Buoy One

Cute casual place for lunch after shopping at the outlets. We sat outside on their patio on a gorgeous day and service was very friendly. Menu has a little bit of everything at every price point.
My hubby got their signature cocktail made with Sag Harbor Rum and was a very happy camper. We started with a pound of large cocktail shrimp. It took a while to come out and we soon discovered why… they were way over cooked, which made them tough and a major disappointment. Our main meals made up for it though! My husband loved his fried oyster po boy and the fried whole clams were big and delivered plenty on flavor.
I’d come back here again for the laid back atmosphere and good casual seafood. Next time we will skip the simply done stuff and stick to tried and true fried seafood.

I found this restaurant on Unilocal,saw the good reviews and immediately drove over from the hotel. We started with the little necks. They were about as good as they should be on Long Island, meaning that they were delicious.
I ordered the salmon special which was a crazy good chunk of salmon. This was not the lame frozen piece of fish you get at TGI Friday’s. I’m talking about a real salmon steak that you get right off the boat. I could be wrong, but this looked and tasted like fresh fish.
My buddy ordered calamari that was essentially noodles and grilled calamari in broth. It looked good.

Stop with the oysters all ready. Too good… Take out is great too!

Not sure how someone can make fried sea food uneatable. Everything were over coated and over cooked.
Clam chowder was very thick and tasteless. Most of food was left untouched.
Two stars for nothing.

Place looks like a dump and can use a major facelift. The food was fresh and decent and the prices reasonable.
There are certainly better fish restaurants and places to buy fish on the east end.

WHAT? No free refills???
The food here wasn’t bad: I had a shrimp po’ boy sandwich that had a small handful of shrimp accompanied by flavorful cole slaw. Service was okay but nothing special. Overall, while the restaurant options around Riverhead appear to be quite limited, if you’re starving and want okay food, this is your place. If you can hold out for another 30+ minutes, seek other options.

Great casual dining. Everything was cooked perfectly. The lobster hot pot was fantastic and so were the French fries!

While brewery crawling in Riverhead, Bonnie G. and I got the urge for seafood and the closest entry was Buoy One. We passed this place in the past but decided today was the day to stop and give it a go. BO is extra casual located inside a white warehouse which includes a fish market and I am thinking a wholesale fish operation. Upon entering we see the fish counter on the right and the dining room to the left which has around 10 tables or so. We were in the mood to dine on appys which is just what we did…
*1 dozen Top Necks — delicious, fresh right out of the water
* Fried Whole Clams — belly clams fried to perfection
* 1 lb. Steamers– great but didnt look like a pound! The broth was just hot water… a bummer if you like to drink it.
* bowl of white NE clam chowder — great taste but lite on clams
* Caesars Salad — taste ok but not worth $ 6.95
Service was great and waitress very helpful and friendly. I recommend the raw offerings. Saw Oysters which looked really nice also. We will return to BO again next time in Riverhead!

Always love my visits here. The New England clam chowder is to die for. You come wanting everything on the menu but whatever you choose is never disappointing you leave FULL, happy and like you did a good deed to your insides. Will write more when have time.

One of the best seafood values you’ll find. Family atmosphere. Hot pot is amazing + Cobb Salad is very nice with grilled shrimp atop.
Steve M

A convenient little stop after shopping at the outlets. Craving seafood, we stumbled across this place on Unilocal.Based on Unilocal reviews alone, this place seemed like a hidden gem, with its garage looking exterior, and 4 star reviews. HOWEVER, I came in craving snow crab legs and not only were they the smallest legs I’ve ever seen but they actually clipped off 2 legs. Our waitress although kind, not once asked us how our food was. The food was definitely not the best I’ve ever had, even from a smaller scale resturaunt.

We come here for their clam bake at least twice a year. It’s excellent. Lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams. I’ve had other items on the menu and have always been happy with the way they come out. This time we got the «Painkiller» cocktail — rum based, and excellent. Not a fancy place. Music is on, so you can talk and not feel overheard. They’re nice to kids.

Not sure what all the hype is about this place??? I had the lobster meal and a pound of shrimp for $ 53 that’s expensive!!!
The lobster was good but the shrimp was tasteless. Plenty of parking, limited seating good looking servers…

Steamed/​boiled seafood tastes almost the same everywhere, no? It’s just this place was not exactly the most memorable but also was not too bad.
Small, christmas lights-​lit place. Their homemade apple crust pie was really really good but their cheesecake was umm… not quite a cheesecake at all? Avoid the cheesecake at all costs.

This restaurant came on the recommendation of one of my wife’s coworkers. The building looks like an old garage, but don’t be fooled. We were seated outside and that would be good considering or dinner companion had her four year old with her. The wait staff was friendly and very helpful with said four year old.
Food was excellent.

This place is my new favorite seafood restaurant. Unfortunately, we do not live close to it so it will have to be a special trip anytime we go. My fiancé and I spent the day visiting some wineries and wanted a great seafood meal. He found this place online (tripadvisor) when searching top rated seafood places. It’s not fancy but the food was fresh and very delicious. Like I said, it’s not a fancy restaurant atmosphere but the service was great and the food is amazing. The price is definitely great when considering the quality and portions. I wasn’t sure what to expect since they serve the food in tin pans/​plates but I am now convinced that a regular plate wouldn’t be appropriate.
There is an indoor dining area with about 12 tables and there is a patio area with at least a dozen tables I think (we sat inside). The two waitresses were busy but our waitress made sure to acknowledge that we were waiting and constantly checked in with us throughout our dining experience. We ordered the fried calamari, pound of steamers, pound (30) of medium fried shrimp, one side of fried clams and one side French fries. The «side» portions are a decent price and definitely enough to share. My fiancé went to heaven when biting into the «fresh» shrimp. I absolutely loved the fried clams, can’t stop thinking about how good they were. The pound of steamers came with about 25 steamers, give or take; It was a good amount and I didn’t feel cheated. I saw a recent review of someone complaining that they didn’t feel they got an appropriate amount of steamers or clams, I did not have that problem. Even the French fries were tasteful, no salt or anything needed. I love seafood and there is really only one local restaurant that we usually go to and that I rave about but, Buoy One definitely is better when it comes to the menu options and pricing. We live in Nassau County but I’m already trying to figure out how to find the time or reason to drive all the way to Riverhead again just so we can go back to Buoy One.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because the seats were a little uncomfortable at first and the place could use a little updating, I think there was a hole in the ceiling.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering… They do have their own parking lot which is a bonus. Being on Main Street, a lot of the local bars and restaurants had street parking.

3.5 stars… Come here every time we go to the outlets or the aquarium and food never disappoints.
Favorites are:
Asian mussels
Raw Oysters
Pistachio crusted anything
Fried baskets
Coleslaw
New England cam chowder
Minus 1.5 stars bc:
Serrvice can be slow
Not sure what’s up with the tin plates
They stopped serving sea scallops
Shrimp not cleaned in clambakes

Thank you Unilocal for steering me in the right direction! We came here for dinner after hanging out and wine tasting.
One of my goals while visiting the North Fork was to get some fresh and delicious seafood and Buoy One did not disappoint. I had the clam bake which I still think about often. For $ 26.00 you get lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams, corn and a potato. So flippin’ good.
They have a lot of seafood options and a nice beer and cocktail menu too. Don’t miss out. This was totally casual satisfying dining.

Stopped by this place for dinner after a long day of outlet shopping, what a surprise. It’s a seafood market/​small restaurant and all the locals seem to go to. Seafood was super fresh with reasonable prices.
Fried Cod Sandwich — nice and flaky, fries are great. Cheap.
linguine with white clam sauce — dish was good, bread was delicious, but they added cheese in prior to serving which I thought was a no no.
Buoy One Clam Bake — what they are known for. Pretty good — you get a small lobster, steamed clams/​shrimp/​steamers, corn, and a potato.
Buoy One Seafood Platter — all fried and a huge serving. You get everything in this dish, also a good dish to share in the middle of the table.
New England Clam Chowder — I didn’t have any but table enjoyed it.
It’s a tiny place so expect to wait if you have a large group. Probably best for 2 – 4 people. Bottle of wines start from $ 23 and white $ 20, with a pitcher of beer for $ 15. Service was attentive but it does get pretty loud. Definitely worth a try if you’re in the area.

Buoy One would make a great trucker’s ham radio handle. I can imagine the buoy one truck trucking through the night with only the freshest seafood, depositing the goods in the morning and moving on to the next stop.
Perhaps something like that actually happens or my imagination gets the best of me: either way, if passing through the Riverhead area a stop at Buoy One will not disappoint.
We had finished up at Tanger Outlets and were looking for a nearby non-​chain stop for lunch. Only about five minutes from Tanger, Buoy One is on 25 and has a private parking lot, perfect for those who don’t really like having to search for street parking.
From the outside the place looks like a restaurant may not even be inside but walk through the doors and you’ll see to the left several tables and the right a place to order actual seafood for your own culinary experiments.
The staff was youthful and friendly, a reminder that not all the under 30s are corrupt narcissists unable to interact outside a smartphone screen. Genuine smiles, eye contact and enunciation were all present as opposed to robotic misery.
We received both the dinner menu and a shorter list of lunch only options. The extra lunch options are mainly panini and a seafood burger. Buoy One has a surprisingly large cocktail list, with such clever names as «Gin the Navy». For the sake of the pun alone I would have ordered this if I was going to imbibe.
We started with the New England clam chowder and it was by far some of the finest outside of New England proper. Chunks of potatoes and clam in almost every bite, the bowl was quickly devoured. I saw other tables ordering containers of this white gold to go and I certainly understand why. I’ve had clam chowders that tend to the watery but not so the Buoy One: it’s densely packed with potato chunks and clams.
There are days when you want to maintain the façade of a healthy diet and perhaps opt for a lunch salad or grilled chicken sandwich. This was not such a day as the Buoy One Seafood Basket (BOSB) in all its fried glory forced me to cast aside good health for good eats.
Staring into my platter I realized the only item not fried was the lemon wedge. (I had moved the cole slaw to the side) The roll call of fried objects is as follows: fried filet, shrimp, scallops, clam strips and french fries.
My wife one upped me and had the Fisherman’s Basket which added onion rings, calamari and whole clams instead of strips.
For 11.95, this basket of fried goodness was a challenge to complete in its entirety only because I had underestimated the tastiness and was also surprisingly full from the chowder.
I managed to devour the scallops, shrimp and clam strips but had to wrap up the bulk of the fries and filet. As far as fried food is concerned there wasn’t any excess grease at all. I could have kept popping this finger friendly food if I hadn’t hit the wall.
Too full for dessert, I surrendered, exited the premises and then saw a nearby ice cream shop that was extremely tempting. Next time!
The baskets could be shared between two or had by one if you are extremely hungry. I’d easily come back for another round of chowder and to try out the other menu items. During our lunch visit every table was eventually occupied so this place has all the markings of a busy spot. Plan accordingly.