This review is ONLY for the great time we had playing "Family Trivia" in the bar/restaurant area of the Surf City Hotel. We had a great time, the service was awesome, the drinks were strong (though expensive) and to top it off...WE WON! Can't say anything about the actual hotel, but we had a blast playing trivia read more

Surf City Hotel - Hotels Near Me - Surf City, New Jersey

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We came in for lunch and happy hour on a Thursday and really enjoyed our visit. Sofia was a doll and came with water and offered us drinks and three separate menus including one for specialty cocktails and the happy hour menu that is honored from 3-6 pm. My lovely date and I ordered a 6-pack of clams and oysters and went back for another and another. $3 PBRs sounded fun so I had that while Mrs Me had a lemonade and Tito's special. On top of all that we added street corn and conch fritters and mahi tacos and calamari. Everything came out in a timely fashion and Sofia checked on us just often enough. Loved the live music when we went and would come again for sure. read more

We booked a 50 person event here and the views , the food , the staff were all top shelf. We came back tonight a week later and had a stellar time watching MoJo lite put on a great set while having a delicious dinner. Catering or buffet wise go with the chicken francese and eggplant Parm. Sitting down for a meal.. make sure you grab a sushi roll, linguini and clams and a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Prices all reasonable for the quality you get. Grateful this place is open year round. read more

Surf City Hotel - Linguini with chopped and local clams. That sauce you gotta scoop up with the shell when nobody's looking or when they are. - Hotels Near Me - Surf City, New Jersey

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Terrible Experience. We ordered our drinks in our food. We got our food before our drinks. The service was very slow and the food tasted like it was frozen from Costco. Management was clueless, cared more about socializing with other employees and taking care of customers. read more

Fun experience Usually like it, but last time the wings came right out of a bag and were dry, and the clams on the half shell looked and tasted like they had been around for a while. Probably just an off day. The pretzel was good! read more

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it all. I have to write a certain number of words as a requirement per Yelp. We actually cancelled our dinner and sent back our mussel appetizer (it was congealed and gross and had been sitting under a heat lamp that they tried to pass off). 3 stars is generous - food and bar service barely held it together. read more

Went out with some friends older female bartender tried scamming us and charging 22 dollars per casamigos club. (No double ) told the manager didn't seem to care .... Obviously scamming people when I'm a local. Sad. read more

Rooms. I booked a queen bed single for our 2 night stay ,8/16 and 8/17, at a cost of 650.09 including those crazy taxes. The room was so small, that when you opened the door, you tripped over the bed. There was a 5 drawer bureau, an ancient small refrigerator, one night stand in the room. That's because the room was 11'x11', so there was no room for anything else. There wasn't even a chair to sit on, to put on your shoes. The chair was in the closet. Can't figure out why. Oh, I know! It wouldn't fit in the room!! The bathroom was ok, but you had to close the door if you wanted to stand in front of the sink. The shower was nice, plenty of hot water. No telephone, no microwave,nothing you usually have, at even the cheapest motels/hotels. Staff- the manager was the most obnoxious, fly off the handle guy you ever don't want to meet. Restaurants, bars- excellent!! Food was great, bars were fun, entertainment was very good. We enjoyed that part of our stay. Condition of building - exterior, looks great, well maintained Interior- many code violations, narrow stairways, narrow doors leading to stairway, stair risers varying by inches. No ADA accessible pathways, etc. In my opinion, eat, drink, and enjoy the entertainment, at the Surf City Hotel, but stay somewhere else!! The cost for that room was outrageous!! I've stayed in boarding houses at the Jersey shore ,with bigger rooms , for a whole lot less money!! Vacationets, beware!! read more

The bistro has phenomenal food. Quiet elegant but casual. Just so nice the burrata peach salad is good if they grill the peaches even better the shrimp oraganata perfect. The cocktails on point great place lunch or dinner fairly priced too read more

Location is nice and that's all. The rooms are dated - they could use a lot of TLC. Neither nightstand light worked. The worst part? Dust. Allergies and coughing went absolutely wild. Would not recommend as a place to stay read more

Definitely improved in the last couple years. Our go to spot for happy hour and other hours. Friendly bar staff and great atmosphere. Lots if events always going on as well read more

This was my first time visiting the Surf City Hotel for dinner in a few decades. My parents and grandparents used to go here regularly back into the 50's, so this is a real institution on the island! It was nice to get back to this LBI classic, and I was pleased at how they've tastefully modernized. The food was pretty good, with some room for improvement. The burger I ordered as medium was well done, and the chicken sandwich was overdone and the bun was crispy. We had one dish come out five minutes before the rest of the meals, so the sequencing/timing was a bit off. The salmon looked good. Everything was very well presented. They don't have a huge beer list, but they had a few good local options (Ship Bottom) in addition to the regular standards. They also have a bar and outdoor seating, although we didn't get a chance to try either of these out. One of their separate rooms seemed to be set up for larger parties. We were able to get seating to 10 with no problems. But all in all, we were happy to be back in the Surf City Hotel and enjoyed the experience and service. read more

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Arrived June 17-20. None of the services were open. Bistro lounge bar were open Thursday -Saturday. Office didn't open until 9am and closed at 5 pm. A/c in the wall was noisy and didn't work well. Had to run continuously. Above us was an apartment They were dragging furniture across the floor and you could hear walking passing back and forth all day and until 1 am. Was told they were cleaning. This is an older place so you can hear everything. read more

Dated building. Small parking lot. Narrow hallway and the common bathroom in the hallway was permanently locked what's the point of having one. To their credit I notice they are installing cctv camera around the building. The rooms are basically clean and towel and linen conditions are good. Too bad I did not see a branded hotel in the area. Would be nice if there is at least a courtyard or Residence Inn around. read more

Don't waste your money eating here or staying here. Hotel is old and looks like the rooms haven't been refurbished in 20 years. Carpets are old and look like a herd of elephants have run through them. I felt like I could touch one wall of my bedroom and the opposite end if I extended my arms fully. I wish I was joking, these rooms were TINY. Decided to get a drink and a bite to eat in the restaurant underneath the hotel. Drinks are way overpriced like any greedy island tourist spot with greedy owners. Found a hair in my food and demanded to speak to the owner / manager and the woman that came over started to blame me. Ridiculous. I would really advise you look at the reviews of this place before booking or deciding to eat here, because I wish I did. 0/5 stars from me read more

Stayed at the hotel recently and would NOT recommend this to any friends or family. The hotel is small, parking is obsolete especially on a weekend when we stayed and you're on your own to get a spot near the hotel. I asked the front desk and the young girl with dark hair just said "we don't guarantee parking, you can park along the street" in a smug tone. The rooms are tiny, and you're still paying the same rate as other hotels with larger rooms which makes no sense. My father literally could not stand up in the shower with his arms extended because it was that cramped. Basic TV channels, nothing special and the carpets looked like they haven't been washed in the past 5 years. Staff was quite rude, including the night manager lady who acted like I was a burden when she had to make a new key as mine did not work when I attempted to get back into my room late at night. If you really dislike your job that much, maybe don't sign up to be an overnight person / the emergency contact? Very strange that this place closes the hotel before the night club is closed. Overall, I would rate this a 2/10 if I am being generous; it is clear the owner isn't investing in the property as much as he should because there is a lot left to be desired. I will NOT be returning with my family in the future. read more

Found bed bugs in the hotel. When I went to bring the issue to management at the front desk they said they would check it out and just apologized and gave me new sheets. Super unprofessional workers that seemed like they weren't happy to be there. Parking is a joke; there are signs saying only for guests but they don't enforce it so you're on your own. No elevators on property either, so I hope you like lugging your heavy beach gear up and down a ton of stairs multiple times. I will NEVER stay here again; I felt like I needed a shower after leaving the room it was so unclean. read more

The Surf City Hotel is a very old hotel. The carpets all look like a herd of Buffalo walked on them. The rooms are dated and nothing looks like its been renovated since the 60s. The beds are hard and uncomfortable. The person running the hotel is a fat bitch. And the rooms are overpriced for what you're getting. Definitely would stay away from this shit hole read more

Stayed at the hotel recently and this place is definitely not worth the price. I wouldn't even stay here for $50 a night. They play loud music until 2am and guess what, your room is RIGHT ABOVE THE "BEACH CLUB" Couldn't get any sleep; the tv remotes didn't work and staff was extremely rude when I went to the front desk to ask for towels in between my stay. Please do not stay here; this place is basically a poorly-run motel 6. read more

Restaurant was way under-staffed and the food took forever when we went on a Friday night in the summer. Dinner for two shouldn't take 45 minutes to arrive at the table, and we didn't say anything until that point because I am never one to complain. I brought it up to the waitress and she didn't even apologize, just simply tried to blame the kitchen staff. Even if you don't mean it, always accept responsibility and promise it won't happen again. As for the food, ordered a giant pretzel and it was cold when it was served. If I am paying that much it should be warm / hot. Husband asked for his burger medium and it came out looking like a hockey puck. Poorly run business, they seem to care more about the music playing than actually serving the customers and making sure everyone is happy. read more

Poor service, worse food. We waited 20 minutes for someone to get us water. 30 minutes to place app orders. Apps came out in an hour. Entrees about 40 minutes later. Items were wrong, missing, etc. Staff was not attentive. Food tasted bad, things came out wrong. They ran out of unsweetened iced tea. Literally hot tea and ice!!! Sushi was bad, but no worries, after all that they took 10% off - the sushi! We were here in May. Portions were bigger and actually had flavor then. Sushi was bad, but no worries, they took 10% off - the sushi! Managers seemed hesitant to talk to customers, leaving wait staff to deal with issues. One that did talk to a customer blamed everything on the waiter - unprofessional. Bad news, we wasted a family dinner on this place. Good news. We won't be coming back. Possible silver lining - maybe Kitchen Nightmares comes to Surf City hotel and we get to meet Gordon Ramsey. read more

A group of friends went to go see Shorty Long and had a great time. The bar staff was great. Shout out to Thomas. Young guy and first year at the bar. He was wonderful! Worked hard and did it all while having fun. It's nice to see people enjoying their job. read more

I went there with a group of old college friends for a night out. The employees were very unpleasant and had terrible customer service. We were so disappointed in our drinks and meals as well that we decided to leave. Overall very disappointed with our visit and I would not recommend going. read more

We are a family of six along with 5 friends vacationing here on LBI which we've done for the last 15 years. We were all set for our last night before having to pack up to go home, and decided to go out for karaoke at the Surf City Hotel. It's too bizarre to even try to explain how or understand why the staff was so nasty to us. As I read through the other reviews, I can see we're not the only ones. We'll never go back there, ever. read more

Was here for drinks and apps with friends and the menu for happy hour was pretty good and food was good as well. Have also been here for a few concerts as well and always a good time with really nice people looking to enjoy themselves. They have GF buns BTW and they also roasted their wings rather than fry them just for me. I will return. read more

This place was just awful. I am warning you before you go. First off the meal portions are way too small and left me with a half full stomach, the service is bad and don't even get me started on the game night. The game night was very fun, until they accused us of cheating. I will admit there were many teens at the table who were on their phones but NOT participating in the game. They must have mistaken the teens for cheating but they called out all of us for cheating and then the whole restaurant started booing, which not only embarrassed me but my whole family. The kids (not teens) who were participating in the game were very invested, so this event not only scared them for life but ruined their night. Again do NOT recommend! read more

Really disappointed in the hostess and her lack of communication. We put in our name and number at 7:15 pm for a 40-45 minute wait. After 45 min, I approached the hostess stand to find out when we could expect to be seated. She informed me it would be an additional 30-40 min as they were short staffed. She was aware I was waiting with my 90 y o parents. She had my number and could have reached out to let us know they were terribly behind; we were waiting outside in front of the restaurant. I have grown up on LBI for the past 58 years. I really expect better customer service. We will not be recommending Surf City Hotel. read more

I booked this in the WINTER and was given the absolute WORST room you could imagine, especially for a beach...First of all, Our room was horrible. It was to a point where at the end of the night I was dreading going back to the room. There were two teeny TINY windows. And the one had an extremely loud air conditioner in it. There was absolutely NO natural light. Couldn't even see outside. 2nd, outside of our room was where the staff threw away garbage all you would hear was super loud garbage being dumped and loud talking it was so horrible. 3rd, they do not clean the room daily. So there was sand everywhere from our bags bc there is no balcony or anywhere to leave our beach belongings and they do not Vacuum or take trash. Nothing. The last is the beds were SOOOO old, while the air conditioner was so loud it was hard to focus on sleep and the garbage being dumped the bed was sinking into the ground my back is KILLING me I couldn't stand up immediately after waking up. Which doesn't matter because there was no window to even look outside. I felt like a prisoner. All that money to be kept in a box. The pictures online are misleading so many better and nicer places to stay on the island. Waste of my money. read more

I am giving surf city hotel 4 stars, when comparing it to other older hotels I've stayed at on n LBI. I was able to get a last minute reservation for a long weekend in surf city. The hotel was full that weekend so the first night I parked on the street, but nearby so no issues. After that I found a space in their lot. The check in process was quick and the staff friendly and knowledgeable, and they walked me to my room, very helpful! The room was small, but clean, fresh, and cute. Appreciate the in room refrigerator and the ice machine located downstairs. The bathroom was bigger than expected and had plenty of towels. The only thing lacking in the room was a closet, but there was 5 double hooks on the back of the door. Two hangers were provided, and luckily I had brought extra hangers so all my clothes were able to get hung up. The hotel provides beach tags. It's a little noisy during happy hour, but go and enjoy it! Get some appetizers and enjoy the music and cornhole. . I didn't go see the band that played there at night, and never heard any club noise in my room, so I lucked out on location. So although tight quarters, most of my time was not spent in the room. Very walkable to shops and restaurants. Would definitely stay there again. read more

Surf City Hotel - Small, but sufficient - Hotels Near Me - Surf City, New Jersey

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My husband and I love taking a break from the beach and coming to Surf cavity Bistro to have a margarita. Today we got lunch and it was very good. Great hidden gem! read more

Surf City Hotel - Hotels Near Me - Surf City, New Jersey

I'm not one to post on yelp, but this was sort of bad. We drove 6.5 hours to get to LBI (not their fault!) I'm vegan, ordered the vegetarian panini- no cheese, add peppers and onions. When it arrived it had cheese and not at all what I ordered. The bartender offered sushi (I'm vegan) or a granola bar from her stash. Um, no. The manager offered to take the sandwich off our bill (right?). Did not offer a free drink, anything else, did offer a reservation for the following night. Um, no thanks. We asked for maybe a small gc to come back with the rest of my family when they arrived. Nope. Too bad, it's cute and close. Veganism is not a small percentage of diners anymore. SMH. The SBCH salad was good, dressing was dairy based though. read more

It is hard to remember when we last had such lousy service from a restaurant. The wait for service after we were seated and the wait for our food were both interminable, and our drink orders were screwed up! At the end of our meal we gave up waiting and took our check up to the hostess to pay. When we left we overheard the party next to us talking about the restaurant needing a Gordon Ramsey intervention!! read more

I only just visited the Surf City Hotel for the first time to see a band. It was also the last time I'll go there. The entire staff from hostess, bartenders, servers were rude from the second we stepped in there. As soon as we arrived we felt a negative response from the staff and did not feel welcome there. They told us the area to see the band didn't open until 9 and it was 8:45, and although there were plenty of tables available outside and in the bar area, they told us we could not sit down unless we ordered food. I guess I understand that may be a policy but for 15 mins and we'd be ordering drinks I think they could have made an exception. They told us to leave and come back. We weren't sure if we even wanted to return but we did come back to see that band and again the staff continued to be rude all night. It was nearly impossible to get a drink, not because the bar was busy but because the bartender just wouldn't help us. We are regulars at many other establishments in LBI that are way more fun because the employees are friendly, nice and welcoming. Won't be coming back read more

I usually go there every vacation for lunch or dinner. First I found out they have no more lunch hours. Secondly we went there to enjoy dinner. It took a waiter more than 20 minutes to take our order. We selected clams marinara in pasta. They poorly set up our table with many dishes to eat properly. The clams marinara were piled with lemons. The reservation staff walking in knew nothing about accommodating customers. I'll never go there again. Concluding: Poor service, badly prepared food, inexperienced staff. read more

Very disappointed small room 200$ per night no one to call with questions after 8 . No ice machine it's there but we never found it. To be on vacation and have to deal with BS at this price but then again you have no choice if you want to stay in Surf City very sad! read more

I would give zero stars if it was an option. Bottom line, I felt like I was annoying the bartender just for ordering a drink. If your are looking for any service... save yourself the trouble and don't bother. read more

own a house on the Island family have been coming for 40 years, my sister her family my family and my brother with his son came up from Washington DC to visit us . thought it would be nice to go to the Surf City hotel . Wow we where wrong, my sister orders shrimp salad ,got cesar ,, chicken was hard , i got a hamburger so dry to things of ketchup couldn't moisten it , french onion soup was good . Calimeri was bland no flavor .my wife's steamers where not little necks (large necks) Vety dissapointing. Would not recommend, Unless they make serious changes. Called today talked to the manager . no apology ,thanks for calling hung up . Wow so i thought i would share so u don't make this mistake Tom / LBI read more

It has been a while since I attended the happy hour at the Surf City Hotel. Now I know why. Made the mistake of going inside the main bar to have a quick beer and maybe some appetizers. There is no other way to say this, the food was horrific. I opted for the guacamole platter which turned out to be a serving of what looked like guacamole in the equivalent of a plastic cup that usually houses mayonnaise for a fish sandwich. It was surrounded by a bunch of chips that were stale. We also had the calamari, Which was fried but smelled pathetic. Also of note was the amount of servers that were idly standing by actually doing nothing. The bar scene outside underneath a tent with live music looked fun but had no seating. Now I know why everyone was outside. Go here for a beer and a shot don't expect anything from the food. I feel very sorry for a place like this. It used to be such a fun location. read more

Unprofessional booking system and hotel. We booked a reservation and they called today indicating they overbooked. We received via email confirmation when we booked on their website and thus we planned our trip. They called my significant other and notified him they overbooked and cancelled the reservation. An adequate and professional hotel would remedy this error. read more

Had a very pleasant set up for outdoor seating. Delicious Bloody Mary. Had a chopped salad and it was fresh and delicious. Will definitely return. read more