Asbury Social Now Open At Former Asbury Festhall Building

ASBURY PARK, NJ — The building that used to house Asbury Festhalle and Biergarten has officially reopened as Asbury Social (see the website and drinking/dining menus here).

The new cocktail bar/restaurant had a soft opening Wednesday, and they'll have a grand opening in early September.

The rooftop bar will be the last to open. It's not scheduled to open until the late fall of 2026.

The Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten permanently closed after it suffered devastating flood damage in a Sept. 29, 2023 heavy rainstorm that hit the state. Nearly seven inches of rain fell on the area and Wesley Lake overflowed, flooding Lake Avenue.

The building was purchased by new owners Claude Elie and Julian Gellman, who are also concert promoters now trying their hand at restaurant ownership. They also purchased the House of Independents, the nearby concert venue that was also damaged in the flooding.

The same type of flooding occurred in July on Lake Avenue, when Wesley Lake again overflowed its banks. But this time, the new owners put in a brand new $10,000 flood wall.

"It was more important to get it open correctly than rushing into it," Gellman told News 12 this week.

They envision Asbury Park Social to be a speakeasy-esque cocktail lounge, and there will be a doorway connecting to House of Independents, so people can get dinner/drinks and then walk through to see a show.

Asbury Festhalle and Biergarten had been a mainstay of Asbury Park's drinking and dining scene.