The Good Life — Restaurant in Town of Oyster Bay

Being an avid craft beer drinker, I was excited to finally make it to The Good Life. I have frequented other establishments like Tap and Barrel, Bobbique, Croxleys, Brickhouse Brewery, etc and have been happy with their selection and pricing. Tap and Barrel being my favorite of the bunch I was hoping The Good Life could be a close competitor to them.

Well we went with a large group, we arrived at 8:30pm by about 11pm we had about 20 people in our group. We were in the bar section and grabbed a small table. We ordered about $80 in food and got most of our drinks at the bar. 18 of the 20 of us were ordering tap beer and mixed drinks while the other two were drinking Bud Lights. We had a few drafts of $10+ selections, a couple $20+ bottles of beer, and some mixed drinks.

First, I am disappointed by the lack of selection The Good Life has of local breweries. There are at least a dozen local breweries and I dont recall them having one of them. Maybe the new RPAB had one tap but I cant remember. Either way, where was Great South Bay, Blue Point, Spiderbite, Brooklyn, Long Ireland, Port Jeff etc.

Second, after being there for 5 hours, 8pm-1am, we got our first buyback. A Bud Light. We must have spent, as a group, over $750 easy. I understand they are serving higher end beers but a bar is a bar. After the first two hours, the bartenders weren't getting a single dollar for a tip. I apologize to them for this as I am sure it is coming from above their heads. I worked in the bar business for 7 years and giving your customer a free drink , even if its every 5th or even 6th drink, will go a long way. Not doing so will drive customers away. Myself and a majority of the group I was with fall into that category. I even get buybacks at commercial chains and I would expect a local restaurant to do so as well.

The food was good. We ordered mostly appetizers. For some reason everything was very salty. I am under the impression a lot of the apps are frozen items not made to order. Also they have some of the best honey mustard I have had to date. Regardless, I will not be returning as there are plenty of other places to go that will actually appreciate you spending money and take...

The service was good and the server really tried her best to give the most pleasurable experience. The Chicken Tikka Masala advertised as "Indian Spices, Tomato Yogurt Sauce, Jasmine, Rice, Warm Flat Bread" was the saddest variation that I've ever had. It was missing Indian spices and was just flat out bland. You could tell the chicken was not cooked in the sauce but added after. It was very dry. There was no cream or yogurt in the sauce whatsoever. The Jasmine rice tasted smushy like it came out of a microwave bag. And the flatbread was flatbread...

On the other hand, The Good life burger was very good for a burger. Almost reminiscent of the pretzel bacon pub burger at Wendy's only better. I wouldn't exactly say either dish was "English style" but whatever.

For dessert I got a chocolate chip cookie lava cake which was okay. The cookie itself was tasty but there was no bittersweet flowing lava center to it. It was just pretty much a bunch of melted burnt chocolate chips. It probably would have tasted better if they lightly warmed the cookie up separately and then melted the chocolate and poured it in. The entire thing was drizzled in chocolate sauce which kind of overpowered the taste of the cookie. But it is what it is and I'd probably order it again If I had to.

The ambience was that you expect of a pub. The seats were uncomfortable and sticky. The bathroom was a little grotty. But I guess there are worse places to go to.

All in all if you're looking for a pub to just hang out and eat some greasy food with friends, maybe order some cocktails or beer then this place isn't so bad. I wouldn't travel out of my way to get to The Good Life, but if I were already there, I...

My review is based on how this establishment treats their patrons. I had just come from the doctor, I am in a full leg brace and crutches. I came here mid day for lunch. When I arrived I was seated by the hostess. I was then greeted by the waitress to inform me that tank tops were not allowed and I had to wear an obnoxious T-shirt that said in bright pink letters "I wore a tank top at the good life". Why didn't the hostess tell me this before I was seated? Is this a joke to them to treat people like this? Why was I seated then demeaned by the bar staff? Is this how they treat people? I could understand the no tank top policy for bar goers in the evening but mid day is just flat out wrong. I couldn't believe that a place like this would have the audacity to treat someone with a disability and demean them is out right wrong. I find it appalling and disgusting how they could treat someone like that for lunch. Also the bar area smelled like piss and stale beer. I will never go to this establishment and give them my business. I encourage everyone to think twice about going to an establishment because of how they...