Mill Pond Steak & Seafood — Restaurant in Town of Huntington

We’ve had a few great experiences here before. Because of that, we decided to do Christmas Eve here with the family.

Booked the reservations for 6:30 online through OpenTable and requested an indoor table. Got a very apologetic call from the restaurant a few weeks later saying the system had over booked Christmas Eve and our 6:30 was not available. We could do 4:15 or 8:15. We were understanding about it and took the 4:15. I mentioned that we had requested indoor on our reservation and asked again if we could be indoors, especially considering the circumstances of our reservation. I was told they could accommodate that.

A week before our reservation, the restaurant called to confirm. I reiterated our desire to sit inside and the woman I spoke to said she would note it on our reservation.

We arrived in Xmas Eve for our reservation and they brought our party outside, despite our repeated requests. I said to the hostess as my family was seated that we had requested indoors three times and was told it would be accommodated. By the time they came up with the solution of putting us upstairs, my family was seated outside and my in laws didn’t want to move again. I mentioned the issues they had with our reservation and the previous discussions about putting us inside and how all of this seemed to be ignored. The manager was not apologetic on any level and basically just said I can put you upstairs. We decided to stay outdoors rather than move everyone a few minutes after they were seated.

We didn’t want to sit outside because it can be uncomfortable depending on the weather and they cram the tables in so that you are constantly making room for the wait staff as they serve the surrounding tables. This night was no different.

Two members of our party ordered the lobster bisque and were constantly picking shells out of it. My wife ordered a margarita that didn’t have any margarita mix in it and was just tequila on the rocks. Dinner was average at best, less so because of the shell filled bisque.

At no point was there an attempt by the manager or anyone else to apologize for the messed up reservation time or the lack of accommodating three different requests to sit indoors.

We have enjoyed previous meals at Mill Pond but this experience made me feel like the manager was completely ignorant as to how poorly they handed a family’s holiday dinner. The attention to detail and concern about their patrons was non-existent.

We won’t be returning...

Where shall I begin? My reservation was on September 6th, my boyfriend took me out for my birthday. Let’s start off with my boyfriend drives a manual convertible, and when we pulled into the parking spot for the valet parking guys come to retrieve the keys, the gentlemen were very nice to us. However, as I went inside to let the hostess know we were here she was not pleased. My boyfriend heard his car make a loud noise from outside so he went back outside to check on his car, the hostess clearly saw him and then proceeded to tell me I have to wait for all people to be present before she can seat me. Understandable, right? Well this is where it got weird. My boyfriend comes back inside the restaurant as other people we’re getting sat before me although I had a reservation. My boyfriend’s face was a mixture of disappointed and fearful as he was telling me that the valet guy stalled his car twice. Then I told the women again that he’s here and asked if we can be seated the woman proceeded to tell me that she only had seats indoor and that all outdoor seating was filled. My boyfriend said that the reservation was for outdoor seating and she insisted she didn’t have space. Meanwhile the two white ladies before me who didn’t have a reservation was being seated outside. My boyfriend is a tall Jamaican man with long locks, we were dressed business casual since it was my birthday. The young hostess was adamant that there was no outdoor seating available and it would take 40mins to get a seat outside. Meanwhile we had a reservation! A man came out from the kitchen area and asked what the problem was and we had explained that we had reservations for outdoor seating. He then told us that we will be sat in less then 10 mins. We were sat at a table that was so far from the view we couldn’t even see the water. Then we ordered food. The food was flavorless and felt rushed. The fried calamari was soggy and not fully cooked then the chicken parmigiana was very tough and hard to chew. The spaghetti squash was watery and bitter. That’s not all, the servers were a little off. One of them kept touching the back of my chair every time he came by to ask if we were okay. He made me feel extremely uncomfortable. The people and the workers were staring at us as if we didn’t belong there. Overall would not recommend this place. Definitely would not return. If I could rate it zero...

Frustrating experience.

Booked party of 4 through Open Table and noted Birthday & Anniversary Celebration. Received no mention either of these when we arrived (lack of attention to detail- not a huge deal but so nice when a restaurant does notice and comments to you when you arrive)

Promptly seated to an outside table closer to inside wall. Table was extremely small for a table of 4 and asked if we could be closer to windows (there were other open tables) we were told those were reserved already.

Our waiter was at best ok. Very scripted, seemed very new to being a waiter, and not very attentive. Throughout course of meal had to ask numerous times for water refills and asked for additional bread (first bread basket had 4 small pieces) and they seemed to have forgotten us and had to ask 2 more times.

Onto food: Appetizer- Fried Calamari- Huge portion and delicious- one ordered for table and was plenty

Dinner - All ordered something different: Tuna - Delicious- cooked as ordered (Husband's Favorite) Linguine with White Clam Sauce - Whole and chopped clams. Average - could have used a bit more flavor Mill Pond Fra Diavola- Flavorful and Plentiful Braised Short Rib - A bit dry needed more sauce

No dessert

Overall Service: I mentioned previously table size, when our dinner came our plates had to hang over the table edge by over 2 inches for each of us. Yes - table way way too small. Maitre D came around right before the main course served and we told him how uncomfortable table was for 4 people (felt like a 2 person table that 4 were sat at) He basically told us that he couldn't do anything (yes still an open table of two or three still around us) and if it was food or drinks he could help us, so basically deal with it. Seemed to have an attitude (maybe an off day?) Not what any customer wants to hear.

We've been here before and truly felt like service went down hill tremendously. Yes beautiful views, but for the price expected much better service - shouldn't have to chase down for water & bread refills. Lack of attention to detail or be concerned about our plates of dinner falling off the table.

Sadly will not be back anytime soon which is a bummer as it does have my husband's favorite Tuna Dish - on the hunt for a new restaurant for...