After no luck with the nicer restaurants in town (long waits) my boyfriend found this place on Google.
I saw that they only had a so-so rating, so I was VERY nervous upon entering, and when I did go in through the doors to the bar area, I wanted to run out crying. It was totally dead! Like in a horror movie, I was waiting by the bar with some creepy man waiting for him to slash my boyfriend and I.
Thankfully a nice waitress led us to a table where a large family group was seated nearby. The menu looked decent, and I decided to go with a bacon cheese burger, while my man ordered the lobster roll.
Our food came in a timely manner, and I was pleasantly surprised. Loved my burger and I loved the fries! I tried my boyfriend's lobster roll and hated it - imitation meat - but I guess that's what you get for 10 bucks.
Overall, OK experience, the friendly staff and yummy burger made up for the horrible interior and sticky seats.
With a name like Nip Night, it's gotta be good, right? Â Mondays - $1 "Nips" (7 oz mini bottles of beer) seemed like a wonderful excuse to check out the Norwood Inn, so we put together a huge group of girls (actually six, but it felt huge at the time) for a night out. Â
Coming in two cars, our staggered arrival led to half our party just BARELY making the pre-9:45 deadline and beating the cover. The rest of our party walked in at 9:48 and, alas, had to shell out $5 each for the opportunity to throw back nips with the rest of the clientele. Â Upon entry, we were hit with the pungent aroma of standard pub fare and cheap beer, a perfect fit for the "cheap local fratty bar" I was expecting a la Yelp.
Before nabbing my first nip, I head to the bathroom only to walk in on a confused gentleman who didn't realize he'd stumbled into the ladies' room. Awesome start to the evening. Â After he left, I walked in to find two small stalls and a teensy sink space, so be warned that the bathroom situation is not the best. Over the course of the night, with lots of nip-fueled use, the flush stopped working on one (or both) of the toilets by the dance floor. Â Brutal.
The DJ, Jersey Joe or Jersey John or something of that nature, greeted our early entry with a Pandora-sounding mix of Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews. Â Luckily, over the course of the night, he eventually changed it up with a nice mix of "YEAH!! Love this song!" and "Oh, dammit, not this again. Wanna grab another nip?"
It started to get very crowded sometime around 11-11:30 and, by midnight, was packed with folks ranging from the "Dress to impress" to the "just rolled off the beach" Jersey girls, surfer boys, and everything in between. Â Normally, I'd love this, but the unfortunate result was that they couldn't re-pack the fridges/coolers with nips as fast as they were selling them. This translated to the bottles being less and less cold as the night went on, though I assume that many of the patrons may not have noticed after their 7th nip.
There's a decent sized dance floor/space and I never felt like I went too long without a drink due to attentive bartenders. Â At one point, sick of cheap beer, we ordered some cocktails which were reasonably priced and poured strong for $5/G&T. Â
The clock on the wall by the bar was about 15-20 minutes fast, and I wonder if this is to boost the "time" of cover starting AND last call, but that's just a suspicion. Â Wanting to grab a cab before the crowds started pouring out, we headed out around 1:30 (or 1:50, according to their clock inside) and had no problem getting a taxi.
Quite a deal for a Monday night, and our final tab for 3 of us (including 2 cocktails) was $37 (tip not included). If nips are your thing and you dig a crowd, head to Norwood Inn (though do yourself a favor and ask them to adjust their clock...)
Luckily we arrived before they started charging cover charge, otherwise I would have been truly disappointed.
The food wasnt very good at all... had a chicken sandwhich that came with potatoe chips and maybe 3 slices of pickle. Had to douse is with lots of hot sauce to give it some flavor. The buffalo fries were simply deep fried (crinkle cut if I remember) and then coated in Frank's Red Hot. Nothing special.
The beer was even worse ! Nothing microbrewed and everything was in bottles with nothing on tap. 4.50$ for Yeungling bottles?!? I can get a six pack for that price at a liquor store and in Hoboken I can get 1$ mugs all night long.
The scene was sad with mostly locals drinking bud lights and coors bottles, dropping them on the floor and stepping with sandals on glass, and hefty woman glancing around for new out of town prospects.
The only reason why this place gets 2 stars is for the live music. Pretty decent with covers of Bruce Springstein, Johnny Cash, etc. Good band songs as well.
Wish I knew Connolly Station was down the road... would have gone there for the food.
I would give this place a better review if it weren't for the crummy bartenders with NO personality and the horrible doormen with NO sense of HUMOR....I haven't been carded for years and got carded the other night and instead of having a sense of humor about it the  guy at the door suggested I carry around  my passport as backup ID.... are you kidding me you DOLT?! to drink in NJ???? I should risk  carrying every bit of ID I have to drink in an NJ Irish BAR??? Who are you?? The ENGLISH??? UNREAL.... Someone needs to get a grip on the "HELP" Wake up Norwood. I'm almost 40 years old. Mr. wonderful wanted to know when the last time I carried around back-up ID was.... I don't even know what back-up ID is anymore.  Give me a break.
My girlfriend had to show 3 forms of picture ID... isn't that what your little machine is for? We're from NY, not Kansas.
The Norwood is a great place for live weekend music and drinking in the quite little town of Avon-by-the-Sea. If you're in the area and you want a chill place to drink, listen to a band without all the BS that usually goes on at the shore this is the place. DO NOT go there for anything else, the food is crap and mostly fried and it's absolutely depressing on a off night.
Review Source:Disclosure: My brother-in-law works here during the summers between college. Â Then again, if you live in Avon, chances are you work, or have worked here too! :-)
The Norwood Inn bar is the "Cheers" of Avon's summertime scene - aka the Irish Riviera. Â It's open between May and October, and if you're between 25 and 45, it's tough to come in without seeing at least one familiar face. Â It's pretty spacious, with two main rooms and they bring in good crowds. Â The bar food is all pretty decent. Â The most popular nights are:
Monday: "Nips" night (7oz mini beers for $1 each)
Friday / Saturday: Pat Roddy Band (I've actually never seen him but he's incredibly popular along this stretch of the Jersey shore)
Sunday afternoon: Local legend Joe Finn (he's an acoustic guitar-strumming, laid back combo of James Taylor, Â Bob Dylan and thet Saw Doctors, if you can imagine that). Â His performances are always a lot of fun. Â And you're guaranteed to hear this multiple times each night in between songs: "Hello, folks." Â (Response: "Hello, Joe!")
The Norwood is among the only places to go in tiny Avon-by-the-Sea. Â It's admittedly not much more than a neighborhood dive, and there isn't much in terms of beer selection (unless you're impressed by Heineken), and the scene can be pretty frat boy at times, but all said, this is my favorite place to chill on a Sunday afternoon after lounging at the beach with my husband's family down the shore. Â You sit there, sip a Heinie, and listen to old Joe sing "Sweet Caroline." Â Cheers to life's simple pleasures.
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