Blackwells Restaurant Under New Management

JULY 2006 UPDATE: Both Great Rock Golf Club and Blackwells have new ownership and management. As such, this review may not reflect current the current dining experience.

I've only eaten at Blackwell's once since new management took over, so I don't feel like a new review would be a good one. However, the food, service and overall experience was a million times better. I'd recommend Blackwell's again without reservation.

Once I've eaten there at least one more time, I'll write a new review.

 

Last summer, I wrote a review of Blackwells Restaurant in Wading River, NY. I thought the restaurant showed great promise and it was a place I looked forward to frequenting. Great atmosphere, top-notch food and, at the time, great service.

Boy how times have changed.

The restaurant closed for a while over the winter months as it (and the attached golf course) underwent some renovations and upgrades (new management). But, it re-opened in late March and we tried it Friday night with Liz and John (who had their rehearsal dinner there last June).

I doubt any of us will ever go back again, and Liz and John used to go a couple times a month.

We showed up around 9 p.m. on a Friday night without a reservation, so we had no problem settling for one of the tables in the bar area. I really enjoy the bar there and the bartender was great. Within a few minutes we had our first round of drinks and menus were in hand. The evening was shaping up to be another great meal with great friends.

We sipped our drinks and looked over the menu...and looked over the menu...and looked over the menu...and looked over the menu for at least 45 minutes...without anyone coming over to take our orders. Again, we didn't have reservations and they were somewhat busy (and had a private party in one of their smaller rooms). We're not unreasonable people after all...we were just getting hungry.

So, after waiting a little bit longer, Nena got up from the table to go ask the hostess to send over a server to take our orders. Nena spent many years working as a waitress, she knows how hard it is, and I know she didn't exhibit even an ounce of attitude when she approached this woman. We weren't trying to be difficult. We just wanted to order our dinners and enjoy the evening.

The hostess's response?

"Honey, I have people waiting over an hour for a waitress." (with a condescending, b*tchy attitude)

First, let me say how proud I am of my future bride. I know I wouldn't have been as patient with this woman. In complete and utter shock, Nena simply returned to the table and recounted the tale, and we were not happy.

John, who owns his own contracting business and seemingly knows everyone within a 20-mile radius, decided to try talking to the hostess himself.  John is about as schmoozing a guy as there is and I think his company even worked on some of the restaurant's renovations. He's an extremely charmingly funny guy that is really really hard not to like.

Astonishingly, he was received with the same kind of attitude and ended up speaking to the manager (who had very little to say apparently). It was then that John informed them both that we'd be leaving and not coming back.

Now, if this was all that happened at Blackwells that evening...I might consider returning -- doubtful -- but it was still possible. Slim-to-none sort of chances.

But that's just one chapter in this tale of restaurant hell.

During our 45 minutes memorizing the menus, we ran into some other friends of ours who had just finished having dinner there themselves. They weren't happy either.

Their service was slow...beyond slow in fact. Plus, their server dropped a full cosmopolitan into one of their meals, with glass shattering and liquid splashing in the food and on people at the table. The server responded with a simple shrug "sh*t happens" disappearing for at least twenty minutes. Quality service right? I'd think the server would apologize profusely and quickly try to rectify the situation.

Did anyone offer to buy the table a round of drinks or free dessert? Heck no.

Now that I think about it, maybe the new owners are new to the restaurant business or maybe they haven't had time to train their staff properly (which means they shouldn't have re-opened yet).

Regardless, we had an absolutely miserable time...and it was a huge disappointment.

Knowing of my food and wine addiction, friends and co-workers ask me for good restaurant recommendations all the time...and I used to list Blackwells as one of those restaurants.

Those days are over.

Comments

[Fatemeh]

Such a shame when new owners completely up-end what used to be a perfectly good working process for the worse.

[Joel]

Dining, wine, dessert, its about the experience more often than the food. Why do management teams so often lose the plot? Sorry to hear about that. I'll flag that place over at Vivi's as well.

[andrea]

I like your blog. I have been researching good restaurants to have a 50th birthday dinner on Saturday (June 4) in Wading River, preferably on the water, but not limited to a waterfront spot.

Can you make any suggestions? I read about La Plage somewhere, but I'm not particularly keen on French food.

Your thoughts appreciated.

[Lenn]

Andrea,

Thanks for the nice comments on my blog. Glad you enjoy it...

A few thoughts on the dinner your planning:

Don't discount La Plage because they bill themselves as "French." It is one of the most spectacular spots (top to bottom) around and the food is much more interesting than traditional French. In fact, my last entree there was a braised lamb shank over bacon/sweet corn risotto...

If you're wanting to stay in Wading River...check out Andrew's by the Pond http://www.andrewsbythepond.com/). I've not been there (yet) but I've heard some GREAT things.

If you are willing to go a little bit west, I'd recommend Oscar's of St. James (right on 25a) to anyone. We had a spectacular meal there a week ago. Food is great, inventive American...and their wine program is very cool. Basically they charge patrons retail plus 5 or 10 bucks...which is a steal compared to the 300% markup some restaurants charge. So, if you pay 50 bucks for a bottle of wine...you're getting a 40-dollar bottle...not a 15 dollar bottle. I actually have pictures and a review of Oscar's that I'm working on...so if you call, let them know that I sent ya :)

Good luck and I'd love to hear how it goes!

[Chris]

I've heard many sad stories of Blackwells over the past couple of years. This year (2006) the ownership and management have changed hands once more.

I tried the restaurant last week and was pleasantly surprised. The food was really very good, and the service was spot on (commensurate with the price tag). The new management seem to place a high priority on quality of service and food. It would appear they have their eye on taking care of the customer.

For those naysayers of yore, do yourself a favour and give them another try -I think you'll find the experience a pleasuable one.

[Linda Slezak]

Dear Lenn
We've been taking advantage of LI Restaurant Week and going to as many restaurants as we can before the week is up. The best so far has been Tierra Mar at the Atlantica in West Hampton. The worst by far was Seafood Barge in Port of Egypt marina. Not only was the food dismal, but they had the nerve to tack on a surcharge to 4 out of every 6 prix fixe menu selections. When we commented on this to the waitress, she made a snide comment about our being "price conscious". I had stopped recommending Seafood Barge to our B&B guests a few months ago when most of those we referred came back disappointed. This is really quite remarkable for a restaurant that had been for many years, one of the very best on the North Fork.
Thought you'd want to know.
Linda