What Makes Jimmys A Beloved Italian Restaurant In Asbury Park

More often than not, when I am choosing a wonderful place for an old-school Italian restaurant dinner, I keep it simple and go to where I know.

I know Jimmy’s in Asbury Park is one of the best if not the best old school Italian restaurant in Monmouth County. Time after time that I have been there the experience has always been enjoyable and most importantly delicious.

Jimmy’s opened in 1982 when Diane Marrucca and her husband Jimmy found the location in Asbury Park. Although Jimmy’s restaurant may have opened in 1982, walk into the restaurant today and the booths, great bar and smell of fine Italian cuisine wafting through the air seem like you have stepped back in time to the ’50s and ’60s.

The restaurant is clean and well-appointed, and the staff are very attentive. It is a place
to have a pre-meal martini, appetizers, and a world-class dinner.

Jimmy’s (Google Street View)

Old school Italian restaurants are known as “red sauce” restaurants. Jimmy’s is not just a red sauce restaurant. You can get a great chicken or veal parmigiana, some pasta with their incredibly good marinara, but they are so much more than that. The fish dishes, pasta choices and a considerable number of other Italian favorites will make you want to study the menu before arriving.

For appetizers, the standouts for me are stuffed mushrooms, calamari, clams, casino, classic shrimp cocktail, and eggplant rollatini. You cannot go wrong with Jimmy’s special salad, or in season, the tomato salad. Pasta is necessary at Jimmy’s, so many choices, the different ravioli, pasta alfredo, lasagna and more, it’s all incredibly good.

Jimmy’s Italian Restaurant

For dinner, I love their seafood pasta with shrimp and scallops in a cream sauce with
a little pancetta and peas. It is out of this world. Their filet of sole francaise is excellent, and so is the shrimp à la Jimmy. Their boneless breast of chicken stuffed, their chicken parmigiano, and the chicken Pasquale are outstanding. I could go on and on, and I have.

I love sitting at the bar, it is extremely comfortable and the bartenders are friendly, experienced and bring old-world flair to this fine restaurant.

If you have not experienced Jimmy’s in Asbury Park, make it a destination one evening. You will be back.

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Gallery Credit: Jen Ursillo