This past week we spent a few nights at The Reeds at Shelter Haven in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I am recapping our stay and giving all the details on how it all went.
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In the beginning of the summer, I took my two girls on a day trip to the beach at Stone Harbor, New Jersey. We drove there and parked at the 95th street parking lot, right next to the Beach Tag office. This was so convenient. The parking was easy, setting up parking payment was simple, and there are bathrooms right before you head onto the beach which made it easy with two kids.
We had a great day, spent time on the beach, walked around town, had a bite to eat, then got on our way and took the 2ish hour drive home. As soon as we were leaving I knew I wanted to bring the girls back, this time with my partner, and enjoy a true vacation as a family.
In comes The Reeds at Shelter Haven. The hotel itself is right on the main street into Stone Harbor, so you truly can’t miss it when you come into town. It’s a beautiful hotel. When I got home and began planning our stay, The Reeds was the first place I checked. It’s considered to be a boutique hotel, so it’s a bit more upscale than your regular hotel, and the website listed all sorts of amenities (which I wasn’t so sure we would be able to use since we were bringing the kids, but having the option is always nice). Let’s get into the full review.
Location
The Reeds is on the corner of Third Ave and 96th Street. This places the hotel right in the middle of the main street of town, where so many restaurants, shops, and activities are. It’s a beautiful town, so being able to walk out of the hotel and be steps away from wherever you want to go is very convenient. We had a Town View Suite on the second floor, so our room overlooked the town. At first, I was a bit bummed we did not get a bay view room, but the town is absolutely beautiful in it’s own right and being able to see the hustle and bustle of everyone on vacation was really enjoyable.
In addition, the back of the hotel is directly on the bay. Take a short walk through the hotel lobby and you’ll be sitting on the bay side dock watching people paddle board, kayak, and swimming right in the water.
There are multiple coffee shops within walking distance of the hotel as well as cafes and restaurants. At all times, you’re just a stone’s throw away from food and drinks.
Food & Drinks
Speaking of food and drinks, the options are plentiful! The hotel provided a Keurig in the room, so there is the option to make coffee in the room, but we chose to go to coffee shops in the mornings.
The hotel has multiple restaurants. There are two on site and two next door. The restaurants on site are as follows:
Water Star Grille
I would consider this to be the more casual restaurant at the hotel. It is an outdoor restaurant overlooking the bay with beautiful views, scenery, and decor. The menu is fresh food with lots of seafood options. We ordered breakfast to go from here one morning and ate upstairs on the deck by the pool. I ordered the Acai Bowl and my partner ordered the Trenton Sandwich and subbed turkey bacon for the taylor ham. Both of us loved our food and enjoyed being able to eat with bay views while our daughter swam in the pool.
The Water Star Grille is also where we ordered our food to the beach from (we’ll get to that later). The menu was far more limited, but the food quality was delicious.
Sax at the Reeds
This restaurant serves dinner and drinks, so I would consider this to be the more formal restaurant. If I were looking for an upscale date night location at the hotel this is where I would go. We did not end up going to this restaurant because we had the kids with us, but the atmosphere was elegant, the menu is impressive, and the convenience of it being in the hotel can’t be beat.
There are two restaurants that are affiliated with The Reeds and are next door to the hotel. These are:
Buckets Margarita Bar & Cantina
This is a tequila bar and restaurant. When I asked the front desk attendant if any of the restaurants were not kid friendly she mentioned that maybe this one wouldn’t be because it is a tequila bar. We saw kids eating here though and it did seem fine, but just keep that in mind if you are bringing kids along.
Stone Harbor Pizza Pub
Had we had another night at The Reeds, we definitely would have visited this pizza pub. The menu looks delicious, it’s convenient (it’s right next to the hotel), the views look out onto the bay, and the reviews are amazing.
Activities
One of my favorite parts about staying at The Reeds was the amount of complimentary activities they have available to guests.
Beach
The beach is just a few blocks away. Staying at The Reeds changed my perspective on beach trips! I am used to always having to lug tons of different items to the beach including kids toys, chairs, umbrellas, towels, supplies, food, drinks, and more. This was a far different experience.
The hotel has a concierge desk in the lobby with staff members who are waiting and ready to assist. Whenever a guest is ready to go to the beach, just walk down to the lobby and inform the concierge. The concierge takes it from there. They provide you beach tags, walk you outside to the car port where they have electric shuttles ready to take guests to the beach. No more hot walks to the beach holding all of your supplies!
The drive is only a few minutes, right through the main street of town. Once at the beach entrance, the driver assists in carrying your bags and walks you to meet their beach attendants. The hotel also provides guests with beach chairs, beach umbrellas, and towels. The beach attendants then ask how many chairs, towels, and umbrellas you need and follow you to your selected place on the beach. They set up everything for you, so all that’s left to do is enjoy your time.
The beach attendants are kind, courteous, and quick, ready to assist at any time. If you get hungry or thirsty on the beach, they provide you with menus to order food and non-alcoholic beverages that are delivered right to your beach chairs in a cooler. The cost of the food and drinks are charged right to your room, so if you do not have your wallet on hand on the beach there’s no problem. They also provided us with cold water bottles and carted around cold water ice, which was a huge bonus for my daughter. I ordered the turkey and avocado sandwich, and my partner ordered the chicken fingers and french fries. Both items were great and easy to eat on the beach.
In addition to setting up your chairs, umbrellas, and towels, the attendants clean them up at the end of the day as well. At the end of the day when we were ready to leave, all we did was pack up our personal items and inform the beach attendants we were ready to leave. The shuttle was waiting for us at the beach entrance and they took us back to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, they have outdoor showers which are stocked with towels. This was so convenient as we were all covered in sand. Getting most of the sand off of us outside really helped us to keep our hotel room clean.
Bay
On the back side of the hotel is the bay. The water is beautiful and serene and the sun sets over it. If you dine at the Water Star Grille, Buckets, or the Stone Harbor Pizza Pub you look out over the bay view.
Kayaking
Kayaking is one of the complimentary activities the hotel provides. My partner and 4 year old took a kayak out. It was so simple and fun for them! You walk through the Water Star Grille and head to the dock where there is an attendant waiting. You just inform them of what you want to do and they get the kayak ready, supply life jackets, and get you on your way. The attendant is also waiting for you once you finish to help you get off the kayak.
Paddle Boarding
We weren’t able to paddle board because of the kids, but paddle boarding is the same as kayaking, just let them know you want to paddle board! It truly couldn’t be easier.
The Room
The room itself was updated, clean, and comfortable. It felt modern with a beachy twist. We reserved a room with two queen beds so our daughter had a bed to herself. With two queen beds, there was not much walking space, but there was enough room for us to set up our Nuna pack & play for our youngest daughter to sleep in. We utilized the dressers and unpacked our items which allowed us to get our suitcases out of the way and provide a bit more walkable space.
The bathroom was clean and stocked with towels, soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shower caps, a makeup towel, and more.
Check in & Check Out
Check in is at 3:00 PM and check out is at 11:00 AM.
When we were leaving we found out that on the day we arrived, even though our room was not ready until three, we could have “pre-checked in” and utilized the hotel amenities the entire day. We also found out the same goes for the day you check out. Guests are permitted to utilize the hotel amenities after they check out. This was great information to know because if we do return to The Reeds we’d like to spend a little more time at the beach.
Do you have any questions about The Reeds at Shelter Haven in Stone Harbor, New Jersey? Let me know in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them!
