Three New Restaurants Opening At Pier Village In Long Branch

LONG BRANCH, NJ — Well-known Monmouth County restaurateur Tim McLoone is opening two new restaurants this spring at Pier Village in Long Branch, and both will have liquor licenses.

McLoone will be taking over the former location of Beach House (it's now closed, and was Sawa Sushi before that) and he will reopen it as a third Robinson Ale House. McLoone already owns and operates Robinson Ale House locations in Red Bank and Asbury Park.

Additionally, he will take over the space formerly occupied by Fin Oyster & Cocktail Bar and reopen it as Kahuna Burger, a Hawaiian-themed burgers 'n shakes take-out spot.

McLoone said he is aiming for an April opening for both.

"Both locations are in good shape," he told Patch Thursday. "We don't have to install kitchens. They've got the water, gas, the HVAC. We're not starting from scratch. What we're doing is really cosmetic. And we can do cosmetic in a couple of months."

Both Robinson Ale House and Kahuna Burger will have liquor licenses. The Robinson Ale House at Pier Village will be similar to his other two, with sit-down dining and outdoor seating, he said.

McLoone said he envisions Kahuna Burger, although it will have some seating, to really be a more casual, surfside takeout place.

"It will be burgers served on our Hawaiian buns (they're really good!), milkshakes and smoothies, sandwiches and salads," he said. "We imagine it as a grab and go, to take food to the beach or eat it on the boardwalk."

The Fin space is quite small, just over 2,000 square feet.

McLoone said that while both restaurants will serve alcohol, he isn't sure yet if Kahuna Burger will serve take-out drinks.

"That will depend on municipal laws," he mused to Patch. "Right now I think we'll be able to, but I don't know if I'm entirely enthusiastic about doing it. Once it leaves the footprint of our business, you lose control of it. I'm as concerned as anyone else about underage drinking and the opportunity for abuse is much more rampant if you're sending stuff out the door. I'll look to the ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) and (city of) Long Branch as to what they want and don't want us to do."

McLoone first opened McLoone's Pier House at Pier Village in 2005, and it has been a pillar of Pier Village ever since. For the past fifteen years, he's watched as Pier Village, owned by the Kushner Cos., grew and flourished around him, as a dining, shopping and social destination on the Jersey Shore.

How confident is McLoone to open two new businesses and expand his dining empire during a pandemic?

"I'm sure a lot of people see it as being counter intuitive," he laughed. "But I've been looking at the Beach House space for over a year. I always thought it was underutilized and could do well if there were just some changes made. So I was looking at those places anyway and then when the pandemic hit, I actually think we got a better deal than we would have otherwise. We spoke to the landlord (Kushner) and we just mutually agreed if we took both spaces it would work for everybody."

"The past 15 years have been great for us at Pier Village," he continued. "Obviously right now we're getting killed; we're at 30 percent of what our business is at a normal winter. But we believe in the basic power of Pier Village itself."

"And we had a terrific summer; the weather and outside dining business was incredible. When bad things happen there's always an opportunity," McLoone said, referring to the pandemic. "Most people in the restaurant business are optimistic people."

And that's not all the changes coming to Pier Village this spring: Fashion boutique Molly & Zoey will open a second location at Pier Village's Festival Plaza, and K Kitchen To Go Korean take-out is expected to open there by the summer, the Asbury Park Press reported.

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