The Polo Lounge — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

My husband surprised me with a visit here last Saturday for our 10th wedding anniversary. I was so excited, being that this establishment was also our wedding venue and that it's been years since we have seen the place. Perfect dining atmosphere I figured for nostalgia sake. I always loved their elevated yet cozy decor, just full of character.

It was a Saturday so there were lots of patrons dining in addition to a full wedding undergoing. We were seated at one of the lovely ornate booths. That's when things kind of went left. We waited to receive a menu, then to order our first round of drinks, then to order our appetizers then our main entrees after we deliberated. In the beginning, we didn't mind the delay in service but it kept turning into long gaps. Our waiter was still courteous but felt very impersonal. Most of the staff actually seemed in a rush. No one asked us why we were even here. Meanwhile we watched other larger tables with "affluent" people get serviced quickly and with more grace. Mind you, we have dined here before around our wedding time and we experienced much more personal service. Unsure if it's a post covid phenomenon. My husband did also point out that the restaurant looked less spacious, they added additional seating and more crowded. Either way, we tried not to let this dampen our celebratory mood.

The food. We shared a salad and French onion soup. The soup was the highlight dish of the night. The salad was honestly very measly and served in a small proportion. We thought we redeemed ourselves with the main course where we would share the steak entrecote with broccoli and mashed potatoes. It arrived in a grand presentation. I'm sad to say that the steak was not seasoned at all. I'm talking no salt and pepper! And we didn't order it raw, we did our usual medium. We actually enjoyed the steak as a leftover the following day at home when I was able to properly seasoned it.

Overall, big sigh. Like my husband said, what we paid for this exorbitant meal was not reflective of the sad dining...

One of the most disappointing restaurants ever in terms of service. The maitre d/server was absolutely obnoxious and totally uninformed as he tried to explain to me that Opus One, a wine that has been around for at least 30 years as a high priced, high quality wine, has only been that type of wine for 9 years. Then, upon asking for cheese for a pasta and fish dish, he literally questioned my Italian heritage and said the chef would be upset. Quite frankly, it is true there are Italians who scoff at putting cheese on say a linguine and clam, that is true. But to have some server giving me a lesson on my Italian heritage and interjecting his unsolicited opinion on how I eat my pasta was completely unwarranted and unappreciated. It is rude and un-called for. Polo lounge needs to train their servers to serve and keep their comments to themselves. I personally do not need some server thinking he's some brilliant judge of everything when all he did was showcase his ignorance.

Moving to the food: baked clams and burrata were excellent appetizers. Salmon entree looked quite pedestrian, my pasta dish was excellent, as was the cheese they brought out at my request, my wife's branzino was sub par and our friends chicken dish was not tasted by me so I have no opinion. The wine list is limited but excellent. I did not notice any French Bordeaux's or Burgundy's, nor Italian Brunello's or Barolo's on the list, but what they did offer was excellent. Very few escape bottles for people who don't want to spend $100 bucks or close to it, but they had a couple and we do not mind that range. The $75 to $125 per bottle is their sweet spot.

My espresso came out well before the desert but by that point I was done with this joint.

The atmosphere is quite nice. The place is small and dimly lit and warm and inviting. The bar tender was excellent and they do feature live music in the form of a piano player which is always nice.

Factor out the server and this is an OK...

My wife and I went here for the first time last night. Absolutely beautiful. Felt like we were going back in time. I don’t just mean the decor, the food, the service, the music, everything was just better. Frank, one of the managers helped us to arrange the perfect table near the music. Our waiter was very attentive and accommodating. The food was top-notch from beginning to end. And the music, a fantastic musician played all of our favorites from Sinatra and the American songbook. Sad that we discovered this place so late in life but happy that we can enjoy it now. We will...