A Tale of Two Restaurants, North Fork Long Island

Although I have never been a restauranteur I have been an entrepreneur since dinosaurs roamed the earth.
My head spins when I see totally stupid moves by business owners.
Case in point:
Sound Bistro took over the Lobster Roll spot in Baiting Hollow. They opened at the beginning of the Season. I could tell that they were not quite ready to do business: Ill maintained parking lot, same old shabby curtains. too few (mostly inexperienced) servers, closed Tuesdays.
On the upside the food is great and much better than the old Lobster Roll.
Last week, at the height of the North Fork pumpkin picking season when Sound Ave is like Times Square, they decided to close on Wednesday too.
I fond this out when I called to make a reservation for a large group lunch for Wednesday. I was baffled so I asked why: “I don’t know.”
Who would know? “I don’t know. Hold on.”
Manager picks up: “Why are you closing two days a week at the height of the season when the roads are full of tourists?”
“All of our help went back to school.”
All I can think is: Great planning. Bush league amateur hour.
On the other hand:
Il Giardino also opened at the beginning of the season. Also closed on Tuesdays.
We had dinner there Saturday evening. The place was packed. Adequate amount of help and running very smoothly. Fabulous food and service. The owner working the dining room to make sure all was well. BRAVO!!!

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Exact same post on CH and here?

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It’s a shame to run a seasonal restaurant and not to know what that means! You gotta make hay while the sun shines.

I get the feeling he bought the place because he thought it would be “fun” to own a restaurant :wink: I mean, he’s a nice guy and all but…good thing the old chef stayed on.

I am glad Motosport is posting here as well. We need to beef up LI here.

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I second that!

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Yes, is that a problem. I see very few posts on this site. A dedicated Long Island section might help.

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If LI people, as you do, would start posting here we could build up LI. CH does not have a dedicated LI board, but they do,have a lot more LI action. I’d love to,have more LI discussions here!!!

@coll @Gastronomos @motosport if you can commit to invite the entire LI group here and start posting here so there are active conversations, we can create a LI board no problem.

Its just in the past people asked for and got a board, but didn’t post much. Most of the time its because the most important step, which is inviting and getting all active participants to post on the board, was overlooked.

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I was under the impression that you wanted to be different and better than CH.
I once heard: “If you build it, they will come.”

I don’t care about chowhound. I am committed to building HO. Do you have anyone you can interest and start a conversation here?

Unfortunately I do not.
Then again, I rarely see new NYC posts. I don’t have an answer to this dilemma.

Well, keep,posting here too. Maybe it will help. I do enjoy your posts.

Which I found to be quite untrue in general. (Otherwise we won’t need marketing as a profession!) Need at least a small initial critical mass- a few people to get going.

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I answered your question:. “Yes, is that a problem?”. Please answer mine.

I will take a stab and answer your question even though your question wasn’t directed at me.

I am only aware of a few LI users here. You, Coll, Gastronomos, Stonesoup. Nothing wrong about posting similar content on both sites. But since more LI users are more active on Chowhound, there isn’t a reason to post here if they can respond to the same content on Chowhound. Just human inertia.

I am checking in here every day, but hesitate to start many posts on my end. The two closest suburban regions to Long Island (you know who you are!) have not received my comments warmly and a couple of posters were downright hostile to me when I intruded in their “territory”. Who knew Long Island wasn’t part of “New York”? Our region’s posts and posters are growing though, albeit very slowly. It will all happen in its own time I am sure.

And I must give thanks to the moderators back in the very beginning for adding the name “Long Island” in our group, after I mentioned this. You have been more than helpful, and I’m glad to see things are coming along for all of us!

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I did respond to your question but this wacky site did not show it as much.
I posted to both in the hope that there were different foodies on HO but apparently not.
Sometimes I’ll also copy the post to Yelp if appropriate.
It’s all good.

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@coll @motosport @StoneSoup
This makes 4 of us.
The posts on Chowhound are seen by many lurkers that will post only on rare occasion on the LI board, staying closer to their baking club groups.

Here we have 4 of us.

The only mass of Long Islanders I’ve seen congregate is on the improperly named “Tri-State restaurant club” on facebook. That has thousands of people incessantly lauding every nook and cranny of the wild generic mediocrity out here. A bad review is met with wild criticism and a multitude of follow up posts about writing a bad review. The gist of which is, don’t shit on my parade, if you have nothing but extreme praise for the shit-on-a-shingle, say nothing at all.

Restaurant critics need not apply.

I, personally, am interested in finding places to eat. I am seeking the advise of like-minded people to help me get to the good stuff. I also share a few things when I find them. Newly opened places and such. Some of which is written up in the food section of Newsday.

Generic mediocrity on Long Island is a way of life.
Out east, on the North Fork, by @coll and @motosport, there’s also a different culture.

Us Nassau County residents live in the shadow of NYC. Queens having some of the best eats around. And that’s the boros of NYC, not Long Island.

I wish I had an answer

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This does make it difficult. When we lived in Queens, we drove out to Long Island frequently for shopping and general errand running, but rarely ate out there beyond the occasional trip to a chain or fast food place for lunch. We simply had better options in Queens. I have had good meals out on the Eastern end of Long Island, but that’s quite a haul from the city.

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