Sara J's — Restaurant in Garden City

Update 2: Owner is still spending time arguing over Google instead of improving the restaurant. Type of owner you see on Kitchen Nightmares. I'm not the only one that has had criticism of the food, and of course owner argues with them. Still humorous that they defend serving frozen food while claiming it's fresh.

Update: WOW! TRIGGER WARNING! PLEASE READ RECENT REVIEWS. OWNER SPENDS MORE TIME MAKING EXCUSES INSTEAD OF IMPROVING FOOD QUALITY. Owner apparently doesn't want criticism nor know what properly cooked rare steak looks like. I did discuss the issues with the server and she took half off while we were there. I appreciate you responding, but wish it was an apology for the experience instead of blaming the customer. I am not the one putting fresh all over the menu. Multiple places on your menu you use the word fresh. Perhaps change it to freshly thawed or frozen while fresh. Your own opening statement on your website says you enjoy serving fresh quality seafood, yet you take to Google to debate the use of frozen seafood. I was simply stating it tasted frozen and rubbery. I did notice a trash can on my way out. Probably a good place for your excuses about the quality of your food. Makes one wonder if the young wait staff is also responding to online reviews. I hope so considering bashing those that pay for the subpar food isn't a good look. Wish that fire that obviously was lit by my review was also there for your food and the dining experience you charge people for. No problem about the shirt. Kind of embarrassed to think I wasted $100 at your restaurant. Best of luck and I do hope you can take a step back and truly reflect on those that have taken the time to describe their experience... good and bad to improve going forward.

We were really disappointed in Sara J's. We've had great experiences here before, but this time seemed like going through the motions. Wouldn't mind it except the prices are quite high considering the product. Seafood is frozen despite being next to the coast. Steak wasn't cooked the way ordered, and wasn't that flavorful considering the price. Oysters were good, but had butter bacon and spinach on them. Shrimp was frozen and rubbery. Maybe fried would be better at hiding the frozen taste. We were told all restaurants use frozen shrimp, but managed to find fresh shrimp at the local grocery stores. Sara J's appears to be taking short cuts to save money, but hasn't reduced prices to reflect the cut in quality. Save yourself time and money and grab a t-shirt from here and find somewhere...

Nice place, nice view. Food was okay but below the quality one would expect of the higher than expected pricing of the menu. By higher I mean when compared to other popular, water view restaurants, such as Damon's and Conch Cafe.

Update: I removed some of my adjectives and made corrections re capacity, per the owner's information. I really don't like to leave negative reviews. Interestingly, there were a couple similar reviews around the same time that we patronized this restaurant. I wish for every small business in the area to succeed. During these COVID times, my family has not gone to restaurants as we used to, perhaps COVID stress affected the cooking and explains why our expectations were not met, during what we hope would be a special get-together. On the other hand, the fact that an easy side dish, like green beans, appears to be canned product, is evidence of shortcuts and cost cuts being taken.

RESPONSE FROM OWNER: Thanks for all the constructive criticism Cam Cam the food critic. The restaurant is half full because that is the law. Because of covid-19 we are only permitted 50 percent occupancy. The fact that you don't know that and think we have upscale pricing leads me to believe you have been living under a rock.

REST of my original review, lightened up: We were not impressed with the crab cake, which had a lot of cracker or bread crumbs in it, no visible crab chunks, and was burnt with no apologies. The fried calamari was also burnt slightly. But, my biggest suggestion to this restaurant is please do something about the green beans. Half of our table ordered them as the 'veggie of the day' and they were so salty and overcooked that nobody ate them after that first bean. They tasted like generic canned green beans.

Of all the entrees, we recommend the grilled salmon. The grouper was okay but slightly overcooked. Hubby's lobster tails were good. The treat of the evening were the hush puppies. They were very very tasty.

I have heard great things about this restaurant but was disappointed this visit. The restaurant was half full, probably due to COVID per the owner's response. It did mean that we got seated immediately and had fast service. My suggestion is that they work on their cooking and invest in fresh food products, like...

Normally one of my favorite places to eat on vacation. We went there tonight October 1. Was told it was customerappreciation menu. It was hand written on a sheet of paper. There was hardly any sea food on the menu. Just some baskets. No vegetables for their sides. An older man beside of us got up and left after questioning the menu. I really regret not making the same decision. Me and my girlfriend normally spend around 60-65 there. And I take home at least 2 box’s of leftovers. Tonight we spent 45. And left not only disappointed but hungry as well. We only ate about 1/3 of the meal. And tossed the rest. I asked our waitress if any of her customers were happy about the menu change. Her response was none yet. If this would’ve been our first impression of eating there. It would be our last. My entire group has been making sarcastic customer appreciation jokes since we left. Part 2 # Response to the owner’s comment. Not one person came in our party looking for chicken parm. I get the same thing every time when I come . Sarah j’s seafood platter. Which I love. My sister wanted your stuffed shrimp, and my girlfriend did want your teriyaki chicken. Which she had talked about the whole time driving down. We frequent your establishment 3to 4 times a week twice a year always enjoy ourselves. I’m only pointing out this time because I personally watched the people beside of us question what was going on . Then leave. The 4 little old ladies behind us question what was going on . Then made jokes about the situation. I’ve bragged your restaurant up for years. I will say 2 last things. I don’t normally go up and check the menu on the door of well established restaurants I frequent. I take for granted they don’t change their menu when it’s working. And I will correct myself on one thing my girlfriend did say that it was not a hand written menu. And people probably can come in and eat for $30. But I’ll bet those people coming in for what they’re looking forward to eating. Are not worried about the price. If the prices was the issue we’d went...