Spiaggetta

Tuesday night. End of August. 730pm arrival. Party of 3. Dining room was about 25% full. Initial waitstaff was attentive. Overly attentive perhaps with multiple waiters asking for our drink order. Once we ordered it took over 30 min to receive our entrée after we received our appetizer. So from placing the order to getting the food it was nearly an hour. Based on the size of the place, and how full it was, the kitchen should have been able to deliver our food much more quickly. We should not have been waiting 30 min in-​between courses. Meal was just OK. We had multiple pasta dishes, I had the gnocchi and it was just OK.

get the pappardelle spiaggetta. marco is awesome.

Midweek in the third week of September. Streets are empty and parking spaces plentiful on 96^th St. We chanced on Spiaggetta and were quickly seated far from a large group. Our waiter was attentive and happy to change Gorgonzola to goat cheese on the huge pear-​arugula salad. The food was excellent! We shared the generous portions of salad, grouper on saffron risotto with bay scallops and –recommended– tender pappardelle pasta with shrimp. The owner sent over a complimentary dessert of delicious cannolis. Typical high-​ish prices for the shore, but we were well-​satisfied on well-​prepared dishes with excellent service.

Dined here Twice and had great experiences both times. Outstanding food and great service. One of my favorite restaurants in Stone Harbor.

Service was spotty. Chicken Parmesan just ok, stuffed filet good but overdone request rare, this it would be medium rare was not even pink. Would not return
Yes and dear owner and your comment should be… Really? So sorry your expensive dinner and evening with your sons while on vacation was less than you hoped for and at your concierges suggestion. Don’t worry I told her not to recommend you again.

Two old SHBP lifeguards and their wives went there
On Friday! Food was excellent. Waiter (native Italian) was attentive and efficient. Marc the owner stopped by our table and was engaging and made sure we were happy with our food and service!
Highly recommend and will return!

This is my second favorite place on the island. Fuze is my favorite, but this place is good and more simple. Gnocchi and Fedacini Alfredo are both simple and delicious. Octopus and mozzarella appetizers are really good.

Party of 10 was quickly seated. Appetizers (burratta and eggplant rolatini) were very good. Entrees (gnocchi, sea bass, grouper, chicken parm and focaccia salad) were amazing! Highly recommend this spot!

Still love it here even after 2 years since our last visit. Grandma wasn’t in the back cooking this time, but the food was still great. The owner personally came out to our table to make sure we were being accommodated, and even had the chefs redo my aunt’s Branzino in the kitchen because he didn’t like how they cooked it the first time and wanted it to be just right. This is someone who prides himself on his restaurant and deeply cares about his guests’ dining experience. I opted for a seafood without pasta this time and ordered the Grouper with saffron risotto, bay scallops, and cippolinis (which I later found out are basically like pearl onions). All the flavors perfectly melded together in one and my grouper was seasoned and cooked to perfection. The risotto was unique on my palate and there was a decent helping of scallops with it. I tried a bit of my mom’s lemon-​infused linguine and it was fantastic. Next time we visit Stone Harbor for our bi-​annual family girls’ trip, we’ll absolutely be coming back here.

Stopped in for brunch after viewing the John Lennon exhibit. We were very pleased. Quaint little restaurant with a friendly staff and the food was delicious. Next time I am in town, I would love to go back in the evening and have dinner there.

Good food and great service! What more can you ask for? From the moment we walked in to the moment we left, we were greeted warmly by Marc, the owner, who gave us a brief history in his restaurant. He was so personable and likable, we felt completely welcomed and appreciated as patrons.
For appetizers we had the calamari, the burrata, and the antipasti. Everything was cooked to perfection and tasted wonderful. I especially liked the grilled calamari which was tender yet had a crisp bite. There was no breading which is different from most other places which disguise the flavor of the calamari with heavy breading. The burrata was especially delightful, as the mozzarella was homemade and tasted very fresh. I’ve never had anything like it before.
I ordered the chicken parmigiana for my entrée which was served with spaghetti with marinara sauce. The marinara was superb! Just the right amount of sweet and tangy flavor. It was thick but not overly so. The chicken parm itself was a little overcooked for my taste but I still enjoyed it.
Overall, everyone was satisfied with their dishes. I would highly recommend a visit to Spiaggetta.

Service and food was excellence! Love my branzino and the spaghetti was perfect! My entire party of 7 loved the food too. Definitely coming back here again!

Been there five times. First time, everything was good or better, which is why we went back. Each time afterwards, some things were very good, some not, so we figured it was just a matter of avoiding those items that were not done well, but now it’s just not worth it, for the price.
Once, we had an Italian version of bouillabaisse, perfect saffron broth and seafood, next time, they left out the saffron, even though it points out that it has saffron on the menu, and the fish was rubbery.
Most recently, we had two fine appetizers, the octopus and the sauteed calamari. Interestingly, half of the calamari dish was baby octopus (without the heads), which I happen to know well because I make it at home frequently. I pointed this out to the waiter, he tried to tell me it was the calamari tentacles, and I told him it was not, and that I happen to love baby octopus, but others might not, so either you should tell people or not include baby octopus in the dish. They just thought they could pass off baby octopus as calamari tentacles.
The two entrees were both disappointing. One was the“signature” house pasta, which he highly recommended, Pappardelle Spiagetta with home made pasta, lime marinated shrimp and pecorino sauce. The sauce was like sludge and tasted heavily of lemon, and the few shrimp were not lemon or lime marinated that we could tell, just the sauce. It was edible, but not enjoyable, and the supposedly excellent home made pasta was just ordinary and overcooked.
The other entrée, Branzino over grilled polenta and zucchini was a very good preparation but the fish was just so so. Plus, it was only one half of a relatively small fish. It was pitiful. The waiter had made a big deal about how the kitchen fillets it for us, which I usually like to do myself. I asked him if I ordered it again, could I fillet it myself, and would I get a whole fish, and he said, well the kitchen doesn’t really fillet it, it comes that way, which means it is probably frozen fillets.
So if you don’t know the difference between a dish with saffron and one without when it is advertised to come with saffron, and you don’t know the difference between calamari and baby octopus, and you don’t know the difference between lemon and lime, and don’t mind overcooked sludgy pasta that reeks of lemon, and you don’t mind eating half of a frozen fish fillet, and you generally don’t mind going to a restaurant that cuts corners in a lot of areas but thinks you are too uneducated to know the difference, then you will like this restaurant more than we did.

Went here with a party of 9 this past Wednesday and were promptly seated. When we got there, at about 6:45, the restaurant was far from full. Our server was young but said she had been working there since May and was very knowledgeable about the menu.
Appetizers we chose included the excellent burrata and the frito misto and some perfectly acceptable salads. The beet salad would have been good except that the beets were inconsistently roasted so some were done and delicious and others were rock hard and yuck.
The problem with the restaurant is that once it filled up, about 7:15, all service to our table seemed to stop. It was after 8 by the time we finally got our food. Lobster fra diablo was cold and, after being heated up was woefully overcooked. The handmade pasta is quite good, if rather heavy, but one of the dishes we got was undercooked and doughy. Of the dishes we got that were properly cooked, including papparedelle, ravioli, and gnocchi, everyone thought it was good, but not worth the prices, wait, and aggravation. The poor busboy had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
What started out as a promising meal turned out really disappointingly bad. The nail on the coffin was that after all this waiting and sending back improperly cooked food, as we were leaving, a woman, who apparently was a manager but had not been seen in the nearly 2 hours that we were there, came by the table to ask if we needed anything. Ha! You’ve got to be kidding! Too little, too late.

Made 7:00 reservations and didn’t get seated till 7:35. The owner could tell we weren’t very happy so he came and gave us complimentary champaign. Once seated we order almost every appetizer on the menu and everything was delicious. All of our entrees were amazing expect for the steak (stick to a pasta or seafood dish here). Although we started off unhappy we left extremely happy and can’t wait to go back.

Wha??? Three stars? You have to be kidding me! This is some of the best Italian food I’ve had in southern New Jersey. From the tapenade to the antipasto to the risotto balls… The handmade gnocchi crafted in the back kitchen by the owners mother… the fish… everything was amazing. This is absolutely a five-​star restaurant. Don’t even consider going anywhere else in Stone Harbor for Italian food.

My boyfriend’s father took the two of us out to dinner at this restaurant as a treat. Although we hadn’t made reservations in advance, we were seated immediately.
Our server was very friendly. He engaged us in conversation as he opened our wine (BYOB). He was also very knowledgeable about the menu and made suggestions based on our preferences.
For the appetizer, we ordered Fried Calamari, which was served with some sort of spicy dipping sauce. It was fantastic! For the main course, I ordered Linguine & Clams in Basil-​Pesto Sauce. Although the pasta was not homemade like some of the other dishes, it was still excellent.
I really enjoyed the fact that the servers did not rush us at all. Even after we finished our food, they continually refilled our water glasses and bread bowl as we sipped on the last of our wine.
All in all, this restaurant had a great atmosphere, excellent service, and tasty food. I am deducting a star simply because the food was delicious, but not what I was expecting for the high price. That said, I would definitely return!

«You give me powders, pills, baths, injections, enemas — when all I need is love.»
Generally I’m not a fan of restaurants in this area. They have a captive audience, low expectations and transient, inexperienced wait staff. It’s usually more of a rote restaurant.
What I like about this place is that they seem to definitely care — from the greeting when you walk-​in, table settings, attitude of the wait staff, to the preparation of the food. The kitchen is definitely not warming up/​defrosting/​recycling things — it’s all made when you order. Having eaten at some many places that want to «turn the tables» and make «factory food», this is welcome change.
Yes, I’ve eaten at better places in NYC or San Francisco, but the food is pretty authentic representative of classic Italian cuisine.
Tips:
1. It’s BYOB, so bring your own. Or plan to dash out to Fred’s Tavern a few blocks away in the middle of dinner.
2. Appetizers: The Burrata, rice balls and mussels were superb. Eggplant rollatini was a bit dry and Frito misto was average.
3. Pasta: most, if not all fresh made. Some of which are oddly paired, so you might want to switch pasta/​sauce combinations. Rigatoni is good, but heavy in summer.
4. Mains: Branzino, Cioppino were really good. Simple, but very flavorful and hearty portions.
5. Specials: Scallops truffle risotto was down to the ceramic, plate cleaned.
6. Desserts: Tiramisu and cheesecake were both very good.
6. It’s made for a long leisurely dinner. I wouldn’t come here if you are in a hurry.
The décor is also open and a notch above the typical places in this area. I know there are a lot of mixed reviews from my fellow Unilocalers, but this is definitely a place I’d make a stop at during a vacation down the shore.

We showed up on a Saturday night during the 4^th of July weekend at 8:00 pm for our 8:15 pm reservation and was promptly seated when we arrived. After reading the reviews, we were concerned over the wait, service and the food but our experience was positive on all counts.
For appetizers, I had the Burrata and he had the Mussels — both were EXCELLENT! I had the Fettucine (with seafood) for dinner and he had the Spaghetti and Clams. He chose the spaghetti so the pasta would be homemade and the fettuccine was homemade (not all the pastas are homemade). We devoured our meals enjoying every minute of it.
We finished off with sharing the Tiramisu that was also excellent.
We have traveled to Italy on several occasions and consider ourselves pretty knowledgeable with authentic and delicious Italian restaurants. We will absolutely return to this restaurant.

Last night we showed up 3 mins early for a 7pm reservation, waited for 30 mins to be seated while looking at 6 empty tables surrounded by 20 others waiting.
When we finally ordered the waiter told
us how he did not like the white sauce at the restaurant and how certain menu items «you can get anywhere.»
Salads and octopus appetizer came out relatively quickly and were both excellent.
Then we waited, and waited, and ran out of wine (only 2 bottles. wasn’t trying to get hammered) The waiter joked at 9pm that we probably have time to run to Fred’s and back before our food came. At 9:15 (2.25 hrs after we showed up) we asked for the check for the appetizers since we were no longer hungry.
Looking back the waiter may have been «steering» us to the food that they still had left or what came out the quickest
Moral of the story, it was a disaster last night. The food was good that we ate, but something was going terribly wrong in the back.