JL Prime 103, The Hamptons
Granted my expectations were very low. I did like the feel of the place when we walked in the door. Nice long bar, spacious, airy. Truth is, this restaurant could have been anywhere.
It could have been the awful service, it could have been the fact that taking our order or even a drink order was obviously not high on anyone’s list, it could have been that they kept asking if they could pour us water, it could could have been that some of the food came cold and was cold on the second arrival too, it could have been that it our meal took almost 3 hours and would have been longer if we had ordered dessert, it could have been any of those things but at the end of the day, for me, it was about the food.
The menu is seriously all over the place. Sushi, steak, pasta, seafood, salads, veal, pork, you name it. Let’s make sure we cover all the bases. I figured ordering one of the special salads to start was probably a safe bet and more than likely the best thing. I had a baby arugula salad with blue berries, goat cheese and a champagne vinaigrette. A whopping mound of arugula tossed in a bowl, I am sure there was a vinaigrette in there because the goat cheese clumped together throughout the salad, and the blueberries sank to the bottom due to the wrong type of bowl the salad was served in. Two other people got the iceberg salad. A big wedge of iceberg greens with a vinaigrette that had a variety of different things chopped up in it. I didn’t taste it but the visual was very unappealing.
When a restaurant is called Prime, I figured sticking with steak was the best call. I ordered a prime rib, on the bone. Probably one of the most flavorful cuts of meat. Someone else went with the sirloin, another had the veal chop and another had the marinated pork chop. The pork chop came out too well done and was sent back. He got it back by the time we had all finished although we did attempt to take our time. The veal chop was OK but nothing spectacular. The rib eye was tasteless, literally. I kept putting salt on the meat in an attempt to bring out whatever flavor was in there but alas, there was none.
I had ordered a mixture of mushrooms on the side, no garlic please. The waiter looked at me liked I had four heads. I know why because when I got the mushrooms because they were also tasteless. Obviously garlic was there choice of flavor with the mushrooms and sides. We also had some onions rings which were quite good if they had only come hot. We sent them back the first time for another dish, preferably warm but they came back colder on the second try. These would have been yummy. Thinly sliced vidallia onions with a crispy coating and deep fried.
We bagged dessert because nothing was truly appealing. Also, we basically had to ask to order something to drink and order a meal. Nobody ever came back and asked if we wanted a second bottle or anything else. Even another bottle of Pelligrino would have been nice.
The prices are outrageous for bad food. OK, OK, it is the Hamptons but if you are paying $40 for a steak, it should be good, right?
Another totally disappointing restaurant in the Hamptons. I am sticking to the home cooking and the local dives.