Royale Restaurant Bar & Lounge opened yesterday in Atco NJ offering a delicious scratch-made menu in a beautiful all new-restaurant space… with everything priced at an affordable “diner menu” level.
How affordable? Well in an unscientific comparison between some well known diners in Camden/Gloucester Counties… the Royale Restaurant in most comparisons was priced $1-3 less than others.
Last week I had a Chicken Parm full meal at another “diner” and paid $18.99… At Royale that same meal is priced at $15.99. And based on my Chicken in Vodka sauce I ordered yesterday at Royale… big portions!
I stopped in for an early dinner on Monday and caught up with owners Hakan and Jenkins… As well as the full Royale team… who gave me the tour of the beautiful restaurant, as well as an update on restaurant’s menu.
High-end interior… incredible scratch-made dishes… reasonable diner-style prices.
Hakan grew up in the restaurant industry and for many years was a sous chef (including Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal) and he tells me he wants to be known as a restaurant for the community!
Perfectly suitable for a very casual “jeans and sneakers” breakfast or a family dinner… but then also would be the perfect place for celebrating a lovely anniversary dinner, or even a corporate get together.
And when the final details of the liquor license transfer are completed very soon, he looks forward to offering delicious beers, cocktails and more… making Royal Venue an excellent place to catch up with friends with an innovative cocktail, or watching the latest sports action with an ice cold beer.
Before we go much further… Royale Restaurant Bar & Lounge is located on the White Horse Pike (Route 30) in Atco/Waterford about a Mile and half past the Route 73 interchange. This is a large facility which many may remember from years ago as Shannon’s Catering.
For Royale Venue it’s actually 2 complimentary business models, with the now open restaurant in it’s own attached 6,500sf building on the left, and the large event/wedding halls to the right.
One way to grasp the full direction of the facility… I would say Royale is in the same category as Deptford’s Adelphia’s… both of them offering a restaurant and bar experience, with an attached wedding/event spaces.
For the large Royale Wedding and Event rooms on the right, Hakan tells me the remodeling in that space is basically done but there are some construction details still being finalized… so today the focus is on the restaurant!
Royale Restaurant Bar & Lounge
The restaurant building on the left is divided into two rooms positioned front and back.
You enter into the lounge area which also has a variety of seating accommodations, a six-seat bar, a wait area and a beautifully designed wine rack.
The back wall offers a double door entrance into the large dining room space which offers a second much larger bar to the right, a beautiful alcove dining area with fireplace to the left… And the main dining room area that likely seats around 140 people or more!
Everything is beautifully designed and the construction team did an amazing job with the build-out. There are so many eye pleasing details to look at from the inverted arches on the walls, to the rear shelving area… and the distinctive lighting throughout all of the spaces
Honestly I am amazed at how well the final build-out matches the original virtual 3D architect renderings!
The restaurant is open every day starting at 6:00 AM for breakfast and during the week closes at 10. Fridays and Saturdays see the hours extended till 2:00 AM, with the after 10:00 PM action moved to the front lounge bar area.
it’s a really unique combination of a higher-end restaurant design with an menu that will appeal to everyone!
Royale Restaurant – Menu
For my early dinner I went with a Chicken and Vodka sauce dish which was a very large platter featuring grilled chicken and a delicious vodka sauce over pasta. I also had a choice of soup or salad as well as bread. I’m a big guy and I can put away some food, but half of that meal went home for my wife.
I wish I had taken more photos of the pages and the menu but I think that was a $15.99 meal.
And regarding the bread, Royale has its own in-house bakery and my understanding is the Baker was starting today.
To explain my focus on the well-priced menu, well first off the restaurant does have a high-end look to it… but also originally the menu plan was a higher priced dining experience.
So I walked into Royale today happily surprised to see that Hakan and Jenkins completely change things up to offer what really is a well priced diner-esque menu.
While I didn’t do a scientific analysis, I looked at several of the well known diners throughout Gloucester and Camden Counties where they had their menu online, and honestly Royale seemed to be priced lower than almost everything I could find.
A cheeseburger platter with French fries and a cup of soup at $11.49 is $3 less than my favorite Gloucester County diner.
How about a full entree of Roast Spring Chicken at $14.99… with soup or salad and two vegetables?
Roasted Hot Turkey at $14.99? Broiled Salmon at $18.99? All full meals with two veggies and soup/salad.
Breakfast is also reasonable with a Western Omelette at $12.99 or the House Breakfast plate which features three eggs, choice of meat, tomatoes and home fries for just $13.99.
I really enjoyed my meal, the dining space and all of my conversations with the staff. And with a scratch-made menu at a great price-point.. it seems worthy of a try. And then you’ll likely return.
Links and Location
Royale Restaurant Bar & Lounge490 White Horse Pike Atco NJ