Grants Place

I had gone to Grant’s place when it first opened, and honestly was disappointed. It wasn’t the food, as I loved 552 which formerly was located here. The food was very good. It was the fact that it turned into a sports bar and I’m not one for sports bars. There were a few unruly patrons in the bar screaming the «F» word while I was having a relatively expensive dinner with my wife in the dining area. I vowed to not return. However, on a recent Friday night we felt like trying something different so we decided to give it another shot. I am so glad we did! My wife had the Philly cheese steak which was phenomenal, and I had the gyro sandwich which was equally great! There was a really good musician in the bar, and we had some excellent cocktails and a really good inexpensive bottle of wine. A totally different experience than the first time. We will definitely come back and try some other dishes. I look forward to having many nights of fun and good food at Grant’s Place!

Good people, good vibe but Grants Place is confused. Sports bar? Tapas? Lounge? Cocktail Bar? Food is moderate, nothing special and in St James you have to stand out. Would love to see this location make a firm decision for what they «want to be.» Extra star for a above average happy hour.

My husband and I came here for dinner. He had been here a few years ago, and did not realize it had changed hands. I had the chicken Marsala and he had stuffed fillet. Food was ok, a little pricey, and the mashed potatoes were good but cold. The plus was we were the only people in the dining room, and it was not loud and crowded. We would not go out of our way to come back.

This review is strictly based off of the comments and responses I just read. My boyfriend and I, as well as another couple plan on coming in this Saturday to experience it for the first time. The owner already makes me laugh and I think I met him before when I ran in a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night to grab a gift card. He was super quick and friendly. Hoping Saturday will be a great experience as I live 3 minutes down the road!

Ate at Grants Friday night. Had the Clam Pot. Full of steamed little necks over a bed of noodles in a Clam broth. Very tasty. Perfect amount of food. I’ve had the seafood platter as well. Live music was a 3 piece group that sounded awesome. Fun atmosphere.

Omg yummy!!! Have been there twice! Went on a Saturday night, great music, and the friendliest atmosphere, can’t see how anyone could have such a negative experience as depicted in some of the reviews. At any rate the bar was packed, I enjoyed a delicious juicy burger and nachos. Bartenders were hysterical and attentive and there were games like connect four and scrabble in a more relaxed lounge. Super cute, I’ll be returning to taste some perogis

Went into Grants Place Friday night for Happy Hour with girlfriends. The place was crowded and they had live music. The place had a nice vibe to it. Bartenders were nice. Had the meditarianian plate with the pot stickers. Both were tasty. The new lounge room is awesome. Very comfortable. Like this place a lot and not to mention the awesome board games in the lounge room, they have Jenga and connect four!!!

Since the owner disagrees with my review ill happily mention everything i decided to leave out. 1. Ordered the perogies without sausage. But no where on the menu did it state that there was meat in the sauce itself. Clearly, i mentioned being a vegetarian to the waitress because nowhere in my post did i mention that. and its not my fault that your menu and waitstaff is not aware of what is in your dishes. She also mentioned it was the second time it waa returned that day. My complaint was about the perogies being mush and overcooked. I reviewed nothing about meat. Secondly my boyfriend ordered a captain and coke and recieved a jack and coke and 3^rd we ordered fries which never arrived. We didn’t make a big deal out of it because it wasnt on the bill. But since you such excellent customer service i am happy to add to my review of your sad excuse of a restraunt. Dont claim to make everything fresh in house while using store bought pretzels. We will NEVER be back.

So I have been there several times since he opened and liked the owner and loved a previous restaurant so keep trying. Like the owner but being an owner of
several restaurants thought he just needed time to learn. Not so. The staff was a joke from my first visit. Tonight we went for dinner but had to leave before I finished my drink. The bartender was smoking her vapor thing at a bar table when we arrived. We sat and her accent is so strong we could not even understand her. The SMELL FROM THAT smokeless CIGARETTE WAS SO STRONG WE HAD TO LEAVE. I so wanted this place to work.

First time at Grant’s place. I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered a veggie burger and it was delicious. It was actually a homemade quinoa black bean burger not something out of the freezer section that a lot of restaurants do. I was pleased they had a nice selection for a vegetarian. My husband had wings while watching football and it was great. I hope more people try them out!

Tried it, didn’t like it. We’ve been to every restaurant that’s been at this location for the last 10 years and I don’t think this one will be there too much longer. We arrived on a Friday night at about 7, there were just a few people at the bar and no one was seated in the dining room. We started out by ordering the mussel appetizer only to be informed by the very polite waiter (it’s not his fault!) that their delivery did not include mussels and asked what else he could bring us. We settled on wings. They tasted like they had just been microwaved. I ordered a wedge salad with grilled chicken, again a microwave had been used, the chicken wasn’t fresh and the blue cheese dressing straight out of a jar. I can’t even remember what my husband ordered, it doesn’t matter. Don’t bother.

Another place like so many others in area and on long island. Decent food but with the prices you would think it would have more charm, more character and a consistent vibe. Doesn’t know what it wants to be, owner tries to come across knowledgeable but clearly does not understand the business, tries but comes off as a talking head and there seems to be no real concept, food was ok, but a mish mosh menu, some nice items mixed with low brow items making an attempt to be more upscale, many other better choices in area in an already overcrowded dining scene.

this place is out of this world!
First off, The owner operator, Grant, is extremely accommodating and made sure he could do whatever he could to make our stay a pleasurable one.
the ‘Poppy Burger’ (which should be spelled ‘Papi’) is unbelievable!!!
I can even wear my Smithtown East Alumni Jersey and get a discount! can’t beat that!

Food was great. Mets and Yanks on TV. Nice atmosphere. Will definitely hang out here more often. Try the wings you won’t regret it.

I agree with the other posters. I read in a previous response from the owner (Whom I met and he seemed to be a nice guy to his credit) that his place caters to the professional and they do not do $ 1 beers and stuff. Well I am a «professional», I live in St James, and I guess in his target crowd, but that does not mean that I am going pay the prices in here when the restaurant tries to do too much at once.
Me and my wife went during «happy hour» which I guess still means $ 7 21^st amendment beers. Steak sandwich was excellent ($ 18). Place was empty but it was a weekday. Overall a decent place but when it comes down to it, it is going to cost you $ 50+ for even a sandwich meal for 2 with one beer each. That is ordering the cheapest things off the menu. I guess I saw sports bar on the sign and thought it would be a casual place to hang out a la Rockwells or something like that. Even if you are the «professional» crowd you want to be able to just hang out and watch football or have a decent pub meal without paying very high prices on occasion. When you are in the mood to splurge there are plenty of other options discussed below.
I am not sure many people exist in the market the owner is looking for. This is not some swank cocktail lounge in the meatpacking district, not the local watering hole in Downtown NYC where Wall st unwinds after work, and not a high end restaurant. If I am going to spend that kind of money on meals and drinks there are MANY higher end restaurants in the area already. The Trattoria is literally a stone’s throw away with $ 38 prix fixe for full three course meal at a highly regarded restaurant BYOB as well. Then if I want the casual pub dining experience, there is Faraday dining pub $ 20.95 prix fixe and is excellent as well. The higher end cocktail lounge? Well I’d be at Mirabelle for that. Yes, St James is a somewhat affluent area, but when you charge the higher prices you need to do a lot more.
In St James for bars we have 2 mega dumps (Cominsky park and Pleasant Inn), and a bunch of very good, pricey restaurants with bars. There are no places that are moderately priced where one can grab a beer and hang out and have something decent to eat. Don’t get me wrong I am willing to pay the price for quality but I do not know where Grant’s Place will fit into my rotation. Like I said the food is very good, but is it on par with the high end places in St James?
I really hope that the cocktail swigging football fans come in here as the owner hopes as I truly want them to do well. I just think that they are repeating the recipe that has been done plenty of times there. I do not frequent expensive places that do not have anything really distinctive about them, and I do not think there are many that do. Yes I agree with the owner that a place around here should not shoot for the $ 1 beer crowd but there are plenty of people with plenty of money that would like a moderately priced place to chill.

I wish Unilocal allowed you to write a review without giving a star rating. Since I didn’t eat here, I really only want to write about my experience with their bar and my observations of their new décor. A star rating is not necessary so just ignore it. The renovations look fine but the interior is rather cold feeling. That aside, the drinks are WAY too expensive. I went on an EMPTY Tuesday night, ordered a beer and a stoli raz with soda. Gave the bartender $ 20 and got $ 4 change back. What?! $ 16 for those 2 drinks? I even asked another bartender about it and she confirmed it was correct. Where am I, Manhattan? After another friend looked at the Martini list, she mentioned that they were $ 14 each, which we thankfully didn’t order. If their goal is to be a comfortable neighborhood place they’ve got to lower the prices. I wish them all the success in the world and I’m sure I’ll go back to try the food. (I have no idea what the food prices are) Just know the price of admission before you go.

The good. The food is pretty damn good. It’s a tad better than all the other overpriced places on Long Island. The ambience? Nice but dead for a Saturday night. Two other tables occupied in a large place. It’s the same old same old. It’s just another Long Island St. James restaurant trying to sell high end food and cocktails at high end prices. The don’t see themselves as high end but they are.
It’s a formula that hasn’t worked in that exact location for years. There have been a half dozen restaurants there in the last 10 years. The bad. The owner, as nice of a guy as he was, came over to our table and asked us about how we liked the food and the place. We said it was our first time there but the appetizer, cooked clams in a broth, was excellent. So was the dinner. But here’s the rub. As an owner, if someone tells you it’s their first time there, especially when the place is like a morgue on a Saturday night at 9 pm, maybe you should throw them a bone. I have never been in a restaurant, and we go a lot, where you told the owner it’s your first time there and he or she would not throw you a glass of wine or a cocktail or a sample app. Especially at their prices. But OK maybe he forgot in all the rush. So later, the owner personally carried over the second round of drinks that we ordered and I said to my wife, hey maybe he is go to try to do the right thing by buying us a couple of drinks since it’s our first time here. Wrong. When the bill came, he banged us for every drink, and a simple Screwdriver was 11 dollars. 5 dollars for a beer which is reasonable and they charged for all 3. So two $ 11 Screw Drivers cost more than my wife’s entrée. Whatever. That’s Long Island and NY in general. But not a great way to say welcome, considering I dropped over a hundred on dinner, again, as per usual in NY. The owner seems like a nice guy but he is doomed in that location unless he does something different than all the other tools who thought they could sell top of the line food there. The wait staff was decent but young and super inexperienced. The place is clean and nice inside. It also has some outdoor tables but they are practically out on North Country road, overlooking a Gym and Funeral home. Tip to the owner. Fence off an area, plant some shrubs, maybe a fire pit with seating around it, and some tables that are outdoors. Overall, the chef is great, the place is same old, and the ambience and mood need uplifting. The owner needs to ask himself why would someone come to my restaurant when there are a dozen in a 5 mile radius, (including Port Jeff waterfront, which we initially went for but the parking was outrageous and ultimately unavailable) that are the same and better in both location and food and service. If he can figure that out, maybe he’ll last past September. Maybe. Right now, I live about a mile away and would rather walk to Pentimento or Mirabelle, or Country House, or
drive to Port Jeff than go back. Good luck.

So this location has been a dead zone for many restaurants – I’ve seen a number of restaurants try and fail to be successful in this general area, although the two in the strip mall literally right next door do pretty decently.
Unfortunately, I think this restaurant will go the same way. I decided to check this place out on a whim, and to be honest, I kind of regret it. At least I know not to go again, I guess.
Anyway, this place tries to be a classy wine restaurant and a sports bar, which I think is already problematic. It seems to do a less than average job at both. The décor attempts to look nice, but its cheapness shows too easily. For example, there aren’t tablecloths, just thin paper on the tabletops that gets ruined easily by the condensation from waters. The service is fine, but if they’re hiring college students who are working a summer job, it’s just not going to be trained, high-​class service that’s expected by a place trying to be this upscale. (Note: this place is shooting for the $ 40/​person range, though you can easily get by with less than $ 30 if you order starters/​appetizers.
Regardless, most items on the menu are very expensive: simple burgers and sandwiches range from $ 12 – 18, which, for what you’re getting, is far beyond a reasonable price. Other entrees start at $ 20+. There are very few options under $ 10 here, even for really simply dishes.
I got the wings, which were $ 10. The waiter recommended I get the Old Bay dry rub seasoning, which I thought sounded interesting. They came with blue cheese and a generous amount of celery. The blue cheese tasted really cheap – worse than the Applebee’s blue cheese. I asked for ranch, which was decent. The wings were pretty small, but they gave a reasonable amount. However, the wings were EXTREMELY salty, which coupled with the Old Bay, let to a pretty bad experience. My lips felt extremely dried out by the end, which is enough for me to want to come again.
My friend got THE POPPY, which looked like a decent burger, that cost $ 17, which $ 3 of which were used to get bacon on the burger, which admittedly resulted in a solid amount of bacon. It came with fries and cole slaw, but for $ 17, «pretty good» would not make me come again.
I’m sure the restaurant is trying its best to stay afloat in such a poor location. However, the image they’re trying to put on is not something they seem to be able to back up in reality. The menu was designed cheaply, the décor is cheap, but the prices aim towards «fancy restaurant» status. There were some pluses to my experience, and my friend seemed to think the food was worthwhile, but I fear that if I come again, I’d more likely than not have an experiences that would make me feel obliged to update this review to a 1 star.
I hope this restaurant improves, because I would really like to see this dead zone improve, but for now, I’m holding my breath.

Walking in at 6:30 on a Friday night we were greeted with the live sounds of a jazz guitar and saxophone. The bar had a small crowd of locals. There are three separate seating areas, the back two with multiple TVs, the front featured a small fireplace and a few very large windows that overlooked a few small tables on the front law set back from the highway.
There are no soft surfaces other than the seat of the chair and napkins to absorb the noise from the bar and other diners. making it difficult to talk even though the dining room was only about 20% full.
The wait staff was plentiful and attentive. An appetizer of three extra large deep fried shrimp over a bed of noodles in Thai sauce was excellent though the sauce was a bit hot for my taste buds. We ordered three entrees, a sandwich of fresh mozzarella with roasted red pepper sand tomatoes, chicken Cesar salad and a special of the day Chicken Scallopini which was described as chicken over spinach and polenta. It took the kitchen 40 minutes after the appetizer was served to get the main course out even though the order was placed at the same time as the appetizer, which was served without delay.
The mozzarella and pepper sandwich was excellent and served with a small serving of cole slaw and fries. The chicken in the Chicken Cesar Salad was overdone and tough, perhaps due to waiting for the Chicken Scallopini to be cooked. Although I anticipated chicken cutlets, the chicken Scallopini was on the bone, which should have been mentioned in the description given by the waitress. Not withstanding it was very good. Also a nod to the waitress who remembered and promptly brought a second coke with the meal as requested 20 minutes before it was the main course was served,
Grants is just opened, once it gets the kinks worked out (and maybe some curtains to address the acoustics) it could become a go to place.