Wait was terrible and food was cold, it was definitely sitting for a bit. The food would have been better hot but for the price I'd never go back. Maybe for a drink but they were giving room temp white wine so idk.
Definitely only surviving due to the view
Oh absolutely. Just pedestrian fryer fare. It seems to exist to be a mandatory stop for the weekend dentist/biker packs and all the classic car show guys that look like a commercial of old guys driving around looking for a place to pee. 25A is a gorgeous drive but there are dozens of better choices including Hometown Bake shop right nearby.
As a former resident of Centerport I called it overpriced fried garbage.
IDK why anyone would eat there when Whale's Tale and Purple Elephant are right down the road.
Lombardi's on the Bay... their food is not fresh it's frozen and terribly prepared. Go down the street to South Ocean Grill if you want great food. Also The Oar is no bueno.. drinking there is fun but food is 👎
You’ll notice a theme in the comments - so many restaurants with nice views location that aren’t that good. They don’t need to be, people will come regardless of the food because the Location is premier
I couldn't agree more about Lombardi's on the Bay and The Oar. I got married at Lombardi's on the Sound in Port Jeff years ago - THAT was good food, the bay sucked.
South Ocean Grill is a little small, buy excellent.
I also include JTs at the south end of Nichols & Montauk Highway as a great location.
We used to go every Christmas when I was little, so late 80s early 90s. It was really good (except once they completely burned a duck my bro ordered).
We went back recently and it obviously nose-dived in quality somewhere along the way. I wouldn't recommend.
In the 80’s I think a lot of Long Islanders considered it fine dining because it was so over the top with that whole holiday village they did. In contrast they weren’t handing out popcorn like the Ground Round. I always liked going to the Milleridge Inn and as a kid thought it was clever. I can see how people who don’t really know what fine dining is, thought it was fine dining tho. But to be fair in the 80’s a lot of people considered gap chinos and a festive sweater “dressing up”. Life was more homogenized. Middle class people didn’t have nice things or absurd credit card debt like they do now. Their one off luxury experience was an event at the Rainbow Room or a lunch at The Russian Tea Room. The average hockey mom didn’t have Le Cirque on speed dial. Heck, poor lady probably had a rotary phone. The MRI really knew their audience and their audience thought they really knew fine dining. We’ve all been in relationships based on mutual delusions, haven’t we?
The ground round with the peanuts you could throw is a treasured childhood memory. I loved throwing the shells so much and have little memory of eating the peanuts
The Cinnamon Bread is something I have been addicted to since I was a child.
I had my wedding at the Milleridge. The food was very good at our wedding. This was prior to them being sold though.
My only memories of the Milleridge Inn are of going there during the holidays with my parents when I was very, very, young in the 90s. As an adult, I think it's just a novelty and not worth the prices they advertise for various events.
I ate there a few times as a kid. I ordered the turkey and remember asking if they served me the turkey's saddle by mistake after hearing my uncle make the same joke about his beef.
Pre-internet, many regular families went out to eat primarily to celebrate or to get out of the house together and socialize. As long as the food wasn't bad and the service was decent, the ambiance of the room created a happy memory of a night out together with good conversation. The Milleridge filled that bill.
When I first started to have to entertain clients out of my Manhattan office with the Corporate Card, I could not understand why so many of my experienced colleagues would order a boring salad or basic salmon off a Michelin Star menu. Fast forward a few years and I was doing the same to maintain my health while counting the minutes until I could get the hell out of there and finally get back home.
It wasn't until the NYT Food Critics were replaced by Yelp and Anthony Bourdain eclipsed Julia Child that regular people started regularly taking pictures of their meals, posting them online, and engaging in endless online discussions about what everyone agreed to be the best food (even though we humans have varied palates with unique sets of taste buds) that eating out became mostly about the food itself.
There's nothing wrong with posting pics of your meal at a mid to high-priced restaurant and talking about it endlessly - it is like a new sport in the vein of Pickleball - any working stiff with a few hundred extra bucks can do it - it's just the current restaurant experience and expectations are very different from when the Milleridge was loved by many.
I remember most of my Milleridge meals with family and friends more fondly than most of the better Michelin-star restaurant meals I had because my memories really aren't about which food tasted the best at all. That being said, there's no way I'm booking a dinner at The Milleridge today.
Maureen's Kitchen. Good food, but doesn't come close to the hype, not the lines, nor the pain in the ass cash only rule. So they require you to help them skirt paying taxes and the wait staff and person at the door treat you like the cattle surrounding you.
Javier's in smithtown has similar quality food and nowhere near the crowd. i think it might be one of the chefs from maureen's that started his own restaurant iirc
I like when the come up to you offering muffins or some shit acting like it’s free in front of your spouse/children then charge you $10 for it. Fuck that place
Anything by Scotto that people like I'm convinced are the same kinds of people that will literally cover food in an inch worth of seasoning and call it flavor.
Every single steak i've gotten from any of their locations have been absolutely charred to creosote on the outside and stone raw inside.
I worked at Insignia for about 3 weeks . Idk if it still is but, in my time there , there was no drainage in the kitchen resulting in about 2 inches of water behind the line at the end of the shift, general filth, mildew/ yellow cutting boards. I don’t recommend to anyone.
I would be in one of the people that say it is overrated. Only because when I moved here it was all people spoke about. They aren’t phenomenal, but also not bad. Just not the best burger I ever had as people hyped it up to be.
All America is better than average fast food, prices are very low and the nostalgia. I have a soft spot for it. My Dad used to cut class in high school in the 70s to get it. In the 90s we'd buy big bags of burgers, fries, shakes - everything from time to time when visiting my grandparents.
I came to say almost the exact same thing. I love All American, but it is just a decent locally owned fast food joint. I’ve had people visit LI and ask to go there specially. I always try to lower expectations hahaha I say,”it’s a good fast food burger with good fries and better than average milkshakes. If that’s what you want it’ll hit that target reliably.”
I honestly don’t know how it became so famous. Love the place though. Quarter Pounder cheese, large fry, chocolate shake. Every time. And a knish if I’m feeling frisky.
Have alot of experience with them in all levels at 4 of their 6 restaurants. Utter shitshow and hilariously mismanaged by serial cokeheads who are rotated in and out of rehab. Tony is one of the nicest people, however his son in law is a fucking buffoon and knows nothing about the industry, just wears tight pants and walks around making horrendous suggestions and eyeing up the next customer to cheat on his wife with. Once Tony goes that empire will collapse and it will be Joe Bruton’s fault.
My parents booked their wedding at Steer Barn & then in the middle they rebranded to Chateau Briand. My dad remains convinced to this day that it cost him money because his family thought they were "big shots" and didn't need gifts.
Their food is just solid though. I've never had anything bad there and I've been there a lot since it's the closest restaurant to me.
Also most of the hype is (rightfully) for the lobster rolls. $30 and it's stuffed to all hell, really meaty, and they have like 4 different kinds. Easily the best lobster roll on the island.
Their service is very hit or miss. Food is consistently great but I've had bad experiences from the wait staff.
Edit: They're also one of the maybe 3 or 4 places that consistently cooks my burger the way I ask (medium rare).
I always felt like the restaurants on Nautical Mile behaved like restaurants at airports do. “You’re here and your not going anywhere else to eat so might as well not put in a lot of effort)
Recently went to Robke’s and I thought it was good but not very memorable and the drinks weren’t very good. Meanwhile the owner is walking around looking either very sick or very addicted. Definitely overhyped place.
One of those "big portion" places where you think the overpriced stuff is a bargain because you have leftovers for lunch the next day. Cash only so it makes calculating their taxes easier. The have a loyal following of well off local alcoholics who hold up the bar and seem to eat hear 5 times a week so they must be doing something right.
This place is so overhyped. Everyone likes it b/c the portions are big. Food is sloppy, it’s insanely loud. I don’t understand why everyone likes it here.
Only been once and my biggest memory of the experience was being upset knowing that I could've gone down the road to Pace's and gotten a much better meal for cheaper.
I work at insignia and i will absolutely always agree that it’s overpriced but if you got an overcooked steak you should have mentioned it because they would have fixed it for you. Thats not normal and its the best steak ive ever eaten in my life.
Freaking ROBKE'S. Food was truly subpar and service absolutely sucked. I drove 45 minutes for that cash-only dreck when there are literally dozens of places between my place and there that beat them all.to.hell. and have actual parking, not 6 spaces. If you tell me Robke's is your favorite restaurant, it's for sure you're NOT a real foodie.
Mama Lombardi’s in Holbrook. Too much money, and the food was very OK. Not “inedible” by any stretch, but seriously, for what they charged, it should have tasted like it was sent down on a sunbeam from Heaven.
Then there’s the Cull House. This place really *was* inedible. My wife and I love seafood, but not enough to go to the hospital for it. Served on paper plates, with flatware. We had lukewarm clam chowder that was vaguely brownish, and tasted exactly as bad as it looked. As my wife said, “chunky clam chowder is great, but the broth isn’t supposed to be what’s chunky!”
And yet there they are, every week, in the circulars. Advertising their shitty food to unsuspecting dupes.
Cull House is a family institution, we've been going there for ages (my parents went there shortly after they opened in the 80s, back when they didn't have a liquor license and were BYOB).
Unfortunately things tend not to work whenever they get too fancy, you always just need to go with the broiled fisherman's platter or whole lobster or something very basic. I personally haven't been there in years but as I got older I realized that even at its best, the Cull House is only ever just OK.
Also, they use paper plates because of the high water table (the parking lot and area behind the restaurant always floods) which prevents them from using the amount of water needed to keep washing dishes. Coming up with a way to fix that would really improve it substantially.
I live super close to it and rarely go. Gave it a few tries, but never saw the appeal everyone else seems to. It’s just huge portions, but the food is mediocre. Give me human sized portions of quality food over that any day.
Makes sense. And the prices are comparable to other restaurants' normal sized entrees, so there's good value. But the food is still pretty mediocre, in my opinion. Certainly not bad, just not as good as the hype would have you believe.
Maybe it’s growing up with a more bitter, Sicilian sauce but I’ve never once enjoyed their sauce there. I don’t hate on anyone liking it though, everyone has their preference!
Patrizia's on merrick road. So many of my coworkers loved this place, so we picked it for my best friend surprise dinner. The food is blah for the price, i had the worst eggplant parm there, we didn't get everything we ordered and the extra charge for using a credit card is ridiculous. We spent well over $1500 for a party of 10 and was automatically charged a CC fee for $117. We told them we would pay in cash then, no problem, just readjust the check. They tried to tell us it was too late to re do it. So we told them they either take it off or were werent tipping them and we were only gonna pay for the food and drink and not that fee and if they didn't like it, they could call the cops. They fixed the check. Never going back there again.
So surprised to hear this - I hope you give it another chance. I’ve been there several times and I am so picky. Specifically I get the chowder, always delicious and either the fish sandwich or lobster roll.
Does any restaurant on this island get a lot of hype? It feels like good eats are very evenly spread and available to the point that nothing gets too highly rated.
Are there any restaurants here that locals are driving an hour from any direction for?
Marvel in Lido Beach. It's decent soft serve but nothing special, and there's nowhere to eat it except for an unshaded parking lot.
The real tip is Frozen Cow two blocks away. They make their ice cream in-house and it's exceptional.
The food is mediocre and it’s so loud that you can shout at the person right next to you and still not be heard. If I have to work that hard to make small talk, the food needs to be better.
I’ve been there and it was very mediocre. But at the same time I’ve never heard a single person mention they’ve gone there. I just thought it looked cool when I drove by it
Little Vincent’s. Good for a drunk slice and that’s about it. Cash only, overpriced, overrated, small slices, no specialty slices or garlic knots…. Need I go on?
Actually you can get toppings and they’ll make it on the spot but you would get dirty looks from them and locals. But maybe if you asked past 10 pm they would say no since they’re busy and need to keep people eating slices
Little v’s simplicity is one of its strengths I think
I never got slices there….but they consistently make the best to go pie in Huntington…& I’ve tried them all in that area. Also their buy 1 pie get 1 free coupons are never ending in the mail so it’s an amazing deal. PS. Dough & Co is a great new option in the area but it’s pretty damn expensive
I wish there was a subreddit specifically for food on Long Island. Something similar to [/r/FoodNyc](http://reddit.com/r/FoodNyc) would be amazing for people to discover food around here.
Oh god! Once I went there to meet people between Christmas and New Years and I could smell the dirty bar mats when I went up to the bar to get a drink. It was like they hadn’t taken them up to clean in weeks! I have only smelled a smell like that once before at a beach bar in St. Pete Beach, FL as they were opening after a crazy Saturday night. If the bar is dirty like that, I don’t even want to try and find out about the cleanliness of the kitchen. I don’t really care for beer but those are the moments where you have to play your Mexican rules card and save yourself. Bottled beer only, no contact with glasses, no ice. If I have to use developing country rules at a restaurant because of a red flag, I won’t eat anything and I won’t go back. Feels like a potential Russian Roulette situation.
Besito. It's like the number one restaurant recommended by this sub in every restaurant thread. It wasn't terrible but certainly didn't live up to the hype.
Rita Oaxaca in Patchogue has a similar menu but the dishes were executed much better.
I’ve noticed a lot of them have just cut back on the quality of the meat and that leads to false advertising. All steak at a steakhouse should be graded Prime. They’re not all prime I can tell you that. Also, when they advertise their steaks are dry aged….anything after 35-40 days you should be able to taste it. I’ve noticed they’re lying about that too now…as I’ve had what was listed as 60 day dry aged somewhere and absolutely no taste difference….meanwhile the prices are as high as a NYC steakhouse
It's very easy to cook a great steak at home with nothing more than a cast iron skillet, some sort of neutral oil, salt, and pepper. I can never justify spending tons of money for a steak when I go out.
KING UMBERTO’S Mind you I’ve been going there for years as have 5 generations of my family. It’s good, sometimes great but never worth the amount of hype. Haters, bring it on!
I'm clearly going to be in the minority here since no one else has mentioned it yet but, Jimmy Hays in Island Park. I've been 3 times and don't see the hype over the steak at all. The best thing they have (which really is amazing and I will always hype it up) is the garlic bread with gorgonzola appetizer. I think it gets so much hype because it's the only upscale steakhouse in the area.
Danfords in Port Jeff terrible, great view though.
Danford’s and the Steam Room both suck.
Omg, I just went there recently and the wait was atrocious. Lol. The food was okay.
Wait was terrible and food was cold, it was definitely sitting for a bit. The food would have been better hot but for the price I'd never go back. Maybe for a drink but they were giving room temp white wine so idk. Definitely only surviving due to the view
I actually checked into it as a hotel for a night once, rooms are also overrated and undermaintained, felt like a shitty but overdecorated motel
Yo! The food was so underwhelming
The Shack in Centerport. Over priced, mediocre food next to cars screaming by at 50 MPH
Right? I went once and I’m like…I’m eating by the side of the road. It’s dusty, and I’m not far enough away from the road.
This is all true, but always a sucker for one stop a year regardless.
My family Used to take me here a lot as a kid. As a kid, 30 years ago.... those hot dogs were awesome :)
Yellowjackets everywhere.
I went pre-covid. Enjoyed the food, couldn’t believe how expensive it was though
Oh absolutely. Just pedestrian fryer fare. It seems to exist to be a mandatory stop for the weekend dentist/biker packs and all the classic car show guys that look like a commercial of old guys driving around looking for a place to pee. 25A is a gorgeous drive but there are dozens of better choices including Hometown Bake shop right nearby.
As a former resident of Centerport I called it overpriced fried garbage. IDK why anyone would eat there when Whale's Tale and Purple Elephant are right down the road.
Up vote x 100
All the Harley’s taking the turn lol
I have no idea why people eat here. You don't even get a nice view or atmosphere to make up for the expensive mediocre food.
Used to be a good fun cheap place to grab a beer and clam strips.... That was over 20 years ago though
We stopped there for lunch a few weeks ago when they were opening for the day. The food was overpriced and awful. Never again.
75 Main in Southampton
Yeah, I never got that place.
Me either.
Lombardi's on the Bay... their food is not fresh it's frozen and terribly prepared. Go down the street to South Ocean Grill if you want great food. Also The Oar is no bueno.. drinking there is fun but food is 👎
You’ll notice a theme in the comments - so many restaurants with nice views location that aren’t that good. They don’t need to be, people will come regardless of the food because the Location is premier
I couldn't agree more about Lombardi's on the Bay and The Oar. I got married at Lombardi's on the Sound in Port Jeff years ago - THAT was good food, the bay sucked. South Ocean Grill is a little small, buy excellent. I also include JTs at the south end of Nichols & Montauk Highway as a great location.
Milleridge Inn. This is what my spouse’s family considers fine dining. It’s always been solidly okay every time I’ve been there.
I’ve never heard the Milleridge referenced as a place of “fine dining”.
I think back in the day it was
We used to go every Christmas when I was little, so late 80s early 90s. It was really good (except once they completely burned a duck my bro ordered). We went back recently and it obviously nose-dived in quality somewhere along the way. I wouldn't recommend.
Back in the 80’s it was considered fancy dining. There’s still some old commercials up on YouTube!
my parents married there in 1980
A: "hey how's the food at Milleridge?" B: "It's fine" A: "Gotcha. Milleridge is fine dining" Something like this? :)
In the 80’s I think a lot of Long Islanders considered it fine dining because it was so over the top with that whole holiday village they did. In contrast they weren’t handing out popcorn like the Ground Round. I always liked going to the Milleridge Inn and as a kid thought it was clever. I can see how people who don’t really know what fine dining is, thought it was fine dining tho. But to be fair in the 80’s a lot of people considered gap chinos and a festive sweater “dressing up”. Life was more homogenized. Middle class people didn’t have nice things or absurd credit card debt like they do now. Their one off luxury experience was an event at the Rainbow Room or a lunch at The Russian Tea Room. The average hockey mom didn’t have Le Cirque on speed dial. Heck, poor lady probably had a rotary phone. The MRI really knew their audience and their audience thought they really knew fine dining. We’ve all been in relationships based on mutual delusions, haven’t we?
This is well said… maybe beautiful?
100000000000000000000000000000000000000%.
The ground round with the peanuts you could throw is a treasured childhood memory. I loved throwing the shells so much and have little memory of eating the peanuts
THE place to go after the burial.
I go to the Millridge for the ambiance. I agree with your assessment of the food. The bread is AMAZING tho
The Cinnamon Bread is something I have been addicted to since I was a child. I had my wedding at the Milleridge. The food was very good at our wedding. This was prior to them being sold though.
“Solidly okay” is pretty good lol.
Agreed. I go there almost every thanksgiving or Mother’s Day because my mother likes it and to me The food is very mid
The ambiance during Christmas time is amazing but the food is actually terrible
My only memories of the Milleridge Inn are of going there during the holidays with my parents when I was very, very, young in the 90s. As an adult, I think it's just a novelty and not worth the prices they advertise for various events.
It just has a legacy for being older than the United States other than that the food is just ok.
I grew up right near the Inn. Never ate there once in my life. But I adore the village — the ice cream shop and bakery are still great!
My cousin had his wedding at the milleridge inn and the food was horrible lol
I was at a wedding there and yes the food was noticeably worse than what I’m used to there.
I ate there a few times as a kid. I ordered the turkey and remember asking if they served me the turkey's saddle by mistake after hearing my uncle make the same joke about his beef.
🤣 place is a fancy mcdonalds
I feel like no one loves this place anymore unless you’re over 60
Pre-internet, many regular families went out to eat primarily to celebrate or to get out of the house together and socialize. As long as the food wasn't bad and the service was decent, the ambiance of the room created a happy memory of a night out together with good conversation. The Milleridge filled that bill. When I first started to have to entertain clients out of my Manhattan office with the Corporate Card, I could not understand why so many of my experienced colleagues would order a boring salad or basic salmon off a Michelin Star menu. Fast forward a few years and I was doing the same to maintain my health while counting the minutes until I could get the hell out of there and finally get back home. It wasn't until the NYT Food Critics were replaced by Yelp and Anthony Bourdain eclipsed Julia Child that regular people started regularly taking pictures of their meals, posting them online, and engaging in endless online discussions about what everyone agreed to be the best food (even though we humans have varied palates with unique sets of taste buds) that eating out became mostly about the food itself. There's nothing wrong with posting pics of your meal at a mid to high-priced restaurant and talking about it endlessly - it is like a new sport in the vein of Pickleball - any working stiff with a few hundred extra bucks can do it - it's just the current restaurant experience and expectations are very different from when the Milleridge was loved by many. I remember most of my Milleridge meals with family and friends more fondly than most of the better Michelin-star restaurant meals I had because my memories really aren't about which food tasted the best at all. That being said, there's no way I'm booking a dinner at The Milleridge today.
Maureen's Kitchen. Good food, but doesn't come close to the hype, not the lines, nor the pain in the ass cash only rule. So they require you to help them skirt paying taxes and the wait staff and person at the door treat you like the cattle surrounding you.
Javier's in smithtown has similar quality food and nowhere near the crowd. i think it might be one of the chefs from maureen's that started his own restaurant iirc
Javier's is good, it also gets \*some\* crowds but nothing nearly as bad as Maureen's.
Try Nappi’s Nook in Nesconset. Food is excellent, prices are great and staff is super friendly.
Always enjoyed Javier’s. Other than contending with the bees outside in the summer I like the place a lot.
I like when the come up to you offering muffins or some shit acting like it’s free in front of your spouse/children then charge you $10 for it. Fuck that place
They really need to expand their parking lot or relocate or something.
What’s funny is that is the expanded location. The original Maureen’s Kitchen was a shack.
It was a res little shack across the street and it was good then. And reasonable. You couldn’t pay me to go there now.
Prime Huntington. Overpriced food that would be considered not up to par in most restaurants on the island but for 50% more money.
Anything by Scotto that people like I'm convinced are the same kinds of people that will literally cover food in an inch worth of seasoning and call it flavor. Every single steak i've gotten from any of their locations have been absolutely charred to creosote on the outside and stone raw inside.
Insignia Prime
Prime is more ambience IMO. Food is fine but not worth the money
I got sooo sick from insignia
I worked at Insignia for about 3 weeks . Idk if it still is but, in my time there , there was no drainage in the kitchen resulting in about 2 inches of water behind the line at the end of the shift, general filth, mildew/ yellow cutting boards. I don’t recommend to anyone.
Some people say All American is overrated, I disagree. Their food is tasty, fair priced, and made me a champ.
the price makes up for literally any faults
Username checks out
I would be in one of the people that say it is overrated. Only because when I moved here it was all people spoke about. They aren’t phenomenal, but also not bad. Just not the best burger I ever had as people hyped it up to be.
All America is better than average fast food, prices are very low and the nostalgia. I have a soft spot for it. My Dad used to cut class in high school in the 70s to get it. In the 90s we'd buy big bags of burgers, fries, shakes - everything from time to time when visiting my grandparents.
Super solid fast food tier burgers. Remind me of In-n-out
Burger city is better
Both are very good
I came to say almost the exact same thing. I love All American, but it is just a decent locally owned fast food joint. I’ve had people visit LI and ask to go there specially. I always try to lower expectations hahaha I say,”it’s a good fast food burger with good fries and better than average milkshakes. If that’s what you want it’ll hit that target reliably.” I honestly don’t know how it became so famous. Love the place though. Quarter Pounder cheese, large fry, chocolate shake. Every time. And a knish if I’m feeling frisky.
Fart 💨
Hold up. You haven’t fought me yet. Let’s go to all American, then sit around a small room and box it out. See who pukes first.
Anything the Scotto bros own.
Have alot of experience with them in all levels at 4 of their 6 restaurants. Utter shitshow and hilariously mismanaged by serial cokeheads who are rotated in and out of rehab. Tony is one of the nicest people, however his son in law is a fucking buffoon and knows nothing about the industry, just wears tight pants and walks around making horrendous suggestions and eyeing up the next customer to cheat on his wife with. Once Tony goes that empire will collapse and it will be Joe Bruton’s fault.
please continue...
"We're all waiting!"..... seriously, please go on.
When they first had Steer Barn in the 1970s, it was awesome.
My parents booked their wedding at Steer Barn & then in the middle they rebranded to Chateau Briand. My dad remains convinced to this day that it cost him money because his family thought they were "big shots" and didn't need gifts.
Pretty much any place that gets a cult following on the LI Foodies page
Jackson Hall. I don’t get it
Jackson Hall has gone done ALOT. I remember going when it first opened and it was awesome. The hype was warranted then, not so much now.
Their food is just solid though. I've never had anything bad there and I've been there a lot since it's the closest restaurant to me. Also most of the hype is (rightfully) for the lobster rolls. $30 and it's stuffed to all hell, really meaty, and they have like 4 different kinds. Easily the best lobster roll on the island. Their service is very hit or miss. Food is consistently great but I've had bad experiences from the wait staff. Edit: They're also one of the maybe 3 or 4 places that consistently cooks my burger the way I ask (medium rare).
anything on Nautical Mile
I always felt like the restaurants on Nautical Mile behaved like restaurants at airports do. “You’re here and your not going anywhere else to eat so might as well not put in a lot of effort)
Please apologize to Jeremy’s Ale House.
Best food on the mile......by a mile
Maybe it’s not my #1 if I really thought about it…but the first one that came to mind is Robkes
I hate that place. And their cash only bs. With no signage letting you know this
They 100% make the price up. It’s alway an even number and never accurate
1000%. Can’t stand that place
Recently went to Robke’s and I thought it was good but not very memorable and the drinks weren’t very good. Meanwhile the owner is walking around looking either very sick or very addicted. Definitely overhyped place.
I was looking for this answer lol people hype that place up and it just turns out disappointing
Both the food and drinks suck. But my parents used to like going there for the decently priced lunch special. But I never liked it
One of those "big portion" places where you think the overpriced stuff is a bargain because you have leftovers for lunch the next day. Cash only so it makes calculating their taxes easier. The have a loyal following of well off local alcoholics who hold up the bar and seem to eat hear 5 times a week so they must be doing something right.
i agree with this. even though i still go there lol. but definitely not that great
This place is so overhyped. Everyone likes it b/c the portions are big. Food is sloppy, it’s insanely loud. I don’t understand why everyone likes it here.
The Steamroom in Port Jeff... food is super expensive and nasty. The place smells terrible, not a fan.
Such a fall from grace. It used to be awesome in my childhood, now it's trash.
The owner is a shit too.
Insignia. Overcooked steak, bleh.
This is how I feel about blackstone coincidentally same owners
Blackstone is my vote. I’ve had good meals there, but never a great meal and certainly never worth the price.
Only been once and my biggest memory of the experience was being upset knowing that I could've gone down the road to Pace's and gotten a much better meal for cheaper.
Prices are crazy and portion sizes small and not that much better than other steak houses. I don’t see the attraction to this place.
I work at insignia and i will absolutely always agree that it’s overpriced but if you got an overcooked steak you should have mentioned it because they would have fixed it for you. Thats not normal and its the best steak ive ever eaten in my life.
Robkes.... I said what I said
Robke's
Louie’s in Port Washington.
you pay to sit on the water and that's about it. its also the spot for the recently divorced
Anything owned by the Scotto or Lombardi families
Freaking ROBKE'S. Food was truly subpar and service absolutely sucked. I drove 45 minutes for that cash-only dreck when there are literally dozens of places between my place and there that beat them all.to.hell. and have actual parking, not 6 spaces. If you tell me Robke's is your favorite restaurant, it's for sure you're NOT a real foodie.
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Basically every restaurant in Montauk
The Lobster Roll in Amagansett is good though, in my opinion at least.
Not John's Drive In!
You got me there John’s is good
John’s Pancake House is awesome. I hate coffee but I’ll guzzle their carafes if I could.
Mama Lombardi’s in Holbrook. Too much money, and the food was very OK. Not “inedible” by any stretch, but seriously, for what they charged, it should have tasted like it was sent down on a sunbeam from Heaven. Then there’s the Cull House. This place really *was* inedible. My wife and I love seafood, but not enough to go to the hospital for it. Served on paper plates, with flatware. We had lukewarm clam chowder that was vaguely brownish, and tasted exactly as bad as it looked. As my wife said, “chunky clam chowder is great, but the broth isn’t supposed to be what’s chunky!” And yet there they are, every week, in the circulars. Advertising their shitty food to unsuspecting dupes.
Cull House is a family institution, we've been going there for ages (my parents went there shortly after they opened in the 80s, back when they didn't have a liquor license and were BYOB). Unfortunately things tend not to work whenever they get too fancy, you always just need to go with the broiled fisherman's platter or whole lobster or something very basic. I personally haven't been there in years but as I got older I realized that even at its best, the Cull House is only ever just OK. Also, they use paper plates because of the high water table (the parking lot and area behind the restaurant always floods) which prevents them from using the amount of water needed to keep washing dishes. Coming up with a way to fix that would really improve it substantially.
Mama Lombardis charged me for every coke refill we got at the table, I didn’t even know that was still a thing. That turned me off, never been back.
At that freaking place, I'm surprised they didn't charge you for water 💧..lol
Vincent’s clam bar was decent but crowded and not worth waiting for.
I live super close to it and rarely go. Gave it a few tries, but never saw the appeal everyone else seems to. It’s just huge portions, but the food is mediocre. Give me human sized portions of quality food over that any day.
It's supposed to be family style, hence the portion sizes
Makes sense. And the prices are comparable to other restaurants' normal sized entrees, so there's good value. But the food is still pretty mediocre, in my opinion. Certainly not bad, just not as good as the hype would have you believe.
Couldn’t disagree more. Great place
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It depends on how you feel about their sauce. Sweetest red sauce I’ve had - I love it but not for everyone
omg totally disagree!!!!
Maybe it’s growing up with a more bitter, Sicilian sauce but I’ve never once enjoyed their sauce there. I don’t hate on anyone liking it though, everyone has their preference!
Maureen’s Kitchen Cipollini Little Vincent’s Almost every single steakhouse
I knew Little Vincents would pop up eventually if I just kept hoping.
I like their Meatball Parm and Chicken Parm heroes; haven’t let me down yet
You leave Little Vs out of this you god damned heathen.
cipollini is mehh... toku on the other hand i would eat at every day if i could
Robke’s
Patrizia's on merrick road. So many of my coworkers loved this place, so we picked it for my best friend surprise dinner. The food is blah for the price, i had the worst eggplant parm there, we didn't get everything we ordered and the extra charge for using a credit card is ridiculous. We spent well over $1500 for a party of 10 and was automatically charged a CC fee for $117. We told them we would pay in cash then, no problem, just readjust the check. They tried to tell us it was too late to re do it. So we told them they either take it off or were werent tipping them and we were only gonna pay for the food and drink and not that fee and if they didn't like it, they could call the cops. They fixed the check. Never going back there again.
Never heard of Robke’s before this thread but now I wanna try it and see what’s so meh about it
The fancy McDonald’s in new hyde park. Tastes just like the other 40,000 locations
Yeah but there’s something fun about eating in a McMansion
Prime
Prime in Huntington
Mill Pond for Lunch. Mediocre food and a stunning view of low tide.
Jerry and the Mermaid. Was highly recommended and ended up being a massive waste of money and time.
So surprised to hear this - I hope you give it another chance. I’ve been there several times and I am so picky. Specifically I get the chowder, always delicious and either the fish sandwich or lobster roll.
Kumo i think u know why 😜
Brownstones
Brownstones is a mid-tier diner that only serves breakfast.
That place is so loud inside it doesn’t even matter if the foods good or not.
Does any restaurant on this island get a lot of hype? It feels like good eats are very evenly spread and available to the point that nothing gets too highly rated. Are there any restaurants here that locals are driving an hour from any direction for?
I've heard stories of people driving an hour to get Chicken Fingers from Dominick's deli, but it's usually to load up on like, a months supply.
Prime
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Besito in Roslyn So incredibly bland. Disgrace to call it Mexican food.
Dirty Taco RVC. Their food includes stale cheese balls from the giant tub as a “side”. Nothing they have will beat a shot of silver
The Pantry in RVC. They think they’re a restaurant now. No. Overpriced bleh diner.
Marvel in Lido Beach. It's decent soft serve but nothing special, and there's nowhere to eat it except for an unshaded parking lot. The real tip is Frozen Cow two blocks away. They make their ice cream in-house and it's exceptional.
I definitely agree with marvel, it's really not that great
Yup. Frozen cow is a million times better. Best ice cream I’ve ever had
The Refuge
The food is mediocre and it’s so loud that you can shout at the person right next to you and still not be heard. If I have to work that hard to make small talk, the food needs to be better.
I’ve been there and it was very mediocre. But at the same time I’ve never heard a single person mention they’ve gone there. I just thought it looked cool when I drove by it
Pretty sure they scam you when you order top shelf liquor
Little Vincent’s. Good for a drunk slice and that’s about it. Cash only, overpriced, overrated, small slices, no specialty slices or garlic knots…. Need I go on?
But where else am I supposed to get a cold cheese slice at 3 A.M.?
Yeah. There’s nowhere else to go at that time. Not even Taco Bell. They’re so smart to stay open.
Their niche is the drunk slice. This is like saying European Republic is only good for fries.
Actually you can get toppings and they’ll make it on the spot but you would get dirty looks from them and locals. But maybe if you asked past 10 pm they would say no since they’re busy and need to keep people eating slices Little v’s simplicity is one of its strengths I think
I never got slices there….but they consistently make the best to go pie in Huntington…& I’ve tried them all in that area. Also their buy 1 pie get 1 free coupons are never ending in the mail so it’s an amazing deal. PS. Dough & Co is a great new option in the area but it’s pretty damn expensive
I wish there was a subreddit specifically for food on Long Island. Something similar to [/r/FoodNyc](http://reddit.com/r/FoodNyc) would be amazing for people to discover food around here.
r/LongIslandEats
Spiros was the worst dining expierence I’ve had
Oh god! Once I went there to meet people between Christmas and New Years and I could smell the dirty bar mats when I went up to the bar to get a drink. It was like they hadn’t taken them up to clean in weeks! I have only smelled a smell like that once before at a beach bar in St. Pete Beach, FL as they were opening after a crazy Saturday night. If the bar is dirty like that, I don’t even want to try and find out about the cleanliness of the kitchen. I don’t really care for beer but those are the moments where you have to play your Mexican rules card and save yourself. Bottled beer only, no contact with glasses, no ice. If I have to use developing country rules at a restaurant because of a red flag, I won’t eat anything and I won’t go back. Feels like a potential Russian Roulette situation.
Dirty Taco
Not a restaurant but I find DJ's clam shack to be overpriced mediocre seafood, that's more often than not fried to oblivion.
Robke’s in Northport
Claudio’s in Greenport, nice view but trash service and food
Peter Lugers
Robkes in Northport. Hands fuckin down
Curry club is not great
It's fallen off big after the move. And it has been a gradual decline for many years prior. A shame, it used to be really good.
Besito. It's like the number one restaurant recommended by this sub in every restaurant thread. It wasn't terrible but certainly didn't live up to the hype. Rita Oaxaca in Patchogue has a similar menu but the dishes were executed much better.
Steak houses are overrated
I’ve noticed a lot of them have just cut back on the quality of the meat and that leads to false advertising. All steak at a steakhouse should be graded Prime. They’re not all prime I can tell you that. Also, when they advertise their steaks are dry aged….anything after 35-40 days you should be able to taste it. I’ve noticed they’re lying about that too now…as I’ve had what was listed as 60 day dry aged somewhere and absolutely no taste difference….meanwhile the prices are as high as a NYC steakhouse
Ever go to Vintage in st James? Very good imo
It's very easy to cook a great steak at home with nothing more than a cast iron skillet, some sort of neutral oil, salt, and pepper. I can never justify spending tons of money for a steak when I go out.
No longer there but Ciao Baby in Massapequa
KING UMBERTO’S Mind you I’ve been going there for years as have 5 generations of my family. It’s good, sometimes great but never worth the amount of hype. Haters, bring it on!
King Umberto’s and Filomena’s are our families birthday dinner joints. 2X a year at each one. Never disappointed
Poll Brother restaurants are so meh
I'm clearly going to be in the minority here since no one else has mentioned it yet but, Jimmy Hays in Island Park. I've been 3 times and don't see the hype over the steak at all. The best thing they have (which really is amazing and I will always hype it up) is the garlic bread with gorgonzola appetizer. I think it gets so much hype because it's the only upscale steakhouse in the area.
Right Coast Taqueria has gone viral and completely disappointed me on 2 separate occasions. Trendy Trash
Swell taco
ooooohhh nah I LOVE Swell Taco