More Than Burgers: Toms River Restaurant Aims To Welcome Community After Long Wait

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The TVs and dart boards are ready. The booths and tables are shined and the kitchen is stocked and prepped.

It's been a long wait, but Fat Patty's is finally ready to open its Toms River location, the restaurant's owner announced on its Facebook page.

The opening is scheduled for Sept. 1, the announcement said, and is hiring for all positions. The announcement included a link to the application.

Ayush Patel, the owner, told Patch last fall that Fat Patty's is much more than burgers.

"We are a full-service restaurant," Patel said, one that appeals to a wide demographic that includes families coming in for dinner after their children's sports competition, older folks who just want to enjoy a quiet meal, or a younger crowd coming in to watch the NFL games on a fall Sunday.

"We are trying to be that place people go three to four times a month, a place where they can meet friends and make new ones," said Brian Smith, the restaurant's general manager.

There are nearly 40 televisions on the walls and above the bar, including one that is 110 inches, for sports fans to enjoy the games.

There also are wider aisles between the tables that make it easier for people with wheelchairs and parents pushing strollers. It makes for an easygoing feeling where people won't have to squeeze their way through a crush of people to get to a table or the bar.

There are lots of tables with chairs and bench seating for people wanting dinner, and alcoves along one end of the restaurant with tables and curved benches for more quiet conversation. The main seating area flows into the bar area, with a freeform-shaped bar and high-top seating for people who want to talk and hang out but don't want a table. The bar includes a portion that is lower to accommodate people using wheelchairs and those who have mobility issues that make climbing onto a high-top seat difficult.

Beyond the bar is an area with a fireplace and leather couches for people to sit and talk in a more relaxed setting, and a handcrafted wooden table made from a large slab of a tree, with glitter-laden resin filling gaps to make the table a full rectangle. It stands on heavy, custom ironwork legs that have different feet; one is a bowling ball and another is the hoof of a horse, for example.

Off the other end of the custom table is an area to play darts, but at a different level through DartSee, an electronic dart game that offers more than just simple scoring.

The kitchen area is open, allowing customers to watch the workers preparing their food, something that has become a growing trend.

"Each decision we made was to create an atmosphere that is fun and upbeat," Patel said. You can see photos of the inside in the Patch report from 2024, when Patel was putting the finishing touches on the restaurant and finalizing paperwork.

The menu has 16 varieties of burgers, but Patel said they also will offer mahi bites and other seafood, and hand-stretched pizza. They will have 15 beers on tap, some from local breweries that they are partnering with, and will have four cocktails on tap as well, including margaritas and palomas.

The restaurant is located at 1111 Route 37 in Toms River, at the former Mellow Mushroom site.