Haddonfield's the Little Tuna Restaurant: Best Luncheon Restaurant in Southern New Jersey

I am probably, as the saying goes, shooting myself in the foot with this restaurant recommendation. Will this review make it more difficult for me to get a table at The Little Tuna? Will the handsome young chef still be able to take the time to stop by and inquire on your meal on a consistent basis? Yes, and, most likely, no, but it's a chance I'm willing to take.

The Little Tuna is located at 141 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield, New Jersey, 08033. Their telephone number is 856/795-0888.

It is open for both lunch and dinner, and their menu and directions to the restaurant can be found online at their web site: www.thelittletuna.com. It is a user-friendly web site that lists not only menu items but prices as well, with the standard caveat that said prices are subject to change. However, an increasing trend among restaurants has been to omit pricing on their online menus, thus leaving a potential diner clueless as to how inexpensive - or not - a restaurant truly is. Props to The Little Tuna for being upfront on their pricing.

While I've had both lunch and dinner here, The Little Tuna has, over time, become my very favorite luncheon spot for a number of reasons. It's located on Haddonfield's 'main drag', is surrounded by some of South Jersey's best shopping, there's always parking at municipal parking lots nearly (and sometimes on-street parking as well), and their food is a very good value for what you'll pay. I prefer lunch because their luncheon menu is actually larger than their dinner menu, and it's a great way to wind up a day of shopping or just strolling through historic Haddonfield, which is a very pretty town.

You cannot go wrong with their burgers, despite the 'little tuna' name connotation. Burgers are either $7 or $8, and come complete with a nice serving of crisply-coated fries. My personal favorite is the bleu cheese burger, with the bacon jack burger a close second.

Of their sandwich offerings, I would advise staying away from the shrimp salad, which, for some odd reason in a restaurant with a nautical tilt, consists of those tiny, canned shrimp found in your local supermarket's canned seafood aisles. Their chicken salad ($9), blackened tuna, ($13), and fried oyster ($9) sandwiches - all of which again come with fries - are excellent.

Their wraps also come with those tasty fries as well. The best of the wraps include the barbecued chicken ($9), blackened Ahi tuna steak ($13), and the grilled salmon and spinach wrap ($11). A daily soup is always offered, but you honestly can't go wrong with a cup ($4) or a bowl ($6) of their spicy vegetable crab soup - delicious!

If you're looking to pair a salad with your soup, or just looking for a good salad as an entree, I can highly recommend the tossed calamari salad, one of my friend's favorite meals here, as well as their Caesar salads. The garlic charred Jumbo Shrimp is good, but at $13 and with less than a fistful of shrimp included, I'd suggest you consider the blackened salmon salad in its place (which is also $3 cheaper.)

If it's a heartier, actual meal that suits you, the crab and asparagus baked casserole, at $13, is a real winner. (All of their luncheon entrees include a small but tasteful salad, a vegetable and mashed potatoes.) The peppercorn crusted tuna and stuff salmon are also very good.

The Little Tuna has a nice selection of luncheon pastas, too, each of which is served over a bed of linguini. My favorite is the Baked Chicken Parmesan, which is really good. I'm not a big fan of the Seafood Chipino in red sauce (clams, shrimp, scallops and salmon with garlic and basil), but give high marks to the nap-inducing Chicken Alfredo and Salmon Basil.

Only the first floor is opened for luncheon dining; the second floor opens up for an overflow dinner crowd as needed. The space is bright and airy, the service pleasant, the chef genuinely interested in how you perceive his craft. Ask for a booth table; they're more comfortable than the tables for four to eight scattered in the room's center. Most major credit cards are accepted. Haddonfield is a dry town (did I not mention that before?!), so come here, as those of us who know The Little Tuna well do, for the food, and hold off on the alcohol until the cocktail hour. Bon appetit!