Iron Whale

Good lunch spot right on the boardwalk in Asbury. Super nice place / view of the ocean and beach with seating indoors or on the boardwalk. Gluten free options are available and marked on the menu. Shops and other spots along the boardwalk and also you could drive downtown which has a lot going on

Lobster roll was good. They have a gluten free bun. Tacos were really bad. Shells were cold and they just didn't have any flavor. oysters were inedible.

Dinner early on a Thursday. The restaurant was not busy when we arrived, but by the time we left it was pretty full. The host and hostess who greeted us were....I don't know.... Flat? Disinterested? Not sure but they really weren't friendly and definitely didn't smile. Nonetheless, we were seated and started off with cocktails: the honey dew list and the white negroni. The drinks were excellent; the bar here really knows how to mix a drink. For our meals we started off with the small plate of jerk shrimp to share which for me were quite spicy. However, if you dip them in the aioli provided it cools them down significantly. The watermelon salad was huge! We ended up sharing it. Nice chunks of watermelon, feta, and pistachios all worked quite well together. Ordered a second round of drinks but this time we had the smoked old fashioned and the cantarito. I didn't really care for the cantarito unfortunately. It wasn't bad it just needed something a little sweeter to cut the acidity in my opinion. For dinner we both had gluten free seafood pasta. It was a good portion of food. Clams, shrimp, and scallop (there was only one!) were cooked well. The mussels were gritty and there was too much broth I thought. Asked for some old bay to liven it up a little which helped, but all in all it was a decent meal for the price. For dessert we shared the chocolate torte which was creamy and delicious. Sadly, we heard other servers at nearby tables offering the specials of the day to diners. Our server never even mentioned any specials to us which was disappointing. Otherwise the service was relatively good. Overall, I did enjoy the atmosphere and menu and would return again to try other cocktails and menu items.