Wander Inn

Just okay. Nothing to write home about and nothing I would recommend to anyone. Not surprised that this place isn’t doing well anymore. Just not what it used to me

I used to really enjoy going to the Wander Inn. We are members of their rewards club. Now after the last few visits, I can clearly say that we will not be returning. The device is slow and very impersonal. It got to the point where we ask for the check (almost) right after we order. The waitress is very hard to locate! We usually order the seafood for two. but the costly entrée has become very skimpy on seafood. Overall, not enjoyable.

My wife and I went to dinner yesterday to wander inn with a groupon certificate. The restaurant itself is OK looking if not a bit dark and drab. We started out with a French onion soup which was excellent. We then ordered two dinners of eggplant parm and spaghetti and meatballs with eggplant that came with salads. The Caesar salad was good however the house salad was uninspired and rather drab. The eggplant parm was Ok but was rather salty. The spaghetti with meatballs was OK but not great. Service was very good and was responsive. The price to value ratio is about average for this type of restaurant. All in all this was an OK experience and I will be returning in the near future.

Not one of my more favored places, but since friends like it and it’s located half way between where we live, I’ll go; but inwardly hope my friends would pick or find some place else. I suggest other places to no avail. I’ve ordered many Wander Inn dishes, the chicken parm, veal parm, spaghetti and meatballs or sausage or white clam sauce, penne vodka, tortellini, french onion soup and am still trying to find an entrée that’s good. The Caesar salad is good. On a number of occasions, I left over food despite being hungry. The vegetables are overcooked and limp. Even the bread in the basket is subpar. The wait staff service can be spotty. I guess its popular with the locals out of either convenience or tradition.

It was my first time here (and my parents and Aunt used to come 20 – 25 years ago.)
We ordered fried calamari. It was perfectly done. Crispy and hot.
Then we waited 15 minutes, the waiter came over and said our food would be out shortly when my aunt responded saying «Where are our salads?» And he looked so embarrassed and brought our salads right out.
The Caesar salad was delicious and the dressing was great. The house salads were good too with balsamic vinegarette.
Next our entrees came, my aunt got the chicken francaise, which was probably the best entrée that we ordered. It was tender and the sauce was good. My dad ordered the Veal Parm, he said it was good but it needed to be pounded out more with a meat tenderizer. I got the penne ala vodka. Not all vodka sauces are the same, I know that but this one was a yellow color. It almost tastes more like a pasta with cheddar cheese and smokey bacon, not vodka sauce with prosciutto. My mom ordered the Eggplant Parm. It had a very funny taste. Even just having your face over it was bad. The waiter kindly exchanged it for a Chicken Parm to go.
The waiter was very nice. He refilled our drinks a few times.
We have plenty of family and friends who live in Baldwin and love this place but we unfortunately left unimpressed. I think we need to figure out what’s the good items to order.

I recently visited Wander Inn for my godmother’s bridal party. Although it is an Italian restaurant, its old wooden décor made me feel as if I was in one of the first Outbacks ever made. You know the picture of the very first restaurant you see hanging up when you visit a restaurant with the owners standing in front with hats & suspenders, looking like cowboys from the early 1900s? Well that’s the feel I got from this place.
The party was held in their party room in the back. There were about 50 of us in there comfortably. The owner and staff were very friendly and accommodating from the very begining. I just wasn’t a fan of the food but mostly everyone else really enjoyed it.
We had a buffet style setup for the food. I tried the eggplant parmigiana, chicken smothered in a mushroom sauce, the shrimp scampi with broccoli and pasta and the salad. I personally didn’t like the sauce in the eggplant parmigiana; I don’t like mushroom and the mushroom taste was too overwhelming; The scampi was too buttery, and I didn’t like the balsamic vinaigrette for the salad but they gave me French instead.
I probably won’t return to this restaurant but the shower went very well.

Got the the restaurant walked in and there was no hostess two people at the bar looked at us then one sat us (waitress not hostess). Food was ok nothing special. Salad barely had dressing on it had to get more which didn’t make it any better. Staff was nice but the were standing around talking instead of making sure everything was good. I asked for more water and got it right before we were leaving. I would have preferred one of the staff to walk around with a water pitcher than a new glass. Needless to say I won’t be returning

I have been going to the Wander Inn since I was a child. The food WAS good once. Wander Inn its time to spend some money on a new cook, new help and a makeover. With all the GREAT restaurants on Long Island there is no reason to keep going back to the shitty ones. The chicken and eggplant parm is still yummy but I will take it to go. You guys really need to clean up your act…

Why does The Wander Inn have so many filtered reviews?
There are 50 filtered reviews and 9 real reviews for you to read…
Make sure you read all of them… Seems like someone has it out for the Wander Inn, while that shouldn’t be the case, since it’s been a long standing excellent restaurant in Baldwin for NUMEROUS years!!!
Excellent Staff & Service — Great place for parties as well!

My family used to go to this place all the time when I was a kid and I was happy to go back as an adult to be surprised how good the food was. I heard they got a new chef, and everything we had was pretty great. I highly recommend the shrimp scampi. Pizza is good as well.
The décor hasn’t change in twenty years and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Staff is friendly.

Very good pizza, above average chicken parm and pasta with garlic/​oil, and OUTRAGEOUS garlic bread drenched in butter and topped with cheese. Sooo good. They also have a small but decent wine and beer selection, as well as rotating seasonal beers on tap. Nice family place, very friendly waitstaff and bartenders.

This place went downhill. We come here for the seafood pasta dish and split it because it is so huge but after this time we were quite disappointed and don’t think we will be returning. They skimped on the portion, and they were missing crab legs so our waiter said that they would compensate with the other fish, well there was practically no fish in there. The portion was almost half the size it used to be and for being over $ 35 there should be a buttload of fish in there. The sauce was bland and tasted fake. The chicken cutlet parm was not bad but still the sauce was sub par.
They really need a restaurant makeover.

Not worth the wait. Although the lobster and shrimp cocktail was fresh, the meal was not worth the slow service.
I felt like I was in an episode of Restaurant: Impossible.

Dirty dishes. Diner-​quality food (at best). Uncomfortable seating. Skip it.

We came here earlier this year with wonderful expectations. We were told that the food was enjoyable (damn if I remember specifically what we had at the time) — all I can say is the garlic bread was wonderful. Not exactly sure how they prepare the garlic bread, but the bread is practically drenched in butter, garlic and who knows what else and it is topped off with a frothy garlic butter. I could make a meal out of this alone. The rest, we were left unimpressed with.
Then, not too long ago, we were invited to a friend’s birthday party here. Not only did they have the wonderful garlic bread (which I ended up stealing from multiple tables at the party. I also got to enjoy their sausage and peppers which were very tasty and a few other dishes. The food this time was enjoyable.
It’s also nice to know that they have room for a private party of about 50 to 75 people. On top of that, they have what looks to be a very friendly bar staff, and I wouldn’t mind coming back for some drinks and possibly some appetizers (and yes, the garlic bread too).

My inlaws have always spoken very fondly of this restaurant so, I was very excited to finally have them take me there. Very strange looking place to me — the bar up front is old looking and you can play quick draw, which I didn’t know existed anymore. The dining room evokes an image of a midwestern family restaurant that tries to make «homemade» italian food — not sure that makes sense, but that’s how I see this place.
As for the food — southern italian plus lobsters. My father in law and I split a pizza and eggplant parmagiana. The pizza was decent — thin crust with a good crunch, but lacking the flavor of a really good coal or wood fired pizza. The eggplant was a little on the oily side, but the sauce had a nice tomato flavor. Wife had a lobster-​scampi-​like dish over pasta. This just tasted like pasta, oil and butter — it left a film on the top of my mouth — I would have been really disappointed if this were my main dish. Mother-​in-​law had a steamed lobster — I didn’t taste, but she didn’t say it was dry, so I assume it was cooked well.
I didn’t see the final bill, but most entrees were between $ 15-​$ 25. It’s a local place that caters to locals. I don’t think I stuck out like a sore thumb but if I lived near here, I probably wouldn’t frequent it. The food was passable but not really my type of restaurant. I’d lump this in the same category as Popeis and I think the food at Popeis is far superior.

I have been to the Wander Inn three times. The Lobster was great and so was the pasta. The only thing I didn’t care for during my last visit was the spaghetti and meatball. The meatball tasted underdone and had very little flavor. I guess the thing to do is to stick to the seafood. Looking at some of the other reviews, I have to wonder if these folks are being straight or just giving good reviews because they work or know people there.

Today my wife received a «one free entrée» coupon for her birthday month of July. Who’s better than them.