Next time you go out clubbing on the Jersey shore and are looking for a late-night eatery, pop into the new Asbury Lanes Diner.
As the name implies, it is in the seaside town of Asbury Park at 209 Fourth Avenue, about a block from the beach. The 24-hour diner just opened Memorial Day weekend as part of the newly refurbished Asbury Lanes bowling alley and concert venue. (The bowling alley closed back in the fall of 2015 for renovations.)
I’m not really a bowler but after reading about Asbury Park’s newest spot in Conde Nast Traveller, I had to check it out.
The new diner can best be described as an intimate, retro-American-style diner. The diner can accommodate about 40 patrons at a raised counter with stools or at two-tops and four-tops with turquoise-colored leather banquettes. If you want a quiet spot, don’t head to the Asbury Lanes Diner. Rock music blares out of loudspeakers, paying homage to musicians who will appear at the adjacent music venue.
When it comes to the menu, it includes classic diner fare. But there are some new twists. A much-ordered staple will surely be the “Breakfast Special”: two eggs, home fries and toast served with a choice of chicken apple sausage, ham or thick cut bacon for $10.
We went for brunch around 1:30pm on a Saturday –opting for the Mushroom Omelette. There was just one problem: The kitchen had run out of mushrooms! (Yikes!) So, we had to build our own omelette. The kitchen still had collard greens. Go figure! So, we ate a collard greens and feta cheese omelette with home fries. So, the kitchen gets an A for creativity! The home fries were neatly cut into cubes and well done, just the way I like them.
Another dish we tried: the Avocado Toast. The dish popular in the new millennium seemed somewhat anachronistic on an Americana-style diner menu. Nevertheless, we decided to give it a try. It typically comes with sunny-side up eggs. But, we opted to have the eggs scrambled instead plopped atop fresh avocado with a slice of whole grain toast as a base. The avocados were fresh and the eggs were well-scrambled.
I also wanted to try the yogurt parfait that comes served with granola. Unfortunately, the waitress couldn’t tell me if the granola included almonds. (Almonds make me itchy!). We asked the wait staff not to put the granola on the yogurt to avoid having to pull out the Epi-pen!
If you want to get sloshed at the diner, you can. There’s a whole list of alcoholic beverages for you to choose. You can grab a glass of wine for seven dollars; a draft beer will cost you six bucks. For four dollars, you can get a Budweiser.
The Asbury Lanes Diner definitely has some kinks to work out. They may want to get a better idea of their traffic so they can order enough ingredients. Management should probably train their staff better about the ingredients of the items served. Hiccups aside, the eatery is a serviceable diner. With so few late night options, diner will definitely fill that late-night void in Asbury Park.
You may want to go there to chow down after frolicking in the sun and sand or drinking along the Boardwalk. Or, you may want to fuel up there before hitting the adjacent vintage bowling alley and scoring a strike!
That’s the Lowdown!
For more about what to do during your stay in Asbury Park, check out this link:
30 Hours in America’s Coolest Small Town, Asbury Park, New Jersey: The Lowdown!
For great pizza in Asbury Park, check out Talula’s:
The Lowdown with Mikey B 