This is a great concept(and wonderful cause) that is just poorly executed. You gotta know, love and visit Lucy: she’s a 65-foot wooden elephant built in the 1880s as a land development promotional gimmick. After nearly being left in ruins, she’s now a landmark and is lovingly maintained by tourism and donors. You can literally climb into the structure, all the way to the top, and there’s a cute little gift shop for souvenirs. Recently, on the Lucy property(which extends from Atlantic Avenue to the beach), the staff opened a breakfast, lunch and snack place — Lucy’s Grill — during the day. At night, it becomes Bella Luna, a more expensive BYOB dinner spot. And what makes it even more special is that it’s the only restaurant literally on the sand in the Downbeach(Ventnor/Margate/Longport) area and a fairly intimate setting. I desperately wanted this to be a wonderful experience especially since I was taking someone for a significant birthday(I told the person on the phone what it was when I made the reservations). It has every reason to be great. It wasn’t. Here’s why: –Seating’s downright odd. The 20 or so tables were primarily for parties of 2 or more than 6. For those coming as a party of 4, you have slim pickings, mainly a handful of picnic tables with attached benches. Not that you’re dressing up for BL but when entrees cost $ 20 – 30, you expect a chair. I’m guessing that the seating options were donated but it would be nice if a local event/party rental place lent BL a few real tables and chairs for the short season in exchange for credit on the menu. –While the staff were nice and enthusiastic, they were very young and not terribly experienced — lots of college students with no adult manager in sight. Once we sat down, we had 4 staff come by our table and ask if we wanted our wine bottle opened(I can’t imagine why they’d think we wanted to keep it closed) and if we wanted glasses(ditto), yet none of them actually brought a corkscrew or the glasses until I caught someone. Also, when I tried to ask why we were being forced to sit at a picnic table when there was a regular table open next to us — which remained vacant for ½ our meal — none of the staff could give me an answer; instead, they stood there frozen when I challenged the table. But there was no adult manager within my line of sight. I would’ve additionally expected that since we’d made a point of saying it was a celebration meal with the reservation, they would’ve treated our reservation a little better. But we weren’t. –The food is a mixed bag. What’s great is that lots of delicious local Jersey summer produce — corn, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. — are incorporated into selections. Menu’s bigger than you’d expect with lots of appetizers and entrees(chicken, seafood, beef); nothing light. And our server was happy to swap out the veggie sides that came with the entrees for other options. But all of our entrees came to the table lukewarm at best and the desserts came still frozen. Am I heading back in 2 weeks for a reunion dinner with lifelong friends coming back to the shore, as I’d planned? No. I will, however, give Bella Luna another chance next season if the Lucy management decides to bring it back, assuming they’ll do a post-game evaluation. I would’ve given this experience 2 stars but since all profits from Bella Luna go to the most excellent cause — to maintain Lucy(and buy her a new tail since the old one got blown off during a storm) — it gets 3. And one last note: bring a jacket or sweater! Even on the hottest summer nights, dinner on the beach with an ocean breeze is downright chilly.
