My Thoughts On All The Signature Jersey Shore Bars After A Month Down There
Our month at the Jersey Shore has concluded. It was a glorious of month of fun in the Sun with a bunch of my pals that I'll cherish forever! Now once we found out we were getting a Shore house one of the first things that popped into my head was the eagerness of seeing all the famous bars down there. It's always stunk to see so many pals on instagram enjoying posting these all these seemingly legendary places like D'Jais, Parker House, and Jenks every single Summer weekend without knowing what they are like for myself because, frankly, I enjoy fun bars. The history. The signature drinks at all the spots. The fun. The live music. It all was so intriguing.
And I FINALLY got to experience them. Here's my thoughts on the 5 bars we went to throughout the month- D'Jais, Parker House, Bar A, and Jenks.
D'Jai's
A Jersey Shore Institution since 1959. The stomping grounds of Rico Bosco. Home of the grails. D'Jai's was a hell of a time & easily the place we went to the most, but when you go you need to be ready for WAR. It may or may not take the length of the entire Godfather trilogy to make it from one side of the bar to the other and that's just something you need to be alright with you go for a night out at D'Jai's. Grab some grails and keep it moving. And for the record a grail is the signature drink which if we're being honest I don't even know what it is. It's some pink drink filled with ice that you're supposed to slug down once you get it. A lot of grails were consumed.
Donovan's
We were there 2 Thursdays ago so it wasn't the rowdiest of places, but MY LORD what a set-up do they have over there at Donovan's. You walk up to the huge main waiting for you while there's another smaller outdoor bar to the right. If you keep moving there's your to-go food window and a nice deck to stand on before you get to the literal fucking beach. Yes, there is a bar on the beach along with a stage for live music. It is heavenly. I was even told by multiple people on Saturdays when it's crowded you can even take your drinks in the water which sounds like a literal dream. Now granted very other bar I'm writing about here is within like a 15 minute radius of each other while Donovan's is way more up north so that's one of the few cons. Donovan's fucks.
Parker House
.Another HISTORIC spot as this one's been open since 18 fucking 78! 1878! 143 years! We went twice- once on a lighter Thursday & once in the belly of the beast on a Saturday night. It was way more of a family-type feel on Thursday with a bunch of folks sitting down to dine on some shore classics like Lobsters & scallops…Saturday night though? Not so much. They call the basement there God's Basement (There's literally a massive God's basement graphic on the floor in front of the stage) and it's well-deserved. A small stage for live music, a goddamn oyster bar if you want a quick shooter, multiple bars down there, and a fucking WINE CELLAR. God's Basement is a well-warranted name. I'm a big fan of the separate vibes you can get at the upstairs bar along with the live music in the basement. Big thumbs up from me on Parker House.
Bar Anticipation
The way we described Bar A all month was literally a fucking amusement park. It is truly unlike any Bar I've ever experienced. It's 3,000 bars all in one. There's a bunch of just normal outdoor bars to hangout at. There's a whole area with cabana's that I'd assume gets to be very clubby later at night. There's a massive outdoor space for concerts (The one day I couldn't go they had an Elton John/Billy Joel cover band play & I've never been more sad to miss that). There's a MASSIVE shot wheel that they were nice enough to let some of us spin.
There's a legit indoor dive bar that any townie in the world would swoon over. There's also a big indoor club area with a DJ/Live band. It really is a you won't believe it till you see it type of establishment. Also another pro of it being so damn massive it's one of those bars you can always breathe in/actually have space to move around if you'd like. Basically any bar vibe you want you can find at Bar A. Great friggen time.
Jenk's
And finally we have Jenk's which I was shocked to find out is on the Point Pleasant Boardwalk. Now I know why the Situation had to call Deena & Snooki a cab to Jenk's when he was pulling off his iconic Times Square prank. A fairly nice ride from Seaside Heights. Jenks, I THINK, may have been my most favorite of the bunch & that's mainly because I'm the biggest whore for live music you'll ever meet. Live music just equals better vibes & if you don't want better vibes than get the hell out of my face. We were there last Thursday for what Kelly Keegs told me was a LEGENDARY Jersey Shore band named the Nerds and let me tell you…the Nerds know what they're doing. Just a couple older dudes in plaid shirts rocking their Led fucking Zeppelin. Amazing stuff. Eat. Sleep. Live Music. Jenk's.
Overall I gotta admit…the Jersey Shore is really fucking fun. I know all 5 of those were very positive reviews & that's pretty much because everything was awesome. Smiles all around on my end. The only disappointing thing was that we didn't get the chance to go to Leggett's, Osprey, or Column's. We'll get there next time around as I had to much fun to not return. Either way this officially concludes our #BarstoolVsAmerica chapter so thank you to Vibbs for picking me to win, thank you High Noon, and thank you to all that tuned in!