Stir Terrace - Manalapan

What a hidden gem inside what I assume is an apartment/condo former hotel? The drink cocktails are tasty, so is the food. Service is top class. We parked across the street in the store lot. Parking: We parked across the street Price per person: $30–50 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Parking space: Plenty of parking Parking options: Free parking lot

The atmosphere is exquisite with a view of the ocean just steps away. The staff is very accommodating with rearranging the tables and umbrellas to shade us from the intense sunlight. We all enjoyed the food that was prepared and presented with care. Very relaxed and quiet area for conversation with special guests.

Beautiful and quiet place for a night out for cocktails

Came here as a guest of the hotel. First, the positives--this is a lobby lounge and decor at Eau is beautiful. The inner lobby where Stir is located is filled with several sofas with chairs around coffee tables, smaller seating areas around smaller tables, and one small table for two by the fireplace. Very relaxing, elegant ambiance! As for our experience at Stir, it was less than satisfying. Stood around for a long time, and no one greeted us. We finally went to the front check-in desk to ask if there was a protocol for eating at Stir. We were told we could sit anywhere in the inner lobby area as all the tables by the bar were occupied. We sat at a very comfy sofa area and waited at least 10-15 minutes before finally catching a server 's eye. We ordered our drinks with water, and the water was unfiltered and tasted disgusting. The hotel offers bottles of water at the front desk, so our son went back and requested some bottles of water. So much better. I enjoyed my drink (the blackberry cider but my husband did not enjoy his beer. Not anyone 's fault, but he did ask the server to compare it to another beer, and she was completely caught off guard, just said it was light . It was actually a heavier version of Heineken, as my best description of it. As for food, we ordered the tempura shrimp app and the cucumber salad, described as Cucumbers, carrots, scallions, peanuts, and Thai dressing . He ordered it without scallions--it came loaded with red onions which were not mentioned in the description. If someone doesn 't want scallions, I would think the server would mention it comes with onions, since they are both in the family of onions but maybe that 's just me. He sent it back to request one without onions but was told they are pre-mixed into the salad by a manager-type person who originally brought the salad. Also he ordered the waygu burger which came out before our app or salad--we were told it 's because they come out from two different kitchens. Requested cheddar cheese but received American cheese as well as lettuce/tomato on a separate HOT plate--he was not happy that the condiments were all warmed up by the plate. Also his waygu burger was bland. No salad for him, the cheese and condiments were unsatisfactory, and the burger was bland. Not a good meal for my husband thus far. The only thing he enjoyed was the Diet Coke he ordered to replace the beer. As for my son and I, we ordered sushi and were very pleased with our meals. The filet roll was delicious, and I would order it again (if I could convince my husband to return, that is. . Our son had the California and Tempura shrimp rolls and enjoyed them very much. The server made a cursory walk by and gave us a thumbs up, but our mouths were full and we were unable to comment. She never asked how everything was, just came back at the end of our meal to clear our dishes and didn 't even ask if we needed anything else. We also had to ask for silverware and for chopsticks each time the food was brought out by different people. Overall, service was severely lacking. The aforementioned salad wasn 't removed from our bill, our server didn 't thank us, ask about our meal or anything, especially since we made it clear we were ordering drinks we haven 't had before and had inquired about different menu items before settling on our chosen items. Maybe she was overwhelmed, but food service overall at this hotel has been less than stellar when we have eaten at Ocean Breeze as well (waited a long time before anyone greeted us and food took a long time to arrive . This is our second visit to Eau as hotel guests, and the food service has been subpar both times. For a hotel of this stature and price point, we would expect much better food service. We will unlikely return as service at similarly priced resorts (The Breakers, Four Seasons in Palm Beach offer much better service. Very disappointing.

Cocktails are great, proper bartenders. Casual, sushi dining in the bar area. Fantastic guitarist plays all night. Relaxed, indulgent.