Popei's Clam Bar — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

On 7/28,I visited this restaurant in bethpage for the very1st time.I have been to many restaurants(I've even traveled the world just to visit famous restaurants across the globe).I am a black NYer in my40s who is a foodie born& raised in the S Bronx.grew up culturally on WestIndian style cuisine, eating@restaurants such as MarkSpot in Queens& Footprints in BK. My family&friends would also go to Sammy's fish box, lobster House& many other restaurants in CityIsland. I've been to restaurants in the city w/elaborate expensively exquisite architecture&interior designs such as Blue water grill,Sea fire grill, Benjamin's,empire,Wolfgang's,Keens Steakhouse etc. All these places had great food&for the most part good service(except for a few disrespectful blunders on behalf of some staff members... looking at you see fire grill in Manhattan). However, I've been eating at multiple restaurants in a somewhat40-year time span, visiting upscale top notch restaurants, Brazilian steakhouses seafood restaurants chop shops etc even celebrating exciting moments of my life at restaurants such as Grand lux Cafe in garden City NY, GaloTavern18& 02KoreanBBQ in Bell BLVD Queens. But on this Sunday in july, I was going to visit a restaurant in woodhaven BLVD QueensNY called London Lenny's however they were not open. So I gave Popei's a shot.Once I entered I was immediately greeted by2women w/smiles on their faces. Visiting multiple restaurants throughout my life, I often speculate if the employees are genuine or if they are just being cordial for the sake of the job(which is not necessarily a bad thing).The women here at popei's greeted me, made jokes w/me&I can tell that the staff gets along w/each other by the way that they interacted w/eachother.I even noticed that a few addressed eachother w/nicknames, showing that there was great camaraderie among the coworkers that probably extended&existed even outside of the work atmosphere. a 3rd woman, I don't remember this older lady's name(maybe Marie?)she told me shes Italian.I was appreciative how she was so friendly&professional towards me; she actually spoke w/me, making me feel as if I was a neighbor who lives close by her or another person she knew growing up in the same school she attended (that's the feeling I got & I think the best way to try to describe and compare it).I felt very comfortable being there, because the rest of the staff co-signed their gratitude for seeing me&having me as a guest&customer. It was a very warm feeling. Honestly, this was different, this "felt" like it may have been real. Even those who didn't speak but as they walked by doing their jobs&made eye contact w/me, walk by w/smiles on their faces acknowledging my existence&that I was a guest at the restaurant, showing their appreciation for me being there. On 8/22, during the hurricane, many places were not open for business. Popeis was. So I placed an order to get takeout. Once I arrived, again just like the month before I was greeted very warmly, professionally treated&felt as if I was among close friends. This is what causes me to believe that perhaps the affable decorum of the staff is genuine, since I do not believe they recognized me from the month before, yet still treated me w/the same type of warm "open arms". Although I was ordering takeout again, 1 of the waitresses even offered to help me carry the food to my car&joked about going outside in the rain w/hurricane winds w/me. I told her she did not have to yet she helped me to the front door with the food. let me bring up that the food is amazing! Everything I have ordered so far I've loved! The lobster, the crab, even the sides! The clams (baked& fried), the shrimp& other seafood are outstanding! Great food on top of great service is just a great restaurant. The atmosphere is similar to other seafood restaurants.Nothing too ostentatious however it is neat clean&comfortable.I also noticed that the pricing for the food is reasonable compared to other restaurants in...

Absolutely amazing experience.

My husband came as walk ins for a quick drink and were greeted immediately and despite having no reservations we were told we would be able to sit by the bar area in a few minutes. The entire restaurant was packed! We were going to wait but the food smelled so good we decided to finish our errands and come back at 9pm for dinner so made a reservation and left.

We came back with the reservation and was seated in mins! The host and the staff were incredible. Very friendly and definitely gave off a family owned vibe. The food was delicious! The chef came out to apologize that one of the side dishes was a bit late but honestly with the appetizers and the drinks and the main meal (the 2lb lobster with shrimp and a stuffing) it didn’t phase us at all. All the rest of the food came out in such a perfectly timed manner we didn’t mind at all! But his generosity in offering another free side in the meanwhile while we waited was so kind.

Atmosphere 10/10- close tables but such a laid back environment, you barely noticed.

Music 10/10- a bit nostalgic for my husband and I as we grew up on the 90s hits and we loved that music lol maybe not for everyone but certainly meant for us for sure.

Food 10/10: Raw Oysters on a half shell were perfectly shucked and so fresh. In fact All the food was super fresh and so well seasoned and flavored. The lobster, shrimp, stuffed mushrooms and even the spinach (definitely made with garlic) were so flavorful!

Drinks 10/10- ordered their smoked margaritas off the specialty menu and boy they were certainly Smokey! Like sipping in front of a campfire my husband says. Quite accurately describes it. Such a great idea. I usually like my margaritas rimmed with salt or tahin&sugar, but this Smoked idea was amazing.

Bathroom - no ratings today. Did not use the restrooms so no idea on how clean they were but I imagine clean as the restaurant seemed very well maintained.

Service 10/10- Every now and then (more often than some of the top restaurants we’ve been to) a staff member would check in on us. This was a great feeling because we didn’t feel forgotten throughout the meal and if we needed Anything, there was someone available. One waitress even offered horseradish before my husband could even ask.

Considering my husband has worked on Top Chef and we have been to so many restaurants, I don’t always feel the need to write a review but I will say, Popei’s is top of the list for quality seafood and customer service on Long Island.

*apologies for the half eaten plates, food smelled so good we just dug in and it was too good to pause for...

I used to love this place and was a regular.... But not anymore!

Made a reservation, was there on time, but I waited 25 minutes, while staring at a ton of empty tables. They couldn't seat me at any of those though, because they have this moronic system of reserving a specific table for you when you make a reservation (despite you not asking for any specific table) and they make you wait for that specific table to be opened. I watched 6 couples get seated before me and my wife and there were even more empty tables waiting for people who were late or for walk ins..... But we had to wait. Standing there watching the guy sitting at our table sip a glass of water and play on his phone with a doggy bag sitting on the table since before we even walked in the door.

All I received were a bunch of, "I'm sorry, but we reserved that table for you and some people linger", seriously?

Plus the food has gone down hill. I'm not bitter, the Thai Calamari was great, but how about washing the sand out of the clams? Or how about not putting stale chewy bread on the table, or serving what your menu says. Flounder stuffed with crab meat is not flounder stuffed with bread crumbs and broccoli...... Who stuffs flounder with broccoli? That wasn't even written on the menu, crab meat was.

Plus the food was bland, and over cooked. The muscle pot used to be great, but the sauce was horrible, the muscles were well cooked but the sauce wasnt good at all, not like it used to be. The clam bake used to be my favorite, but now they've gotten lazy and don't even break down the lobster, now they just throw it in whole, only added 2 shrimp, it was all muscles, except for a few clams (thank God, since they were filled with sand). Just over all nasty.

Again the Thai Calamari was great, salad was fine, the $12 plus tax and tip mixed drink was good, but the rest was awful.

Plus the waitress would vanish, no utensils while food was on the table, asked her for a market price and she walked away for 7 minutes to get it.

Just awful.

There are better...