Every year, we go to Wildwood for the Firemen's Convention. Every year, it is a challenge for us to find a good restaurant for dinner. First, it is the end of the season some restaurants reduce hours or even close. Second, the summer help is gone so staff may be less than normal. Finally, we have to compete with many other firemen and their families to find a place and get a table.
This year, we decided to try the Jersey Girl due to the great Trip Advisor reviews. We loved our meal there and definitely plan to return in the future.
The restaurant is about a block off the boardwalk so we decided not to bring our car. Although the restaurant has a lot nearby, you never know how crowded these will be. My husband did take a look and said the lot still looked like it had some spaces but this was between 5 and 6 PM.
The restaurant is smallish and decorated in a mod style. There is a bar near the entrance. We came in and were greeted. We were then escorted to a small table in the main dining room. You can also eat outside on the sidewalk as we saw a large party set up this way when we were leaving.
The menu was a little noveau and a little pricey (that is usual for Wildwood) but they had a terrific Early Bird Special that I would totally recommend. It had 4 entree choices but they were almost half price compared to the usual menu (2 meals for $25). Plus, you can make some changes, if you don't mind the upcharge.
The restaurant also has a bar (not all Wildwood eateries do) so we ordered a drink before our mean. I had Blue Moon and my husband had Jack and Coke. Both were normal sized, decently priced, and well made. No complaints there.
For the Early Bird Special, we both decided to have the Maryland Chicken, which is a chicken breast topped with crabmeat, aspargus, and sauce. It came with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Yum yum! It was very good.
The meal also came with a choice of a house salad or soup. The house salad was spring mix, tomatoes, onions and a house vinaigrette. I had this choice and it was very good and a decent size. My husband does not like spring mix so he wanted to have soup. However, the choice of soup was tomato bisque and he doesn't like that either (yeah, he is difficult to go out with!). Instead, he was allowed to pick one of the other soups instead. He chose the Sicilian Seafood Chowder, which was $3 more expensive than the tomato bisque so we had to add that upgrade charge on to the cost. It was well worth it as he received a large bowl of tomato-based broth with pasta and plenty of scallops, shrimp, and crab meat. He ate the whole bowl and said it was very tasty. I tried a taste and found the broth very zesty.
After dinner, we both had dessert. He tried the peanut butter mousse pie (special item that night) and it was very good. Excellent peanut butter taste. I tried a regular item - a marscapone cream fruit tart - as I wanted something light. The tart was very good but had two notes that were a little off. This tart depends greatly on the quality of the fruit and mine was a little tart. It wasn't too bad but, with the next item, would keep me from ordering it again. There was a berry flavored syrup on the fruit and used as a decoration and it was very very tart - too much so. It took the tart down a step with its sour flavor.
The service was excellent - from the hostess who seated us to the waitress who constantly checked on us and answered all kinds of questions about the food. The restaurant was a little busy and everyone seemed to enjoy their food and be happy with the service. I can see during the busy summer months, it may be a different story as the restaurant is small but we will definitely return to Jersey Girl again.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.