The Surf Lodge — Hotel in Town of East Hampton

My friends and I had a beyond terrible experience at Surf Lodge on June 2, 2018. Here is what transpired:

We arrived for our 11:45 a.m. brunch reservation 10 minutes early only to find that Surf Lodge provides NO parking. This was never communicated to us prior. The lot was completely empty but despite our reservation (made months in advance) and that we were about to spend hundreds of dollars at their establishment, their response was to drive 10 minutes down the road and park at the train station. We ended up parking back at our hotel and taking a cab which cost $70 (there and back) to go 5-10 minutes down the street.

We were sat at a table outside on the deck off the to left in the blazing hot sun. No umbrella available. Meanwhile there was a perfectly good table that would have accommodated our party size under the deck's sun covering/ canopy. Why we weren't sat there to begin with... I have NO idea.

There were little green flying bugs EVERYWHERE. I understand that this is nature and that Surf Lodge has no control over this but it just made the entire experience 10x worse. They were in our food, drinks, hair, bug guts smeared on appetizer plates. It was just disgusting. We had one candle on the long table for our party of 8 which I am assuming was to help keep them away but the candle was even full of them and the bugs were baked into it. It was just disgusting to say the least.

The appetizers never came and showed up after the entrees. The food was mediocre at best and to top it off when we finally received the two hummus appetizers we ordered the hummus was FIZZING in our mouths! It was SPOILED, gone bad, made me gag, hummus.

Many of us ordered cocktails and they told us that they did not have straws. After the bugs and everything else, none of us wanted to put our mouths on their glasses. They said it wasn't environmentally friendly. The kicker? My friend ordered a coffee and there are TWO small plastic straws in her drink. If they were to act as stirrers, stirrers do not have holes down the middle and these did. They would have been great to sip my cocktail with since i had to have a napkin covering my drink to keep the bugs out.

After all of this we politely voiced our frustrations to the manager (a tall woman with blonde hair). She was very nice and expressed she wanted to make things right. So, we moved our party inside and she offered to give us a pitcher of the "I've Been Drinking Watermelon" cocktail as well as two new appetizers on the house. This was all wonderful until we poured the cocktail. There were bugs in the pitcher and it was a MOCKTAIL. There was no alcohol in the drink at all. It was simply watermelon, basil juice. At this point we all just got up and left.

Honestly, my experience at Surf Lodge was beyond disappointing. I actually still can't believe there is no where for anyone to park. What if someone has a handicapped person in their party? Bugs, bad service, spoiled food. My friends and I will NOT be giving Surf Lodge our business on any future trips.

TIP East by Northeast was an AMAZING restaurant/ establishment. I highly recommend it. I am still dreaming about how good the food and...

I rarely write negative reviews, but my recent visit to The Surf Lodge was such a mixed experience that I feel compelled to share.

We started in the outdoor sand area, and I have to say—the service here was fantastic. Being a vegetarian, I was impressed by how good the food was. We ordered a burrata salad, sides of asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and French fries, and everything was fresh, well-prepared, and served incredibly quickly. The dessert was outstanding—a perfect way to wrap up the meal.

The drinks were also exceptional. The cocktails were beautifully crafted; we had two rounds of tequila-based cocktails and then switched to Casa Dragones tequila, which was served perfectly. Up to this point, the experience was exactly what you would hope for in Montauk—great setting, excellent food, and quality drinks.

Unfortunately, things changed drastically when we moved inside to the bar. There were three male bartenders and one female bartender working, but despite my polite requests, the male bartenders never acknowledged or served me. I stood there waiting while they served others, and it felt like I was being deliberately ignored. The experience left me feeling uncomfortable and disrespected—to the point where it came across as racially biased.

Adding to this, my friend faced a serious billing issue. His first drink was charged at $31, which, while expensive, was not unexpected. But his second drink was inexplicably billed at $59. When we questioned the difference, the bartender simply said, “That’s just the way it is. If you have an issue, you can talk to the manager.” This dismissive and unprofessional response is unacceptable—especially at a place of this reputation and price point.

In summary: • Outdoor experience – Excellent food, prompt service, amazing cocktails. • Indoor bar experience – Unprofessional service, discriminatory behavior, and questionable billing practices.

The contrast between the two was shocking. Montauk thrives on tourism and reputation, but disrespect, unethical billing, and discriminatory service at the bar ruin what could have been a perfect evening. Unless there are significant changes to staff training and accountability, I cannot recommend The Surf Lodge despite its beautiful setting and great kitchen.

It’s sad because the outdoor service deserves five stars, but the unprofessional, unethical behavior of the bar staff drags the whole place down. The actions of a few bartenders are giving this venue bad reviews—and they’re the reason I will...

I really really wanted to love this place. But overall, there were too many factors that made it impossible to speak highly of it. Firstly, getting in touch with someone by phone or email is virtually impossible. I needed to change the credit card on the reservation over and after honestly about 30 phone calls and 5 emails and 1 month later this finally happened. We had to threaten taking action in order for this to happen. Secondly, we were staying two nights and had 3 rooms and some of our party didn't show up so I tried to cancel the 3rd room and being reasonable, I asked what a cancellation fee would be, apparently if you want any money back you need to forsee all unavoidable circumstances at least 14 days prior to check in. Ridiculous if you ask me. Thirdly, we were excited to see all that the surf lodge offered to their guests - the outdoor bar, the deck chairs, the concerts, the Sunday brunch (forgot to mention earlier that we were a Bachelorette party of 9 ladies). We came back from dinner on Friday night to see the entire parking lot filled with barriers up preventing cars from coming in due to a wedding taking place. Did we receive any advanced notice of this? No we didn't. Did we know the bar would be closed? No we didn't. So we continued the night in our hotel room. Same thing happened the following night - we found out there was yet another wedding on and everything was closed and off limits to us guests. Did we get any considerate notice in advance? No we didn't.

Overall - I'm so disappointed. This hotel does not care about their guests and we paid a lot of money for 3 rooms for 2 nights and the return on investment was so nothing. Honestly, if I could do my time over, I would have booked with ANY other hotel in Montauk. If this is a special weekend that you're considering booking here - don't, it'll quickly...