Proving Ground Waterfront Dining

My favorite spot!

Great food and great atmosphere. We will be back.

Great outdoor dining. The lobster roll was fantastic. The draft rum punch was good. We’ll be back

Staff was great with Covid rules, I felt good sitting outside and everything was handled well.

Good place to go for a casual lunch with a cute tiki bar, but packed with the shore crowd. Food is better than most dockside places, as is the view.

It was wonderful to get out and enjoy waterfront dining again! We had a great table near the water, with plenty of distancing from the other tables. Food was good but the tacos were seriously overpriced: $21 for three small vegetable tacos. There should at least be a lower price for the veggie tacos vs. the meat versions. The blueberry margaritas were delicious! Our waiter was fine, but would disappear for long periods of time (understandable in the early days of reopening), and 90% of the time his mask was down below his nose (totally unacceptable). Advice for the management, enforce proper mask-wearing among your staff or we will not be returning or recommending this place to anyone else. Otherwise, a nice lunch by the water!

I had a reservation for 2 at noon. It was my partners birthday and I left a message saying I wanted a table with a great view. There were plenty of tables since it was still early. Instead we got sat in the middle by the entrance with no view. They couldn’t accommodate a shaded table for us with a more clear view. Horrible.

Beautiful waterfront restaurant with tasty food. A summer ritual to visit and dine. Restaurant has dock and dine also. Fun to watch all the million dollar plus boats going up & down the waterway.

This place is amazing! Everything was perfect especially the food!!

Great Staff and service was awesome and respectful. All Covid-19 rules were obeyed and enforced. Party on.

Love the ambiance. Even though I live just about 20 min from there, it felt like I was at a restaurant on vacation. I'll be back.

Very nice greeting and escorted us promptly to our reserved table out by the water. Our server was Joy and really sweet and efficient. We were on our one day honeymoon as with Covid we couldn't go away so opted for one day off. They seemed to be practicing all pandemic requirements and we felt quite safe. The sangria is fantastic. We had the burrata served with roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and proscuitto. Only complaint was there was only just one very small piece of burrata and only 4 pieces of crustini. The poke bowl was very fresh served with chunks of avocado but had no dressing on it so it was a little drab. I think it might have been a kitchen mistake. The scallops were fantastic! Very fresh and cooked to perfection. Good food, fun place.

One of our favorite places to be. Great food, service and fantastic view.
Highly recommend going.

Very accommodating and sat us in the shade. Beet salad was delish, but would have been better if the pecans weren't pulverized so you couldn't taste them. Plain margarita fair.

My waitress and food were GREAT! What was not good was making a reservation 2 weeks ago and then having it rain(which WAS NOT their fault) but having 6 empty tables with umbrellas and a hostess who refused to sit us as a table with an umbrella. She left us standing in pouring rain to check and came back and said we could sit in the picnic table area. We sat there but for the hour we ate those 6 tables covered with umbrellas were never sat at. Four of those tables were four tops - same as our party. I had a reservation and it was pouring rain when we were sat. Its the first time my family was out for dinner since the shut down & THIS was NOT the experience I hoped for. VERY disappointed - not sure I will be back 😔

I always loved Proving Ground, so I have no complaints. Thx. Pat

Had a great time! Food was delicious and we will be back!

Great night out with my dear friends. We appreciated the docside seat. The fire feature was a fun surprise.
All food was great the tuna poke bowl was delicious however the portion was small.

beautiful view of the original proving ground and Manhattan! Great service and excellent food!

Food was delicious. Friendly, staff with care given to the current social distancing issues. Server Kyle was terrific and took very good care of us. Crab cocktail was fresh and flavorful, tuna poke bowl also yummy. Favorite part of the meal was the very refreshing and tasty Caribbean Mule. Thank you Kyle for taking such good care of us!

PG is beautiful, lovely sitting right on the water. Beautiful day, great service. Food is tasty but nothing out of the ordinary on the menu.

Wonderful meal on the patio .

1st time there and it was a very nice place and atmosphere was pleasant

I have been to the Proving Ground in the past. The location is the BEST and the indoor and outdoor seating is fantastic with the view of Sandy Hook. Although I believe, with the Coronavirus outbreak, they feel that they are doing their best for non spreading of the virus, I was uncomfortable with some things that I saw. First of all, because of the virus, the volume of people was not there. The restaurant was less than 1/4 full, but Valet insisted on parking my car, or I was told I could have found somewhere to park on the street. Against my better judgement, I let them park my car, but did not see them wiping down my steering wheel, etc. The attendant did tell me he washed his hands. Not enough. Inside I noticed that when bussing the tables, the tables were wiped down with disinfectant, but not the chairs. Also when ordering coffee, the sugar container holding the sugar packets was placed on table instead of just the number of packets needed for the coffee. These seem like small things, but in the grand scheme of things, I believe that anything that can be done to contain the spreading of germs should be. I also believe that I DID NOT DO MY PART by mentioning these things to management. Hopefully they will see these comments and take them to heart.

The crab cakes were terrific. Service was excellent. Our waitress was attentive, but no at all pushy.

We loved the view. Food was excellent, especially the lobster, crab Mac and cheese.

Easy to get a table, food was excellent! I had the scallop special and it was on point. A really nice place to have a nice meal! Highly recommend

Great place for a night out with friends or family . Service was top notch , food was excellent and the music the icing on the cake

Winter here is likely a bit different then summer, so this review could be amended when we return, and we will. Good menu for all tastes, not super fancy, I ate with my 12 and 8yr old. Filet was good, not great, seafood risotto about the same. It's a solid spot for a family meal, maybe to meet some friends when you dont want to get too fancy.

Beautiful view, fun atmosphere.

Will be back.

Very good experience, wasn’t busy at the time. Service was good, one dinner was over cooked but was remade. Overall very enjoyable experience love the atmosphere.

We were hoping for a nice date night restaurant. This was a good restaurant but it was very noisy and ambience not conducive for romantic date night. Service was super rushed so we literally got entrees halfway through our appetizers. Desert was the same - super rushed. All told our entire meal was served within an hour which isn’t great when you want to lounge and enjoy your company. Better for family dining or friends get together

We had a delicious meal at a reasonable price. We recommend this restaurant.

Great views! French onion soup delicious, pretzel appetizer so soft and cheese dip yummy, fish tacos just ok. Hostess very pleasant, bartender quick to greet us and bring our drinks, server was fine. Looking forward to going back when weather warmer and can sit outside.

Proving Ground is a perfect brunch spot. The views of the water are really nice. We had mimosas, eggs, burgers, there's really good food options. For the winter there was a good crowd there. I would definitely want to come again during the summer.

My friends and I had a lovely brunch, the windows were open it was 65 degrees and heavenly. The view of The Bay and Sandy Hook is wonderful. Food was very good. The Server was on the slow side but the buss-girl and runner made up for it. All Very friendly.

Great spot, fantastic view when the fog lifted. Food was delicious, service friendly and prompt. We are local so will look forward to our next visit, can’t wait to come in the warm weather

Good place for bar food, burger or salad. Not sure in the winter I would be interested in there entree menu unless I was enjoying outside seating. Found eating area to be dark with a very active bar scene. Would be acceptable for families with young children menu varied.

My husband ordered a crispy chicken bacon chipotle sandwich for lunch. Chicken was all dark meat, very greasy...bacon was partially raw. It was inedible. Told waitress and she basically said oh well, sorry. It was unbelievable! My husband did not want any confrontation, so we just paid the bill and left. Other meals at our table were fine but his was horrible. Needless to say, we will not be going back. Terrible service by the waitress. She was pleasant but didn't handle the situation well. It's too bad because the view is gorgeous. Food was ok, not great and pricey for lunch.