Cliff's Elbow Room — Restaurant in Town of Riverhead

HORRIBLE SERVICE. A bunch of friends and I were out at the vineyards for the day, we figured let's try the elbow room since we always hear such great things about it. To start the night off we had a 730 reservation, we arrived around 715 and figured we could hangout by the bar until we were ready to be seated. Little did we know we wouldn't be seated until almost 9 pm!!!! Every time we asked if our table would be ready soon it was the same answer "another 10 mins", I really wish they would have been honest from the beginning with this. It's now 9 pm and we finally get sat, we didn't see a waiter or waitress for almost 30 mins!!! This was just to place our drink order! When our waiter came over we all placed our actual dinner orders in fear that we would never see him again after he got our drink orders. After about 45 mins we finally got our salads, the waiter spilled my boyfriends salad ALL over him and then pointed his finger at me and says it was my fault, that comment right there set how the entire experience was going to be. Anyways we didn't see him for another 45 mins to an hour after we got our salads and this was just for appetizers and soups!! So now it's after 10 pm and we still didn't even get our dinners. Our entire party was extremely irritated and upset. As we're sitting around wondering how long it will take for our steaks to come out, our waiter comes back over to our table and proceeds to tell my boyfriend that he put his order in wrong and put him down for a filet instead of the porterhouse that he ordered from the start. Before we could even get a word in he then continues to say " well it's my fault but there's nothing I can really do about it now, is that ok?", already being extremely upset and annoyed over the service thus far he just says ok fine I'll just take the filet in fear that the porterhouse wouldn't ever make it out with the rest of our dinners. Finally our steaks come out and every single one of our filets were chard so bad that we couldn't eat them. I forced myself to eat a few bites only because I was STARVING at this point. It was horrible. Like eating straight charcole right out of the bag. When the waiter came back everyone complained and he goes "well I can't really control what the kitchen does, once the food comes out it's what they do not me". ARE YOU KIDDING?! At this point everyone just wanted to leave and go home considering it was almost midnight, finally the checks come out and he did not compensate anything for the horrible service. Being that it was so late everyone just wanted to get the heck out of there so we all sucked it up and paid our bills, out of all bills to have any sort of compensation we were hoping it would have been ours. Especially that the Cesar dressing was ALL over my boyfriends shoulder on his shirt which left a nice oil stain on it and his steak was put in wrong, and not to mention the filet was more expensive. The least he could have done was to match the price considering it was his mistake. Needless to say after this experience we will never give them our...

Unfortunately, just a bad experience over all. I'm 56 years old and I've only written one bad review in my life, and if I ever sent back a meal, it had to be really bad. I came in with a group of 10. The atmosphere is what it is, kind of run down, but I'm good with that if you serve a good meal. Tonight, I ordered the porterhouse, medium-rare. It looked good when served, however when I cut into the center, it was well done. (Borderline medium-well because it had the slightest bit of pink.) I said to the waitress, "I'm sorry, but this steak is over cooked." She disagreed and told me that the steak had some pink and therefore was cooked how I ordered it, medium-rare. I couldn't believe it; and the rest of my table couldn't believe it either. She made a fuss, but then took it back. A few minutes later she returned with a new steak. The new steak had to have been the result of the chef being annoyed that I sent it back. It resembled a porterhouse, and was cooked medium-rare, but this thing was absolutely disgusting. I could barely cut through the NY strip side, and the filet was as thin as a pounded veal chop! I can't believe that a chef would be that unprofessional and send out a piece of meat that was clearly not meant to be served. Perhaps it out of spite. I don't know, but here's your bad review. Additionally, my girlfriend's lobster roll tasted like low tide but she ate it, and there were a few other minor issues. So, my advice to all, there are many better choices out there for...

Did not live up to expectations; very disappointed. We went to Cliff's for my daughter's 17th birthday after reading positive reviews. She loves steak and thought it would be "The Place" to go. I made reservations and we arrived on time only to sit for 40 minutes in the crowded bar area. Not attempt was made to offer us a drink or any kind of compensation for the wait time, even though I had told the hostess we were there for a special occasion. When we sat, it was in the bar and the waiter had to yell for us to hear him. We made a joke about it but when you spend $300 for a dinner for five, its's not very funny. I ordered the broiled seafood platter and the scallops, shrimp and flounder were tasteless. My daughter enjoyed her steak but my husband, who ordered the T-bone, found it very fatty. Our first round of gin and tonics were fine but the second round were so weak I never drank it. At that point, I didn't bother sharing my disappointment, I just wanted to leave. Suffice it to say, the next time I want a quality piece of steak, I will go to the butcher and make it at home for that...