Inlet Cafe

Relaxed (but busy), waterside, old bay town atmosphere with very good, if not spectacular, food.
But aggressively vegetarian unfriendly with not a single appetizer (Not even an appetizer? Really? You have to add «just a hint of» bacon to the artichoke spinach dip? Is «a hint» really worth shutting out about 6% of potential customers and all the non-​vegetarians in their parties?)) nor entrée menu option.
Called ahead though, and after much awkward communication with the young woman answering the phone, was able to order what turned out to be a very good (See above…) grilled vegetable sandwich.
Now I do like it (It’s all about the location and eating outdoors (Would never go and eat inside, where casual becomes a bit divey.).) and will go back, but the restaurant’s website’s home page declaration of ‘Waterside Dining at its Finest’ is so overstated as to not only be absurd but to potentially even work against the place by creating false expectations where realistic ones would suffice.
But worth a visit if the setting appeals to you.

Awesome place to share a waterfront evening! Great chowder and atmosphere.
This is a great after beach or boat stop. Great views. nice sunny patio on waterfront. I’ve been coming here since 1978.yes. It’s evolved for the better! Great local hideaway.

Great food and great staff. A fun place with a view
Loved the Thu lobster special.

Food is great, service is by far the worst around unless you get the manager. Great view.

What an expensive DUMP!!!
They have the NERVE to charge $ 5.25 for a bottle of Miller Lite??? If the bartender was half qualified for the job, maybe, she would have told us that another beer similar to miller lite was cheaper on tap???
Never again will I visit that dump!!!
And while your at it, get a bartender that can handle a bar crowed without having to wait a ridiculous amount of time for a drink!!!

Over priced, crowded, and barely decent food. We rarely pay $ 33 for an entrée and when we do, it’s absolutely better than what we got at Inlet Café.
The hostess was so flustered she answered the phone 3 times while trying to talk to us and write our name in the book. It was so crazy I almost asked if I could get her a drink so she could calm down. We just sat at the bar to avoid the 1 hour+ wait on the deck.
Bartender was great, solid margaritas. I order the Cajun Party, which was blackened fish, shrimp, and scallops with a side of black beans and corn. I pay attention to what I order due to mild allergies, so when I meal came out with a side salad and salsa, smothered with some kind of tomato sauce, it was weird and not what was on the menu. But I could eat it without problems so I didn’t make them take it back. My husband’s Ahi Tuna entrée seemed okay, but for $ 33 it was sub par on taste, quality, and presentation. I shouldn’t be confident I could make that dish better at home.
If you go, sit on the deck so you can pay for the view. Otherwise, absolutely not worth it.

Wish i could do zero star
Ate there yesterday and it was the worse. I understand that it is the off season for them but still their front of the house staff needs to improve. I didn’t even catch our waiter’s name because he greeted us with «what are you guys drinking tonight» … It was myself an another female, we’re not «guys». He wore a baggy sweatshirt and walked around with his car keys around his neck. Then when he asked for our order we said that we would start with soup, and then for my entrée… but before i could tell him he already walked away to put our soup orders in. After our thick clumpy gross lobster bisque we ordered our entrees. Our waiter never checked on us, never asked how we were doing. On top of that I guess one of the co-​workers brought their dogs in, so while I’m eating there’s dogs walking around smelling my feet and such. Our waiter didn’t offer us any dessert or coffee, just brought us the bill, we paid cash and needed change and then after we left the tip, I guess he was watching us and came to the table and grabbed the tip. I have never seen that happen before. How rude is that? I guess we were his last table so when we were leaving, he was also, and he waved us good bye with a cigarette in his hand standing at the entrance of the restaurant.
Worst experience ever. For the two of us our check came to $ 80 and some homeboy treated us as if we were annoying him.
I will never go back there again.

Nice atmosphere at the dockside seafood bar and grill. I Loved that you can see the relaxing bay while listening to tunes and chilling with friends. They played a variety of music, West Coast Snoop Dogg then Tim McGraw country then Aerosmith and Rolling Stones.
The service was fast and friendly and food was good. My only negative comment was the waiter wasnt knowledgeable of the menu. If the food description wasn’t posted on the menu he had to inquire within. For example he didn’t know what was in the oyster rockefeller.
I ordered oyester rockefeller, cheese spinach garlic and butter smothered on oysters. Delicious!
I also had the Inlet seafood mix, clams shrimp scallops and a half lobster with side of vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was very good and my gut was happy.

Delightful place to be when the weather is nice. Service was quick and pleasant. This is one of the few places with waiters who still know how to have fun and joke a bit with the customers in conversation.
Our drink orders were out almost immediately. I got a beer, but those in our group that got wine were given a healthy volume in their glasses. I got the Bing Bang Shrimp (hopefully an onomatopoeia and not poking fun at a language…). It arrived about 10 minutes later, cooked to perfection. Crispy, not overly sauced up, and over a nice bed of greens. The sauce was a bit generic, but I can’t complain.
I didn’t order an entrée this time around, but I had a bite of my grandpa’s Blackened Mahi sandwich, and it was good overall. The fries he got with it were pretty run of the mill for a restaurant, but that’s a minor critique really.
Will return!

This is a «Dive with a View». Located on the Sandy Hook Bay, with a view of Sandy Hook and the Manhattan skyline wa-​a-​a-​y out in the distance if you look hard enough.
The restaurant looks like they can seat about 75 people outside. The inside dining area was closed. They have parking for about 10 – 15 cars max. The rest is street parking. And with the «Windansea Restaurant» next door, street parking can be difficult to find. And since they are located in a very small town with homes built just about on-​top of each other, with minimal side yards, where you have driveways every 25 feet, or so, this adds to the parking shortage. We parked on a side street about 2−½ blocks away.
To start, when a restaurant has a hostess, who’s ONLY job (as in this case) is to greet guests with a smile, take names and give estimated times as to how long before the guest will be seated… before hiring them, maybe the restaurant needs to give a simple «competency» test. Here’s the test: «How long does it take to cook a 3 minute egg?» …This hostess would have failed.
We get there, she tells us «30 minutes». 45 minutes later, we go up to her for an update, she says, «3 minutes». 10+/- minutes later, my little lobster (their paging system) flashes and vibrates. We were then seated by their «seater» (an woman in her early 60’s– Wifey just corrected me… in her 50’s. Ooops– who would laugh and smile with the «timeless» hostess, but would change to a dead-​pan face once she was handed the menus in order to escort the customers to their table). Amazing, this restaurant hires two people to do the job of one (remember, I was a Maitre’ d years ago at an upscale restaurant, so I’m familiar with what it takes to do this job), who are the first impression that people will see when they arrive, and both have minimal, or no, customer service sense.
So on to the dining phase. Our waiter was Anthony. Anthony was, prompt, personal, pleasant, smiled often and had great eye-​to-​eye contacts. He took our drink order, gave us adequate time to view the menu, then took our dinner order.
Pricing wise, the Inlet Café takes full advantage of their location… Wifey had the house Pinot Grigio («Fetzers», which wholesales for under $ 7 for a 750ml bottle), and I ordered a Blue Moon (10oz +/​-​). …$ 13.50. Later I asked for a Grey Goose and seltzer in a «tall glass». I wasn’t looking to get more liquor for the same price, I just didn’t want a rock glass filled with vodka and a splash of seltzer which would knock me on my butt. The request for a «tall glass» cost us an additional $ 2 for a «double». I don’t remember asking for a double. But in all fairness, the drink was strong. …just what I was trying to avoid.
Food was so-​so. They start you off with cole slaw and bread. No salad. Cole slaw was tasty, bread fresh and crusty… good. I ordered the Oysters Rockefeller as an appetizer ($ 15). EXCELLENT, except for the splintered shell pieces. The right combination fennel or anise (the classic recipe calls for Pernod, but I kinda doubt they use Pernod), parmesan and spinach, with fresh tasting oysters.
Wifey ordered Fish and Chips ($ 20). This was 2 HUGE, over-​breaded, way too heavy, pieces of fish with frozen shoestring French fries. No malt vinegar offered.
I ordered the Lobster Salad Platter ($ 23). It was a good size portion, with a nice presentation. It would have deserved a «pretty good», except that it was bland and for the huge piece of lobster cartilage that was left in it. This salad included a good portion of lobster salad, nicely uniformed chopped fresh tomatoes, cucumber slices, hard-​boiled egg, avocado over a (I believe) spring mix lettuce. The other downer on this was it was missing a good accompanying dressing choice. You could order any of their house dressing, but this type of salad deserves it’s own unique dressing.
The young fella who brought out the food (food runner) had a great personality… big smile, happy disposition, and asked if we needed anything else? He really got engaged. Wish I knew his name, I’d like to give him some formal recognition.
In summary: Price-​wise: Was the pricing structure in line with the quality of the food & drink? …a bit over-​priced. C’mon… $ 20 bucks for a heavy Fish and Chips with frozen French fries? Nah.
They truly do take advantage of their location… that’s fair. They have a good location (view wise only). People will continue to go there for that reason alone.
Will I go back? Not sure. Maybe next time if/​when I feel like waiting to be seated twice longer than being told by the hostess, being slightly over-​charged, and wanting to park far way from where I’m going to eat. Would I recommend it? Don’t know. I’m on the fence with this one. For me, Anthony, the food runner and the Oysters Rockefeller were their only saving grace.

Oysters for appetizer. Lobster for an entrée. Omg. Life is good. Summer summer summer how much do I love thee. Let me count the ways. IPA Flying Fish. Is yummy. Sitting here watching football in the open air with a wonderful crowd waiting for my lobster. I love my life.

Love this place. Location is great as this restaurant sits right on the water. The seafood is great and prices are very reasonable. Will definitely return.

My son and a few friends tried to go in and celebrate being deployed to Dubai (Air Force). They refused to serve us.
Not very patriotic. Nor family oriented. Catered to old people.

Not usually disappointed but burger is not appetizing at all excellent appetizer of stuffed clams with shrimp and scallops very good tuna Niçoise salad also very very good

My favorite place in his area. Food is good. Service is hit or miss, but who cares? It’s summer. Have a cocktail and enjoy the view.

Ordered a café coolada. Tasted like not one drop of rum whatsoever. Waiter was just very non chalant about my question. So far so bad. Let’s see what the dinner is like.
Turns out the waiter was concerned and recommended the frozen sangria. Brought us sangria and he was spot on. Michael recommended the stuffed shrimp and again he was spot on. This went from two stars to four stars

After a very good day at Sea Bright, my friend and I were looking for a place to dine. We stumbled upon Inlet Café and we couldn’t be happier.
We got there around 4:30 pm and it was a bit crowded. It was a sunny day out so all the tables outside were taken. The hostess was nice and attentive, she said she would try her best to accommodate us in a short period of time and she did. There are two bars– one outside and one inside. They’re both well well stocked. My friend and I ordered drinks while we waited and they good– strong and tasty.
The tables outside have a very nice view of the ocean. They had a live band that added an extra touch to our evening. The meals were excellent– highly recommend the Baja fish tacos. My friend had the codfish sandwich and it was delicious. Make sure to order their bing bang sauce for an extra kick to your meal – it goes very well with your fries or sandwich (in my case, it made the tacos taste amazing)
Last but not least– their prices are more than reasonable. Our tab was pretty cheap for the quality of food we got. Our server was super nice too so that was a plus. When at the Jersey shore, I highly recommend Inlet Café.

Beautiful ambiance. Outside dining is literally breath taking. You can see the Bay and Sandy Hook (Atlantic Ocean). The food is phenomenal, well priced, and the servers are very attentive. I’ve been coming here since 1993. I love family owned and operated businesses. We as consumers need to frequent these places more often instead of large corporations (chains).
The clam chowder — OMG! The Sangria OMG! Everything is delicious

Best Happy Hour in the Highlands!
Can’t be the price!
Food and drink is great!
Beautiful view of Sandy Hook .
What more do you want?

4:40pm at the inlet on a Friday evening is a cool place to be. 2 for one drink specials on premium booze is a good place to jump off. If you don’t mind the Coors and corona banners everywhere, this casual river side location is a great place to enjoy cocktails and a well prepared snack. Entrees can be overpriced and… not at all worth it. Location is great, nice views… Keep it simple with the food and keep your expections low.
Fun place for drinks friends and simple food