Martell's Tiki Bar Announces Strict ID Policies For 2016 In Point Pleasant Beach

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ -- If you're planning to go to Martell's Tiki Bar for drinks or to hang out with friends this summer, be prepared for strict rules.

In the wake of the restaurant losing its license to serve liquor for a month last fall as punishment for serving alcohol to a drunken patron who was later involved in a fatal wrong-way car accident, the bar's owners have announced strict new rules for identification as well as a dress code for 2016.

"We take these rules seriously here at Martell's, they are for your safety and for ours, so please respect them," the bar owners said in a statement on the restaurant's website announcing the new rules.

The bar will require two forms of identification from anyone 25 or younger, with the primary piece of ID being a photo ID -- a driver's license with a photo, a passport or a military ID with a photo.

If the ID presented is a duplicate or is altered in any way, or if "the door doesn't believe the individual presenting the identification is the person pictured on the identification," a second photo ID will be required, the rules said.

Secondary ID for those whose primary ID is accepted include a credit or debit card with the person's photo, or a NJ DMV boat license.

"Even if an individual has all of the above identification, if the door personnel does not believe that the person presenting the identification is the person to whom the identification belongs, that individual will not be allowed in," the policy states.

Martell's rules also say:

• Anyone that is believed to be visibly intoxicated will be denied entry.
  
• Anyone that is believed to have been recently in a fight (bleeding, torn clothing, visibly agitated) will be denied entry.
  
• Anyone acting in such a manner to suggest that they will cause a disturbance on the premises will be denied entry.

In addition to the ID policy, Martell's announced a dress code that bans bandanas, skullcaps and baseball caps worn backward. "Hats are allowed facing forward only," the dress code states.

• Shirts are required after 7 p.m., and beachgoers who come into the bar before 5 p.m. will be asked to put on "appropriate clothing" defined as pants, shorts and shirts at 7 p.m.
  
• "Excessively low or baggy" pants that show a person's underwear or buttocks are banned.
  
• No thong swimwear permitted.
  
• No suitcases, coolers, boogie boards, glow sticks, laser pointers, video cameras, motorcycle helmets, bicycle chains or locks, beach balls, horns, "or other objects like to cause a disturbance in the establishment" are permitted, the policy says.
  
• Large purses and other questionable bags are subject to search, the policy says.

Martell's Tiki Bar was ordered to give up its liquor license for a month last fall and pay a $500,000 fine when the owners pleaded no contest to charge of serving a visibly intoxicated person following an August 2013 crash that killed Ashley Chieco, 26, of Wood-Ridge.

Chieco had been drinking for several hours at Martell’s on Aug. 16, 2013 and left the bar driving an SUV she did not own. Old Bridge police have said Chieco struck a car driven by Dana Corrar of Old Bridge head-on on Route 18. Chieco was killed in the crash and Corrar suffered multiple injuries, according to Old Bridge police reports.

Chieco's blood-alcohol level was .189 at the time of her death, more than twice the legal limit, according to police.

In December, Martell's settled lawsuits brought by the families of both Chieco and Corrar, according to a report on NJ.com.

“It is unlawful in this state to serve alcohol to a person who is actually or apparently intoxicated and the repercussions of not abiding by the law have been brought to bear in this tragic case,” said Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

Martell's complete policy can be found by clicking here.

Bar drinks, by Lauren Polinsky, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license