One of Jersey’s busiest restaurateurs is preparing to bring great food and a welcoming atmosphere to Montgomery. The Robinson Ale House, founded and owned by the husband and wife team of Tim Mcloone and Beth Robinson Mcloone, is opening a new location in the upcoming Montgomery Promenade shopping center, reports Patch.
Mcloone spoke with What Now Philadelphia about bringing the popular concept to the massive dining and retail mecca developing on Route 206. “We like the area.” he states, adding “It’s a good growth area. My wife and I-we go that way pretty often. It’s nice, it’s bucolic and has a bit of a feeling of farmlands.”
The Robinson Ale House straddles the line between fine-dining and a comfortable pub experience. The restaurant invites diners to enjoy the best of both worlds-a sports bar’s bonhomie, kept entirely separate from a quieter, more refined dining room. Mcloone explains “We de-emphasize television and sports. We give you the sports bar experience at the bar, but it doesn’t come into the dining room. We get a lot of ladies who lunch. We have an expanded salad menu and a lot of sharing plates and appetizers and there’s no tvs in there, blaring out the Rangers game.”
Robinson assures future visitors hoping for a quiet evening that they needn’t worry about enthusiastic fandom spilling into a peaceful dinner. “There’s a definite delineation between the sports bar and dining room,” he says. “Our audience has plenty of other places to go if they want everyone screaming at the tv-and I’m the kind of person who would probably do that! But we’re providing a different experience.”
The Promenade space will allow The Robinson Ale House to accommodate smaller groups. Kristy Hensle, president of Mcloone’s Restaurants, explains that a part of the allure of the location was its ability to facilitate private parties. “We want a concept where we can do some private dining.” she states. Mcloone agrees, stating “We want an area where we can do smaller parties. That’s been probably the area where we’ve seen the largest growth, the request for more modest sized parties.”
After several false starts, construction has begun on the Montgomery Promenade, making Mcloone optimistic that The Robinson Ale House will be able to begin serving customers mid-to-late 2025. He states: “We’ve signed everything, we’ve made deposits. They were delayed a couple of times. We had a good laugh when we went to the last groundbreaking and they welcomed everyone to the third groundbreaking. We’re hoping that maybe a year from now 12-18 months, we’ll be open.”
Future regulars eager to sample the eatery’s fare can stop in to one of The Robinson Ale House’s locations currently in operation. The concept is greeting guests in restaurants in Asbury Park, Long Branch, and Red Bank.
Keep up with What Now Philadelphia’s restaurant, retail, and real estate scoop by subscribing to our newsletter , liking us on Facebook , and following us on Twitter . Opening a restaurant? Browse our Preferred Partners .
Most Popular
Comments / 0