Best chowder year in a year out. A great lobster bisque
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chowda, Our Bread Bowls
Christina Petrauskas
Pleasant, friendly workers. Manhattan soup is very tasty.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Nick
Usually very good, among the best. 9/18/25 I had lobster bisque and sat in the bathroom for hours mind you I have a bit of an iron stomach. No good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Benjamin Allen
Walk down the sandy boardwalk of Long Beach Island and you’ll smell it before you see it — a briny steam, thick with promise. Country Kettle Chowda isn’t a restaurant trying to reinvent the wheel; it’s a shack serving what they know, and what they know is soup.
Inside, it’s all no-frills warmth. The counter is scuffed from decades of elbows, and the staff moves with the easy confidence of people who understand their craft. This is a place where you don’t order “soup.” You order chowda, and you damn well mean it.
The New England is a revelation: dense with clams, potatoes cut just the right size, and a creaminess that somehow avoids being cloying. The Manhattan, bright and tomato-slick, tastes like summer fishing trips and late-afternoon beers. If you’re lucky enough to snag a sourdough bread bowl, you’ll find yourself excavating every last spoonful, scraping the walls of that edible vessel like a prospector panning for gold.
There’s no pretense here, no influencer’s backdrop, no laboratory chef trying to justify a résumé. Country Kettle Chowda is about sustenance, about feeding sunburned families, salty locals, and anyone who wanders in looking for the taste of the sea made simple.
If you come to LBI and skip it, you’ve missed the marrow of the place. It’s a small reminder that the best food often doesn’t bother with adjectives — it just shows up, hot, honest, and exactly what you needed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jeanette Kania
I have now tried ALL their soups plus chili. All DELICIOUS! All chock full of stuff!! Clams, lobster, veggies, FLAVOR! Impossible to pick my favorite…so I just need to go several times during vacation! I make soup so I know how important having lots of good quality content is. And the staff has always been friendly and helpful—including making sure lid is extra secure for the bike ride home.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Joy O'Leary
It's our first time in LBI. We saw all the signs and advertising for Chowda, so we got bread bowls with the New England Clam Chowder. The soup tasted good, but we were disappointed that we didn't get many clams or potatoes. The people were very nice and happy to serve us, but today, that batch of soup just didn't work for us.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
E. Lee
It was not worth it. Five of us had clam chowder. Our bowls had only one of two tiny pieces of clams. I don't know because the server didn't scoop the chowder from the bottom. I don't think these kids want to be there. Anyway, we won't go back there again after many years.
Ryan
Please keep an eye on those clams in the NE Chowda. First time in 21 years they seem to have escaped from my quarts.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kimberly A Diehl
I love all your soups and chowders. Every year we buy a couple of quarts to bring home. This year, we added to our purchase a quart of the crab corn chowder. It was outstanding! I hope this becomes a permanent chowder going forward! Looking forward to next year!
Amazing soup in awesome bread bowls. The lobster bisque and clam chowder are the best!
Food: 5
Recommended dishes: Lobsta Bisque
Jesus Garcia
Good soup but pricey for a 6oz cup of lobster bisque.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Davaish Singh
Great soup meh staff
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Greg K
Country Kettle Chowda serves the best lobster bisque on Long Beach Island. I've tried lobster bisque at many places on LBI, but none compare to the deliciousness of their bisque. We make it a point to visit at least twice during our island vacations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chowda
Cynthia S
This is by far the best New England clam chowder on Long Beach Island!! Right in the middle of Bay Village.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: New England Clam Chowder, Our Bread Bowls
Best chowder in town
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Best chowder year in a year out. A great lobster bisque
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chowda, Our Bread Bowls
Pleasant, friendly workers. Manhattan soup is very tasty.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Usually very good, among the best. 9/18/25 I had lobster bisque and sat in the bathroom for hours mind you I have a bit of an iron stomach. No good.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Walk down the sandy boardwalk of Long Beach Island and you’ll smell it before you see it — a briny steam, thick with promise. Country Kettle Chowda isn’t a restaurant trying to reinvent the wheel; it’s a shack serving what they know, and what they know is soup.
Inside, it’s all no-frills warmth. The counter is scuffed from decades of elbows, and the staff moves with the easy confidence of people who understand their craft. This is a place where you don’t order “soup.” You order chowda, and you damn well mean it.
The New England is a revelation: dense with clams, potatoes cut just the right size, and a creaminess that somehow avoids being cloying. The Manhattan, bright and tomato-slick, tastes like summer fishing trips and late-afternoon beers. If you’re lucky enough to snag a sourdough bread bowl, you’ll find yourself excavating every last spoonful, scraping the walls of that edible vessel like a prospector panning for gold.
There’s no pretense here, no influencer’s backdrop, no laboratory chef trying to justify a résumé. Country Kettle Chowda is about sustenance, about feeding sunburned families, salty locals, and anyone who wanders in looking for the taste of the sea made simple.
If you come to LBI and skip it, you’ve missed the marrow of the place. It’s a small reminder that the best food often doesn’t bother with adjectives — it just shows up, hot, honest, and exactly what you needed.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I have now tried ALL their soups plus chili. All DELICIOUS! All chock full of stuff!! Clams, lobster, veggies, FLAVOR! Impossible to pick my favorite…so I just need to go several times during vacation! I make soup so I know how important having lots of good quality content is. And the staff has always been friendly and helpful—including making sure lid is extra secure for the bike ride home.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
It's our first time in LBI. We saw all the signs and advertising for Chowda, so we got bread bowls with the New England Clam Chowder. The soup tasted good, but we were disappointed that we didn't get many clams or potatoes. The people were very nice and happy to serve us, but today, that batch of soup just didn't work for us.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
It was not worth it. Five of us had clam chowder. Our bowls had only one of two tiny pieces of clams. I don't know because the server didn't scoop the chowder from the bottom. I don't think these kids want to be there. Anyway, we won't go back there again after many years.
Please keep an eye on those clams in the NE Chowda. First time in 21 years they seem to have escaped from my quarts.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love all your soups and chowders. Every year we buy a couple of quarts to bring home. This year, we added to our purchase a quart of the crab corn chowder. It was outstanding! I hope this becomes a permanent chowder going forward! Looking forward to next year!
Restaurantji Recommends
Amazing soup in awesome bread bowls. The lobster bisque and clam chowder are the best!
Food: 5
Recommended dishes: Lobsta Bisque
Good soup but pricey for a 6oz cup of lobster bisque.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 3
Great soup meh staff
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Country Kettle Chowda serves the best lobster bisque on Long Beach Island. I've tried lobster bisque at many places on LBI, but none compare to the deliciousness of their bisque. We make it a point to visit at least twice during our island vacations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chowda
This is by far the best New England clam chowder on Long Beach Island!! Right in the middle of Bay Village.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: New England Clam Chowder, Our Bread Bowls
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