened salmon with mango salsa. Very tender and flavorful. Jimmy Buffet-​type dude plays guitar and sings in the evening, at least when the weather is good. Some people danced, and everyone seemed in a good mood. Kids welcome but not too intrusive due to the large outdoor space. Enjoy it for what it is — simple and decent with no pretense at attempting to be anything else.

After a the AC aquarium (don’t go), we saw Scales & had read reviews here. So we went for lunch — 2 adults + 4 kids. Wife had her usual Crab Cakes she liked them. I had Mahi-​Mahi fish tacos, these were good too. Sat outside over looking AC’s back bay, was a pleasant lunch, would
again.

So for a final meal on the way out of town we stopped by for lunch after a a visit to the AC Aquarium two Friday’s ago.
Even though we got there after one the outside seating area was full except for two tables and the inside area also had a good number of tables that were occupied but we opted to stay since the restaurant has great views and had recently reopened with new owners after being the Flying Cloud Café for a number of years.
Our server ‚“M”, was nice and quickly took our drink order and he returned with the drinks fairly quick.
Strike one with the menu was the crap that was the kids menu.
There is nothing more I hate than places that do not offer at least somewhat healthy options as sides instead of the chips that are offered here or we had the option to «upgrade» with fries.
So something fatty and fried or something fatty fried? Wow what a choice.
«M» listened to our concerns but informed us that they did not offer any substitutions that were non-​fried such as mashed potatoes, vegetables, or fruit.
So after that disappointment we ordered everything and surprisingly the food was delivered much faster than expected considering how busy everything was.
(I was trying to remember what was ordered off of the children’s menu for this review but they do not have that on their website so I’ll digress by saying that it was good just not entirely filling since obviously both entrees came with no side.)
We ordered the cheeseburger and the lime grilled chicken sandwhich.
The cheeseburger was a decent size and was cooked as requested and overall was simple and effective.
The chicken sandwhich was a good cut of chicken but it was supposed to come with Provolone and naturally it didn’t. «M» said that obviously they couldn’t fix the sandwhich and that if I wanted it done the correct way with the Provolone it would be 10 – 15 minutes for them to get another one done.
Seeing as I wanted to get on the road I just opted to eat it as is then wait longer. The sandwhich itself was OK but the American cheese clearly made the flavor boring and plain.
Scales is not a place that we would probably come back to seeing as the menu is pricey, one of the four items ordered came out wrong and even though a childrens menu is offered the choices on it are inferior and substandard.