McLoone’s 10 restaurants — including McLoone’s Pier House, the Rum Runner, the Iron Whale and Tim McLoone’s Supper Club — are mostly in Monmouth County and overlook water.
But the restaurant group’s two newest restaurants are bringing Tim McLoone’s culinary creations to Somerset County.
By the end of 2024, the Iron Whale, which has a location in Asbury Park, and the Robinson Ale House, which has locations in Asbury Park and Red Bank, are both opening additional locations in separate 7,000-square-foot spaces at the long-awaited Montgomery Promenade.
The 292,700-square-foot center on Route 206, anchored by Whole Foods, will begin construction in January 2023. The first businesses are scheduled to open in summer 2024.
SJC Ventures, an Atlanta-based national developer of mixed-use projects, also plans to include palisades for walking, dedicated open green spaces, and a 1 acre outdoor spot that can host public events.
The Montgomery Promenade is the latest project in the construction boom around the Routes 518/206 intersection. Under construction is Village Walk, a mixed-use center; residential community Montgomery Crossing; and 115 more apartments across the highway and north of the Montgomery Shopping Center.
Earlier:Whole Foods, other tenants announced for long-awaited Montgomery Promenade
It’s this boom that convinced McLoone to bring his restaurants to the area.
“There is a lot of housing being built in Montgomery right now,” McLoone said. “We could see that there would be a lot of demand and a need for a new generation of dining.”
McLoone said that the Iron Whale and Robinson Ale House are some of the restaurant group’s most popular eateries, and he doesn’t feel that either needs a water view to thrive. Robinson Ale House in Red Bank is, in fact, located downtown. That restaurant, named after McLoone’s wife’s maiden name, focuses on upscale comfort food, with dishes such as meatloaf, chicken pot pie, beer-braised short ribs and macaroni and cheese. The design was inspired by 1930’s-era pubs.
“I wanted to take all of the comfort food that people really liked and make it a little better,” said McLoone. “The idea was we weren’t going to clobber you with prices and have a homey feel in there, with brick, soft colors and striped chairs.”
Restaurant news:The revamped Cranbury Inn, which includes a new liquor store, to be unveiled this fall
The Iron Whale features both meat (“iron”) and seafood (“whale”). When McLoone opened the restaurant in 2019, seafood — oddly enough — wasn’t so easy to find on that section of the Asbury Park Boardwalk.
The menu includes dishes like shrimp tagliatelle, crab cakes and a fish taco bar, as well as meat selections like a USDA Prime burger, coffee-rubbed barbecue pork chop and Kansas City strip steak.
The restaurant's design, inspired by a whaling ship, features wood slats on the ceiling, ropes and gas lanterns.
“We wanted to get that light nautical feel without having plastic lobsters,” McLoone said, laughing.
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA Today Network New Jersey since 2014, after becoming a blogger-turned-reporter following the creation of her award-winning travel blog. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Contact: JIntersimone@MyCentralJersey.com or @JIntersimone.
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