Avenue Le Club

Reviews 3

MI

Michele Tauber

The Avenue Le Club Restaurant is a very nice rather large Venue at Pier Village over looking the Atlantic Ocean in Long Branch, NJ. The Restaurant asks you to makes reservations and certainly on the weekend as it gets very busy, making a reservation is an excellent idea. I dined at the Avenue with my elderly parents at 5:15pm on a Tuesday, during the end of June, actually just before the July 4th weekend and although the Bar area was quite full, the Restaurant seating, itself was empty. But it was early, the beach was very foggy and windy and it was a Tuesday. Nicer weather, later in the night or week I would imagine a reservation is a very Happy thing to have. We could literally pick our seating. We sat very near the fire place in the center of the room at a table. Surprisingly we were not cold. But I noticed the wait staff or several of them remain standing in front of the fire place. The large ceiling and very open room with loads of windows provides ample view of the Boardwalk and Ocean. And the sparse decorations, though tasteful give the Restaurant a nice ambiance. Our server was a very nice young woman who gave us lots of time to sample the menu. Even though we pretty much knew that we were getting the $32.50 Prix Fixe menu. It is available every day from 4:30-6pm, and all evening on Tuesday. You get to order an appetizer, entree and Dessert. No drinks come with the meal, except tap water and your bread and butter (excellent I might add) also come with your meal. Its a very good deal without the drinks. Both their liquor, wine per glass at $9.00 and soft drinks, $3.00 per glass are very pricey and their charge for refills. Stay away from the drinks if you can manage with water, as it will add an easy $30.00 to your bill and more if you have two drinks. Our drinks came to $24.00. For appetizers my parents ordered the Shrimp Cocktails. Six nice size Shrimp with dipping sauce that they both really enjoyed. I ordered a la Carter, the Onion Soup. At $13.00 I was disappointed at the bland soup. Very tasteless and not at all like other onion soups I had had at other restaurants, which would have been fine, if it had been tastes, but it was wasnt. Two pieces of French bread covered with cheese stuck in a croque of soup. I didnt finish it and my Mom took it home. As I was still due an appetizer I ordered the Mac-n-cheese for the table. A small, cereal size bowl of Mac-n-cheese came, and again not very cheesy, sort of soupy and disappointing. Two very disappointing appetizers, very good bread. I was starting to lose heart. As all three of us ordered the Boeuf Borginoune as our entrees we would be in trouble if it turned out badly, but to my surprise it was excellent. An ample portion of very tender beef sitting on a bed of pappardelle with mushrooms, bell onions, carrots and potatoes in a nice brown sauce. Quite quite good. An entree that would cause my return to this restaurant. We all three agreed that the Boeuf Bourguignon was excellent. For dessert my parents got each three little scoops of ice cream, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and I got three profiteroles, French Vanilla ice cream scoops in three pastry balls sitting on a drizzled plate of Carmel, nuts and a small container of chocolate syrup. Not bad at all. I would say that The Avenue Le Club, with the exception of their high priced drinks and poor appetizers is still very well worth the trip. Highly recommended.

KA

Kathe Wright

Over 3 weeks ago, our son who lives in Pier Village, and has dined at Avenue many times, visited the restaurant with a request: he was planning to propose to his girlfriend in the pavilion on the boardwalk next door and wanted to surprise her by bringing her into Avenue and having their parents there to surprise her. He explained his plans and the female manager he spoke to suggested the corner round table so that we parents could watch the proposal from a distance and be somewhat hidden when they walked in. My son was excited by the idea and although Avenue prefers to seat once all parties have arrived, she agreed to have us seated before they arrived. Earlier this week, my son verified the arrangements made and was assured the notes were there with his reservation and all would be taken care of. Last night we arrived with the brides parents and were initially told we could not be seated, and to wait at the bar. When we protested and explained the plan, they showed us to a table in the middle of the restaurant-- with no view of the pavilion. We politely explained and asked about the TWO rounds in the corner that were vacant. We were told they were reserved. We asked to speak to the manager. Meanwhile we were standing in the middle of the restaurant while the engagement took place. The manager came and told us we could not have either of those tables. We again explained and he was very curt, stating yes I saw the notes with the reservation He refused to explain, maintained his Ayrian attitude and stared at us. He deliberately refused to seat us. Meanwhile, I saw our son and his new fiancé walking toward the restaurant and we were still standing in the middle of the restaurant. Finally, my husbands growing anger must have moved him and he offered us the round table next to the raw bar. As our son walked in the restaurant, we were still standing trying to be seated. The surprise was willfully and deliberately ruined by this jerk and of course we didnt get to see the proposal, as planned. Unwilling to argue further and dampen the enthusiasm of the newly engaged couple, we sat. Luis, our server must have been aware of what happened ( and lets face it, works with this jerk, so HE KNOWS) and he bent over backwards to make sure we were well taken care of for the rest of the evening. Luis was the star of the evening and Avenue is lucky to have him. Two things: 1. Avenue has a thriving wedding business, and one of the venues my son was considering for his wedding was Avenue. No more. (After all if something this simple could not be accommodated, what hope is there for a more complicated event?) 2. The corner table in question REMAINED EMPTY FOR OVER TWO HOURS after we were seated. So, Mr Manager, WHAT WAS YOUR POINT????

BR

Brandon

I went here for a birthday 06/21/2014, party of 8, we all sat at the bar to have some drinks and eat. The food was unmemorable. I tried the grilled octopus, steak, and seafood linguine. the bartender was very nice and helpful. things started going down hill after 45 minutes. let me explain. The manager came to the bar and started making a ridiculous scene at our bartender He literally threw some twenties at her and demanded she give him change. this man was clearly disheveled and on some type of mind altering substance (drugs) . He then left and came back and was very rude to the bartender again, it was so uncomfortable and he was acting like a maniac. I understand why this place is going down hill. No staff could respect a manager who acts this way. And then on top of that he changes the mood of the customer. After this we waited on line to go to the club. 6 people from our party got up and 2 people were still in line. (I was one of those two) Weird, but it happens when they are controlling the flow of people. Then after 20 minutes the bouncer kicked us off the line and proceeded to say he didnt believe we were with them. We argued we were and then we called down our family who went up. The bouncer now sees he was wrong and didnt care and would not let us in. The entire security staff was totally incompetent. So our entire group just left and security proceeded to say who cares if you leave, we have 400 people here. Funny, because we looked around and saw maybe 20. And upstairs was about the same. The point: This place is poorly managed and creates an allure for its wealthy clients that they are offering a premier jersey shore club experience. This is not Las Vegas. What winds up happening is that they have isolated themselves to rock-stars and snooty millionaires that pay for bottle service and sit alone in their own little sections. The entire energy is negative. Good luck to the DJ , he has his work cut out for him to change the mood of almost everyone walking in there. STAFF had several altercations outside with different customers that night and even denied people access to get their belongings/credit card back from the upstairs area. The police was even called because the incompetent staff cannot handle simple requests. I could only guess that this place is cash flowing negative and are only afloat because of the outrageous beach membership dues they charge to sit on the sand in front of their property. By the way I heard that it is $1500 to sit in the VIP area. Take that money and go to another country for a weekend.

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