River Pointe Inn

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Rumson Original Built on Hospitality and Good Taste

River Pointe Inn is a concept born from a family partnership — father and son Victor and Jake Rallo, together with the Diaco family — who identified a gap in the local market: a quasi American-French bistro with genuine, meaningful hospitality. The brief they set for themselves is disarmingly straightforward: oysters, cocktails, and contemporary classics served in a warm space with chophouse flair, retro-glam decor, and champagne toasts.

The Kitchen and the Cellar

At the stove is Executive Chef Josh Laurano, a New York City veteran who earned a Michelin star as Executive Chef at La Sirena. His approach translates directly to the menu: thoughtful American cooking rooted in European style, inspired by the produce of New Jersey — what he calls the bounty of the Garden State. The result is a menu that moves comfortably between both sides of the Atlantic, from Escargots with harissa garlic butter and a baguette to a 12 oz Black Angus Steak Frites, from Moules Frites with Pernod and shallot confit to a signature French Onion Lasagna built on eight hours of caramelized onions, béchamel, and gruyère.

Local sourcing shows up in the raw bar, where oysters come exclusively from the Barnegat Oyster Collective — farmed in the waters of Barnegat Bay and harvested specifically for the restaurant, with four rotating varieties on the menu at any given time.

The wine program earned River Pointe Inn the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2025, recognized for a list built around the top wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Sommelier Julio Hernandez oversees a cellar that takes the French half of the restaurant's American-French identity seriously.

What to Expect at the Table

The menu spans lunch (Friday through Sunday), dinner, and a rotating set of daily Plats du Jour — Monday's Poulet en Croûte through Sunday's Lobster Frites — that give regulars a reason to return through the week. The cocktail list is equally considered: a daily $15 Martini Happy Hour at the bar anchors a broader list of house cocktails ranging from a Lychee Martini to a Sour Cherry Negroni.

Whether the occasion calls for Caviar & Donuts with Ossetra and potato-chive donuts, a shared Porterhouse, or simply a half-dozen local oysters and a glass of Burgundy, River Pointe Inn holds its own as one of the more complete dining destinations on the Jersey Shore.