Kelly’s Old Barney Restaurant

Had lunch here last week while vacationing with friends and recommend the seared yellow fin tuna served on a large bed of greens. The portion of tuna was very generous as was the salmon served on a bed of greens served to a friend. The third friend had a cold roast beef sandwich served on a bun with tomato, lettuce and chips on the side. There was a very generous amount of meat in her sandwich and she took half home. Would eat there again and it is right next to the lighthouse and a Dairy Queen… Fresh seafood, the ocean and ice cream… can’t beat that!

I want to start off by saying the service here is excellent — from the hostess down to the busboy.
Food is another story.
Started off with cheese fries (we were in a fishing boat for 4 hours and were famished). Think mushy fries sitting in a white liquid cheese.
I ordered the scallops. Came with a house salad (very fresh) an ear of corn and a side of mashed potatoes.
SOME of the scallops were good. They were cooked perfectly but not all tasted good.
The mashed potatoes (correct me if I’m wrong) were made from week old baked potatoes.
The ear of corn was most disturbing. I love corn. White corn? Forget it — it’s crack to me. This corn? Tasted like nothing with slight hint of soap. Each kernel that popped in your mouth bursted open with no flavor. …nothing. But there was a lingering taste of soap.
Anyway — if you want really good service in b light this is the place to go.

We went here after the beach for some fresh seafood yesterday and it was great! The broiled flounder was the highlight of our meal, along with the New England clam chowder. The seafood was definitely fresh and tasty, as was the salad and corn on the cob. The crabcake sandwich was fine too, but less interesting, and the fries were only okay (but the garlic mashed potatoes were great). We sat out back and enjoyed the beautiful green space, with a nice view of the lighthouse. Would definitely go back.

Had so many options of where to eat, very upsetting choice. There was a dead spider on the pickling my sons plate. My husband and I ordered spinach salads which were the size of a typical restaurants side salad, and not good at all. I tried my hardest to think of a good thing to say but really cannot. We all left feeling sick. Very disappointing. (2 salads a wrap and an appetizer ran us $ 60).

Terrible restaurant and what I assume was the owner was very rude. We arrived shortly before 11:30 and never have been there so did not know they only served breakfast until 11:30 on a Sunday! When asking about if they still served breakfast they said sure. Then I asked about sitting outside and the owner said that there were no tables available but the hostess then later when my mom asked again said sure and we were seated outside. Terrible breakfast. Eggs over-​easy were pretty much thrown over. Pancakes were cold and strawberry’s cut up but the stems not removed! Dry bacon! Terrible restaurant. We should’ve just gone to the diner down the street. There are so many really good places to eat on the island but this place is a waste of time! Don’t waste your money on sub-​par food!!! There are better breakfast places in Surf City and Beach Haven!!! Pretty much probably any place but here!

This place is a staple on the island and has a really solid breakfast. I wouldn’t come for anything else but breakfast is great and cheap

We arrived at 1 pm and were seated promptly, offered inside air conditioned seating or an outside table. We selected the inside seating. The waitress was smiling and polite and brought us menus and ice water. We were a party of two, we ordered a chef salad and a cheeseburger. The food was attractively displayed on our plates and was very good. The cheeseburger came with French fries and lettuce, tomato and raw onion. The chef salad was crisp and had rolled turkey, ham, cheese and dressing on the side. It was a pleasant meal and we recommend it.

I’m giving it one star for the Dairy Queen. The food is bad. Everything we ordered was sub par. I had a cheese steak that was mostly bread. My daughter got a Cesar salad. It was not even close to a Cesar. Wife got a salad with chicken. It was a salad with rolled up deli meat. Witnessed the owner yelling at a customer who had to leave because the kid at the next table threw-​up on him. The owner was telling him to pay for the meal. The kid did you a favor!

My family loves Kelly’s. It’s a family restaurant with lots of college kids as the waitstaff.
they are very friendly. It’s not overpriced like most of the places on the island, and the food is fine. Fresh and served with a smile!

A return visit for diner after a very long time. Fresh seafood, well prepared. Nice service. And since we were there they added Air Conditioning.
Still cash only, but there’s the DQ next door for a wonderful dessert.
Think about trying it again. We did and will go back.

It’s not the worst restaurant that I’ve ever been to, but it’s not what I would consider «good». This is mediocre at best. I’m not a complainer– just trying to be honest. The place is in a great location and one of 3 or 4 restaurants in Barnegat Light, so they don’t really have to impress. We had Manhattan clam chowder-​it was fine. Fried flounder sandwich– fine. Fried clams– fine (and very similar to the kind you find in the freezer at Costco. I give the place a big «eh!»

Service here has been consistently good the various times we’ve eaten at the place (lunch & dinner). It’s super convenient right under Old Barney too so it’s a natural place to eat when we’re up at the tip of the island.
Food quality is generally good across the board. I can’t think of a time I’ve been particularly disappointed.
The two stars really comes with an unfortunate confluence of factors — the food seems good… solid, reliable, but I wouldn’t use words like amazing or excellent. The prices are reasonable for excellent seafood … so a little high for what you get. And then you have to pay cash. All that together means a loss of three stars.

Service was slow the five cheese omlet came out and the cheese was not melted at all. The waitress did not refill coffee unless we flagged her down. A side order of sausage was not brought to table but left on the counter where I had to get up and get it.

Not bad for basic food. You will wait a long time which is frustrating since they have about 15 wait staff and 5 in the kitchen and have no idea what they are doing. Also no credit cards, they need to get with the times or get an IRS visit.

We wanted to go to Harvey cedars Shellfish but they were closed … this was July 2 I had a seared tuna sandwich which was great for 11 bucks … worth checking it out.

We went for breakfast as part of our annual trek to ok’ Barney — the food & service were good, my only complaint was the coffee. We’ll be back, we love the casual atmosphere & tradition!

Solid lunch joint. Doesn’t get overly creative with menu but the foods and service is reliable and a safe bet

I wouldn’t even give this a star. Stale bread, the worst new England chowder I ever had in my life. No taste to it, no clams… wait think I did see a sliver in my bowl. Sloppy plates. I didn’t think it was possible to destroy a peanut butter & Jelly sandwich, but they did. Stale, dry bread peanut butter oozing out on sides and way too much jelly. Very poorly made. Service was lame too. Looked like it took a lot of ever to get service. Never once did they check to see how the meal was. Do not go.

Ripoff. New England clam chowder: big bowl of relatively tasteless brew. A clam sprinkle but oh yeah, lots of potatoes.
Crab Cake: they only offer it «fried» because there is no crab in it. Oh sure, it might have driven past a crab on its way to the freezer, but that’s about it.
But yet, they charge prices as if they are offering legitimate food…
They are getting away with below-​ordinary-​to-​poor food because of the quaint location. Why should they really bother. Shamelss to take advantage this way.

Great Manhattan Clam Chowder! Always a mainstay for me. Only open during the summer season and no AC. Extra added bonus, Dairy Queen attached. Peanut Buster Parfaits rule! GO THERE!