The Homestead — Restaurant in Town of Oyster Bay

I'm the kind of customer to whom service means a great deal. If your food is great but your service and attitude suck, I'm not going to leave very happy. This was my experience at The Homestead.

I was here last night/yesterday (I'm writing this at 3:00AM) for my brother's engagement party. They paid $3,300 for 80 people. The ambiance and the staff were nice. The food ran out way before everyone was fed. Quite a few guests remained standing near the food trays as they were told that more was coming out, which happened after maybe 8-10 minutes. Not all of the food was replenished, and it happened inconsistently. They ran out of food at least two more times, and guests had to keep waiting. At some point, rather than wait for more of the entrées to arrive, many guests resorted to having an early dessert, because at least it was available - there was a collection of donuts and a table of candy present from the beginning of the meal. Also, two times, they brought out food that was not even ordered by my brother and his fiance, I assume in order to at least provide something in the meantime. The food, at least, tasted good. Not great, but good.

So, it was obviously very sloppy execution by the restaurant. The family of the bride-to-be was especially perturbed, because the bride's mother knows the owner personally, and there was some discount given due to this.

After the meal was over and most everyone left, my brother, his fiance, some of her family and the owner spoke. I was not present, but I was told that he basically blamed the customers for the lack of food, saying that the food kept running out because the guests filled/piled their plates (I'm paraphrasing). How dare the guests actually put enough food on their plates to fill them!

This is an undeniably absurd thing to say, and it is obviously not a satisfactory reason to keep running out of food, PLUS give them food they didn't even want. It's not like they were told it would be 40 guests then it was spontaneously doubled. They were not prepared, plain and simple, and then the owner refused to accept responsibility for his (restaurant's) mistakes, showing his true colors as a genuinely immature jerk.

I wholeheartedly advise against going to this restaurant. The food is good, and the servers are considerate and hardworking, but the owner's attitude and behavior are just deplorable. I imagine they can handle a regular dinner party of a few people, but I'm never going to find out. If only he could've been decent, and just apologized, even if he didn't offer any more money off the cost, the experience would've been very different. But that level of responsibility and maturity is beyond him, and so my brother and his fiance had to suffer.

Eat here at your own...

As far as food quality, I would give it 4 Stars. If you're looking for a night out to eat I would recommend The Homestead restaurant. However, if you're looking to book a party I would absolutely not recommend The Homestead. The room's decor is very dated and had a strange stale odor. Numerous chairs had visibly soiled upholstery and were missed matched. The staff not professional at all. I might as well have paid for a buffet because this was not sit down dinner quality. They were notably understaffed, two workers for a room of 65 people. Also, my guests had to open the side door because the room/ carpet smelled. What really made things worse is they said the appetizer stations would be enough and it wasn't. My sister in law asked for pasta for her child and the waitress rudely said no that's not on the menu for children. Really just give the child pasta! We will pay for a plate of pasta. It was embarrassing. This party was an expensive disappointment on many levels. My heart breaks for my mother in law, my parents had thrown us some wonderful parties and she wanted her turn. It was a week ago and it still makes me upset and angry when I think about how everyone will speak ill about my girls...

First time in the area. Heard a few great things about this place so we decided to stop by for lunch. Doesn’t look like much from the outside but the inside is beautiful. Old world meets new. Took a tour of the place. Beautiful party room in the back and a nice outside patio.

Service was excellent. Chris our waiter was great!

We started with the French Onion Soup which blew my mind! Absolutely delicious, nice Caramelization of the cheese. (See pic)

Wedge salad … now I don’t like blue cheese but this place had the absolute best blue cheese dressing (home made) that I have ever had.

We ordered 2 sandwiches. The French dip which was fantastic!! Bread was crispy. Meat was tender and beyond flavorful. The Pastrami Rueben was equally delicious. We split both sandwiches. They were so good, I ate both my halves ( which I never do)

Great selection of beer on tap.

Even though it’s an hour and and half drive.. we are definitely go back!!

Owner was pretty...