Small Batch — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Good American Fusion, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. We started with the Fried Goat Cheese, Roasted Red Peppers, Anchovies and Olive Tapenade Crostini. Delicious starter. We split the Hot Chicken, which came with Rosemary fries. The fries "would've" been good if they had not looked and tasted like they were on their last leg. Their saving grace is the double concentrate housemade-tasting ketchup. It is absolutely divine. The Hot Chicken was a juicy thigh, double crusted, very crunchy and lightly dipped in the signature Hot oil. The pickles give it the right "pop." All on a toasted Brioche bun. The Baked Eggs are heavenly! Savory and plentiful with a buttered slice of Charred sourdough to sop. The cheese Stone Grits are creamy and somewhat sweet. Possibly from the cream or butter. Not totally off-putting but expected the savory. Also, anytime you have stoneground grits, they MUST be cooked almost forever! These were a tad under need a touch more cheesy flavor. If it was supposed to be a white Cheddar, the Cheddar wasn't chedder-ing. Overall, still okay. (SN: we are Creole & Gullah Geechee & sensitive about our grits!) The Rigatoni with braised leeks and Kale were lackluster. Had to use a TON of Parmesan, lemons and some sea salt to give it life. The lifeline is it's fresh made Rigatoni. You're able to find a little libation celebration for everyone, even though none of the Whites or Sparkling, and we tasted most, worked for us. They had some fun cocktails though. As repeat visitors to this space, we are glad it is opened up with an open kitchen. The risk in an open kitchen is sometimes being privvy to "family squabbles." Thankfully, the CdC & Floor Manager squashed it because it would've made for uncomfortable dining. The Service was congenial but a little aloof at times, having to be reminded a number of times about basic items. Your tables should be quickly surveyed and scanned, which should help jog memory, especially when we watch our Server standing around, again, aloof. Overall great vibe and reservations or not, they are very accommodating. Definitely worth going to, especially with a group of friends or family. If solo, you are sure to find a...

Came with my Partner and 3 children. We were sat next to the open kitchen which we thought was a cool experience for the kids. But all we heard was the chef screaming/yelling/talking loud (which ever one) at the staff. I almost thought I was watching Gordan Ramsey show at one point.

Food & Drinks: Ordered Steak Frites for child 1; I made sure I mentioned 3 times to cook it medium-well, it came raw, literally blood was still oozing out. Might as well just give it to us straight from the animal. Child 2, cheeseburger; order came with no cheese. The Runner literally drops the plate on table, no eye contact, didn't even introduce the dish to see who it belongs to and left quickly, I already noticed there were no cheese from a mile away. Child 3 Pasta with butter. We asked for salt, the server gave us pepper. Without knowing, we just trusted that it was salt and sprinkled pepper into the child's pasta. Mistakes, I get it, but holding up a finger at me instead of looking at me to say, sorry give me just a minute, was rude. Next, ordered raw oysters, it was amazing. But why is no one taking the finished plates away? We also ordered a bone-in steak 16 oz Black Angus Strip Steak. Didn't think it was worth 70 bucks; didn't taste the woodfire either.

Dessert: 1 Order Chocolate Souffle Cake & 1 Order Cinnamon Donuts Was A++

Service: Love the polite and smiley hostess. Our server not so much. He basically ignored us many times, no one ever took our finished oyster plate away, water wasn't refilled at any time I ended up giving my water to the kids. He was NOT attentive. He seemed annoyed. I honestly had the patience to be polite to him because I know how hard working one needs to be as a server.

I still left a 20% tip only because who knows if the restaurant shares the tips.

Overall, I did not like my first time experience at Small Batch. 3 stars because food wasn't bad but it's not something where I Must come back for certain...

7/30/25 udpates Came here again for another try and got even disappointed.. we arrived around 6:15pm, wasn't too busy at that time. ordering food was fast. but the food took so long to be ready. we had grilled oyster for appertizer and it took about 30 mins to have it ready. when we got the food, it is clearly overcook and burned, the oyster shrink to very small and it doesn't taste good. we told the server about it, she said that's how it is... we later looked the photos other ppl post online, it's clearly ours are overcook. after that we waited another 30 mins for our main courses, while waiting we see other tables are waiting for their food as well. the kitchen area is open, so you can see they don't have too many staff in there. they seems pretty undersaff. for our main course, the Saffron spaghetti we had was with very very strong olive taste which i felt like it was too strong. other main courses were just ok, don't think the money we spent were worth the value. Went here serval times and always had good experiences. However this time the overall experience was pretty bad. Starting from the host. She doesn’t seems like where she is taking us, first to the furthest table then changed her mind(?) and bring us to the tables in the middle. Food ordering went smooth, got our drink and appetizer pretty fast. Then it’s long wait for our main course. There were quit a lot serves in restaurant but just so hard to get anyone to our table to ask for the status of our orders. Finally the main course came. We had salmon but it has no taste(just plain without seasoning). The duck confit is cook with garlic and oil but still has a strong smell. It’s very different from what we had before. Very disappointed. After that we had to wait for another 15 mins for our desserts. They were quit fast to give us the check compare to their speed on getting goods...