West Shore Inn Steakhouse — Restaurant in New York

Went to the West Shore Inn after reading good reviews about the food. Made reservations over the phone, and got dressed up for a fancy dinner. On entering the bar/restaurant, we found the hostess after a short search. She told us that she was waiting for one party to leave before she could seat us. So we sat down at the bar. Jessica, the bartender, served us with a smile, and dropped menus in front of us. So we decided to eat at the bar rather than wait for the table. I ordered the crab meat martini appetizer, a dish I have enjoyed at many different restaurants. And I ordered a porterhouse for my entrée, with a sweet potato side. When the appetizers came, it took only one bite of the crab meat to know it was bad. The texture was almost creamy, instead of the stiffness indicative of fresh crab meat. And it tasted bad, like bad seafood does. I called Jessica over and told her I couldn't eat it. She asked why. And I told her it was bad. Just bad. That was the end of nice Jessica. You'd think I had insulted her hair color, or choice of clothes. I apologized, explaining that I did not mean to offend. I simply couldn't eat crab meat that tasted bad. (Personally, I prefer that which tastes good. And that's kind of what I had hoped to get when I ordered it.) As Jessica headed toward the kitchen with the crab martini, I mentioned to another couple, with whom I had been talking, that I probably should have just stayed with the steak, as it is a rule of mine to not order fish at a steak joint, and to not order steak at a fish joint. On her return from the kitchen, Jessica came directly at me and said: "I heard what you said. Our seafood is fresh every day." I explained that what she heard was not what she thought. But as I said above, niceties were over with her. A short while later, she delivered my steak and announced that they were all out of sweet potatoes. What did I want instead? At this point I stupidly asked her how wrong she thought it was that I had been waiting for the steak for probably 30 minutes, yet it was as she delivered the steak that she told me they were out of my side choice. She threw her arms in the air and sarcastically screamed at me that she's sooooooo very sorry that nothing there is good enough for me. She turned and stormed away while issuing a diatribe about what an idiot I was. Shortly thereafter, the manager, Mike, approached, and asked how everything was going. It didn't take me long to realize that Mike and Jessica were involved, as Mike defended everything that I said was wrong. In response to my question, he said they were engaged. He explained that there was nothing wrong with the crab meat, and that it was a simple, forgivable mistake that the chef didn't count the sweet potatoes until my entrée was ready. I explained that the crab meat didn't taste right. And he shot back that his kitchen staff enjoyed the dish I sent back. (Very unprofessional, Mike. Don't tell the customer he's wrong--that what tasted bad to him wasn't bad at all. Just make it right.) I explained that I had come there to enjoy a top-shelf meal, no matter the cost, but that his fiance' and the questionable food had put a fast stop to that idea. In the end, I ate a couple bites of the steak, which was average, at best. And I didn't touch the potato. Manager Mike bought me a beer as some gesture of consolation. Some consolation. I won't go back. Thinking about going there? Don't. There are plenty of good restaurants in Staten Island where you don't get abused for sending...

Ok so the good bad and ugly. So party of 2, sat in the back. It was cozy, fireplace was lit, they lowered the heat thank God, was pretty warm just with the fireplace. The server we had was quadruple sat. The couple in fromt of us, our patry of two and two other couples, one with the cutest little boy ever, who were seated after us. From the jump, she was visibly weeded. She was nice but service was definitely lacking. No management or fellow servers picked up on this and left her to drown. Not a great look in an establishment this size with this cost. Loud birthday party of intoxicated folks was not the classiest touch either, granted not the restaurants fault but did overall effect the experience and ambiance. Now let's talk about the food. The snails were ok, for a basic frozen snail you can get at most grocery stores. French onion soup was ok lacked Sherry and deep flavor to me it was on the level of a local bar and grill. We got bread before drinks. I had to walk to the bar and order water because I was super thirsty from waiting almost 20 minutes. We didn't order anything alcoholic. Now to the entrées. She had the stuffed lobster. Frozen Brazilian lobster tails. They were just bad. It was mushy and not flavorful nor was the crab stuffing. The scallops...were broiled seemingly under a salamander sitting in a pool of flavorless liquid. Two were drowning in old bay, one had literally no old bay. They were cooked well luckily. I had filet and king crab. Filet was a good quality piece of meat and was cooked perfectly. It had zero seasoning. No salt no pepper, nada. I like steak I like it's flavor, no salt or pepper is a cardinal sin in the food world. The king crab was odd. They cut the legs and then grilled them. They had an almost propane flavor to them. It's king crab guys, STEAM it. Don't cut it open before its cooked. I was honestly shocked at the high reviews. My only assumption is that with the limited exposure to fine dining on staten island most of the patrons are not as developed palette wise. I would highly recommend taking the trip over the bridge and going into the city for steak dinner. I genuinely think this place has only made it, is because it's on staten Island. Anywhere else they'd go...

This review pains me to write because West Shore is a go to for my father, and he has passed it down onto me now that hes out in NJ. But something has significantly changed over the past few months. The visit before my most recent, we had to send back the steak twice because it was so underdone(asked for a medium, came out just a second over rare twice) and then it finally came back after being under a broiler medium well. Then yesterday, came in around 5. This was the first time we werent offered any bread. Also noticed they took the bread out of the french onion soup, which was always a nice addition. Got raviolis for my son, which was mostly water and sauce. Didnt say anything because my kid is a vacuum and as someone who’s been in the industry, I’m not complaining if there’s no need to. Got the volcanic with gravy on the side and had to send it back because they doused it in gravy (which is delicious, by the way, but overwhelming in such a large dose). The last disappointment was the creamed spinach, which came out as a thick and gelatinous paste. Had no choice but to send it back, but it returned the same. Someone came out and said it’s a new recipe and has more garlic, but the recipe isnt the issue - its the execution. It was so thick, so gloopy, and grainy from the excessive flour. The roux was far too thick, and the entire side dish was ruined from what was one the best. I can’t understand how anyone would be able to eat a portion of it, because it felt like I was swallowing glue. The steak was bland, and not just under seasoned bland - unseasoned bland. My husbands crab cake on top of his burger was good, but pretty badly burnt. At that point we just counted our losses and headed out, agreeing it would be our last time.

And that sucks, because the service here is superb and they attempt to be accommodating in every way and are. They WANT to get it right, but it’s clear there has been some big changes in the kitchen and the food is suffering because of it. For the cost, something has to change because this was easily one of the best spots...