The Route 166 restaurant is being marketed by Lakewood-area broker Yitzi Nussbaum as a turnkey sale that includes the property, operating business, equipment and staff, with an optional liquor license and room for future development.
TOMS RIVER, NJ — Villa Amalfi, the longtime upscale Italian restaurant along Route 166 in Toms River, has been placed on the market as a complete operating business and real estate package.
Isaac “Yitzi” Nussbaum, owner of The Nussbaum Team and a broker salesperson with Real Broker, announced the offering this week, marketing the restaurant as an opportunity for a buyer to acquire more than just the building.
“The business is built. The opportunity is yours,” Nussbaum said in announcing the listing.
The approximately 5,000-square-foot restaurant is being offered with the property, business operation, equipment, furniture and existing team. An optional liquor license is also being offered as part of the opportunity.
It is listed for $2,460,000.
Restaurant can continue operating from day one
The sale is unusual in that Villa Amalfi is not being marketed simply as a vacant restaurant property awaiting another operator.
Instead, the buyer would have the opportunity to step into an established restaurant with the kitchen, dining areas, furnishings and other operating infrastructure already in place.
“Not just a business, not just a building, the complete package,” the listing announcement said.
Nussbaum also pointed to additional land behind the existing restaurant that could present future development or expansion possibilities.
The property sits at 1006 Route 166, historically known locally as Lakewood Road, along the busy commercial corridor connecting downtown Toms River with Lakewood.
Nussbaum has become one of the more active brokers serving the Lakewood, Toms River and surrounding Ocean County market. The Nussbaum Team identifies him as its owner and broker salesperson, while Realtor.com currently credits him with dozens of transactions over the past year.
Villa Amalfi built reputation around upscale Italian dining
Villa Amalfi has operated for years as one of the Route 166 corridor’s traditional Italian restaurants, offering a dining experience built around pasta, seafood, veal, steaks and other Italian specialties.
The restaurant’s current dinner menu reflects a more upscale approach than a neighborhood pizzeria or casual Italian takeout restaurant.
Current offerings include veal osso buco, Australian rack of lamb, a 16-ounce prime rib-eye, stuffed shrimp, risotto with seafood, braciole and veal Oscar.
Pasta dishes include gnocchi, bolognese, stuffed rigatoni, shrimp Alfredo and rigatoni prepared with Calabrian chili-spiked vodka cream sauce.
The restaurant also offers lobster bisque, clams casino, burrata, stuffed mushrooms and fried calamari, along with a substantial wine and cocktail program.
Its wine list stretches from traditional Italian selections and California cabernets to higher-priced bottles including Brunello, Amarone, Sassicaia and Opus One.
Restaurant connected to longtime Jersey Shore restaurateur
Villa Amalfi has been associated with restaurateur Andrea Esposito, whose family has operated Italian restaurants in Ocean County for decades.
The history of Esposito’s restaurant business stretches back to Naples Italian Ristorante and Pizzeria in Barnegat, where he has served customers since 1984. The restaurant’s own history identifies Esposito as the owner and operator of both Naples and Villa Amalfi, along with Fusaro Pizza in Manahawkin.
That connection puts Villa Amalfi within a restaurant operation that has spent decades serving Ocean County.
The Toms River restaurant developed its own identity as the higher-end dining operation, with white-tablecloth-style Italian entrees, wine service, catering and banquet offerings.
Banquets and catering part of the operation
Villa Amalfi has also operated beyond its regular lunch and dinner business.
Its restaurant operation includes private functions, dinner banquets, luncheons, showers and off-premise catering.
The property therefore offers a potential buyer several existing revenue streams rather than solely relying on traditional dinner service.
Villa Amalfi currently lists hours six days a week, closing Tuesdays, with lunch and dinner service throughout the remainder of the week.
Sale could mark major change along Route 166
The restaurant sits along a section of Route 166 that has changed considerably as Toms River and neighboring Lakewood have grown.
Commercial properties along the corridor have increasingly attracted interest from investors because of their proximity to both communities and access to Route 37, the Garden State Parkway and northern Ocean County.
Nussbaum is emphasizing that potential as part of the Villa Amalfi offering.
“With an optional liquor license and untapped expansion potential, this is an opportunity to step into an established operation and take it further,” his announcement said.
For now, Villa Amalfi continues to operate as a restaurant while the property and business are being offered for sale.