Milleridge Cottage — Attraction in Town of Oyster Bay

Went here for the Brunch with Santa event. I vowed to never come here again previously because of a previous negative experience - felt the food was terrible and the prices were a rip off.

Well, my wife was adamant that we come for the kids to see Santa, so I lost out. Pulling in to the parking lot, the lot was pretty full since they had a Santa Village event ongoing. Luckily, there was plenty of space. When we went in, the line was nearly out the door. There seemed to be plenty of tables though, so I'm not sure what the hold up was. On a separate note, and totally NOT the restaurant's fault, another group who arrived after us decided to cut the line. My wife didn't say anything because she assume they were joining another party, but that was not the case. Really hate when entitled people do whatever they want as if they're more important than other people. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but it was the holidays. Anyway, I digress..

Keep in mind, I came here with a pretty negative attitude based on my prior experience. The venue is decent, but I expected a low budget Santa (maybe some drunk homeless dude wearing a plastic Halloween mask or something like that). I also knew the food was going to be awful. But Santa actually looked decent, so I was pleasantly surprised.

At the table, we were seated by the window. The server was nice enough - wasn't white glove service, but I wasn't (and you shouldn't either) expecting that. We had a good view of the peacocks on the terrace walking by, which was a treat for the kids.

The food, as I remembered, was horrible. Scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, waffles, chicken fingers, home fries, and normal fries. Some pastries and muffins. And cereal. Don't expect a carving station, even despite the exorbitant prices. Not even an omelet station. But I knew this going in, and we weren't here for the food - just the experience.

When we finished, there was an area for Santa, balloons, and face painting. We got lucky and when we went to bring the kids to see Santa, the line was quite short. I think most of the kids were more interested in the balloons and face painting anyway.

So while the food was terrible, the venue wasn't too disappointing. I would still say it's overpriced, but I guess that's how things...

I attended there for a multi Hicksville High reunion and there were 400 people attending, but as result of 3 large rooms it was comfortable, but not crowded, only full. Free portrait pics were offered for groups, and individuals and ordourves were passed around, that were delicious. 🙂 A buffet dinner was served a little late, by my standards but also delicious. Most everyone was friendly and polite, as well as the staff. It is a happy memory I will remember...

The food, people, and venue were great. The only problem was with the size/quantity of the buffet tables. With about 300 people (or so I heard) there were only 2 tables. The lines to the buffet stretched out of the buffet room across the dance floor in the next room. Maybe make 4 tables with half the selections on each table, breaking the lines...