Black-Eyed Susan's — Restaurant in Nantucket

Racially Insensitive Behavior Black Eyed Susan's was one of my favorite places on the island. I heard that management changed and the place is not as good. I experienced this first hand and in the worst way possible. I had a 7pm reservation--this is the first reservation of the evening. I was the first one in the restaurant seated last night. I had a great seat. I chatted up the cook and told him I'm so glad that he came back. And I was seated at the lunch counter--the only seat for a single diner. The waitress seated two people to my left. There were two seats to my right. She tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to move down two seats--which put me at the end of the counter, next to the bathroom --you can smell the bathroom from the seat, next to the back kitchen where they wash dishes. And, now, I was in the shared space where the servers ring up checks. I'm black. I am single. I am a woman. I say this is racially insensitive because perhaps they have no idea how black people have been historically treated at lunch counters. I am the only black diner in the establishment. And you ask me to move down two seats so you can more comfortably seat a white couple? Why couldn't they sit at the two empty seats at the end of the counter. I sat there stewing for a while and then took action and asked for a different seat after much anxiety. She told me she had a party of six scheduled BUT there were over 12 empty seats at the counter. She refused to reseat me. The lunch counter was empty. I got up to leave and told the waitress why. She scoffed and waved goodbye--like "don't let the doorknob hit you" she never said that but that was how it felt. She then thought better of it and offered me a better seat. She sat no one in the seat where she tried to sit me all night. She sat no one beside me. No party of six came in. They treated me with barely concealed contempt all night. They seated no one in the undesirable seat by the bathroom where they tried to seat me. The food was delicious as usual but the experienced caused heartburn.....and heartache. I tipped 25% because why give them further reason to stereotype people who look like me. You will find that most of the bad reviews point to the service and the hostess--in the past they've been rude--this time I truly believe race...

I don’t think that I’ll be coming back here any time soon. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants on island, but they have fallen far behind. Even good food can taste bad when the service is so horrible. From placing our order to being served, it took over an hour. Our server was indifferent, chatting with the other servers while others were being served. She offered lame excuses when we asked what had happened to our order. When it finally arrived, it was cold and the portions were small. How expensive would it have been to increase the amount of grains and vegatables to proportionately accommodate the protein? The halibut had some good flavors to it, but ultimately the dish was quite bland. The cod was in a curry sauce no better than you could get from any Thai restaurant anywhere in the world and was overly spicy such that any subtleties of flavor from the ingredients could not come through. The blue fish chowder was delicious although it was more of a potato soup made with fish stock. The kale salad was also quite good, but nothing really memorable.Though the menu had promised a bread pudding, what we were served was instead two tiny confections that would have easily fit into a box of chocolates. Given the price point and given that we were charged $10 per glass for our BYOB wine, I feel totally taken advantage of. There are much more honest dining places...

We have been going here for 30 years and returned for first time in a couple years. The atmosphere, food and service were great as always. However, the prices have sky rocketed, which impacted our enjoyment.

After waiting about 40 minutes for a table (which we expected would be the case and were fine with it), my wife ordered eggs, hash browns, sausage and coffee. I had a scramble, hash browns, and a bagel with butter. No coffee.

It used to be that toast was included in an order and a bagel was an upgrade that cost a couple dollars extra. Now, there is no toast included, which I did not realize. I ordered a bagel with butter and did not realize it would be a $10.50 additional charge. A coffee was $5.50. Breakfast for 2 came to about $75, with tip.

There was no bagel on the menu and no price which added to my not realizing not only was a bagel not included but that it was $10.50 for a bagel with butter.

While the bagel was good but not great, it was not worthy of the price. Let’s be real. Is a bagel with butter ever worthy of a $10.50 price tag?

When I indicated my surprise when I received the check, the server responded that yes, it was the correct price.

As noted, the food, service and atmosphere are great. Just be...