Forked River Service Area

Ugh… most inefficient burger king ever. Way overpriced!!! Really long wait. Only one register open.

Overpriced!
I guess most people who stop here do that for the bathrooms, so I will start form that: They were clean. The second reason is to eat something, and this is where the problem start, they have airports prices. Maybe they think that they are. I mean there aren’t many options if you prefer to stay on the highway, but they have basic food, from fast food places, why should they OVER OVER price?
I took coffee from Starbucks and left, I will not pay that much for junk food.

Pit Stop. Let’s see. It is decent enough a service plaza. Typical Garden State Parkway stop. Never been an issue pretty much anywhere between the parkway as soon as you get off of Tappan Zee Bridge all the way up to Atlantic City Expressway. This one isn’t any different. Some key observations:
— Enough parking spots to get the incoming cars not circling around to find one
— NJ gas stations: probably the best in the country for having the «We shall serve you and pump your gas» rule. I shall take it and feel like Highway Royalty — LOL!
— Plus the gas is relatively cheap too as compared to the neighboring states. What they make in freeway tolls, they decide to make gas less expensive. Makes sense to me!
— Food options can be classified into Fast Food: B-​King, Sbarro, Nathan’s hot dogs being the major ones
— One key one: Only Starbucks for your coffee fix — the one that I totally avoid — not sure why. Just not a Starbucks guy. In fact, not a coffee guy. But when craving, I gravitate towards anything but the S’bucks
— Neat restrooms; well maintained, don’t get jam packed — very important for a busy rest area — I like my space in public places; if given the option at least :)
— Seating /​dining area: could get crowded but I credit the NJ/​NY crowd to be fast and getting done with their business without a turtle speed attitude.
It’s a check! Zoom zoom zoom…

Whoa. Every time we go South beyond Brick in favor of Atlantic City or anywhere points south in Atlantic and Cape May counties, we stop to take a brief restroom break before resuming. Years before, I remember the restrooms being clean. But this time, everything was quite the opposite.
The restrooms were just dirty beyond belief. It seems that they were never cleaned. I don’t need to describe this any further. Also, there were no paper towels in the dispensers, and the hand dryers weren’t powerful enough to dry the hands. This was completely shameful.
As far as the rest area is concerned, the eateries here included Burger King, Starbucks, Sbarro, and Nathan’s. So yeah, nothing really healthy here. But if you’re really hungry, then you have to do what you have to do. At least there are plentiful seats here. They even have a water fountain here, too.
There is a Sunoco for those who are running low on fuel. There’s also plentiful parking too. The rest area overall does look a little runned-​down, and can certainly use a revamp. There’s not much more I can say about this rest stop, but those restrooms are in serious need of improvements!

Pretty nice service station. Have some
Good eats, an area to buy electronics, but the bathroom was pretty gross though. Could have been cleaner and the stalls were all broken down.
The pnc ATM was a nice bonus though.

The bathroom at the Forked River Service Area is freakin’ huge! It’s also pretty clean and well maintained, and has a bit of styling with fake hanging plants in it.
Definitely much larger than the Atlantic City service Area 30 or so miles down the road, and this one has a Starbucks in it!
There is a little more to choose from as far as food options go —
Burger King, Hershey’s Ice Cream, David’s Cookies, Sbarro, Hot Dog City. Not much healthy here, as usual with these spots, but meant for grab and go. Normal gift shop /​convenience store, dining area, ATM, and a full serve Sunoco gas station.
Clean overall and a good stop to grab a coffee and bathroom break. Plus, this is a spot for daily bus service into New York City with adjacent commuter parking if that is your thing.

Nice little service area that seems well-​kept.

One of the better HMSHost Interchange service areas we stopped by. It was fairly clean and larger than many of the others we used during our week long trip.
Services available:
Burger King
Hershey’s Ice Cream and David’s Cookies
Sbarro
Starbucks
Hot Dog City
Daily bus service into New York City with adjacent commuter parking
Gift Shop
Lukoil Service Station
Restrooms
ATM
FAX machine