Off The Block Kitchen & Meats — Restaurant in Town of Islip

We visited this restaurant to celebrate our youngest daughter’s basketball season and chose to support a local Sayville business. Having dined here before, we’ve always enjoyed the food and service—this review is not about the food. With nearly two decades in hospitality, I understand restaurant challenges, especially during peak hours. I also recognize delays happen, and I always address concerns directly before writing a review. However, our recent experience highlighted serious service and operational issues.

Upon arrival, the restaurant was far from full—only three tables were sat, including a solo diner finishing her meal. We placed a simple order: one appetizer, a kids' mac & cheese, and two entrées. Despite this, it took 55 minutes to receive our entrees. During this time, multiple tables that arrived after us placed orders, were served, ate, and paid before we even got our entrées. This wasn’t due to a kitchen rush—given the restaurant’s small size (6-7 tables total), the delay suggested a service breakdown. During this wait time there was absolutely zero communication on the behalf of the restaurant. We had to flag our server to inquire.

The most disappointing part was how management handled the situation. When we raised our concerns, the manager’s response was dismissive, implying we should simply “understand” how busy they were. This explanation was inaccurate—other guests who arrived after us had already finished dining. Instead of acknowledging the clear issue, management’s stance seemed like an attempt to discredit our concerns.

Only after further pushback was any resolution offered—comping the kids' meal and offering a pastry. However, this felt like a minimal gesture rather than a sincere effort to make things right. Hospitality isn’t about perfection; it’s about how issues are resolved. The delay meant we couldn’t even enjoy our dinner and requested to go packaging for our food, due to prior obligations. This wasn’t impatience—it was an unreasonable wait time.

Recommendations for Improvement

More Effective Order Management – Given the restaurant’s small capacity, there should be a clear system in place to ensure orders are fulfilled in a timely and sequential manner. Guests who arrive first should not be waiting nearly an hour while later-arriving guests receive full service. Stronger Managerial Leadership & Accountability – A restaurant’s ability to recover from a mistake is what separates a good hospitality experience from a frustrating one. Instead of deflecting blame or dismissing concerns, management should take ownership of issues and provide solutions that make guests feel valued. Proactive Service Recovery Measures – A proper service recovery could have included a genuine apology, clear acknowledgment of the delay, and a more meaningful compensation (e.g., a greater reduction on the bill, a sincere invitation to return for a better experience, or an offer for a future discount). Simply removing the kids mac & cheese did not adequately address the inconvenience we faced.

I want to emphasize that I do not leave negative reviews lightly, as I understand how impactful they can be. I also recognize that a poor experience is often the result of one or two individuals’ missteps rather than a reflection of the entire team. That said, effective hospitality hinges on communication, accountability, and the ability to adapt when service does not meet expectations.

We also want to note that we never leave without tipping, as we understand that service staff rely on gratuities and that not all issues stem from their performance. However, with no real accountability from management and no sincere offer of an apology, we felt that simply removing the kids mac & cheese from the bill was not a sufficient resolution. Our intention is never to be unreasonable but rather to highlight an experience that, with better leadership and communication, could have been handled far more professionally.

This could have been handled much more professionally with better leadership and...

Had dinner here with a couple of good friends and the meal started out well with drinks and a delicious starter of Brussels sprouts and from there it went down hill. We waited an hour and eleven minutes for our entrees as we watched the three tables come in all around us and be served before our entrees arrived. My chicken burger was so hard I could not cut it with table knife and asked for a steak knife and when I tried to bite into the burger it was as hard a sawdust. I had my husband try it as he has been a CIA graduate chef for forty years and he said it was as dry as a hockey puck. The waitress kept apologizing and now I am waiting another ten minutes for my entree and everyone else was finished. The manager came over and stared at the floor saying she was sorry but we didn’t quite believe her sincerity. After my burger came a young man came out who said he was the owner and he was sorry about the delay Again it seemed like Lip service, he was not genuine and made the excuse they were short in the kitchen. Now everyone has a bad night once in a while in their restaurants but if that situation had come up in one of our restaurants we would have offered dessert or after dinner drinks on the house or even comped the meal as the screw up was in our kitchen. Nothing was offered but the lame excuse of short kitchen help. The ticket was probably misplaced after the appetizer and until we asked where our food was not even fired up except for the over pre cooked chicken burger hockey puck! The food was a actually good when we finally received it but the service and managements handling of the situation was sub standard. We have been in the food business for over forty years and rarely have been treated this poorly in a restaurant. Perhaps the owners should look into their...

I’ve been wanting to try off the block since the day they opened, but due to traveling back and forth to college I never got the chance to until today. Was finally able to visit with a friend and get Sunday brunch, which after looking at yummy pictures on their Instagram I was very excited to try. We were sat immediately, but waited around 15-20 to be asked what we wanted to drink while another table was seated and was asked about drinks. Our waitress finally came and took our orders, a coffee and a tea and water, and waited a bit for those too. His water never came though, and the coffee was a bit weak. We waited a good while for those drinks and then placed our order which came out quickly. We both got the eggs Benedict and it was very yummy. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the potatoes were delicious! I glanced around at everyone else’s dishes which also looked great and very well made. I believe that this place has great food and chefs, and I would like to come back, I was just very disappointed in our first impression because of the waitress we had, who also never came and asked if we wanted boxes (another worker did that, and he also got me another cup of coffee which I was waiting on), and It also took a long time to get our check and to have our check picked up. I give a great review on the food and would absolutely recommend this place, only thing I would complain about was the waitress that we had. She was sweet but we just...