One of NJ’s best dive bars is reopening under a new name

Yelp reviews called the old place a “dive bar” but in that loving way you refer to something you hate to see go. NJ.com referred to it as “beloved.”

It was Pic-A-Lilli Pub. It stood for decades with the Atlantic City skyline serving as its background and people clamoring for their wings. It’s what they were best known for.

All good things come to an end. Wasn’t it New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen who wrote ‘well now everything dies, baby, that's a fact’?

But he also wrote ‘but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.’

Pic-A-Lilli Pub closed down not long ago but the building has not been a ghost town. Plenty of activity in the form of renovations and planning has been underway.

New owners by the names of Dimitrijs Ostrovskis, 40, and Michael Ghabryal, 32 bought the joint. They’re residents of Atlantic City, too, which I think will make them more welcomed.

They’re renaming it King’s Pub.

It's amazing how many people see us working and knock on the door, asking what's happening, if we're open. They're always so excited," said Ostrovskis. "It's really a privilege and pleasure when people are interested in your business.

"We saw it online being advertised. We did our research, and this was what we were looking for for a new venture," he told Asbury Park Press.

This is Ostrovski’s first time owning a business but his partner Ghabryal operates his own convenience store and a pizza place on the famous boardwalk.

The bar at 226 S. Tennessee Avenue will keep the beloved Pic’s wings but add a small menu of homemade bar foods and a unique personal twist on their cocktails.

They say King’s Pub is getting new lighting but honoring its history with old black-and-white photos of sports heroes. It should be interesting for Pic-A-Lilli fans to see what King’s does with the place.

It’s set to open any day now this month but without an exact date given.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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