Nicky’s Clam Bar

I’ve been coming here for 10 years for their steamers, beer, and seafood bisque. I take the train from Manhattan just to eat here in the summertime.

I absolutely love this place. Came here when it was just a little store for candy and Gas. To Nicky’s on the bay. To the NEW and improved Nicky’s on the bay. Great food! Great atmosphere!
Bartenders are awesome! Manager meets and greets. Makes you feel at home. Great spot! Go see for yourself! Cheers!

Fresh, delicious, great place! I can’t wait to go back!!! Absolutely a great find!!!

We missed our ferry, and so we decided to pop into Nicky’s Clam Bar for a quick drink before heading to Fire Island. This place was pretty cute! A decent amount of seating options for food, and then a small bar area. We all opted for the frozen margaritas– there were 3 flavors to choose from (I think Mango, Watermelon and Strawberry). They were made well but had a little too much ice in my opinion. Prices are a little expensive, but I guess that was to be expected with a location like this one (right by the ferries, tourist-​heavy).
Overall, a nice place to check out if you have some extra time before your Ferry ride and you want a quick drink or bite to eat.

after you have osofied burnt your brain and liver at Ocean Beach you end your journey getting off the ferry and heading across the parking lot to Nicky’s. Plop ur arse down and order some littlenecks RAW if you order them cooked we know you are a tourist! and get a side of bloodymarys. once done then go home and say what a fin good weekend on Fire Island!!!

Went for beers at Great South Bay and needed a nice small lunch for Valentine’s Day after. Pulled up to Nicky’s and my bf thought it was a dive grocery or something.
We walked in and almost all of the tables were taken, good sign. Took a look at the menu, a little higher priced than originally expected-​but the food smelled amazing and everyone looked happy eating it. So we decided to go for a bunch of appetizers, do a little sampling. Soup-​Pink Cream Bisque and Clam Chowder-​both of us licked our bowls, Oysters-​delicious, Calamari-​OMG so buttery and perfectly cooked, Crab Cakes-​a lot of meat and great tasting, Mussels– very large portion and big bites-​sauce was so/​so but good nonetheless. Very quick and attentive waitstaff. I’m not in this area often, but I would def come back.

$ 14 for an average sized cocktail at a divey restaurant. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, but no cocktail is worth $ 14.

Ate here on 8−31−14. had the lobster which first served raw. the second was boiled and i requested broiled. the waitress (who was very nice) said «I don’t know why but they have been sending use bad lobsters lately». I was wondering why the hell are you serving them??? They were suppose to be 1 ¼ they were less just by eye balling them. I believe I was ripped off and will not be going back there.

Nice atmosphere, good music, good food and good drinks! Food a bit pricey, but they paid for parking and half price beers from 3 – 6 even on a Sunday. A nice place to go with older children on a Sunday afternoon.

The chicken fingers are PROCESSED– what a delight to find after paying $ 11 for them with soggy fries. Make sure to check your food before heading on to the ferry. Rude managers as well.

This place is more of a shack than a restaurant, but the high prices and previous reviews suggest that Nicky’s might be a diamond in the rough … that was not our experience … 2 of us ordered chicken and 2 ordered seafood … both plates of chicken (which looked processed) were overly deep fried and the Fries tasted of chlorine … the two plates of seafood were bland with gritty unwashed clams. The food bill was over $ 100. As a local, there are too many good restaurants within a couple of miles … so skip this place, (unless you’re waiting for the ferry and completely ravenous) … PS service was mediocre.

Fun place with great water views. Fun attentive staff and fairly price given it’s location and short season

Very high prices for what it is. Food was so so. Beer for small draft was $ 6.25??? Seriously for that price should have come with better food and bar tenders with personality. I would skip this place for sure.

Pros: location
Cons: food, employes, and the price
I came here with a group of eight people. The staff is somewhat friendly, but they’re all high school students who look like try hate their jobs.
The food was one of the worst foods I have ever eaten. The price is of a five star restaurant while the food is of a one star restaurant. The food taste like they stole it from Denny’s. The pasta is so cheap and taste horrible.
2 stars it is… Only because of the location

If you’ve ever been to Fire Island, you probably took the ferry. And if you aren’t one of those freaks that owns a car, you probably take the LIRR to/​from Bay Shore to get back to civilization. Since the ferry schedule NEVER, EVER lines up with the LIRR schedule, you can choose to wait at the train station, or you can eat things at Nicky’s, situated directly across from the ferry.
I’m a fat boy, so I chose to eat things.
First off, I love that Nicky’s has a few local brews on tap. South Bay’s Blonde Ambition is solid, and I’m a fan of Fire Island’s signature Lighthouse Ale as well. Secondly, I will never go to a clam bar and not get baked clams. These turned out to be pretty mushy, but at least the flavor was there. A little lemon, a little hot sauce, I was happy.
Beyond beer and baked clams though, I was stumped. The menu is huge, and I didn’t know what else to get. I asked the surly bartender what was good, and she directed me toward the flounder wrap, which for some strange reason comes with American cheese. I like cheese on almost all things, but I tend to balk at American on seafood. So I asked them to hold the cheese.
It came with the cheese. I would’ve missed my train if I sent it back, so I just ate the thing. And I want to go on record as standing by my original belief that American cheese has no place on seafood.

Location, location, location. That’s about all Nicky’s has going for it. Right on the Great South Bay. Poor, inattentive service. Food quality is very mediocre. «Buckets» of beer are actually mini 7 oz. beers. Prices of food increased across the board after Hurricane Sandy. Best to come here for a drink and then walk around the boardwalk/​beach area, or hop on a ferry to Fire Island.

Conveniently located across the street from the ferries and with a walk up window brings me here two years in a row while waiting for the ferry or heading back to the airport. Ive had the Clam Chowder, which was delicious and the lobster roll this past visit. The lobster roll was FULL of lobster and served on a soft and chewy roll. I saw someone else get an egg sandwich, and that looked tasty as well. I would highly recommend the Lobster Roll, yes it has an $ 18 price tag, but I think it was well worth the money! The ice coffees are really good as well.

I can’t believe people are raving about this place. The atmosphere/​location is great; I’ll agree. However, I think a lot of people are being mindf#%ed by the beautiful scenery. The menu described the shrimp in the scampi as «enormous». WTF? They came out and they weren’t even jumbo shrimp. The prices are terribly high for the quality of the food being served. I wouldn’t mind a single bit, if the food was fine quality food. I ordered an unsweetened iced tea. The waitress did not bring sweeteners along with it, and by the time she did the ice had all melted.
The owner walked right by me when I was exiting and didn’t say, «Goodnight.» I thought this was restaurant ownership 101. Very ungrateful and unprofessional. $ 16.00 at the bar for a Bud Light Lime and a vodka tonic. The hostess station was filled with aloof texters.
Bring back the old Seafood Shack that served a mean breakfast on Sundays. The food was mostly fried, but the prices matched the fare.
The extra star was for the location.

After a lovely relaxing afternoon of sunning out on the beaches of Fire Island, we were ready for a seafood feast. I love coming out to the seashore because nothing beats really fresh seafood being eaten right off the pier.
Unilocal led us to Nicky’s Clam Bar. It’s a small place — a large shack really. You have your choice of all different kinds of seafood (scallops, clams, shrimp, lobster, crab, etc), but we elected for clams.
We got an order of fried clams and a full order of steamers. The steamers were a real treat. I’ve never had soft shelled clams before. A full order is a huge platter of steamed clams. This type of clam has a long siphon (or neck as they call it) dangling out and frankly it looks like a dark phallus. You pull the body out of its shell. Then you grab the skin at the base of the siphon and pull it off (I remarked to my bf that this looks like a circumcision and you’re pulling off the foreskin) and you’re left with a naked pale meat with a black tip.
Next you dip in the clam broth and then in the melted golden pool of butter. Pop it into your mouth and enjoy the sweet meat with its briny taste. Both of us recommend the steamers over the fried clams.
The clams can vary in size and some are quite big. If you want to know if size matters in this case. .. well, all I can say is that your miles may vary. I preferred the small clams as I thought the meat was sweeter. My bf was happy with the large clams.
Rarely we get dessert, but homemade pies are hard to pass up. We got a slice of strawberry rhubarb with chocolate ice cream. I love that they warmed the pie without us telling them to do so. This is a place that knows what they’re doing. The pie was delicious. Sweet, but not overly so.
Nicky’s, you can bet that we’ll be back before the summer is over.

This review is for the CLAM BAR, since that is the heading under which this restaurant operates.
This place looks like a sunny, friendly, potentially touristy (hence mediocre) diner, but is totally hardcore; they open every day at 6 a.m. and immediately start serving whatever is printed on their menus… including fresh RAW hard-​shelled clams on the half shell!
Cleverly located right across from the ferry port in Bay Shore Long Island, this place has an express window, proper seating, and chairs along a long, wooden bar.
Though I had only 20 minutes until my ferry to Fire Island, I took a seat at the bar to avoid the to-​go line and got a nice young waitress to serve me stat. In her effort to be enthusiastic, she accidentally chucked a laminated menu at me across the bar, then later, slid a plate with a dozen clams on ice so fast and hard that one of the big ones leapt off the plate (but, luckily enough for us all, stayed upright and edible).
For $ 17-​something after tips and tax (believe it or not, well worth it), I got four little briny cherrystones, four candy-​colored littlenecks, and four sumptuous top necks. They were fresh, delicious, and cold as the sea, and left behind a comforting aftertaste that evoked clam chowder and a cold cup of cream.
So no, it wasn’t too early in the morning for raw clams. Clams are the new oysters, people! Being a savorer of food, I deeply regretted bolting the sweet morsels down so disgracefully and even offloading a couple onto my scavenger friends before making a mad dash for the ferry.
They sell t-​shirts here that have the ferry schedule printed upside-​down on the stomach (so you can look down at your belly and read it). For a local, this tee would be essential, because it would be damn easy to forget all about your trip and while away the entire day at Nicky’s raw bar, one dozen clams at a time…