Supervisors Approve Expanded Outdoor Seating At Soon-To-Open Seafood Restaurant

As workers busily renovate the former Corner Bakery Cafe into a new Blue Point Grill seafood restaurant, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors at its Wednesday night meeting approved an amended conditional use that will expand outdoor seating at the restaurant targeted to open in August.

The approval clears the way for a 976 square-foot extension of an outdoor patio that will provide up 64 more outdoor seats on top of the 36 that were part of the original conditional use approval in August of 2022. Total seating capacity at the new establishment at 3 West Road in the Newtown Shopping Center, both indoor and outdoor, would be 245 though Jack Morrison, president of the JM Group that would own the Blue Point, said he highly doubted there would ever that many people in the restaurant at one time.

“I don’t think we will ever see that moment,” he said.

Morrison said outdoor dining became very popular during the coronavirus pandemic and has remained very much in demand. When it opens, the Newtown Township Blue Point Grill will be the second, joining the original that opened in Princeton, N.J. in 1999.

Much of the discussion before the vote to approve amended conditional use centered around parking, which Mike Meginniss, the local attorney representing JM Group on the project, said he believed would not be a big problem. He added the owner of the shopping center is willing to construct an additional 33 parking spaces at whatever time the supervisors decide they might be needed.

The new restaurant will have a liquor license and is scheduled to be open until 11 p.m. for dinner only. There are presently no plans for offering lunch, but Morrison and Meginniss said the original conditional use gives the JM Group the latitude to offer lunch at some point in the future if that is desired.

According to its website, bluepointgrill.com., the restaurant’s menu “changes daily, reflecting an assortment of the freshest catch and delicious classics such as New England clam chowder and lump crab cakes.”

It added that the Blue Point Grill is “famous for the area’s best oyster selection. All of our seafood is simply and beautifully prepared to reveal its natural, delicious flavor. We pride ourselves on supporting vessels, docks and purveyors who continue to live, work and believe in sustainable fishing practices.”