Zorn's of Bellmore — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

The place has been open since the 1940s and I suspect that they 'don't do it like they used to'. Zorns is 'homestyle' ... maybe thats if your mom typically cooked out of cans and packages.

Ok, gotta be honest - I'm shocked that this place is still in business, and shocked that its so talked about. We ordered both the rotisserie chicken, fried chicken, ribs combo, stuffing, mac and cheese, and the roasted potatoes - so I'd say we got a pretty good taste for whats on the menu.

Clearly they are using 'restaurant supply' ingredients. The ribs are a waste of your money and tastebuds - they are coated in this cheap, sweet, neon red sauce that you've tasted a thousand times from every deli that buys it by the 5-gallon container (you know the sauce I'm talking about). The place has been open for this long and they haven't whipped up their own BBQ sauce - with no effort, you can make a better sauce at home with about 5 ingredients ...why havent they?

Mac&Cheese - I recognize the flavor, I believe its velveeta (or a generic version of it). No, its not the ooey-gooey creamy mac and cheese you were expecting from a place billed as 'homestyle'. Its a cheap concoction more akin to what you'd get from a box.

The saving grace was the chicken. We ordered very close to closing time, so I'm giving them a pass for the fact that the rotisserie was a little dry, but otherwise it tasted good. Not amazing, but fast food Boston Market beats it, but it still wasnt bad. Gotta say just about the same for the fried chicken - it was tasty but I'm not writing home about it. I have been more impressed by the fried chicken that they do at the supermarket.

We paid $30 for a 'homestyle' meal for two. I'm not a good cook but I'm confident I could have done a better job making most of that. And if I were in business for 70 years, I'm pretty sure I'd have nailed it by now.

I hate writing bad reviews like this, and you can take it with a grain of salt. I'm not picky, the food was 'ok', but no - its far from 'homestyle'. There's hundreds of places to eat in a 5 mile radius - the market is changing, people are expecting better. Please try to do better, go back to your roots... because I've gotta assume this place was better...

Pickup order in advance. I live 5 minutes away, food was waiting in an unheated area for me when I got there exactly at pickup time. By the time I got home it's lukewarm. Undeterred popped the turkey and stuffing into the oven for 10 minutes.

Turkey was still moist, odd they only have white meat in my opinion. Also it's all pre-sliced, but not in the bias as it should be. Next time I'll ask for it uncarved and whole.

Gravy was bland, maybe I'm spoiled by the homemade stuff my family makes or they make it bland for people with sodium issues.

Sides; mashed potatoes where really great, skin on, very flavorful. Cream spinach was good. Ordered matzo ball soup and got a refrigerated container, so I have not tried that, but you'd think with a family meal they'd give it to you hot and fresh, seemed like an error by the kids that worked there.

Now for the really odd part... Cranberry compote, why is there random other fruit and geletain in this??? It's obviously easier and cheaper to make jello than actual cranberry compote, but then why call it that? That was the oddest thing I've seen from a place selling a "turkey dinner". Basically the cranberry compote is hospital food.

Better luck next time. I hope this mixed bag of a meal, some great some bad was a one off, maybe they had...

In an experience where we were hopeful and excited to try the food, unfortunately, I’m afraid to report that this was far from the case.

My mother visited Zorns to inquire about turkeys for Thanksgiving, to which the customer service was less than mediocre. The cashier rudely told her to visit the management office, where the manager refused to take her order, told her to come back a week from now, and spoke to her in a tone in which nobody should be speaking to anyone with.

You should take this as an experience to retrain your staff, and install principles that outline exceptional customer service. We will not be returning to Zorns until further notice, when these issues are...