OCEAN CITY – Two local restaurant industry veterans have come together to put all their experience and recipes into one place, Full Moon Saloon.
Jimbo Farlow who previously owned Crab Alley, and partner Mike Diffendal who previously co-owned Sunset Grille, have come together to open the Full Moon Saloon in West Ocean City.
Full Moon Saloon, located on Route 707 where the former Station 7 resided most recently, opened on March 11. Farlow and Diffendal received the keys to the restaurant in early January and renovations began.
“There was painting, tearing, cleaning, scrubbing, ripping, nailing, and screwing,” Farlow said, adding the prior stage and firemen décor was removed, new lighting was installed, the space was opened up and the floors were varnished. “We are not done decorating just yet … we just ran out of time because we wanted to get open.”
On March 11, it just so happened to be a full moon that night but the business partners wanted to be open a few days prior to the busy St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
According to Farlow, the response to Full Moon Saloon has been outstanding so far as Station 7 customers have remained, while new customers are coming in, as well as Farlow’s and Diffendal’s clientele from former experiences have followed.
“So far so good,” Farlow said. “We are both excited to be back in the business. We both enjoy the business, and had been out of it for a little bit but we have wanted to do something together … We have been talking about it for a few years. We just hadn’t found a location. It took us awhile to find it but we did. This is the right size, not too big, not too small, and just comfortable.”
Full Moon Saloon’s menu features fresh cut fish by Farlow himself, along with his grandmother’s crab cake recipe and his famous barbeque ribs. The steaks and burgers are certified Angus beef. All soups are homemade, such as the popular cream of crab, and are served fresh daily. All salads, such as chicken salad, shrimp salad, tuna salad, potato salad and coleslaw, are all homemade and served fresh daily.
“Everything we are doing is top of the line,” Farlow said. “We also do a lot of comfort food, such as homemade meatloaf, fried chicken and beef and dumplings. Those will complement our menu as daily specials.”
Farlow explained the starting priority was to blend the bar into the restaurant while creating a comfortable atmosphere while concentrating on great food.
“This place brings a certain amount of comfort that you don’t see in other restaurants. The feedback we are getting back from our patrons is it is soft, comfortable and relaxing,” he said.
Full Moon Saloon is on point in providing entertainment and specials all day, every day. This weekend Simple Truth will be playing on Friday, I. M. Wolske on Saturday and The Stims on Sunday.
From Sunday through Thursday there are $5 food specials and a variety of drink specials all day, on top of happy hour from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
“We have an outstanding happy hour but also have all day, every day specials,” Farlow said. “We try to incorporate great prices all day not just at happy hour. We like to think it is happy hour here from open to close.”
Full Moon Saloon is open from 11 a.m. to midnight seven days a week year-round.
“We are both well known in the community and we want to run a very respectable and consistent place where we are proud of what we do,” Farlow said “We are here for the long haul.”