The Oar Steak & Seafood Grille — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

Had dinner on the water, in Patchogue, with a group of friends on Wednesday.

No reason, just a friendly "How's everyone doing" kind of meal, and drinks.

I had a slight bit of trepidation in sticking with our reservations at the Oar, because there was some consternation about the restaurant a little while ago about something, I dont even really recall right now. Two things made me stick to the reservations, and not go to any of the other numerous restaurants in Patchogue

One, someone from the restauant addressed the concered person directly, on the Post that a person was complaining on, and asked that person to contact the individual at the restaurant, privately, to sort out the situation. That's professional, in my eyes, and I'll always respect a restaurant that does that..

Two, my foodie buddy, Mitzi Mitz went there, and said good things about it. She's a good source on restaurant intel, in Suffolk County.. And I trust her opinion.

So off we went, and Im glad we did.

The Service at the bar was top notch, by Beth, the bartender, as she was not only fast and efficient, she was hilarious, as well.

Very engaging, by pointing out all the Happy Hour wines, and beers. which starts at 4pm.

My Old Fashioned cost $13, Wines off their list were $7..I did not see the beer prices, so cant help there. If I had a private party at home, I would hire her to do the job, she was that well rounded a Bartender

All the food the 8 of us ordered, was excellent.

Not one complaint, re-fire, or bad comment, to be had

At the table, we had 2 Prime Ribs, 2 Sea Bass with Shrimp Risotto, 1 Seared Tuna, over rice, with brussel sprouts, 1 Prix fixe meal that had Sauteed Calamari in Lobster sauce, and I had a Burger.

Everyone, to the last person loved their meals. I got to try the Calamari with Lobster Sauce, and was highly impressed with the tenderness of the calamari, soaking in that silky, very flavorful, Lobster Sauce👍

I also got to try the Sea Bass..That was also perfectly cooked, and as light, and tender, as it could possibly be..And, as a bonus, a big sized portion, at that..

My hamburger, #110, in the last 25 months. Believe me, I was a bit hesitant at ordering a burger at a Seafood place, but i just pushed that hesitation aside, and went for it.

It came to me as I ordered, medium rare, with American Cheese, and Bacon.

My only problem with the Burger, was that it was so darn good, it made me have an immediate, internal debate, to see if it deserved a spot in my Mythical Top 5. Lol

It was nearly perfect to my tastebuds.. Salty, juicy, fatty, earthy, unctuous, and impeccably cooked.

They state on the menu that they use Sirlion for the burger meat. The last time I had a Sirloin Burger that good, was at Vitorrios, in Amityville..

I've had numerous other Sirlion burgers on the Island, and they dont come close to compare to the taste, and quality, of these.

The meat to bun ratio was perfect, toasted on both sides, as requested

The potatoes I ordered, instead of regular French Fries, was their "Oar Fries", as crispy as possible. They were like a modified Home Fries, but I wish I stuck with regular FFs..They werent bad, it's that I ordered them Extra Crispy. and that cut of potato doesnt do extra crispy, well.

As someone who goes out 1-2 and sometimes 3 times a week, an excellent Server is very noticable.. There's plenty of good servers out there, but few and far between are those that excell like Kim did.

She was flawless, handling our table of 8 gregarious, reasonably loud, less than octogenarians, but nowhere near spring chickens, all Medicare eligble, table😎

She was friendly, prompt, attentive, also dilligent by constantly checking up on us, and not a mistake was made throughout the entire meal, including the bill. The Nautical motif is prevalent throughout the restaurant, as well as enough Christmas decorations to remind you that we are not that far away from Santa.

There is a 100% chance we will be returning to this restaurant.

So it's safe to say I highly reccomend the Oar, for it's food, and...

The valet employees are over aggressive and even though it wasn’t busy and barely any cars in the parking lot, the man refused to have a simple conversation with me. I pulled up and asked if I could park myself to find something in my truck. He said I could do it right there, mean while cars started to line up behind me, and insisted that it was valet only. I was surprised at his tone, but I said give me a couple minutes and I’ll circle back. I parked in the back of the parking lot to find my card which fell between my seat. Mind you, this whole part of the parking lot was empty, and I had full intention in letting them take the keys and park my truck. Immediately two employees rushed up to my date and I yelling it’s valet only. No thanks. Not starting my dinner annoyed. I’ve been at other restaurants with overzealous valet parking like this and it’s never a good experience. I’ve gone to restaurants much nicer than the Oar House with valet, also not nearly as nice with valet. I have to say I’ve have never got spoken to or treated like that. I’m not sure if this is a subcontracted company or not, but the Oar House should consider these are the first people to interact with their customers. I want to add that the dude at the door telling me aggressively it was valet only, also told me there was “public self parking next door”. After realizing how anxious his attitude made my girlfriend, as well as the 2 kids that ran up on us in the parking lot when I was looking for my card, we decided to go to Drift 82. I’m familiar with the area and couldn’t remember any public parking down there. And decided to drive back past the Oar House to realize in fact he lied to my face. I don’t understand… I was calm as could be with him… But to just lie to me? Why to waste my time? Or to make sure I don’t eat there? Is the Valet in charge of who eats at the restaurant? Why would I ever let that man sit in my $90,000.00 truck? I’m supposed to trust him after I didn’t find the parking I suppose? I wanted to come back and edit this post to mention this because after I left the first comment, I went through others saw someone was told to park in the street where he would surely get a ticket. Specifically 3 1 star comments within a month about terrible experience with valet. Sad. This type of unprofessionalism is...

One star for the location, being able to eat on the dock right next to the water. Another star for the food (except for mine), although no one was blown away. A star deducted for mandatory valet parking. It's not a very large parking lot, could've very easily parked my own car. They weren't even parking the cars immediately so people could at least pull to the front and walk in. Another star deducted for the waitress. I have dietary restrictions (vegan) so I had called ahead of time to ensure there'd be something I can eat, the lady on the phone said that it wouldn't be a problem and the chef could certainly accommodate to me. So when it's time to order I ask the waitress what they'll be able to make me and she told me she didn't have time to go over the the menu with me, that maybe if it were winter time and it were slow she could've. Meanwhile we had a 5:30 reservation and the restaurant wasnt even crowded, we were the only people sitting in our section. I was with a party of 7, a group that was about spend a lot of money, you'd think she would at least pretend to be helpful. I asked if they could just do roasted veggies, she said she wasn't sure what vegetables they had besides green beans but would check with the chef. Every other time I've gone our to eat and the waitress had to check with the chef on something they'd come back and let you know what was said, not out waitress she basically kept me in suspense until dinner was served. All it ended up being was a plates of barely cooked veggies, was not impressed. I also ordered a strawberry salad for my appetizer without the scallops, my husband asked for the scallops on the side, she never gave them on the side and still charged full price. Last star being deducted was for slow service, took forever for our food to come out. Many times everyone's glass was empty and no server in site. My husband actually had to go to the bar himself and buy another drink there the wait was so long. There were many times our table was left messy too, empty cups and plates just sitting there. There's a few other things I could complain about but those are the main complaints. I do not recommend this place, especially with a larger group and anyone with sort diet restrictions...