Sunset Harbor Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of East Hampton

After an underwhelming 40 minutes of waiting to be addressed by literally anybody, we flagged down someone who seemed to be the manager. Then we finally got someone to take care of us. We promised a free round, and appetizer as an apology. While we were very grateful for the urgent fix and treats it’s no excuse for all that went on. Granted it was a busy Friday night, but two tables sat after us and were greeted before anyone really looked in our direction. But for a place like this I’d think there were higher standards. I’m not sure if it’s a miscommunication between staff, or perhaps it’s double/triple seating your servers. Either way, an overwhelmed server can not properly service their patrons if not given the proper environment. I couldn’t even finish ordering before the poor boy ran off to ring everything in. We were ignored for the rest of our dinner accept for one very quick pass by from the manager.

And now the food… perhaps I’ve been spoiled working in fine dining but it was bland. Everything tasted like nothing. Very underwhelming and under seasoned. And by under seasoned, I mean they threw benne seeds on everything and called it a day. Even my extremely overly cooked “teriyaki” steak and fries. I got a wood plate with 4oz of wood like beef topped with seeds sided with a “chimichurri” that also tasted like absolutely nothing. Like where was the “teriyaki”? Or seasoning? Or literally anything. Salt? Everything was just off. The shishitos were unloved, the rice was sweet, chicken was chewy, I could go on. Although I will say the sashimi was delicious only because you can’t take flavor away from ponzu. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they figured out a way.

Our martinis were delicious, I’m sure the table enjoyed the half that was spilled over it by the runner. This place seems to need more training and attention/care to its staff.

The $50 cancellation fee also seems quite unnecessary.

While I would love to give this place one star I don’t have the heart. These are all things to improve on and would recommend going in hopes of a recovery from today. Perhaps we’ll even give Sí Sí’s a go next time. Thank you to the kind lady who replenished our waters and cleared our table when our server wouldn’t even look us in the...

I took my parents here for a belated Father's Day dinner. Overall, we had a decent experience at Sunset Harbor. The Pros: The interior has been updated and is much lighter, brighter and upscale. I absolutely loved the decor. We had Vincenzo as our server, who was kind and attentive. For apps, we had burrata, shrimp scampi and calamari. The calamari was incredible - it was so crunchy and crisp, and was delicious even without the dipping sauce it came with. The burrata had a slight tartness to it, which was refreshing and paired nicely with the cipollinis and prosciutto that came with it. For entrees, we had the bone-in ribeye, cavatelli, pasta fra diavolo and the fish of the day, which was the branzino. The pasta was the star of the show - the cavatelli was rich and delicious, and in a nice rustic chunky ragu. It was definitely made fresh in house.

The Cons: They were out of the first 3-4 rose wines we first wanted. There was no bread basket, which is something I always really look forward to. The shrimp scampi came with shells on. It enhances the flavor, but made a huge mess at our table and my father didn't love that he had to pick apart his appetizer to enjoy it. The branzino unfortunately was not great. It was a whole branzino with head and tail, and was supposed to be deboned but my mother found multiple bones. It was also very underseason, and overcooked - it came out bland and mushy. A major disappointment since this was a $120 fish. There is also no dessert option. Or if there is, we weren't offered it. After our entree plates were cleared, we were handed the check - not asked if we wanted another round of drinks, or coffee, or anything. Just the check. There was also no sushi offered the night we dined. None at all.

My final hangup is the price. Harbor Bistro for a long time was a local hangout, that catered to the year round community and the summer vacationers. With the cost of the menu, the locals will certainly not be grabbing dinner here.

TL;DR: Pretty good food, beautiful interior, very expensive. Happy we came and gave it a try, but most likely...

I don’t know where to begin. After being seated, we waited a full 20 minutes without a single member of the staff coming by. At that point I got up and flagged down someone who looked like she was in charge (incidentally, her name is Elizaveta Konoshenko and she has left a 5-star review here as if she’s not on the payroll), who gave me a disapproving look before finally coming over to give us water. From there, she took our cocktail order and then, after about 5 more minutes, brought over a very reluctant man who apparently was meant to be our waiter to “reconfirm” our cocktail order. After ordering our cocktails again, another 10 minutes or so passed before they were delivered, with 2 of the 4 drinks being incorrect. From there, our reluctant waiter returned to take our order, and we decided to only order appetizers (reluctant waiter pushed back on not ordering all at once, but I explained that the service so far has not been stellar and we were going to take it one step at a time). He put in the order for 4 appetizers, and about 20 minutes later 3 appetizers showed up. If we didn’t ask for the 4th, I’m sure it wouldn’t have come. We asked for the check, which reluctant waiter delivered and collected very promptly. Food-wise, the mussels and octopus were great, the tuna tartare was basically a hash brown with canned tuna on top. No views in the world justify such poor service and mediocre food. For this price point, you should expect great views, food, and service. But all you’ll get at Sunset...