Coastal Blue

This entire hotel tries really hard to make you happy including the restaurant Coastal Blue. Happy, attentive staff, a small billing error at the restaurant was handled no problem. Mussels were fantastic.

Food was great!

Food was good, service was lacking

The food was excellent and affordably priced. The service was prompt and courteous. Highly recommended!

Although early in the season, we were able to order off the appetizer and lunch menus which were adequate for burgers, soups, and salads. Clam Chowder deserves its acclaim and the pork/sausage burger was tasty.

The menu choices looked fantastic on paper.... very original dish titles and ingredients. We were so excited to have found a nice looking restaurant in Wildwood with a Metropolitan city ambiance. But I was sorely disappointed with my meal. We went for Mother’s Day brunch. I ordered a cocktail that was their signature drink -which was not a martini and yet came in a martini glass. Overly sweet and for $12 it had absolutely no alcohol. I also ordered the “iron skillet” which called for braised short ribs and a cheese sauce “fondue” which was made with cape May brewery IPA... when I received the dish it was on a bed of home-fries which occupied 90% of my dish. It was sprinkled with 3 bits of short rib pieces and smothered in a very watery cream sauce that did not taste like cheese. Also it was not in a skillet. So why was it called a skillet???? Where was the “Fondue”? I could imagine Robert Irvine yelling at the chef/owner for misinformation on the menu. (Restaurant impossible). I returned that dish and ordered the seafood risotto which had a decent taste but for some reason the cheese sauce was watery too and the scallops were raw. They did not use Arborio rice for the risotto so the rice was thin and too soft.
I ordered their Nutella bread pudding for dessert which in itself sounds like heaven... how could you possibly mess up Nutella and croissants right??? The ratio of bread to chocolate was disproportionally distributed. The dessert had way too much chocolate (as if right? Nutella!) it was also peppered with raw almond pieces within which did not complement the dessert. My daughter had the French Toast with Nutella . How could anyone not know how to prepare French toast !!! The bread was extremely dry. Moist French toast is 101.
All in all for me a disappointing choice of meals. My husband ordered the lobster bisque and it tasted good. My father in law ordered the crab Benedict’s and he liked them.

Not too impressed, just like another hotel restaurant food.

Overall pretty disappointing. The food was just ok and they only had a brunch menu all day on Easter, which was pretty weird to have eggs at 4pm.

Won’t rush back. Ask about menus on special occasions.

Very enjoyable Easter brunch. Selection was great and food was delicious. Would definitely go back and would recommend.

Had a nice Easter Brunch there. Service was slow seemed to be overwhelmed and not enough servers.

We where at the Icona diamond Beach for the weekend with a large group. We had all of our meals there, everything was on time and the food was excellent. Our greatest compliment goes to the servers-everything went smoothly, the servers were attentive to the needs of our group and we are grateful to them !

One waitress for the whole room. Horrible!!!!

An exceptional dining experience in elegant atmosphere. The food was excellent as was the service and atmosphere. A truly unexpected delight at the Jersey shore in Mid March. Hoping to return soon.

This was our second visit to Coastal Blue and we weren't disappointed. The service, food and drinks (sweet tart martini) were excellent! Will definitely be back next year!

Braised short ribs were delicious (the way they are suppose to taste). The portion seemed small but was very filling. Actually Couldn't eat the entire thing so obviously was enough.
Tanya Musco

Poor service. Food was terrible!!!!

Fantastic food and service, great atmosphere! Server Julie was very attentive and the food came out timely and hot. The manager, Olivia, was personable and available to answer a question I had. My husband and I will definitely return with our family!

Excellent food. Excellent service. I was not expecting top notch food and service from a hotel restaurant. It is small and noisy. Perfect for kids though. Loved it.

While on our summer vacation, we stumbled across this restaurant on the Open Table app. We were not disappointed. The outdoor seating area is shaded for dinner. No plastic stackable seats! The food was amazing. The beef noodle soup was tasty. The braised short ribs melted in your mouth. My wife said the crab cakes were the best she had ever had. The waitress (I think her name was Julie) was informative and funny. The menu was just updated so it wasn’t accurate on the open table app. My 8 year old daughter tried something off everyone’s plate and loved them all. And to top it all off, the lemon lava cake was phenomenal. We will be making a special trip back to the Coastal Blue.

Great waiter service and Food was excellent. My only complaint was we had reservations as well as other families coming in around the same time and the restaurant was not prepared. They may have been understaffed because there were many open tables available but they could not seat us. Otherwise, our waiter Alex was exceptional as well as the food

Excellent food. Snafu with reservation system caused kitchen issues with 30 minute delays and ran out of soup... However great service and acknowledgment and addressing of the issues really show the outstanding quality of this restaurant overall.

Staff was confused and didn’t follow up until asked repeatedly about ingredients in food (allergy concerns). Entree was appetizer sized. Over priced.

So disappointed. They were changing out the wine list and had let everything run out on purpose. So few choices; literally only one red. Husband ordered medium steak no asparagus; he got well with asparagus. Felt bad for very nice server who spent a lot of time apologizing.

Vacation dining....food tasted good but nothing special about presentation. I didn’t like the side dish so I asked for replacement. They brought it at end of meal when we were all finished. The room was hot because door to outside has to open and close. That was not pleasant. There was a black fly on the window next to me while eating. That was not so nice, but I lived with it, being at the beach. The servers were very friendly and hospitable, but not fully trained. We were served tea spoons with soup.

We stayed at the Icona for a couple nights so ate twice breakfast and once dinner at the Coastal Blue. We were happy all 3 times. It certainly was much much better then a standard hotel restaurant.

Good food... food came out way too fast... wasn’t a busy evening. Service was great... very accommodating staff

Delicious food. Great variety ! Ambiance A+ Will definitely be back

This was my third visit to Coastal. My first was lunch with my husband, and it was good; my second was alone for lunch, and I was pretty much totally ignored and vowed not to go back; this time, the servers couldn't have been more attentive... right down to asking me how everything was while in the ladies room! A happy medium would make it perfect. This was breakfast, and food was excellent.

Beautiful restaurant good food. Gem in Wildwood Crest at the Icona hotel.

The food was subpar, certainly for the cost, and the service was weird. The hostess didn’t greet us as we stood right in front of her, when we requested a specific table she told us we couldn’t have a good table despite it being clearly available, the bus person kept taking away our plates as we were eating and we had to keep asking for our plates back and what restaurant gives a party of 5 only 2 dinner rolls in the bread basket?!? Clearly the restaurant is looking to make a lot of money for zero effort. Such a disappointment.

The food and service is always top notch even off season. The dirty martinis are fabulous with stuffed Gorgonzola olives. Just love the atmosphere. Regular dinners.

Good food, especially the seafood dishes and lobster bisque soup.

Tucked into the side of a nice hotel we expected it be great. Not worth it. Food was 2star at best. Ambiance was ok we should have known with less than a handful of the tables filled on a Saturday night.
Ant on my soup, ordered chicken, basically deep fried with no flavor served with wilted greens & deep fried pile of risotto. Weirdest ever & no attempt at giving dessert even though specified anniversary dinner on reservation. Staff kept wandering around & in & out of swinging kitchen door where it looked like one casually dressed girl was the only one cooking.
Definitely save your $$$ & do not eat here. Not 5star!
Absolute do not

The food and service were wonderful. We were looking for an oceanfront/ beachfront dining experience and unfortunately Ocean Blue is neither. The restaurant is in a hotel and faces the pool with the ocean in the far distant and barely visible background.

Always a nice time!

I really don't understand the rave reviews of Coastal Blue. Don't get me wrong: it was okay . . . but just okay, nothing more. First of all, our server (Kit) was excellent -- I'll give credit where it's due. The food was fine -- nothing to rave about, but I have no complaints regarding the food. BUT: I made a reservation for 5 adults. The hostess seated us -- when the restaurant was more than half empty -- at a table bordered by 2 tables with screaming children, the swinging kitchen door, and the hostess station with a constantly ringing phone that took a LONG time for anybody to pick up. Is this what a reservation gets you? There was a lovely EMPTY table by the window facing the ocean. The entire time we were there, nobody was seated there. Why did a reservation get us the worst table in the restaurant? These factors make me disinclined to return. I doubt that I'll be back any time soon, despite the fact that my house is literally across the street.

It was awful

Made reservations for 7:30pm. Showed up at 7:30pm and was asked to come back in a half hour. No apology for the delay. Was simply asked to return in a half hour. Waited by the bar and had drinks for a half hour only to return to the hostess who pretended like she did not know who I was. I stated my name again which led her to search the book where she did not find my name. I mentioned the reservation was made through Open Table and she replied, “Oh that’s why it’s not here.” She then explained there was a table that needed to be bused and we could be seated. By this time it was 8:15 so our party decided to leave. Awful customer service.

My hamburger was burned
My wife's lamb chops tasted terrible

Very good. Especially for the shore. Service was good. Food was good. Pretty nice space.