VENTNOR – The site of Santucci’s Original Square Pizza has been taken over by a different group of restaurant operators who have given the place a facelift and a new name. Ventnor Social reflects the theme the new operators want to project – a place to be social with your friends, family and neighbors, new operator Anna Gavin said Thursday morning.
The neat thing about the turnover is that Santucci’s, famous for its Original Square Pizza, which has an upside-down way of doing things by placing the sauce on top of the cheese, is not going away. The group purchased the franchise and will operate a smaller Santucci’s pizza restaurant next door.
“Santucci’s pizzas are popular, so we wanted to keep it. The restaurant will be smaller, with just a few seats inside and mostly takeout,” Gavin said.
Santucci’s, owned and operated by Blake and Alicia Santucci Barabuscio, was rebuilt at the site of the old Arrow Hardware store. It was the first Ventnor restaurant to purchase a liquor consumption license following a 2015 referendum that won voters’ support for serving liquor in restaurants. There are now three liquor licenses operating in Ventnor along with dozens of BYOBs.
Ventnor Social, which includes the larger bar and restaurant on the first floor and the deck bar on the second floor, has been revamped and brightened up, she said.
Gavin, who currently operates the Pier Shack on the Ventnor City Fishing Pier and has a concession to sell iced coffee on the beach in Ventnor, has opened seven restaurants during her career. Her partners in Ventnor Social are Sean, EJ and Tyler Dougherty, who operate another restaurant chain in the South Jersey area that’s separate from the Ventnor Social operation.
“The Pier Shack is doing great. We are now in our third year and looking forward to another great summer,” Gavin said. “Ventnor Social will be an upscale family restaurant and sports bar. We don’t want it to be a club or party joint for kids; it’s for families who want to socialize and enjoy good food and time with their friends.”
The downstairs bar was reconfigured to make it roomier and several new arcade games, including soccer, golf and race car games, will be located in the back of the restaurant. They installed a new sound system, TVs, and will hold special events for Phillies and Eagles games. They brightened the place up with new lighting.
“It will be lighter and brighter and we’ll be open year-round,” she said.
The menu will be heavy on sharables – mostly seafood, bar food and entrees, such as cheese steak egg rolls, ahi tuna and the like.
“We’ll have specials for the games, 13 beers on tap and craft cocktails for the adults,” Gavin said.
The excitement has spread quickly around town since the new sign went up on Wednesday.
“There’s another sign we’ll be putting up on Monday.”
The upstairs deck and bar at Ventnor SocialResidents and visitors can get a “sneak peek” of the second floor open-air bar this Saturday starting at 11 a.m. when the city holds its annual Spring Block Party on Ventnor Avenue.
“After that, the upstairs will be open weekends, weather dependent. We’ll go full-time upstairs and downstairs starting Memorial Day weekend,” she said. “We’re planning a ribbon cutting and have cool events planned for our neighbors year-round.”
Ventnor Social is located at 6413 Ventnor Ave. and has presence on Facebook
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