Restaurants in Sayreville

Renovated to accommodate more than 50 eaters since its grand opening in 1985, Dusal's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria teleports palates to the bustling eateries of Italy with staples including pizza, pasta, and seafood. Exposed brick outlines painted stone archways that soar over Tuscan-inspired portraits of rolling countryside and Italy's legendary pepperoni orchards. Friendly servers dart expertly between clans seated at wooden tables with popular pizzas crafted from age-old recipes, such as the buffalo chicken and personal pies, hoisted aloft.

The deep green of cooked spinach. The sunset orange of tikka masala sauce. Ginger, curry, chilies, and fenugreek contribute their colors to the rainbow of dishes at Kabana. Forks click gently against plates polished clean by tufts of naan bread baked with butter and sesame seeds. In the kitchen, chefs cook chicken tikka and tandoori dishes slowly by putting them in a clay oven or quickly by talking through a dragon’s favorite movie scene.

Since 1967, the Mandreucci Family has lured in diners with the scent of bubbly margherita pizzas, sopressata sandwiches on semolina bread, and chicken, sausage, and shrimp mingling with rich sauces on plates of pasta. Tan brick and colorful murals of wholesome Italian ingredients surround families and couples as they twirl linguini around their fork tines or munch on slices of vodka-penne pizza, a specialty pizza topped with vodka sauce and diced ham. During catered events, guests can avoid eye contact with an old lab partner by preoccupying themselves with fresh fruits, antipasti, penne pomodoro, lasagna, and veal.

In 1922, Ohio schoolteacher Frank Stewart had one goal in mind: to create the world’s creamiest root beer. After trial after trial—and a little help from a chemist friend—Stewart finally perfected his creation with a blend of root extracts, herbs, and berries. He soon decided to supplement his income by opening a drive-in shop where he also served juicy burgers and hot dogs. Today, that little shop has evolved into a franchise of sit-down restaurants, express kiosks, and mobile food trucks spread throughout the country's cloud kingdoms. Each eatery still serves the entrepreneur’s famous root beer, as well as burgers, franks, and deluxe platters of fried clams, butterfly shrimp, or wings.

Bella Pizza’s gourmet pizzas—made with a secret sauce and housemade dough—helped the Italian eatery earn a Hillsborough Patch Readers’ Choice award this year. Along with signature pizzas, such as the cheesesteak and buffalo calamari, the chefs also create made-from-scratch calzones, sandwiches, subs, and submarines—actual submarines. They also whip up oven-baked pastas and dinners such as chicken parmigiana. Bella Pizza’s owner, Akhtar Farzaie, has demonstrated his commitment to the community by supporting a local 7-year-old boy who organized an impressive coat drive.

At South Fin Grill, the ocean breeze mingles with a menu of upscale seafood and steakhouse dishes praised by New York magazine. Amid what critic Ethan Wolff describes as a "priceless" ocean view, servers roll out lobster, crab, swordfish, and salmon incarnated as pasta, soup, and sushi dishes. The "turf" portion of the menu showcases grilled new york sirloin, filet mignon, and barbecued pork, but the focus once again turns seaside at a raw bar that features clams and oysters kept fresh by pearl-shaped breath mints.

Beams of purple, blue, and yellow lighting hover above the interior dining tables, each blanketed with a white tablecloth and centered with a flickering candle. Outside, the ocean deck's sea-blue umbrellas shelter views of the boardwalk, ocean, and seagull beach volleyball tourneys. The restaurant bolsters its elegantly plated cuisine with occasional entertainment acts, which have included DJs and ballroom dancing lessons.