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Here’s a List Of Ocean Count Restaurants Open Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve can be stressful, especially when you have little ones. Get them fed, cookies and milk for Santa, reindeer food on the front lawn, then trying just to get…

SS Lazio Xmas Dinner

ROME, ITALY – DECEMBER 14: Danilo Cataldi, Manuel Lazzari and Elseid Hysaj of SS Lazio with ther wives during the SS Lazio xmas dinner at the Grand hotel in Rome on December 14, 2021 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Marco Rosi – SS Lazio/Getty Images)

Christmas Eve can be stressful, especially when you have little ones. Get them fed, cookies and milk for Santa, reindeer food on the front lawn, then trying just to get them to bed. It's a struggle for sure. Then of course there is the wrapping and putting together of bicycles. It's enough to make you want to knock back a bottle of holiday wine, and just watch A Christmas Story all night.

Thankfully for me and my wife, our kids are now a bit older, at 21 and 15, so we get to enjoy something I have made a family tradition of our own over the past few years. We go to our church's late afternoon/early evening service, which is a good one, because that's the one with the live electric band. Pretty rockin' way to welcome in the New Born King, if you know what I mean.

Later, it's off to a nice family dinner, where the rule is, get whatever you want, but eat whatever you get. I have to put that rule in or else my son would be getting octopus just to see what it looks like when it comes out, then eat bread the rest of the night.

Furthermore, I adhere to my own personal rule. I get a cocktail that I rarely if ever have had. A special martini perhaps. Maybe a Manhattan, or an Old Fashioned. You know, just to get into that old holiday spirit. So whatever you are doing on Christmas Eve this year, whether it be a party at your relatives home, or a quiet night with the family, I hope it's a good one, my friend.

However, if you do want to take the gang out for an early Christmas Eve dinner, here is a list of some great places in Ocean County! Some are a bit more fancy than others, but they all are solid staples in the Ocean County restaurant scene. Merry Christmas! Here's to Season's Eatings!

The Office Lounge 820 Main Street Toms River

Last seating at 7pm Christmas Eve. Bar Closes 8:30pm.

Artisans Restaurant & Brewery 1171 Hooper Avenue Toms River

3 Course dinner $79 per person.

Captain's Inn 304 East Lacey Road Forked River

Their famous Christmas Eve Prime Rib Buffet starts at 3pm. 

Villa Vittoria 2700 Hooper Avenue Brick

Delicious Special Holiday Menu Christmas Eve til 9pm

Calloways Restaurant 597 Route 9 in West Creek Section of Eagleswood

Stop by early on Christmas Eve for brunch with the big guy! Open til 10pm with regular menu too.

East Bay Italian Grille 696 East Bay Ave. #202, Barnegat

Featuring their regular menu til 10pm Christmas Eve.

Believe it or not, Jimmy’s first job was overnights at a Christian Radio Station. He claims he got into radio because like Rocky Balboa once said, “cause I can’t sing or dance.” Jimmy loves to write about all local happenings, especially around his town of Toms River. Favorite Pastime (other than masturbation, of course): Cheering for the Yankees, and crying for the J-E-T-S!!! Favorite Food: Hot Sauce…I collect ’em! Favorite Drink: PRUNO…look it up, if you dare! Favorite Movies: The Exorcist, Planet of The Apes (the original), To Kill a Mockingbird, Annie Hall, and of course GF 1 & GF 2…I heard that’s how the real fans refer to them. Favorite Movie Line: easy…Murry-Caddyshack-“big hitter, the Lama”…f#$*in’ riot! Best Rat Rock Bands: STP, VH, ZEP, PEARL JAM, FOOS, PEPPERS,AC/DC Favorite New Bands: Glorious Sons, Rival Sons, Dirty Honey Most Embarrassing Moment: the moment my mother reads this shit! Best Day: I know a lot of folks say this, but it’s true: the day my little girl Jynell and my boy Big D were born! Next to that, it would have to be the day I was baked on earth day in Central Park and met Keefer Sutherland…baked too, I believe.