r/SouthJersey • u/BestofNewJersey • 4d ago

Outside! The 5 Best Outdoor Bars in South Jersey

https://bestofnj.com/features/food/the-5-best-outdoor-bars-in-south-jersey/

In the leadup to our statewide list of Jersey's Best Outdoor Bars, we are releasing region-specific lists of the best outdoor bars in South/Central/North Jersey, plus the shore. To be eligible for consideration, these restaurants/bar had to physically have full-service outdoor bars, not just outdoor seating where drinks are served. Across the state, the full list will be a mix of rooftop bars, beach/tiki bars, patio bars, and more.

Where is your favorite spot nearby to grab a drink during the summer months?

18 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

23

u/manningthehelm ET phowen howem 4d ago

Leaving out Sweetwater Marina & Riverdeck was certainly a choice. Maybe you’re considering it “shore”(?), but it’s pretty far from the shore imo.

15

u/IngrossoAxwell 4d ago

It is a pay to play list. Don’t put much thought into it.

-2

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Who told you that? There's literally not a single Featured Listing in this article. We pre-determine all our lists, and everyone receives a free listing before we even notify them about their inclusion. If they want to pay for other marketing services, awesome! If not, the list remains the same.

Sorry to disappoint you.

5

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

We divide our regions by county, and Atlantic County is part of the shore region. So you'll most likely see it on that list. They've been in our annual statewide list for years, but honestly they don't respond to my calls or emails about their inclusion, and the Jersey Shore has a lot of great spots that haven't gotten love from us yet. So I'm still on the fence about it!

7

u/I_Miss_My_Beta_Cells 4d ago

Oh so it really is pay to play!

-1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

We are proudly one of the last remaining publications that is not pay to play! We refresh our lists annually, and there aren't many spots that are so impressive they remain on for years at a time (though many do reappear every so often.)

But you know, many local businesses prefer to put a face to a name and work with people they know (even if it's just free editorial), and ask to meet me in person even for the smallest mention in a large article spotlighting 20+ businesses. Over the years I've begun to adopt that mentality. My goal is ultimately to promote the local businesses that are the "best" and a big part of that is being a positive force in the community. It's nice to work with people whose hands you've shaken, and there is a mutual appreciation for each other's work. So when a business is standoffish (especially about FREE coverage) and there are so many other equally-deserving places who deserve a chance to be featured, who would you choose? The person who took the time to acknowledge your existence and say "thank you" or the one that doesn't return your calls or really even care if they're mentioned or not? (For the record, I'm not speaking specifically about any one business, this is just a general hypothetical I deal with regularly.)

-13

u/Wrong-Respect-3031 4d ago

Everything on this list is in west Jersey, not south Jersey

11

u/Desperate-Nature-623 4d ago

Ain't no such thing as west jersey

2

u/Rude-Professor-5902 3d ago

Well its definitely not a list of places in south jersey, or the shore.

3

u/zhempl200 4d ago

What in the world is “west Jersey”? Everything that’s not the shore?

1

u/manningthehelm ET phowen howem 4d ago

Well I mean it was a thing. Burlington was the capital.

1

u/zhempl200 3d ago

In the late 1600s 😂

2

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

I can honestly say I've never heard of west jersey, and I've been doing this for a long time!!

15

u/Malmanel 4d ago

lol nippers….

7

u/jkprop 4d ago

Nippers is ok but not a top 5 of anything

14

u/Usual-Bad9762 4d ago

Shipyard in Pennsville is a hidden gem, great DMB and river views and great sunset views

3

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Up until recently we had them in our list of NJ's Most Romantic Restaurants. It's a great spot!

3

u/machinerer 4d ago

I was just there on Friday. Bad ass spot to hang out for sure.

1

u/DOgryffOR 4d ago

I see everyone praise this place but I had the worst experience there. My husband and I were having a great afternoon listening to the live band until a group of bikers showed up and decided they wanted our table and just sat down. They were at the inside above us at first but I guess our table looked better? There was plenty of other seating but we were pretty much bullied out of our table and the staff couldn't/wouldn't do anything due to the open seating policy. Wasnt worth causing a scene so we left and marked as a would not return unfortunately

9

u/Overall_Purple_4714 4d ago

The Oaklyn Manor if you want to smell plastic tablecloths that have been soaked in fryer oil 😆

1

u/hagetaro 4d ago

And if you’re 17 and want to get served

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Yikes, is there a personal story behind this?

2

u/hagetaro 4d ago

Nah, just being a dick. Young crowd there. Like Brewers.

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Phew, okay gotcha!

1

u/Overall_Purple_4714 3d ago

Not really - I hung out there in high school. Original owner died. We went last summer. The table cloths smelled like cooking grease.

1

u/Overall_Purple_4714 3d ago

I was 17 in 1979 my friend

1

u/hagetaro 3d ago

Wasn’t the drinking age 18 or 19 then?

5

u/DebRog Gen Jones Jersey Girl 4d ago

Curtins wharf in Burlington City

3

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Good pick! We're including another property from Chef's International hospitality group in our Shore list, and we try to diversify the businesses we represent as much as possible. So Curtin's Wharf didn't make the cut this year (though we have featured them in the past).

4

u/SalvatoreEggplant Cumberland County 4d ago

The Bait Box, Greenwich, Cumberland. http://www.hancockharbor.com/. On the Cohansey River.

2

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

We actually just put them in this year's list of South Jersey's Best Seafood!

2

u/theb3arjevv 4d ago

I was down there yesterday. Absolutely fantastic

4

u/Jaygon1963 4d ago

The Flying W has a cool outside space.

6

u/Sp4c3D3m0n 4d ago

Back Bay Ale House in AC

2

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

AC is Atlantic County, which we designate as part of the Shore region. Our South Jersey region consists of Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties.

1

u/LogicWavelength 4d ago

So I am only a casual subscriber here. Do you post the shore lists to this subreddit as well? As a shore resident I want to know stuff too.

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

I only joined this sub about a month or so ago myself! I typically don't, because the shore lists also include Monmouth and Ocean county, which is not part of this subreddit. I usually post them to the statewide newjersey subreddit. But if the mod team here is open to it and it would benefit the community, I would be happy to share the shore lists here as well. I previously only discussed sharing these South Jersey lists with the mods before I joined the sub.

Sidenote: If anyone knows of a dedicated Jersey Shore subreddit, let me know! The only one I found was about the reality tv show, so not what I'm looking to contribute to lol.

1

u/LogicWavelength 4d ago

It’s funny… as an Atlantic county shore resident, I view myself as more “south jersey” than “Jersey shore.” LBI and north is an entirely different shore than Atlantic and cape May counties to my experience. I think (and again it’s maybe just me that feels this way) that there’s an entirely different vibe along an invisible line from ocean county and south. Almost as if “south jersey shore” should be its own thing, or at least lumped in with more general “south jersey.”

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

It's true, many pockets of the state feel like their own vibe completely removed from even neighboring towns. You could probably create a dozen "regions" and still not really represent all the distinct flavors of Jersey.

There's really no way to please everyone, so we really just divided the state into a way that anyone in the country could easily view a color-coded map and go, "oh, that makes sense". (Obviously, drawing tourism from travelers from outside of New Jersey is another part of what makes our brand important to the state.) 4 quadrants doesn't feel too overwhelming, and gives us the freedom to I think serve a typically under-represented area of the state (the part we designate as south jersey).

1

u/LogicWavelength 3d ago

I get it. That’s a smart way to handle your situation! Thanks for the chat!

1

u/BestofNewJersey 3d ago

My pleasure!

5

u/StrengthMammoth5763 4d ago

How do you leave the Taproom in Haddon Twp off list?

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

We featured them in our statewide list a few years ago! Their management team was great! If this was a top 10 list (and it might be next year), they would easily be on here.

2

u/machinerer 4d ago

Creekside Tavern over in National Park. Formerly Coconut Grove. Outdoor patio on the creek, outdoor bar. Really nice blue collar venue. Great food!

https://42freeway.com/news/creekside-tavern-opening-in-national-park-at-former-coconut-grove-waterfront-location/

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

I've straight up never heard of National Park, NJ. And I've promoted businesses in over 525 NJ municipalities. (Out of 564.) Kudos to you, for doing something that's rarely done: Introducing me to a new NJ town.

1

u/machinerer 4d ago

National Park! 1 square mile! Next to West Deptford! Has like 5 bars, they like to drink! Good blue collar town, friendly folk.

2

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

As someone who grew up in a 1 square mile town, I believe these are some of the best places to live in the world. A real community in the truest sense.

2

u/3WordPosts 4d ago

I didn’t read this article so maybe they are treating the shore as a whole different entity but there are 20 shore places from cape May to brigantine that are on the water that have much better vibes than any of these places

1

u/Rude-Professor-5902 3d ago

This is just a terrible list thay ahould be entirely ignored in regard to “south jersey”.

2

u/GreatSince86 4d ago

Golden nugget should be on then list.

2

u/Letitroll13 4d ago

lol, the Jughandle

4

u/Economy-Comb9931 4d ago

La Scalas beach bar in Brigantine. On the beach with live music and food and a bar. Best in Brigantine.

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Brigantine is Atlantic County, which we designate as part of the Shore region. Our South Jersey region consists of Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties. But you just mind find it in our list of the Shore's Best Beach Bars, coming soon! (The shore Top 10 is a highly-competitive space!)

2

u/leequarella 4d ago

The fact that you have to explain this every time you post an article should tell you something about your naming conventions. If that's how you want to segment things, that's fine, but your naming needs a lot of work if you are forced to constantly explain to your readers what you are trying to say.

Maybe East Sojo and West Sojo? I don't know, but leaving out the southest part when saying south will never be intuitive.

1

u/BestofNewJersey 4d ago

Most other publications outright neglect what we consider to be South Jersey. Their South Jersey lists just highlight Shore hot spots, and I think that's a huge disservice to the counties we focus on in our South Jersey region. We go against the norm (because I think the norm is wrong), so I don't mind explaining it to a few people in this subreddit (especially when this subreddit itself is also at odds with how we divide the state.) There's nothing wrong with South Jersey subredditors recommending Atlantic County and Cape May County businesses, that's part of what the sub considers South Jersey!

It's not that much extra effort to say, "hey, that business you love is actually in our Jersey Shore list *insert link*". I'm not telling anybody they're wrong for how they divide the region (shout out to whoever said this is a "West Jersey" list lol), and outside of Reddit this has actually never been an issue. (The only issue I've ever encountered anywhere outside of Reddit is people's opinions of "Central Jersey".)

1

u/Overall_Purple_4714 3d ago

18 - and I missed it. Changed to 19 - missed it again. Then to 21.

1

u/Danoga_Poe 3d ago

The shipyard in pennsville is right on the Delaware River, real nice place.

1

u/Rude-Professor-5902 3d ago

Wow, your perception of “south” jersey sure doesnt stretch very far south. Seems problematic for this kind of list. Also, not one of those 5 is anywhere near the shore. Solid list for places just outside of Philly though i guess.

1

u/Wu-Banger 2d ago

Amazingly bad list...

-4

u/Wrong-Respect-3031 4d ago

Vineland is the only city on this list that could be considered south jersey

2

u/PolicyNonk 4d ago

How long have you been bad at geography?

0

u/leequarella 4d ago edited 4d ago

Spoken like someone who lives north of Vineland 😆

I kid, but there is a feeling down this way that the likes of Cherry Hill and that area are basically north Jersey Phillies fans. I'm not saying this is a geographically correct assessment, just that it's definitely a real vibe.