Stella Marina Bar & Restaurant
| Address: | 800 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park, NJ 07712, USA |
| Phone: | +1 732-775-7776 |
| Site: | stellamarinarestaurant.com |
| Rating: | 3.6 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11:30PM 12–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
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Viking Kaj
My wife wanted to take me out for to someplace nice with a view, and we decided to give Asbury Park a chance. Once there we decided upon Stella Marina for lunch. First and foremost, I was extremely disappointed in the preparation of the saltimbocca. I do not know where the chef trained, but classic Roman saltimbocca do not have piles of spinach and tomato on them. They also require fresh sage. The chef needs to invest in a ticket to Rome to find out how to prepare these. What was served was a crapped up American culinary school improvisation on the dish. Secondly, the restaurant was empty. Yet when I requested that they substitute pasta for the potatoes on the Saltimbocca the chef refused to do this. Quite frankly, I found this arrogant and unsatisfactory. If they had oodles of customers and the restaurant was busy I could understand no substitutions. But under the circumstance they had staff sitting around doing nothing, and I would think that they would try to please those customers they did have. To add injury to the insult, the fingerlings were overcooked mush which I am guessing were not freshly prepared and merely reheated. My wife had the carbonara, which was a similar miss. They used bucatini which are typical for al amatriciana. Carbonara must be always made with spaghetti. Then they put thyme and snowpeas in the sauce, which should only include egg, bacon (guanciale) , black pepper & sheeps milk peccorino with perhaps a debatable kiss of cream. Again a crapped up American culinary school version of the dish. Edible but memorable only for its shortcomings. The food was not bad, but the attitude and execution sucked. Maybe Im crazy, but I think one should expect more for a $ 50 lunch in Monmouth county. I can only imagine what this place must be like in season. I wont go back voluntarily.
MO
Monika Recek
OK went there Sunday August 28, 2016 We were across the street at paradise celebrating my nephews birthday (17 ppl). I call Stella Marina, they tell me they can not accommodate us in 2 hrs and hangs up. My husband walks across the street and there Is no one in restaurant. He talks to manager gets a table upstairs. Manager didnt understand why the hostess couldnt accommodate us...lack of training. We all get there at 245, we were told reservation was for 3. Now manager is running around saying it was for 330 and to give him 10 minutes to set table, we called over 2 hours ago and still restaurant is empty. We all go up stairs to bar , empty, the bartender is SLOW and not knowledgeable of mixed drinks. Made a dirty martini with the oil of olives not the juice...REALLY. We get seated, missing silverware, salt and pepper, bread plates, napkins. I got up and got them from other tables. The waiter (we were told we had 2, being 17 ppl, we had 1) brought bread, after we asked, asked for the oil and he brought butter but a tiny sqaure, had to emphasize we need a Pound of butter, food was great, the one waiter we had was good, doing the best he could by himself. The bathrooms were dirty and not stocke ( no paper, anywhere) had to once again see manager. Overall they need to step up there game Was disappointed with service and cleanliness and lack of concern for a group of 17 (the only group upstairs) . I was the person who recommended Stella because a majority of the group had never been. Would go back just so I hope I could write a better review.
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A Private User
This is one of those places where youll love it if all goes well, you love it, meaning, you have a reservation, you dont ask for any accommodations whatsoever and you dont mind crowds. I went there this past weekend for my best friends birthday. We should have known from the beginning that this place wasnt going to be accommodating as they said parties larger than 12 required a special menu at $65.00 a person.That being said, you cant beat the location and I had heard the food was good which it was, so against our better judgement, we went there anyway. Big mistake, when we got there, they refused to sit us upstairs because we had 11 and they only had 10 tops upstairs, they refused to push two tables together. They then sat us a table that was broken and in the corner where crowds of people gathered to wait for their tables. Service was okay but the entire atmosphere was very pretentious and snotty. Bathrooms were disgusting, they looked like a bar at closing time. Hostesses were even worse with their attitudes and the owner needs a serious lesson in customer service. Will not go there again.
JE
Jeff Bobo
Very surprised by some of these reviews. My friend who is VERY Italian had been raving about this place for years. My wife, who is also Italian, and I decided to try it this summer. We sat upstairs and the view was just gorgeous. We ordered a cheese board, the tagliatelle bolognese and a salad with grilled shrimp. Our waiter was very nice and even helped block the sun for my wife by strategically moving a fern. The food arrived and looked lovely! I had the tagliatelle and the sauce was incredible. Bolognese sauce is my "go to" sauce and it was delicious. My wife loved her grilled shrimp salad. It was a great meal. Not cheap, but worth it. Our second visit was even better. We wanted to have their Sunday Sauce and compare it to my wifes Grandmothers. Not an easy feat to accomplish! When it showed up, the portion was large and we couldnt wait to dig in. My wife had a big smile on her face and said that it brought back fond memories of her Grandmother. This is a major compliment! The service was friendly and it was another great experience at Stella Marina. ,
RO
Rob Marmion
My fiance and I sat at the bar, with a beautiful view. All things enjoyable ended with that view. The bench we were sat in felt like it was cobbled together from wood for building fences: left without sanding, paint, or even stain. I cant accurately describe the attitude in the bar keeps voice when we ONLY ordered a 6 piece shrimp cocktail with a pair of wines, insisting we order an entree. We decided on a pizza to split, but she claimed the pizzas were small and that we should order two. A half hour in... we receive our shrimp cocktail, which had shrimp far too large and tough to warrant the name cocktail. After well over an hour had our pizzas delivered, which were too large to finish. Bill delivered... $115... That stupid shrimp was $6/piece with 6 pieces... $36 for shrimp cocktail. Absolutely disgusted with this overpriced garbage! The wine was good. The pizzas were alright. The service and prices are an absolute crime!
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Gavin Madigan
In the winter I love this place. But it is terrible in the summer. Its too big to manage. Im writing this from my table. The waiter forced us to order appetizers and entrees at the same time. He would not let us order appetizers first, which is standard procedure at any other restaurant. After about 50 minutes our appetizers arrived. I asked our waiter to "fire" our entrees and he said hed have to ask his manager. Manager came over and I said please fire our entrees, which she did right away. About 20 minutes after that our entrees arrived. The entrees were poorly prepared and plated. This is an expensive, high-end restaurant. There is no excuse for poor performance by staff. Stella Marina is a 2/5 star restaurant in the summer. For this price point Id recommend avoiding it.
