The new Frankie’s on the Bay restaurant will open its doors for the first time for lunch on Thursday (Jan. 8).
The cafe fills the spot formerly occupied by the Bongo Café and Grill at 11th Street and Bay Avenue.
Frankie’s will serve a mix of burger platters, pasta, lasagna, homemade soups and salads, among a variety of other special offerings.
Lauren Sacco said the atmosphere of the new restaurant will be set back in time and “totally different than anything you’ll find anywhere else in Ocean City.”
Sacco had been working with her husband, Scott Sacco, and her parents, Frank and Debbie Vito, to create the new eatery. Her family will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Frankie’s Pizzeria and Restaurant in Hazleton, Pa., this year, and the new venture will a trendy tribute to coal towns like Hazleton, she said.
Sacco said she’s excited about the new opportunity and “looking to make a family in Ocean City.”
The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. Jan. 8 and will be open Thursdays through Mondays for lunch and dinner — with breakfast also served on Saturdays and Sundays.
She said when the Bay Avenue repaving project in front of the restaurant is complete, the restaurant will be open seven days for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A county project to install new drainage pipes and repave Bay Avenue between Ninth and 13th streets is expected to continue for at least another month. But Sacco said she’s happy that the improvements are being made.
“It’s going to be well worth it,” she said. “You have to take the good with the bad.”
The restaurant will be accessible through the entirety of the construction project, even if through traffic on Bay Avenue is detoured.
For more information on Frankie’s:
- Visit Frankie’s on Facebook: Frankie’s of OCNJ.
- Check for a new website now under construction: frankiesonthebayofocnj.com.
