Food was extremely bussin'. Salad before the meal was amazing definitely mix the two house dressings together for the full experience. All fish specials were amazing and well worth the price. Got in right away despite it being full. Only downside is the dim lighting. Pair it with the Donda Album. read more

Black Whale - Awesome attire I wore! - Seafood Near Me - Beach Haven, New Jersey

Absolutely the best seafood! So many choices. A very relaxed casual spot. Unpretentious, yet high quality fresh food. Simple yet perfectly prepared seafood. With products this fresh it is best to just let the seafood to simply shine. My husband regularly gets the chicken and it is juicy and flavorful. read more

My favorite LBI restaurant. Make sure you order the bacon wrapped scallops or the blackened grouper! That is, if you're lucky enough to get in. It's very popular! read more

If you like Mud City Crab House and you enjoy seafood; this is in the top 3 restaurants in Beach Haven and there are a lot! It's a full bar and a lively busy atmosphere! Mud City also does delivery of their famous crab cakes. read more

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This place is expensive which is not a problem . Our party of 4 was very disappointed with the food. Wait staff was very welcoming and attentive. Food was over cooked and fish was frozen. Now I know it's the end of the season but really when your paying 22.00 for a over cooked pile of frozen clam strips!!! What is that! I had the Broiled Seafood, again I could tell it was from the freezer and not fresh which is not what they say on the menu. Never again! read more

I went to the Black whale for the first time in probably five years. The wait staff was awesome. I had the muscles and the artichokes as appetizers . Both delicious but the sauce on the muscles is out of this world delicious. I have to say those are the best Muscles I've ever had. As always the salad dressing is delicious. I had the halibut was very good and to be honest with you even my coffee at the end of the meal was excellent. All in all this was a five star experience. read more

Our favorite go-to place on LBI right now! Always delicious and fresh. Always a wait but to be expected for greatness. Never disappoints. My fave the Parmesan Halibut! Sweet! Yes, sweet. Yummy! read more

This is a fun, upbeat restaurant and bar. They always acommodate my two-year old...we like the noisy bar area. The service is really friendly and the food is great. Seafood... read more

Overall *** Seasonal restaurants generally disappoint and I would say The Whale falls into that category. It is pricey for what you get I really don't think I would return for the seafood but I may consider the steak. Setting *** The Whale is smaller and more nondescript than I expected, as it is simply a grey building tucked in amongst houses about a block from the bay. We walked but there looks to be plenty of street parking available. Inside it is nice enough but the bathrooms are single user only so you could miss half your meal waiting for the bathroom on a busy night. Service **** Making a reservation for 12 at the shore is usually not enjoyable but the hostess here, I think it was Jeanie, was great and happily accommodated us. Our server handled our large party with ease. The staff seems to really work well together as they effortlessly descend on a table to clear and set it. Food *** Considering this is predominantly a Fish restaurant in my opinion you may be better off with the Turf side of the menu. We ordered 3 of the Fish specials with varying degrees of success. Grilled Tuna was met with a "meh, taste like it came off of a dirty grill". My Grouper was ok but the spices were a bit raw tasting. My wife's Halibut was cold, tasteless and so dried out it was inedible. The kids faired better though with the small ones getting very good Chicken Tenders and the older ones getting steaks which were cooked perfectly, tender, well seasoned and very good. I tried one table mates Linguine with White Clam Sauce and thought it was edible but the pasta was overdone and the sauce not very flavorful. Value ** The food is a bit overpriced with the steaks $40, kids chicken fingers $10, linguine $25. The portion size of the Fish specials seemed really small for the $30 they charge. Top shelf Gin & Tonics priced well at $8, the overly sweet Spark Playbook was $12. read more

Made reservation for Labor Day weekend 2 weeks in advance. I haven't been here for a few years. Everyone in our party was thrilled with each of their meals from Dungeness Crabs; broiled scallops; seared salmon; flounder; bacon wrapped scallops; and clams in linguini sauce. Loved the family style salad and large pour it yourself bottles of water. I just wished they had decaf (only regular available) cappuccino - that would have topped off the meal. I look forward to going again. read more

Pre pandemic coming home from AC looking for someplace different! Hubs not starving had a drink and two apps! soup and crab cake sandy for me! Everything was very good! Lots of beers and wines. Staff was friendly! Hope they survive! read more

What's not to like ? Great raw oysters. Tuna , fried oysters and clams. House salad with homemade dressing, great cocktails. Our server was Amy who was great! read more

Came here for lunch on an overcast Wed. We were able to grab high tops in the bar area as the seats around the bar were taken. We ordered beers. I had the Cape May summer beer and the husband had a Sly Fox. Waitress brought them right over and took our orders. I got the shrimp po boy and husband got the blackened grouper sandwich. Food came out relatively quickly and both of us enjoyed our meals. My only complaint is they were a little pricey. Mine was $16 and husbands was $17. They were a decent size and I know LbI can be a little more but still seemed high for lunch. We say by the hostess stand and it sounds like you can make reservations for dinner if you want to eat before 6pm which I didn't know. Dinner is usually packed so that could be a good option. Overall we enjoyed and would come back. read more

Black Whale - Beers on tap on July 5 - Seafood Near Me - Beach Haven, New Jersey

I think I get it if you want a place that has a bar. If you're into BYOB and are not a party of eight or more (who can make a reservation) I don't get it at all. You will wait for hours for food that is in no way any better than many if the surrounding restaurants where you won't wait as long it can make a reservation. Service is good. Drinks a plus. But food not that great. Oh yeah. Little kids everywhere as well. read more

The clams with linguini in the white sauce is so gooooood! The salad is a bit lacking considering the price for the meal. They should maybe have a bottomless salad. They do a very nice wine pour and the bartenders are friendly. The espresso martini was a bit thin, so they need to work on that. I've only been here once before and it was crowded, but it was a very nice, happy crowd. The place was not packed this time as it was a weekday. read more

Expensive and just not very good. I had a dungeness crab with a buttery garlic mess smeared all over it. Just an absurd concept to have to work through the slime to crack all those legs. Raw clams on the half shell were fresh and delicious. Crab cakes were average. You can have a better meal for half the price. read more

First let me say, I was on vacation this past week and read "deceiving" reviews. I dine out often and consider myself an expert in seafood cuisine. I was told when I called for a reservation at 5:00pm, there was no wait and I could get in as I arrived. I noticed shortly after we were seated, and we ordered a cocktail, the restaurant appeared to be beaten down inside and there were flies swarming around. We ordered sautéed little neck clams which were full of sand. The house salad was ok, nothing special. I ordered the blacked mahi with a pineapple salsa which was grossly over cooked and tasted like an "old shoe". My husband has a tuna dish which had a bland yellow sauce on it, not very appetizing. We generally do not complain but I did mention to my waiter about my entree which he wanted nothing to do with and blamed it on the 50 guest table that had arrived after us. Last, when the bill came, the waiter stood over my husband while he put in the tip which was 20%-30%, with no other options! I would not recommend this establishment for the food is over priced for the quality and service is disappointing. read more

horrible service and rude employees. food was ok. the ambiance was ok. very tight. wouldn't recommend there's definitely better restaurants on the island. read more

The food was underwhelming and the service was worse. You'd think after waiting an hour you could at least have someone refill your water glass a few times. To top it all off they refused my visa gift card even though they take visa. Needless to say I will never return. read more

I honestly can't remember the last time I had a better meal. It was perfect from start to finish. Our waiter, Brian, was fantastic - maybe I shouldn't reveal this but when I couldn't decide between the crab cake and the bacon wrapped scallops he had the kitchen make me up a plate that included both! And both were amazing!! We had the mussels appetizer and they were the best I've ever had. Wine was great, we had a booth that was roomy and perfect for us. Restaurant was bustling and a bit loud but it just made it feel lively, not disruptive. Highly recommend. read more

Stopped by the Black Whale today with our kids and we were told we had to wait 20 min and could not sit at our table (which was ready) because the kitchen staff was running behind. After waiting a half hour we were told to keep waiting even after requesting just to sit down at the table to settle the kids. After waiting a few more minutes we ended up leaving as no accommodations were made by restaurant management. read more

FANTASTIC meal as always. Our server Torr was great........ he's kinds like a Superhero but missing an "H"!! Wonderful server

Drove down to LBI for this winter opening restaurant experience. We were excited about the LBI restaurant week menu. Sadly, the service at the bar was subpar. It seemed like the bartenders tended to the locals more than the guests. The food was fair (oversauced and quality not commensurate to price). Unfortunately, we cannot critique the dessert because we never received it! (although we asked). One positive is that it seemed as if the bartenders intuitively knew that our service was poor as they did not charge us for our last round. However, this was not enough to make up for the 2-hours we were there, leaving quite unfulfilled and vying for attention and service. Although I have not reviewed restaurants in a very long time, I felt compelled to complete this one based on my lackluster experience. Likely, by next weekend out will be North instead of South! read more

Fresh food. The fried clams and oysters are great and not out of a frozen bag. The bartenders and Ray are amazing. read more

Black Whale - Seafood Near Me - Beach Haven, New Jersey

Love love love this place! Great atmosphere, great staff and great food! I always get the pasta dish with shrimp and scallops and tomato cream sauce and their calamari app is to die for and has the tentacles which is the best part of the squid! read more

So this place is pricey but honestly it was probably the best meal we had at LBI. We where here on a Saturday night and it was packed. Which to me is always a good sign. We where seated right away. I took of the one star because I was not a fan of having the hostess write the waiter's name on the paper table cloth. Not a big deal to most but for some reason it just irked me. Anyway Brian our waiter was really good at his job. I had the fried shrimp and hubby had the steak. Both were awesome. I also enjoyed the coco colada , can't remember the exact name, just remembered that it was really good. Would definitely visit this place again. read more

If you can wait the 2 hours, this place is very delicious. The wait time is a bit crazy... but we just ordered drinks and sat on the front porch to people watch. They sat us in this cute cubby hole with pillows. You can tell that this place pays extra attention to the fine details. I ordered the scallops and shrimp pasta. It was a bit bland, and needed more seasoning or spices. We also ordered the crab cake sandwich, which was delicious of course. This place is BUSY. read more

Food was very bland. Table wasn't ready for our reservation. Poorly managed and the food was not good. Kids had a stomach ache after.

Great food and great service!! Love having dinner here multiple times while in vacation.

Good food awesome bartenders well earned 5 stars . Been there a bunch of times always consistent . I forget the one dudes name he's been there a while young guy with a beard good dude knows what he's doin !! read more

My friend and I stopped in for drinks and dinner and really were enjoying our time with our bartender, Kurt, until an elderly couple came in, clearly with money, as evidenced by the purse the woman so rudely placed on my friend's chair before we could even get up and leave on our own whim. I kindly asked the woman to remove her bag as my friend was not yet finished as she sat halfway on the chair due to the woman's purse being in place on the seat. The woman clearly did not like this as she gave me the middle finger from across the bar prompting me to ask if there was a problem. Kurt then yelled at me to quit yelling at his bar and then went over to comfort the woman and provide her with a beverage despite me telling him her uncalled for actions. We closed out our bill and waited patiently to grab a round of shots as we had befriended a group of 3 at the bar, but Kurt was clearly ignoring us at this point. We subsequently left the bar frustrated due to the prejudice and neglect. We will not be returning. read more

This is one of those places at the shore that I consider memorable and quirky enough to warrant visiting whenever I'm in the area. Delicious seafood aside, they leave a bucket of giant round crackers on the table along with a dish of white horseradish and a bottle of ketchup. For those of you who may be unindoctrinated, these two ingredients when mixed together make cocktail sauce. And friends, my family are huge proponents of cocktail sauce. We love cocktail sauce. My 81 year old father would literally bathe in it if he could. It's great on just about anything but dip giant hard rolly polly soup nugget crackers in it and you've found the perfect pre meal snack. Better than the most delicious bread, this stuff is what carbaholic dreams are made of. Food is also particularly good and they're just about the only place on the island who can concoct a perfect Moscow Mule. An absolute must on your next trip to Beach Haven. read more

Black Whale - Yumm - Seafood Near Me - Beach Haven, New Jersey

Awesome food! Had bacon wrapped scallops with bourbon sauce and fried shrimp. Very fresh. Resturaunt was clean, good service and drinks. Had Manhattans. And a local beer. read more

Black Whale - Huge scallops. - Seafood Near Me - Beach Haven, New Jersey

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Recently remodeled and expanded. Much roomier. Much quieter and more comfortable. Excellent seafood. Huge menu easily customizeable. Excellent efficient service. Family style salads. Great bar. Street parking. Unfortunately they dont take reservations but they can handle larger parties. Expect to wait. read more

Phenomenal. All the time. Drawback are wait times. And reservation availability. So frustrating not to be able to get reservations for 2

I had the crab cake sandwich with fries. The sandwich was generous and very delicious. The fries were tasty. The coleslaw was a little dry. The service was excellent. Great bar area. Had the crab cake sliders and tuna tacos. Both were excellent and perfect size. The garlic clams are awesome! Some of the best dipping broth you will taste. read more

On a Saturday night October 24, I decided to travel to Beach Haven for a good seafood restaurant. After riding around and passing the many seafood restaurants that had outdoor dining,I decided to try the Black Whale. It was early, (5:00) and they were busy but no long lines. I am used to dining alone and have come to enjoy it. I didn't have to wait long before Amy, my server, brought the menu and took my drink order, Along with some cheerful and friendly conversation. Right then I knew I had an exceptional server. My meal began with their salad (A good mix of greens, cucumber and tomato)and chose the balsamic dressing which was awesome! Next was fried Calamari which was gently fried but crispy and not overcooked. Just the way I like it! So tender and flavorfuI. Then the fresh tuna (done to medium)which was obviously fresh and again done perfectly. I was glad they did not top it with their sauce but decorated the plate because I preferred the seafood plain and didn't care for their sauce anyway. Desert was Creme Brûlée which was not at all crispy on the top. A bit disappointing as I consider that the best part!! Throughout the meal I got to know Amy better, and Mike was very friendly and attentive in making sure a finished plate or glass never stayed long on my table. The runners(who bring out the food) impressed me because they were also happy and friendly. By the way I did not have to wait long for any part of my meal. By the time I finished my coffee,the line to get in was getting bigger and, being a social person myself, I found myself easily talking and laughing with other patrons. Masks, which are usually something to complain about, became A fun topic of conversation (how we love to wear them, what a fashion statement they are etc.) I also noticed a lot of families came there and were having a good time. All in all I had a five star experience and would love to go back. I don't know if it was because of the outdoor seating however even inside, it was the same happy experience. read more

Love the new expansion. Place is ready for the new season. Best service on the Island. Food was perfect. Game on

The food is very good. Manager is great! My mom and dad's lobster tails were over cooked and the manager took them off the bill. Class act establishment and manager , Deana, think her name was. Waitresses on summer jobs loathe patrons though. Not freindly at all, dont try to hide they hate people, till they deliver the check , ALL SMILES THEN FOR UR TIP! It would get 4 out of 5 but gotta take a star off for priveldged waitresses thinkin its beneath them to serve u read more

My boyfriend and I stopped here after seeing crab and artichoke dip on their menu and wanted to try it out. It was amazing! They serve it with bread and sesame crackers, which we used to clean the bowl. Before I get into more of the food, let me explain the impression this restaurant offers. There isn't a large parking lot, but it's located off the main road so there's plenty of street parking. Inside, there's a mix of a local dive bar atmosphere with a classier restaurant, so it's a nice in-between. When you enter, you walk through the bar to get to the the dining area. The hostess and waitress we had were welcoming, and made recommendations from the menu. We weren't looking to break the bank on dinner so we ordered soft drinks (no free refills,) the crab artichoke dip for an appetizer, fish and chips, and a grilled tuna sandwich. Everything was fresh, and the fish and chips weren't greasy -- which was great for a fried meal. The wasabi mayo on the grilled tuna (our waitress recommended rare, and it was excellent) added a nice mellow spice to it. The total came out to around $50. The food was great and the restaurant had a balanced atmosphere, which is definitely family friendly! We would definitely come back expecting to spend more, but it is definitely worth it. We basically went the cheaper route and the food was great. So if that was the lowest tier, so to speak, we're looking forward to returning and trying out their other menu options. read more