Halloween is over.
The clocks have changed.
And apparently the Jersey Shore has decided the correct way to start November is by going out to eat.
Jersey Shore Restaurant Week returns November 6–15, 2026, with more than 70 participating restaurants across Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Participating restaurants offer three-course meals—appetizer, entrée and dessert—at either $32.26 or $42.26, depending on the restaurant.
Menus are still being added, so this isn’t the week to glance at an old screenshot and assume you know what’s being served.
Check the current Restaurant Week menu before making your reservation.
For Michael’s local guide, though, we’re staying close to home.
Here are five participating Ocean County restaurants around Bayville, Toms River, Forked River and Seaside Park that make Restaurant Week a pretty good excuse to explore a different corner of the Jersey Shore.
Start With a Bay View in Bayville
If you’ve followed our Bayville guides, you already know one thing:
The water is a big part of this town’s personality.
B2 Bistro + Bar sits directly on Barnegat Bay at 125 Bayview Avenue and is one of the confirmed 2026 Jersey Shore Restaurant Week participants.
The Bayville location combines indoor dining with its waterfront setting, making it a particularly fitting choice if you’d rather have your November dinner with a little Barnegat Bay in the background.
And this is exactly the kind of place that shows why Bayville doesn’t feel like a traditional boardwalk town.
Its Shore identity is quieter.
More bay than ocean.
More boats and waterfront neighborhoods than rides and arcades.
If you’ve never spent much time in Bayville beyond driving Route 9, Restaurant Week gives you an excuse to turn toward the water for once.
Toms River Gives You More Than One Direction to Go
This is where choosing gets harder.
The official Restaurant Week list includes several Toms River restaurants this year, reflecting something we’ve mentioned before in our local guides: Toms River is big enough that there isn’t one single dining district or one single version of town.
Aqua Blu Kitchen & Cocktails
Aqua Blu is located on Route 37 East and returns to Jersey Shore Restaurant Week for 2026. The restaurant combines Italian influences with contemporary American dining and a larger restaurant-and-bar setting.
This works well if you’re making Restaurant Week more of a night out than simply grabbing dinner on the way home.
And there’s something useful about driving Route 37 after dark if your only experience of Toms River usually happens during daytime errands.
You begin noticing which places stay active.
Where people actually gather.
How different sections of town feel.
Little things, but they tell you a lot about a community.
Caffé Italia Ristorante Italiano
If you’d rather keep things more traditional, Caffé Italia is another confirmed Toms River participant.
The family-owned restaurant is located at 2414 Route 37 East near Fischer Boulevard and has been serving Toms River since the late 1990s.
Restaurant Week is a good excuse to try somewhere you’ve probably driven past many times.
That’s actually one of my favorite things about the whole idea.
You don’t necessarily need to discover a restaurant 45 minutes away.
Sometimes you just finally walk into the place that’s been ten minutes from your house for years.
Forked River Has a Waterfront Option Too
If you’ve been reading our Forked River content, you can probably guess where we’re heading.
The Waterfront on East Lacey Road is participating in Jersey Shore Restaurant Week and is currently promoting a specially curated three-course Restaurant Week dinner. The restaurant is open year-round directly on the Forked River.
This is a nice November pick because it shows off a side of Forked River that’s easy to understand once you’re actually sitting beside the water.
The town’s connection to boating, marinas, the river and Barnegat Bay isn’t just summer decoration.
It’s part of the place.
And going out to dinner here after the summer crowds disappear can feel completely different from doing the same thing in July.
Less vacation mode.
More local mode.
Make One Night a Seaside Park Night
Here’s another reason Restaurant Week is fun:
It gives you permission to drive somewhere you normally only think about during summer.
Berkeley Cut Steakhouse in Seaside Park is on the 2026 participant list and offers an upscale steak-and-seafood dining experience on Central Avenue.
November in Seaside Park isn’t July in Seaside Park.
And that’s the point.
You can have dinner near the Shore without dealing with peak beach traffic, packed parking lots and the feeling that everyone in New Jersey had the same idea you did.
Sometimes seeing a beach community in the off-season is actually the better introduction.
Why Restaurant Week Is a Great Excuse to Explore a Town You Don’t Know
Here’s where food and real estate quietly overlap.
When somebody is thinking about moving to a town, they naturally focus on the house.
Bedroom count.
Kitchen.
Yard.
Garage.
Price.
All important.
But a house is only one piece of the decision.
If you’re seriously considering living somewhere, go spend a normal evening there.
Have dinner.
Grab coffee afterward.
Drive the neighborhood once the sun is down.
See how long it takes you to get back to the roads you’ll actually use.
Notice whether the town feels busy, quiet, walkable, spread out or somewhere in between.
See where people gather.
That’s information no listing photo can give you.
Restaurant Week happens to make that research a lot more enjoyable.
Bayville, Toms River or Forked River: Make Dinner Part of a Bigger Evening
If you’re choosing between the towns we’ve been covering lately, don’t drive in, eat and immediately leave.
Use the night.
If you’re going to Bayville
Head toward Barnegat Bay before dinner.
Our Bayville local guide covers Berkeley Island, Cedar Creek, Double Trouble State Park and the quieter side of the Jersey Shore.
If you’re going to Toms River
Spend some time around Downtown Toms River or the riverfront before or after dinner.
Our Toms River one-day guide is built specifically around exploring the town rather than simply passing through it.
If you’re going to Forked River
Drive toward the river and bay.
Our Forked River guide digs into the marinas, parks, local history, lakes and waterfront setting that give Lacey Township its character.
You may discover that the restaurant isn’t the only place you want to come back to.
What Does Jersey Shore Restaurant Week Cost in 2026?
Participating restaurants offer a three-course meal at one of two fixed-price levels:
$32.26 or $42.26 per person.
The basic format includes a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert. Individual menus, availability, days of participation and reservation policies can vary by restaurant.
That last part is important.
Don’t assume every participating restaurant offers every menu every day.
Check the specific restaurant’s current Restaurant Week menu before making plans.
When Is Jersey Shore Restaurant Week?
The fall 2026 Jersey Shore Restaurant Week runs:
Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 15, 2026.
That gives you two weekends plus the week in between.
Which also means there’s really no reason to try cramming five dinners into Saturday night.
Although I respect the ambition.
Is Jersey Shore Restaurant Week Only in Ocean County?
No.
The event covers participating restaurants throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties, with more than 70 restaurants currently listed for the November 2026 edition.
The full roster stretches from Ocean County communities such as Bayville, Toms River, Forked River, Seaside Park, Brick and Point Pleasant Beach north into Monmouth County destinations including Red Bank, Asbury Park, Long Branch, Spring Lake and others.
For this guide, we’re deliberately staying closer to Michael’s core Ocean County area.
We’ll save the Monmouth County food crawl for another day.
One More Reason to Go Out in November
Summer gets most of the attention around the Jersey Shore.
But November has its advantages.
Restaurants are still here.
The bay is still here.
Downtowns are still here.
The only thing that’s really disappeared is the assumption that every outing needs to involve a beach chair.
Restaurant Week is a good reminder that enjoying this area doesn’t have to stop when the summer rentals empty out.
Sometimes getting to know the Jersey Shore is as simple as trying a restaurant in a town you’ve been meaning to explore.
And if you happen to learn a little more about what it might feel like to live there while you’re at it?
That’s not a bad side effect.
Keep Exploring Ocean County
If dinner gets you curious about the neighborhood around it, keep going.
Our local series already includes guides to Bayville, Forked River and Toms River, along with our broader Best Things to Do in Ocean County guide and our guide to waterfront restaurants around Barnegat Bay.
That’s the idea behind this whole series:
Not just knowing where the houses are.
Knowing the places around them too.
About Michael Tumminelli
Michael Tumminelli is a Broker Associate serving Ocean and Monmouth Counties and regularly shares local restaurants, communities, homeowner information and places worth knowing throughout the Jersey Shore.
Michael Tumminelli | Broker Associate
848-333-3420
732-473-1700
[email protected]
Restaurant Week participation, menus, pricing and availability can change. Check the official Restaurant Week listing and the individual restaurant before making plans.