Landmark New Jersey Oceanfront Restaurant Sold
LONG BRANCH, NJ: Rooneys Oceanfront Restaurant, the impressive restaurant and bar overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Long Branch, New Jersey has been sold according to Barry J. Bielat of Bielat Santore & Company, Allenhurst, New Jersey, the broker for the sale. What began as a move up in size, scale and real estate ownership from a small restaurant the Rooneys leased and operated in Sea Bright called the Waterfront Café, has emerged into a colossal dining and drinking establishment attracting diners to the Jersey Shore for the past 20 years. Zagat’s review states, “the seafood is fresh and satisfying at this Long Branch seasider, but it’s the beautiful ocean view, along with a great wine menu and live classic rock Fridays, that make it almost too popular.”
Rooneys Oceanfront Restaurant located at 100 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch is a fashionable restaurant offering the freshest seafood including a mouth-watering raw bar on the New Jersey coastline. However, ever more popular is the restaurant’s outdoor deck and bar yards from the ocean, where beachgoers, promenade pedestrians and loyal clientele gather in the afternoon and linger late into the evening, sampling thirst-quenching cocktails and fresh-shucked oysters, shrimp and clams, all while gazing out at a panoramic ocean view.
The 6,500 square foot restaurant has a 90-seat inside dining room, a 50-seat inside bar and a 50-seat inside sunroom dining area that completely opens up to the outdoors during the fair weather months. It also features a 100-seat outdoor covered dining area, a 65-seat outdoor uncovered dining area and 110 seats at outdoor bars. With almost an acre and one-half of land, it is the only restaurant in Long Branch’s Pier Village Development with its own parking lot.
Pier Village, Long Branch is a mini-city of pastel-colored, four-story buildings reminiscent of Dutch canal houses. The buildings contain 536 rental units, mostly one-bedroom apartments intended to attract singles with no children. At street level are 100,000 square feet of shops and eateries, many arrayed around a central waterfront plaza of red brick and lush lawns. There’s also a boutique hotel and a trendy private beach club (replete with palm trees).
Just north of Pier Village is the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, a 254-room hotel built by Hilton in 1990 and Rooneys Oceanfront Restaurant, the most popular restaurant in the complex. New ownership has no plans of bringing any change to Rooneys; maybe with the exception of more long summer days.
