Harleys American Grille — Restaurant in Town of Oyster Bay

2nd Update:

Well, we finally were able to make it back to Harley's and this visit was markedly better than our first visit. We made a reservation for 6 on Saturday evening.

Service and food were both good. I'll note the only thing we brought home was the bone :)

I saw they had some great specials on certain days as well. Sunday's Land & Sea or Prime Steak for 2 look like great options at a reasonable price.

I'll also reiterate that the decor is very nice - good atmosphere for a sit down dinner or if you want to grab a seat at the large bar.

At the end of our meal, we asked if the owner that I had spoken to was there, he was not, but one of the other owners, Ben (I believe it's a family that owns Harleys), was present and we spoke with him. Great guy.

Maybe our first visit was a fluke - it happens and that's why we never write a place off for one bad experience. All in all I thought the second go-around was very good.

Update:

The owner did reach out about the experience and we had a good conversation. We will be returning in the near future to give it a second shot.

Had high expectations based on recommendation, but very disappointing. On the plus side, it has good ambiance and potential, the quality of their steaks before cooking seems to be good.

This is the first time that I've had a steak and was barely able to eat it. The amount of salt was absolutely disgusting on our porterhouse for two, and this coming from someone who salts their steaks hours before cooking. Unacceptable at all, let alone for a steakhouse at high-end steakhouse prices. My wife said this is exactly why she doesn't want to eat steak outside the house. We took most of it home. I actually rinsed the pieces this morning, dried them, let them sit, and then made steak and eggs. Meat was good.

If your special menu items are going to be called the same thing as regular menu items, you should ensure that your staff asks which is being ordered. Last night they had two special menu items, pork chop and 20oz bone in ribeye, that were on both menus and the latter was ordered for the special and the regular menu item was served. They took it back and cooked it more to melt the blue cheese. It was also extremely salty according to our dining party.

Drinks came out wrong.

Not a big deal but we were charged $5 more than the menu price for the bottle of wine we ordered.

The Good:

Burrata app Bacon app Ambiance is good. Marinated skirt steak was good

In the End:

I would consider going back to give them another shot, but only because we have family in the area. In the end, the value wasn't even close...

Went for the first time on Father's Day. Place was pretty empty on a Sunday at 5:30 and never really got busy. They were very accommodating with table selection which was appreciated. Drinks rolled out smoothly as well as appetizers. We had an oyster special which was good. Our waiter took our order shortly after and was pretty attentive in the beginning of service. 5 minutes after ordering dinner a server dropped us 1 side of mac & cheese very randomly. We were a group of 7 by the way. We laughed as the side sat and sat and sat... asked the server as he passed again and he said "your food is coming right out". 10 minutes after the side was dropped we finally saw our waiter again who agreed that the side should not have been brought out and our food was not nearly ready. Very odd. When the meals did come out they were together - steaks & tuna were good. There was a big menu discrepancy on a pasta dish - the pasta was CLEARLY stuffed with something and the menu description never stated this - whatever it was tasted very potent, like a blue cheese which is not for everyone - the kitchen disputed this but we like food & were pretty confident in our assessment - we spoke to a manager & our waiter and they took it off the bill which we appreciated. We ordered coffees & dessert - this is where things got really annoying - some drinks NEVER made their way out. The coffees/cappuccinos came out - we drank them and finished them - still no sight of dessert. Finally 1 dessert comes out... we continue waiting... 10 more minutes passes & the waiter comes over to tell us the other desserts we ordered were no longer available. WHAT?!?! As a customer, my biggest pet peeve is not being able to drink my coffee with my dessert - what's the point otherwise?! As far as the other desserts not being "available" sounds like nonsense to me - I think the waiter forgot or there was a mix up in the kitchen - just a poor ending to a just okay dinner. I would not come here again for the lack of detail the staff seems to have. Also the food is just okay and for the price they're charging, there are several other places I'd rather...

We came to Harley’s for our 1st anniversary after seeing rave reviews on all the review apps. We started off so well with a super attentive hostess who congratulated us and joked with us. We were met with a great intro from the waiter however that didn’t last long. He would disappear for lengthy times.

We never received any bread for the table. Our appetizers came out fairly quickly but the calamari was falling apart and not super crispy. The sweet chili wings were not just caramelized but dry and over cooked. We continued because we ordered everything at once. It took another about half hour to get our porterhouse for two and our four sides. We ordered the porterhouse medium rare, but it came nearly blue on some pieces and the outside was charred a bit too much. It seemed as if they put the butter and thyme on the edge of the plate but it never touched the steak. The steak was very dry and crispy on the outside and too undercooked on the inside. There was a sprinkle of salt but that’s all for flavor. The steak was undercooked enough that the fat on the steak was not rendered completely and was inedible.

The creamed spinach was very runny as if more like a soup. The baked potato we asked just for sour cream and butter but still received the whole loaded toppings selection which was nice. The Brussels sprouts were the highlight and the best item we ordered.

Everything else was subpar for about $250 for two people. We likely wouldn’t come back and would not suggest it for anyone else. We arrived at 4 and the restaurant was empty, there should have been more to the meal. To add: our waiter disappeared for lengthy times, the longest being a little over 20 minutes and we had to ask another server to get our check for us. It also took two rounds of about 10 minutes each to box up the leftovers. We were not offered dessert but likely would not have stayed. We should have gone with our gut and gone elsewhere. It could have been an off day but it was a VERY off day.

Bartender made an AMAZING...