Popular South Jersey Restaurant Closes AC Location

It's back to having a single location for Water Dog restaurant. The popular smoked meats and poke bowl restaurant announced on its Instagram page Saturday that they have closed its location in Bally's Atlantic City.

The Original Water Dog Smokehouse, on Ventnor Avenue in Ventnor, opened in 2019 and immediately developed a following for its delicious house-smoked meats and fish, New York-style bagels with house-smoked salmon, oversized sandwiches, poke bowls, and healthy choices.

Water Dog AC lasted only a little over a year in the casino location, where they said they would try to customize their menu to please casino patrons and adjust their approach from running a small storefront smokehouse to working with an 8000-square foot space with a bar in Bally's.

Whether or not those factors had any impact on their decision to close the Atlantic City location isn't known. You would imagine that the tough business environment other area restaurants have struggled with locally may have also played a part.

Their Instagram message simply said that Water Dog had ended their working relationship with Bally's.

It is with heartfelt regret that Water Dog will be closing our Atlantic City location effective today and will no longer be managed or operated by us. The management and staff would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for an amazing year and continued support. Please visit us at our original flagship location at 7319 Ventnor Avenue, Ventnor, NJ for all things Water Dog you have come to love.

People responding to the message expressed some disappointment but seemed happy that they still had the Ventnor Water Dog to rely on.

Bummed to hear this news, but we’ll drive farther down the island for our grub no problem.

 

Loved visiting you in AC! You’ll be missed

 

You guys da best don’t matter if you’re in AC or outer space we can’t live without your grub!