Asbury Biergarten Will Reopen As Asbury Social Rooftop Restaurant

ASBURY PARK, NJ — Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten will reopen as a rooftop restaurant/bar named Asbury Social.

The owners of House of Independents, the event venue located down the street on Cookman Avenue, took over ownership of the large warehouse-type building that used to house the beer hall.

They plan to reopen it as a restaurant/bar, with its rooftop open seasonally for outdoor dining overlooking the sea, they said. No opening date was given.

The Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten permanently closed last winter, after it had been shuttered for nearly two years after suffering devastating flood damage in a Sept. 29, 2023 heavy rainstorm that hit the state.

The popular German beer garden and rooftop bar had been a mainstay of Asbury Park's drinking and dining scene.

In that storm, nearly seven inches of rain fell in New Jersey over a multi-day period and Wesley Lake — located right across the street from the beer hall — breached its banks. Lake water flooded dozens of shops and restaurants; the beer hall was one of them. Kayakers could be seen gliding down Lake Avenue. Nearby eatery Talulah's had four feet of water in their basement.

The beer hall had a foot of water in its basement and first floor, Patch reported.

"We could see the water just running through the basement like it was a river," Festhall general manager Nick Falco said at the time. "A lot of the chef's equipment was flipped upside down. Completely decimated."

The beer hall owners said after battling with their insurance company they were unable to cover all the flooding losses.

Asbury Park Festhalle, Biergarten Closes For Good: Report (January 2025)

Asbury Park Businesses Rebuilding After 'Devastating' Flood Damage (Oct. 2023)