HonkyTonk country music bar to open on Wildwood boardwalk on May 10

This summer, revelers in the Philly region won't have to hop on a plane to enjoy Nashville vibes.

Wildwood's HonkyTonk Saloon, a country music bar, is opening at the Boardwalk Mall in Wildwood on Friday, May 10. The 8,000 square-foot venue at 3800 Boardwalk will offer whiskey cocktails, barbecue, live music, line dancing and arcade games.

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"Myself and my brother really love country music; we think it's an underserved sort of genre in this area. There's really nowhere to go for it," said E.J. Dougherty, who co-owns HonkyTonk with his business partner and brother, Sean. "So we thought this was the perfect space because we really had a lot of space here to open up a dance floor, put a stage area in. So it just seemed like a really nice fit and definitely something that's not here right now, really anywhere in our surrounding areas."

Dougherty said he and his brother were also inspired by the success of Wildwood's summertime Barefoot Country Music Fest, when country stars perform on the beach "literally right across" from the Boardwalk Mall.

Along with the stage, dance floor and bars, HonkyTonk will have what Dougherty calls a "barcade." It's not necessarily a separate arcade, but rather a few grown-up video games — like axe throwing, Western shootout and beer pong — interspersed through the venue. The walls are decorated with Western-themed murals by South Jersey artist Russel Simmons, who has been documenting his progress on social media.

The bar menu will lean heavy on whiskey, according to Dougherty. There will be plenty of Tennessee-style whiskey, including Jack Daniels, served in craft cocktails poured into Mason jars. Hungry guests can chow down on a barbecue-style menu featuring pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, ribs and burnt ends. 

Once the summer gets underway, the HonkyTonk will host live music at least five nights a week, according to Dougherty. He said that on the other two nights of the week, the bar will likely offer line dancing and country karaoke.

The Dougherty brothers have worked in Wildwood since the 1980s. They entered the restaurant business in 2008 when they opened Stewart's Root Beer on the boardwalk there. They now own several restaurants along the Jersey Shore, including Nucky's Kitchen & Speakeasy in Ventnor, Agave Tequila Bar in Stone Harbor and Harbor Burger Bar in Stone Harbor. They also run two Capt'n Jack's Island Grill locations on the Wildwood Boardwalk. 

The newer Capt'n Jack's location opened in 2020 in the same mall where HonkyTonk now resides. The Dougherty brothers bought the Boardwalk Mall last summer and renovated the lower level — which connects from the street level to the boardwalk level and formerly housed a "really rundown arcade that had been here on and off for probably a few decades" — into the HonkyTonk.

"The entire thing needed to be gutted," Dougherty said of the mall's lower level. "We tore out the entire space, floor, ceilings, renovated everything. We built two large bars down here, we built the stage, redid the outside of the building, new signage, pretty much new everything in here to really give the place a facelift."

The Doughertys plan to continue redeveloping the mall, while "keeping the Boardwalk Mall aspect to it," including the mix of "eclectic" retail shops that have been there for about 50 years. Along with the restaurants and retail shops, the mall also contains boardwalk-front eateries like Playa Bowl and The Chillin Pineapple. Dougherty said the HonkyTonk was the ideal addition to cap off "Phase 1" of the mall renovations.

"It was just sort of a perfect scenario for us," Dougherty said. "We had the space, we have a liquor license in the building of the Capt'n Jack's concept, which is already upstairs. So it was really a natural fit for us to do another concept down here, and it really kind of finished off our property here and made it look really nice."

The HonkyTonk's doors will officially open at 5 p.m. May 10, and the bar's grand opening weekend will be celebrated with performances by Nashville recording artist Brian McConnell on Friday and Pennsylvania native country artist Sam Stinson on Saturday. From there, Dougherty said the bar will only be open on the weekends until Memorial Day. Updated information will be posted to the bar's Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Then, when the Barefoot Country Music Fest rolls around June 20 through June 23 — featuring headliners like Luke Bryan and Keith Urban — the HonkyTonk will host a kickoff party along with live music, line dancing and other special events all weekend.