By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
The boardwalk in Asbury Park will soon have an ale house all its own.
Restrauateur Tim McLoone has temporarily closed down both his establishments on the boardwalk, Tim McLoone’s Supper Club and the Asbury Grille.
McLoone said this week that improvements to the upstairs Supper Club will be “modest” and include new paint, carpeting and new furniture.
He also said new servers will be hired and they will be wearing new uniforms.
“There will be a new entrance…small cosmetic stuff,” he said.
However, the downstairs where the Asbury Grille was located, is being completely overhauled.
“The inside is 100 percent demolished,” McLoone said.
In its place will be The Robinson Ale House, a replica of McLoone’s The Robinson Ale House in Red Bank which opened in December of 2014.
Robinson, he explained, is his wife’s given name.
The new ale house will have a lighter color scheme and serve more seafood meals than the Red Bank location.
In Red Bank, McLoone said, they serve upscale pub food and that will be offered in Asbury Park as well, along with more seafood dishes.
“We’re looking at what were big sellers in Asbury Park,” McLoone said. “We’re calling it coastal food.”
McLoone said the former Asbury Grille did not give people a specific reason for coming there.
He believes that The Robinson Ale House will.
“We’ve been fortunate to be successful in Red Bank,” he said.
McLoone said in his 30 years in the restaurant business his biggest selling item has been grilled cheese sandwiches.
“That and burgers and beer,” he said.
Although the ale house will mostly cater to the casual diner, it will also offer high end steak dinners.
“We will also serve steaks, and we will show that we know how to do it,” he said.
McLoone said the success of the Red Bank location, which is in an urban environment, will translate on the boardwalk.
“It fits the boardwalk better than what’s there now,” he said saying the boardwalk location has a mixed clientele.
“People who are coming to see shows (in the Supper Club) and people coming in from the boardwalk,” he said.
One renovation for the entire building is new windows throughout to replace the originals.
The Supper Club will open at the end of March and ale house at the end of April.
