Living in NYC, you are spoiled by having the best restaurants right outside your door. Since the Hamptons are essentially an extension of the City, you would think it would be the same, but it's the opposite. This falls into the category of overhyped, underperforming. Yes, the restaurant is helmed by a Michelin star chef, but I can tell you right now, he won't be receiving another Michelin star for Blu Mar. Everything was a total disaster here.
We arrive to a nearly empty restaurant at 7:35 p.m. on a Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. reservation. Our table is not ready. Puzzled faced amongst our group. After hanging out at the bar for a whopping 10 minutes, we are seated. This reminds me of the clubs with the long line and you get inside to see it empty. Nonetheless by 8:00 p.m. the place is PACKED, so packed that things start to look frantic. There is not a huge bar area and people are standing around blocking the way of the servers. Speaking of which, the tables here are packed so closely together that they kick your chair nonstop throughout dinner. It wasn't just us, several tables had to rearrange their seating because they were constantly kicked. At this point, service becomes nonexistent. It took almost 45 minutes to get appetizers that were likely already prepared (hummus plate). Plus, this was after flagging down several individuals to ask what is going on. Our drinks were empty long before the apps arrived and no one came by to see if we wanted another.
It's almost 90 minutes after we ordered when our entrees arrived and they were not what we ordered. We received the swordfish rather than swordfish kebabs. I hate capers, and the swordfish comes in a lemon caper sauce, which was why I didn't order that. I didn't send it back, because they said it would take at least 15 minutes and at this point I couldn't wait to get out of there. My husband ordered a medium steak, which was grossly overpriced at $68 for NY strip. Calling it rare is an understatement, it was nearly raw. The outside was still red. That had to go back and I felt terrible because he was STARVING. Additionally, the lamb was undercooked. Honestly shocking anything was undercooked considering the long wait for entrees.
The silver lining was that at the end of the meal they didn't charge us for the swordfish, but really, that was their own fault. The rest of the food was average. The hummus was good, but the pita was hard and seemed like it was left in the oven too long to warm up. We also had lamb chops which were fine. The carrot side order was also just fine. I felt like they should have offered a free round of drinks or anything else to make up for the disastrous meal we had. With the long wait for food there were several conversations about leaving and going to the McDonald's in Southampton, and it all seriousness, they probably would have been a more satisfying meal, which means a lot considering I am not a fan of fast food.
Clearly, they are just interested in being a seen and be seen restaurant in the Hamptons, which is fine, if that is your thing. I'll admit, it's a beautiful space. However, there are restaurants with both good food AND a scene, so you're probably better off there. This really makes me miss EMP Summer House. read more