Buoy One — Restaurant in Town of Riverhead

This is really painful as, for years, Buoy One was my favorite restaurant on Long Island. We would alternate between the Riverhead and Westhampton locations and the quality was superb regardless of which location. I was saddened to see that the Westhampton location closed as it was the nicer atmosphere of the two.

But we went to the Riverhead location the other night and had a dismal experience. First and foremost, there was no AC. So we were seated outside, under umbrellas which kept half of us in the shade and the other half baking in the sun. We went early as advised by the restaurant on the phone and were seated and ordering by 4:30. After two people ordered scallops, we were informed by the server that they had just sold out…at 4:30. To keep cooler and hydrated in the heat, we asked for some ice for the drinks and were told that they were out of ice.

When the shrimp arrived, and they consistently had THE BEST shrimp I’ve ever had in my life…they not only looked anemic but they hadn’t been cleaned thoroughly so the poorly deveined or smeared “veining” was visible through the breading on the fried shrimp. Not the most appetizing image. I found myself removing the breading and deveining the shrimp before eating them only to find that they were over cooked and tough.

People who know my affection for Buoy One watched me and asked if they’ve “slipped”. Now this could have been an off night. But I’m not going to be rushing back to find out. And this is a restaurant at which I’ve traveled from Pennsylvania to dine…because it was THAT good. The owner is a dynamic and capable woman and I can only assume that this happened outside of her purview. I don’t know if it’s changed hands or what precipitated the closure of the other location but I don’t think it bodes well for the future.

So this is a sad review for me. If you don’t have AC, buy some awnings so that none of your guests have to bake in the sun. If your ice machine breaks, send the bus person to 7-11 and buy ten bags of ice. And don’t, under any circumstances, let your amazing menu items drop in prep care or quality.

UPDATE: So I emailed Lorraine as requested. She responded by blaming the mistakes on her staff and the heat. She offered me a $100 gift card to take the review down. 6 hours later, she emailed me again saying that North Forker magazine rated them the best seafood on the North Fork and that my review wouldn't matter. So I've refused the gift card and I'm leaving the review up because apparently it doesn't matter and I don't like the idea of being paid off to remove what was our actual experience. She's lost me as a loyal customer. ...

SERVICE SUCKS! SMALL PORTIONS! NOT ENOUGH ATMOSPHERE SPACE First off it's Mother's Day and we were happy to see not too long for a wait with no reservation then things took a toll for the worst. They were out of micherlob ultra and coors light by 5. We waited over an hour for our appetizer. The waitress did not come back to give us our drinks for an hour and then didn't come back at all to check on us during the time we waited for appetizer. Then we had to ask someone else to bring us drinks because she never came back and then somebody else brought us our appetizer, which were such small portions. The bathroom was so disgusting and dirty it looks a truck stop bathroom that's never been cleaned before and it's only one person unisex bathroom. We asked for a table inside by that time we had been put on waiting list to move tables because it was cold and we were told the outdoor heater was out of propane. Then it started drizzling and getting colder. Another 2 hours goes by, still no food, freezing and the waitress still never came back for a refill or to tell us the food will be out or anything. Kept walking by us and just walking away everytime we tried to say excuse me and get her attention. We asked to have our meals to go because it was taking way too long and it was too cold. Then right after we got a table inside finally and there were people standing on top of us waiting for another table to open up. In which they decided since everyone was leaving outside due to weather they were going to bring all the tables inside and make it much more crowded to the point where you can't even pull out your chair next to a complete stranger. Then the meal arrives the had skimpy portions once again. Eating with someone standing over you is pretty ridiculous. Bill comes and we are charged for drinks we did not order. The bill for 4 people for 2 appetizers and 4 meals was $160. For this ass of service I would've rather gone to McDonald's. At least it's...

We've had dinner here previously and it was delicious. Recently came back to have dinner and were disappointed about how the menu and food preparation was. Ordered the Rigatoni Blackened Alfredo. My husband had the Shrimp and I had the Chicken. We're told they were out of the Rigatoni that they would substitute it for Linguine. Okay we said. When our meal came my husband had many good-sized shrimp. My chicken was miniscule: counted four small pieces of blackened chicken. The broccoli was miniscule. The Linguine was "swimming" in spicey hot sauce!!! In addition, we each received garlic bread slice on the side. My husband's was nicely toasted and warm! My was cold and not toasted, thus it was "raw"!!! The presentation didn't impress me much because the dish looked like it was just thrown together with not much thought and effort placed forth. Just didn't look appetizing. The dish was incredibly spicey (Note: not mentioned on the menu about how spicey hot it would be. Very misleading!) Came across a clump of spice on the side that I mixed with the rest of the ingredients. That was a mistake because it just turned my dish into a more spicey hot meal. My husband quipped that he felt he was in New Orleans because that's how spicey hot the meal was to him. We didn't finish our meal because of how spicey hot it was; a horrible turn off! After we paid the bill we were highly disappointed about our experience. We had eaten here before Pre-Covid days and the atmosphere and the meals were wonderfully delicious. The only explanation we came up with was they "changed hands" and the menu was changed. How horribly disappointed we were about the change. I don't believe we will be visiting this establishment again! We headed to the grocery store and picked up bottles of water and we each drank a quart of water to quench our thirst. Totally...