Desmond's Restaurant & Pub — Restaurant in Town of Riverhead

Buyer Beware!!! We have been a frequent customer of Desmond's and The East Wind for years. Celebrating different occasions at Desmond's, their Santa Brunch, the East Wind Easter Brunch, the Spa, etc. This year was no different, and made reservations for their Santa Brunch. They make you pay up front in full when you make the reservations including taxes and "gratuities". What they don't tell you over the phone is that is was non-refundable. After paying $500 upfront, of course the goal would be to attend. We always do and we always love their Santa brunch. However this year, more than half our party tested positive for COVID. I called the restaurant first thing in the morning (it was only the night before when we felt sick) and the female manager that answered the phone was so nasty about the entire situation. She could care less about that we had COVID. She just said no refunds and hung up. The next day I called, spoke to a different manager, John who was at least understanding of the situation tried to help, but according to him the owner did not want to offer another solution. They only offered for us to attend the next weekend, but our whole party was still sick and the rest of our family ended up getting sick and not outside the 5 day quarantine. Not to mention I live 3 hours away and couldn't get there. They did not want to work with me for any other solution. They just took my $500. I work in the restaurant industry, I understand the beating that the pandemic has caused. But to not offer any other solution and try to keep $500 which included "gratuities"...gratuities for what? No one waited on us! Just awful customer service and not a care. It's not like we were cancelling because of weather. It was COVID! People are required to stay home and quarantine....

Edit October 2022: I was there recently and am pleased to say I had a great experience. We had asked if there was still a separation of the room menus and if it mattered where we sat. I was told we could order off whatever menu we wanted and sit in whichever room. We decided to sit in the dining room and had no issue ordering off both pub and dining room menus with no issue with our party of 4. The food was phenomenal as always and am looking forward to coming back again soon!

Original review below:

Let me preface this and say I’ve been coming to Desmond’s for nearly a decade and have never had one bad meal. I am writing this review based on my frustration with a new policy the restaurant has put in place.

The issue I have with the restaurant’s new policy is that they split the restaurant menu into 2 rooms, the pub area and the main dining room. In the pub you have access to the full menu, whereas in the dining room the menu is cut almost in half. You are now only allowed to order off the menu of the room you are sitting in, whereas before you could order anything from both rooms.

I was there tonight and wanted to try some of the new appetizers but was told I would not be allowed to if I sat in the dining room. The pub area was quite busy and loud and I prefer the quiet ambience of the dining room when I come down for a meal and it felt unfair that I could not order what I wanted because I wasn’t sitting in the correct room. This sort of policy makes me want to come back less often even though I really...

I have been coming to Desmond's for about 10 years now. I probably didnt start doing the Sunday Brunch until I was with my husband in 2011. I have always enjoyed the food here. Especially the Brunch. My last trip here, I was not happy. Nothing to do with the food, which is always delicious and fresh, but the customer service. I sat and watched everyone around us get service and my table get ignored. I watched this waiter (which I will keep his name private) service a table continuously, that was sitting right next to us! We jumped at the opportunity to be serviced, and even then I felt we were bothering him. We were there for two hours, he came to our table, three times. One to refill our drinks that sat empty since we got our initial drink when we sat down. Second time to give us our check. and finally to take our check. A waitress came just before we were about to leave and she immediately noticed our empty glasses but at that point, whats the point, we were leaving. Though it was nice of her to have asked. The busboy serviced us way more than the waiter. I have always thought that everything starts with the waiter/waitress. Needless to say, food is here is delicious. try their...