Whalers — Restaurant in Town of Islip

I had the worst experience at this restaurant and I will never return. The owner, an Asian lady, is a complete nut job. Totally unprofessional, inappropriate, nasty, and clinically insane. I made a reservation this afternoon for brunch and I brought my 4 month old daughter. It was my friend and I along with my daughter so I made the reservation for 3 because she needs to stay in her stroller. She is too little for a high chair. We get there and we check in. The owner is standing with the hostess who was very sweet and had nothing to do with this incident. Right when the hostess was about to take us to our table, the owner snapped at us and told us we can’t bring the stroller in the dining area. She told me that my 4 month old daughter must sit in a high chair and we have to leave the stroller outside because there is no room for it if we are going to eat here. I explained that my daughter is too little to sit in a high chair and that is why I booked the reservation for 3, so you can sit us at a 4 top and the stroller can go in place of a chair. She told me we can’t do that and we have to “turn the high chair upside down and place the car seat on top of it”. I looked at her like she was crazy and I told her that is very dangerous and I hope you don’t tell people thats what they need to do with their newborns when they dine here because if something happens to someone’s baby or my daughter you’re going to be liable. Well she didn’t like that response and she threw us out. She said I was nasty and has the right to refuse service. We left and went to Lakehouse across the way and the food, staff, service, view and overall experience was way better than Whaler’s (I’ve dined at whalers before and to be honest it isn’t very good). They were very kind to us and accommodated my daughter. Don’t go to Whaler’s if you have kids. In fact, don’t go to Whaler’s period. That nasty owner doesn’t deserve to be in business based on the way she treats people. Not only will I write bad reviews, tell everyone I know not to go there, and never return myself, but I am going to write a complaint to the better business bureau and the town of islip for discriminating against me because I have a child and for attempting to put my 4 month old daughter at risk and in danger. She could’ve been severely hurt if I listened to...

Ambiance is great, service is interesting, but food was disappointing.

For Mother’s Day weekend we decided to try this place after seeing it across the street from when we tried The Lakehouse. Should have just gone to the Lakehouse again because it was A LOT better. Also, parking was difficult as Whalers only has about 15 spaces for the restaurant, and all were taken by the time we got there ~6pm. We had to pay the $1 per hour parking fee in the lot.

We started with the usual appetizer - fried calamari. Most notable is that I think they were from frozen because they all were the same size rings. It was served with like a mayo Thai sweet chili sauce which was interesting. We also got the crab cake which felt like had more filler than crab.

For mains, I decided to get the chicken to compare apples to apples with what I got at The Lakehouse. I was overwhelmingly disappointed with the quality of the chicken. The white meat was over cooked and tough (it also came with bones in). The mashed potato was a bit on the chunky side rather than creamy side. We also got the ribeye which needed a sharper knife to cut because it was so tough, and the coconut crusted cod which should not have been an option on the menu because it was that bad. The “crust” was not even crunchy but very soggy. The salad on top of white rice was really odd for an “Asian” inspired dish because rice under raw veg would never be served in an actual Asian restaurant. The rice was too hard as well.

The food did not come very hot, more like lukewarm. A critique that my dad pointed out after was that the servers served the men at the table their food first rather than the women… which was not what usually happens at restaurants. The server also asked if we wanted the soup after the mains????

Overall, just go to The Lakehouse across the...

I went there with my Fiancé to have a nice dinner on the outside deck. I made reservations for 7:30 & arrived about 20 minutes early knowing that it maybe a bit of a wait to get onto the deck for dinner. When we arrived and asked for a table on the outside deck the hostess with the blonde hair wearing a white tank top and black sweat pants told my Fiancé and I that there was no room on the deck because there was a party out there and the only availability was indoors. So even though we were disappointed we sat down inside adjacent to the hostess desk. A couple of minutes later a real good friend of mine came into the restaurant we spoke and he proceeded to tell me he was here for his sons party upstairs....so now I'm thinking why did this hostess lie to us??? As time passed my Fiancé and I was watching these young immature hostesses direct the people they wanted right to the outside deck like there were open tables all over. We watched at least 3 couples of 2 go right outside to the deck and then we also watched a party of 4 be told to go to the bar and wait a few minutes and a table will be ready shortly on the outside deck. With all this being said, in the begininng all these immature hostesses had to do was tell my Fiancé and I that we had to wait a few minutes for a table on the deck. Please note I will never ever be going to Whalers ever again and will let anyone who I hang with never to go there. I know this maybe a little screwed up but I feel as if I was age discriminated against and I'm probably the youngest 57 year old you will ever meet. The Lake house, Fat fish and Bella Vie is the place for us in the future. Last item is I do alot of business in BayShore and do have a reach to people throughout the area. I hope that management and ownership take this review into...