Vincent's Clam Bar — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

I have not eaten at Vincent's in a while, but it still has the same vibe as it did many years ago when i was last here. The overall experience was good, but I like to leave reviews that can actually be of use to other people and are not just purely subjective.

Service ( 5 Stars): Staff was very courteous and friendly. Our server Neptune, went all out to make sure we had a good dining experience.

Food (4 Stars) Our selections included Chicken Parm, Eggplant Parm, Moneybag Pasta in Vodka sauce and Baked Clams and Calamari appetizers. Calamari was great. Baked clams were skimpy but serviceble ( Vincent's gets a pass on this as this seems to be a supply side problem that I have been experiencing at quite a few restaurants with clam orders.) Moneybag Pasta was delicious and the parm dishes were enjoyable too. A word about the "world famous " red sauce, It is a very good sauce, but the folks at Vincent's go very heavy on it to point where you entrees are almost swimming! So If you are ordering a red sauce dish and want a little less on the sauce , I would let your server know in advance. All dish portion sizes are large here ( great bang for the buck value) so take that in account when ordering.

Atmosphere ( 3 Star ) This part got my lowest rating, not due to any bad experience on my part, but based on my observations and the situational reality of the experience, so you might know what to expect. This is NOT a quiet place. The Dining Room is spacious, but every usable inch of floor space is utilized for seating with only very narrow aisles left to navigate. This means your tables and seating have no personal space whatsoever, and if you are dining anytime close to peak hours, you can expect on top of the ample background chatter, to hear the most intimate details of any conversation going on in your immediate vicinity and vice versa. So if you end up next to unfiltered people ( which we did , but their conversation went from offensive to laughably sad and silly quickly, so no harm done), be forewarned. Quiet romantic dinner spot? Except for early on a weekday,No. Good family dining with loud family members or friends? Yes. Possibility of you , your friends and/ or your kids overhearing unfiltered adults talking about stupid ** while you are trying to enjoy a meal? During peak hours, likely yes.

Overall, I would recommend Vincent's to anybody interested in Good service and good Italian food at a...

Sorry but I really need to change my review. I was there a few days ago. Regular dinner crowd, overly loud live band in too small of a space (so unnecessary). Ordered grandmas Sunday Gravy, Calamari, Strangled Priest, Stuffed Clams. Little necks on the half.

So our server was really nice. Took care of us really well. I don't know why you cannot easily get plain water. Instead it becomes an issue if you don't want lemon in your water. I want plain water, no citrus astringent added please. Took nearly 30 minutes ffor some reason.

Grandma's Sunday Gravy. Brasciole was tough. Couldn't get a replacement as we were informed that they were all like that. Sausages also were very overcooked. Very dry. Portion size is down more than 30%, price is the same. Sauce is NOT the same, seems more acidic, not as authentic as it USED TO be. Don't charge the same for the dish and cut back too much. You get reviews like this.

Strangled Priest, sauce is faint, more pink than anything. At first it was a deeper sauce. Now the gravy is so light it has so little flavor. They think we wouldn't notice. We did.

Stuffed clams were from a different batch (frozen) from the raw. HUGE difference in quality. I love their stuffed clams but when you can taste the frozen nature of the clam, you get concerned. If they claim it's not frozen, then it's not as fresh as I would prefer it.

Calamari also seemed frozen. Breading didn't take, fell off all too easily. Also the dipping sauce (Marinara) is not the same. seemed a bit acidic and watered down at the same time.

I know post pandemic recovery is hard for everyone but you can't turn your back on what was once a staple of Little Italy then an icon of Carle Place in favor of cutting a buck. You will always have the loyal customers but I cannot find value in cut backs in quality. Portions? Sure, it's expecyed with shrinkflation but absolutely not quality.

I've been going to Vincent's since the late 70's. When Little italy closed shop, Carle Place wasn't too far and thankfully the food was the same. In the past few visits, not feeling the love. Customers can only be loyal as long as the loyalty is reciprocated. Hopefully my next visit...

I've come here pretty often over many years. More recently we have been going here about once every other month.

We love the atmosphere, service and of course the food.

Usually our experience here is nothing less than great... Usually...

This time around it just was not all that great.

It's Tuesday afternoon and the place was packed. We decided to grab a drink at the bar while wait for a table. My best friend and I ordered a gin martini and a plain iced tea. One of the hosts came and said Our table was ready. So I closed out the bar tab. Including a $4 tip I left the 2 drinks came to $30. Kind of a WTF moment. Crazy....

Anyway, our server was a new guy. He was polite and all but I've never seen him there before and he seemed nervous. He did the oddest thing each time he came to the table or walked by. He felt the need to touch my shoulders. It was strange, a bit uncomfortable. Kind of felt groped lol and I'm a pretty tolerant guy. Otherwise, he was a bit on the slower side than the usual servers. For a new guy it was ok. The kid was nice overall.

We ordered a few things ...Oysters, new England clam chowder, Caesar salad and the trio. We asked for extra marinara on the side and fettuccine with vodka sauce to go with the trio.

The kid forgot to pour olive oil in the herb plate for the bread. I like dipping the bread in both the oil and sometimes in their marinara. My real issue this time was... Someone must have accidentally dumped in too much sugar in their marinara sauce or something. Actually all their sauces were on the sweet side. Not a fan of that at all. The marinara was sweet, the cocktail sauce for the oysters was sweet, the vodka sauce also sweet Geez...

So from the $30 shocker for 1 alcoholic drink and 1, non-alcoholic drink to the sweet sauces.... This wasn't the great experience we have been used to. I can get over the new gropey, touchy feely waiter lol

If you've never been here, my easy go-to items are their oysters, their Gorgonzola salad, and the New England Clam Chowder is always wonderful. Everything else on the menu is usually pretty...