True farm to table experience in a beautiful location! We sat on the patio over looking the dunes/beach. Service was excellent and Every course was absolutely delicious!
Veronica S.
This is the best meal my family and I have ever had in the area. We stay in stone harbor but we've had mixed experiences dining out there. Summer Salt is right on the boardwalk. The covered patio was lovely. Ocean breeze with a view of the dunes and the room is acoustically treated, even with a full house we could hear each other talking and speak without having to shout. The Prix fixe menu is very well curated. The starters were perfect to share, we loved all of them and having the variety was perfect for all of our dietary restrictions. There were 3 main courses, we went with the pork chops and scallops. Both were excellent, perfectly cooked and dressed with care. The server heard us talking about the 3rd option, tagliatelle with clams; he brought us a taster to share and I loved this too. The desserts don't even need to be mentioned. We had all three and they were all amazing. The owner even came out to thank us for coming after the meal. This place is amazing, I've had it on my radar for the past couple of years and I'm so glad I could get a reservation with my family. Definitely book in advance, the summer reservations start in May.
Lyndsey McCormick
We came here for the first time this summer and for the most part we were underwhelmed. Most of the food was cold (and so was the coffee), and everything was underseasoned. The vibe was cute on the enclosed patio with the string lights, but the chairs were very small and uncomfortable. Considering how much money we paid and how many other delicious prix fixe menus there are down the shore and in Philly, this was a big miss for us.The best dishes were the corn fritters and the desserts.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
jbehm58
An upscale, “Hampton-esque” style, farm-to-table restaurant, in a beautiful beachside setting, with easy parking. Oh we wanted to LOVE Summer Salt so much, but ended up just liking it instead. The highlights here are, polished & attentive service, Lovely beachside ambience, the sauces! (Oh those sauces!). Interior decor is simple but elegant in a beachy sort of way. Every dish is simply but attractively plated.We liked the idea of trying a pre fix FTT menu with multiple courses, each based on simple but delicious preparations. The real standouts here are the exquisite sauces that accompany each dish. Someone really knows their sauces. Those mouthwatering accompaniments aside , most of the dishes were just okay.The (big) downsides here are the teeny tiny portions that will remind you of tapas, but at 2x or 3x the price you’d expect for the quantities of food offered. And while Summer Salt graciously accommodates dietary restrictions, their alternative choices for some dishes are just not inventive & equivalent to the original dish. So instead of a nice Crabcake (which unfortunately had breading) you get 5 small Al dente greenbeans in a pool of hummus? Instead of corn fritters you get (literally) an eighth of an ear of corn, served with the cob still attached (?) in another fabulous sauce. C’mon.The standout of our meal was the Carolina pan seared pork chop. Absolutely delicious and a decent size chop, with little trimming required. The scallops were less successful in that the plate arrived with three medium size scallops with some nice red pepper slaw. This was more like an appetizer portion, and the scallops themselves had little flavor and were undercooked.If you are very hungry and/or are used to typical restaurant portions, you may be doing a Yelp search for “best fries near me” after dinner. The authentic farm style chairs are nice to look at, but after the first 45 min, the flat hardwood seat bottoms became uncomfortable. Grab the banquette if you can.Then there is THE bathroom (yes, there is only one gender neutral restroom). There was a line for the bathroom during most of our meal. It is spotlessly clean, but still, one restroom for a restaurant this size is not enough. Plan ahead potty-goers.Given the location of Summer Salt, in the exclusive enclave of Avalon NJ, I’m sure many guests here will not even notice the $85pp charge. And I’m sure that is very much inline with other local restaurants. The problem here is the food is mostly good (not great) and even after eating multiple courses, you might easily leave a little peckish. Anyone know the best fries in Avalon? As long as you know what to expect here, and don’t have a big appetite, you may like Summer Salt just fine. There’s a lot to like here. But for us it did not quite live up to expectations.Dietary restrictions: Can accommodate gluten intoleranceParking: Large free lot right next door.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Ava and Lana Kimmel
Summer Salt is now our favorite restaurant in Avalon. The food was incredible and we loved that it’s a farm to table with quality ingredients. Everything was delicious and flavorful. You can tell they put in a lot of effort into every aspect of the restaurant. Every worker was so kind, the view on the outside patio was great and the music was really good too. Only suggestion would be to put some sort of privacy screen to seperate the icecream customers from the summer salt tables. Overall I’d highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great meal and experience.
Food was spectacular. Perfect sized portions.I can't say enough about the staff. Everyone worked together and made you feel so comfortable. Can't wait for next year to go back!
Tom E.
Great ambiance (we sat in the covered porch), great service, solid food. Definitely a great place to go for a nicer meal in the area. They were so nice about our child being there - giving him a dessert and making us feel welcome. Food was solid- tomato salad was my favorite.
MollyB
This is the most charming venue in Avalon with absolutely delicious local food. We could touch the dunes from our table, it's that close to the beach. Heather, one of the owners, makes time to circulate and greet guests. The staff members are delightful, always smiling. Loved the opportunity to make our online reservation months before our arrival. Summer Salt is a gem.
TowsonFoodie
We had a great table on the outside deck. Service was very good and staff were all super friendly. Our food experience was just ok. Nothing remarkable but tasted good enough. Wish I could give a better review. We loved sitting outside the most and the owners are really trying to make it a special place.
openminded
We had read some reviews suggesting that the portions were small, but found that to be misleading. We did not leave hungry and even took a dessert home. Everything was perfect. So many flavors in the sauces and great combinations of food such as peaches, corn and burrata. Service was friendly and the owner stopped by for a nice chat. Highly recommend! Moon sitting on the water just over our shoulders on the back terrace. It was worth the drive leaving all the great Cape May restaurants for a night.
This was the 2nd time we ate at Summer Salt. We were excited as the food and service last year was top notch and looked forward to having the same again this year. It was certainly not the case for the dinner we had on Sept. 2nd. While the food generally was good, there were some inconsistencies. The stone ground corn fritter served within the “The Beginning” course and the crab cake served within the “Middle” while tasty, were very lukewarm, rather than coming out hot. This was the same for the scallop dish in the “Main”, although somehow the clam dish my partner ordered came out piping hot. The rest of the food was fine but the service was also disappointing. Someone opened our bottle of wine (it was a screw top) and then didn't bother pouring any throughout the meal, even though we had three different waiters come by our table to either bring food or remove dishes. Our initial waitress (her name won't be mentioned as this review is not meant to be petty, only informative for others) came to see us twice, once to take our initial order and once to take our dessert order, the latter without even having given us a menu again! We weren't asked whether we wanted coffee or any other warm beverages, which we could have certainly used since it was chilly outside that evening. My partner did leave a note on the bill indicating the fritter and crab cakes were not hot, the mains and dessert were good and the service could have used improvement. Interestingly, after I'd received an email confirmation that points for the dinner were awarded, another email was received a few hours later indicating our reservation was cancelled by the restaurant. We were shocked by this and certainly wondered if it had to do with our note, and really hope this was not the case. Given this, it seemed important to share our experience. Last year, we would have very happily recommended Summer Salt to friends. This is not so for this year.
Emily R.
Summer Salt is a perfect place for a nice dinner after a long day at the beach. It may be hard to get a reservation, but that's just because they want you to be comfortable and feel special in their modern environment, even though they are very popular and have very delicious food for anyone to savor. My personal favorite from the seasonal menu, which includes fresh farm to table delights for each course, was the corn fritter and the peach and burrata. I chose the scallops which were amazing, for my entree. Dessert was great too! My family and I really had an amazing experience in this friendly environment. The whole dinner reached beyond my high expectations. Not to mention the nice staff and kind owner who is always working hard! Thank you Summer Salt for making one of the last dinners of summer 2023 special.
Dtowndiner
Perfection! We had a wonderful evening at this beautiful family run restaurant! The food was outstanding and carefully planned, prepared and presented. The food is local, seasonal and sustainably sourced. The owners are lovely, warm people who made every effort to make the evening special. We were celebrating my husband's birthday and they took great care to ensure we enjoyed ourselves, and we did! A very special place run by talented, passionate, lovely people. We highly recommend this restaurant!!
NicoleC
We celebrated our Anniversary here on a Friday evening and it was perfect. The hostess showed us to our seats and to our surprise our menus were personalized with our names and the date and occasion. What a thoughtful touch! The food was outstanding; comforting and familiar ingredients for this Jersey native but with a delicious flair. I am more of a foodie than my husband who prefers classic comfort food but even he loved the meal from start to finish including all the ‘chef-y' flair. We chose the scallops and the chicken for our entree and while you wouldn't normally think of chicken as a star entree, the quality was truly amazing. Highly recommend the cheesecake for dessert. Heather is always so welcoming and stopped to chat during our meal as well. Our server was fantastic and went above and beyond, and the rest of the staff were also helpful. Overall we really enjoyed the experience of the restaurant which was made even better by a perfect September weather day. The only critique I have is the chairs which can be a bit uncomfortable for a longer seating, but I definitely won't let that keep me from coming back again, and again, and again. I look forward to experiencing Summer Salt every year now, and anyone would be lucky to enjoy eating here more than once a season as the menu changes to reflect the local offerings. What a treat. Thank you for a wonderful and memorable evening!
risa0319
What a cute, little hidden gem! We absolutely loved our 8:15 dinner on the terrace. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable and gave great suggestions. The shared appetizer courses were fun for date night and our individually selected entrees and desserts were delicious and sizeable. BYOB was a huge plus too! We can't wait to come back next year.
True farm to table experience in a beautiful location! We sat on the patio over looking the dunes/beach. Service was excellent and Every course was absolutely delicious!
This is the best meal my family and I have ever had in the area. We stay in stone harbor but we've had mixed experiences dining out there. Summer Salt is right on the boardwalk. The covered patio was lovely. Ocean breeze with a view of the dunes and the room is acoustically treated, even with a full house we could hear each other talking and speak without having to shout. The Prix fixe menu is very well curated. The starters were perfect to share, we loved all of them and having the variety was perfect for all of our dietary restrictions. There were 3 main courses, we went with the pork chops and scallops. Both were excellent, perfectly cooked and dressed with care. The server heard us talking about the 3rd option, tagliatelle with clams; he brought us a taster to share and I loved this too. The desserts don't even need to be mentioned. We had all three and they were all amazing. The owner even came out to thank us for coming after the meal. This place is amazing, I've had it on my radar for the past couple of years and I'm so glad I could get a reservation with my family. Definitely book in advance, the summer reservations start in May.
We came here for the first time this summer and for the most part we were underwhelmed. Most of the food was cold (and so was the coffee), and everything was underseasoned. The vibe was cute on the enclosed patio with the string lights, but the chairs were very small and uncomfortable. Considering how much money we paid and how many other delicious prix fixe menus there are down the shore and in Philly, this was a big miss for us.The best dishes were the corn fritters and the desserts.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
An upscale, “Hampton-esque” style, farm-to-table restaurant, in a beautiful beachside setting, with easy parking. Oh we wanted to LOVE Summer Salt so much, but ended up just liking it instead. The highlights here are, polished & attentive service, Lovely beachside ambience, the sauces! (Oh those sauces!). Interior decor is simple but elegant in a beachy sort of way. Every dish is simply but attractively plated.We liked the idea of trying a pre fix FTT menu with multiple courses, each based on simple but delicious preparations. The real standouts here are the exquisite sauces that accompany each dish. Someone really knows their sauces. Those mouthwatering accompaniments aside , most of the dishes were just okay.The (big) downsides here are the teeny tiny portions that will remind you of tapas, but at 2x or 3x the price you’d expect for the quantities of food offered. And while Summer Salt graciously accommodates dietary restrictions, their alternative choices for some dishes are just not inventive & equivalent to the original dish. So instead of a nice Crabcake (which unfortunately had breading) you get 5 small Al dente greenbeans in a pool of hummus? Instead of corn fritters you get (literally) an eighth of an ear of corn, served with the cob still attached (?) in another fabulous sauce. C’mon.The standout of our meal was the Carolina pan seared pork chop. Absolutely delicious and a decent size chop, with little trimming required. The scallops were less successful in that the plate arrived with three medium size scallops with some nice red pepper slaw. This was more like an appetizer portion, and the scallops themselves had little flavor and were undercooked.If you are very hungry and/or are used to typical restaurant portions, you may be doing a Yelp search for “best fries near me” after dinner. The authentic farm style chairs are nice to look at, but after the first 45 min, the flat hardwood seat bottoms became uncomfortable. Grab the banquette if you can.Then there is THE bathroom (yes, there is only one gender neutral restroom). There was a line for the bathroom during most of our meal. It is spotlessly clean, but still, one restroom for a restaurant this size is not enough. Plan ahead potty-goers.Given the location of Summer Salt, in the exclusive enclave of Avalon NJ, I’m sure many guests here will not even notice the $85pp charge. And I’m sure that is very much inline with other local restaurants. The problem here is the food is mostly good (not great) and even after eating multiple courses, you might easily leave a little peckish. Anyone know the best fries in Avalon? As long as you know what to expect here, and don’t have a big appetite, you may like Summer Salt just fine. There’s a lot to like here. But for us it did not quite live up to expectations.Dietary restrictions: Can accommodate gluten intoleranceParking: Large free lot right next door.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Summer Salt is now our favorite restaurant in Avalon. The food was incredible and we loved that it’s a farm to table with quality ingredients. Everything was delicious and flavorful. You can tell they put in a lot of effort into every aspect of the restaurant. Every worker was so kind, the view on the outside patio was great and the music was really good too. Only suggestion would be to put some sort of privacy screen to seperate the icecream customers from the summer salt tables. Overall I’d highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great meal and experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Heirloom Tomato Salad, Seared Scallops
Food was spectacular. Perfect sized portions.I can't say enough about the staff. Everyone worked together and made you feel so comfortable. Can't wait for next year to go back!
Great ambiance (we sat in the covered porch), great service, solid food. Definitely a great place to go for a nicer meal in the area. They were so nice about our child being there - giving him a dessert and making us feel welcome. Food was solid- tomato salad was my favorite.
This is the most charming venue in Avalon with absolutely delicious local food. We could touch the dunes from our table, it's that close to the beach. Heather, one of the owners, makes time to circulate and greet guests. The staff members are delightful, always smiling. Loved the opportunity to make our online reservation months before our arrival. Summer Salt is a gem.
We had a great table on the outside deck. Service was very good and staff were all super friendly. Our food experience was just ok. Nothing remarkable but tasted good enough. Wish I could give a better review. We loved sitting outside the most and the owners are really trying to make it a special place.
We had read some reviews suggesting that the portions were small, but found that to be misleading. We did not leave hungry and even took a dessert home. Everything was perfect. So many flavors in the sauces and great combinations of food such as peaches, corn and burrata. Service was friendly and the owner stopped by for a nice chat. Highly recommend! Moon sitting on the water just over our shoulders on the back terrace. It was worth the drive leaving all the great Cape May restaurants for a night.
Restaurantji Recommends
This was the 2nd time we ate at Summer Salt. We were excited as the food and service last year was top notch and looked forward to having the same again this year. It was certainly not the case for the dinner we had on Sept. 2nd. While the food generally was good, there were some inconsistencies. The stone ground corn fritter served within the “The Beginning” course and the crab cake served within the “Middle” while tasty, were very lukewarm, rather than coming out hot. This was the same for the scallop dish in the “Main”, although somehow the clam dish my partner ordered came out piping hot. The rest of the food was fine but the service was also disappointing. Someone opened our bottle of wine (it was a screw top) and then didn't bother pouring any throughout the meal, even though we had three different waiters come by our table to either bring food or remove dishes. Our initial waitress (her name won't be mentioned as this review is not meant to be petty, only informative for others) came to see us twice, once to take our initial order and once to take our dessert order, the latter without even having given us a menu again! We weren't asked whether we wanted coffee or any other warm beverages, which we could have certainly used since it was chilly outside that evening. My partner did leave a note on the bill indicating the fritter and crab cakes were not hot, the mains and dessert were good and the service could have used improvement. Interestingly, after I'd received an email confirmation that points for the dinner were awarded, another email was received a few hours later indicating our reservation was cancelled by the restaurant. We were shocked by this and certainly wondered if it had to do with our note, and really hope this was not the case. Given this, it seemed important to share our experience. Last year, we would have very happily recommended Summer Salt to friends. This is not so for this year.
Summer Salt is a perfect place for a nice dinner after a long day at the beach. It may be hard to get a reservation, but that's just because they want you to be comfortable and feel special in their modern environment, even though they are very popular and have very delicious food for anyone to savor. My personal favorite from the seasonal menu, which includes fresh farm to table delights for each course, was the corn fritter and the peach and burrata. I chose the scallops which were amazing, for my entree. Dessert was great too! My family and I really had an amazing experience in this friendly environment. The whole dinner reached beyond my high expectations. Not to mention the nice staff and kind owner who is always working hard! Thank you Summer Salt for making one of the last dinners of summer 2023 special.
Perfection! We had a wonderful evening at this beautiful family run restaurant! The food was outstanding and carefully planned, prepared and presented. The food is local, seasonal and sustainably sourced. The owners are lovely, warm people who made every effort to make the evening special. We were celebrating my husband's birthday and they took great care to ensure we enjoyed ourselves, and we did! A very special place run by talented, passionate, lovely people. We highly recommend this restaurant!!
We celebrated our Anniversary here on a Friday evening and it was perfect. The hostess showed us to our seats and to our surprise our menus were personalized with our names and the date and occasion. What a thoughtful touch! The food was outstanding; comforting and familiar ingredients for this Jersey native but with a delicious flair. I am more of a foodie than my husband who prefers classic comfort food but even he loved the meal from start to finish including all the ‘chef-y' flair. We chose the scallops and the chicken for our entree and while you wouldn't normally think of chicken as a star entree, the quality was truly amazing. Highly recommend the cheesecake for dessert. Heather is always so welcoming and stopped to chat during our meal as well. Our server was fantastic and went above and beyond, and the rest of the staff were also helpful. Overall we really enjoyed the experience of the restaurant which was made even better by a perfect September weather day. The only critique I have is the chairs which can be a bit uncomfortable for a longer seating, but I definitely won't let that keep me from coming back again, and again, and again. I look forward to experiencing Summer Salt every year now, and anyone would be lucky to enjoy eating here more than once a season as the menu changes to reflect the local offerings. What a treat. Thank you for a wonderful and memorable evening!
What a cute, little hidden gem! We absolutely loved our 8:15 dinner on the terrace. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable and gave great suggestions. The shared appetizer courses were fun for date night and our individually selected entrees and desserts were delicious and sizeable. BYOB was a huge plus too! We can't wait to come back next year.