18 Bay Restaurant

Wonderful tasting menu and really great service! The lamb porterhouse and the pan roasted cod were delicious! Lucky enough to enjoy dining outside on a lovely September evening!

Was a bit disappointed in this meal after reading all the reviews. The food was decent but not amazing. It is really incredible that they rotate the menu weekly though! Very impressed by that. The anti pastis were the best part. The fish entrée was dry.

Excellent service. Great «Tasting» Menu. Perfect lamb — the best I may have ever eaten in a lifetime… called «Lamb Porterhouse», but it was a thick loin chop. Harpooned fresh swordfish… my husband had a very small portion of this… though I felt it tasted a bit fishy –he loved it.
Yet… $ 68.00 each for the 3 course meal, not so so outrageous sounding… then add wine, etc. and tip… and you have yourself a very pricey meal. Worth it? Maybe so…
The lamb was perfection, and that is a big deal in my book, and there were delicious roasted potatoes on the plate… Appetizer tasting plate? Well, I did enjoy the grilled Quail very much, even though it was salty, and the lobster salad was quite good… but I did not care for the raw sea bass or the zucchini crostada, which did not look appetizing– though it tasted fine.
Then there was the Profiterole dessert. Yes, that is what bothers me most. Dessert should have been a stellar conclusion… but there was only the tiniest bit of chocolate piped on top of the choux pastry for decoration, not flavor. To my way of thinking, a profiterole is practically drowning in warm melted dark chocolate sauce… that MAKES it. Yes, that was the missing element. My favorite dessert, that I had been anticipating throughout the meal, was a great disappointment — and all because Chef did not quite go the extra distance. Thus, I withhold a fifth star. But they are onto something here, and if you enjoy tasting many different flavors in the course of a meal, this may be the ticket. Farm to Table goodness. Sit on the front porch if available. The music is just a bit loud inside and out.

Delicate, exquisite cuisine! The prefixed menu we had couldn’t have been more flavorful. From the antipasti to the dessert every ingredient was fresh and very well seasoned. No fuss, every effort is put in the savor of the dish. The chef’s care and love for food comes across at every bite.

Excellent service and our dinner was exquisite. Each course was expertly prepared. Will return

Ok– so sitting here for 1 and a half hours, we were one of the first tables here (arrived early) and are stillllll waiting. Appetizers were fair at best, service us so extremely slow, and I am really wishing we went to a different restaurant like The Cuddy or Vine Street Café for my wife’s birthday…

Fine, elegant, delicious, beautifully presented food.
I have been here numerous times and am always impressed with the food. I have not been as impressed with their wine pairings or background music, but neither are important enough to keep me from looking forward to eating here again and again.
Vegetarian options are also available, and absolutely exceptional.

Great food great service. Price for ala carte items was ridiculous. Twenty five for 4 raviolis was a bit much.

Looking for a weekend away from the hustle and bustle of NYC? Think the Hamptons a bit too chichi for your proletarian tastes? Well, Shelter Island is the perfect place for a laid back, bucolic retreat. My fiancé and I come out here every year in the spring before the summer swell. Our itinerary is pretty standard — we bike around the island, take a hike at Mashomack Preserve and eat dinner at 18 Bay. The food here has been consistently fresh and creative. I read somewhere that the chef doesn’t like to use a lot of salt and instead relies on citrus and pepper for seasoning, which highlight the natural flavors of the ingredients.
The menu here makes things easy for us choice-​weary NYC diners — 18 Bay serves a set prix fixe menu that rotates weekly. For $ 65, you get 4 appetizers, a pasta dish, a choice of meat or fish entrée and a dessert. It’s a bit pricey, but considering the quality of the food, the generous portions and the fact you’re on a tiny island, it’s not so bad.
The appetizers are our favorite part of the meal — 4 small, creative and good-​looking bites. On our most recent dining experience we had rabbit rillettes, ramp and onion tarts, prosciutto and asparagus on top of panna cotta, and smoked weakfish. Pasta was linguine and clams — good, but hey, how can you really go wrong with butter, pasta and clams? For our entrée, we both went with the pan seared local fluke on top of a bed of vegetable ragu. The fluke was perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and soft and flaky on the inside. We finished with a berry tart and homemade ice cream.
This is a «locavore» restaurant so expect to see lots of Long Island fish and produce. I think every time we’ve dined here (all in the springtime), we’ve seen various preparations of spring vegetables, rabbit, weakfish, fluke, ramp and berries.

Love this place. The food, the service, the atmosphere. And the way they present the meals is marvelous. Definitely returning in summer.

18 Bay is our favorite restaurant in «the hamptons». How fortunate we are to have this wonderful place to enjoy all summer long. Now we go spring and fall weekends as well. Thank you Liz and Adam for this culinary delight.

WOW! Just… wow !!!
Wonderful find on shelter Island!
Want to give it 0 stars so no one else comes here and we can have this place to ourselves… sorry
But this place… wanna lick my dishes then break them over my head… yeah, it’s that good… don’t come here! It’s mine !!!

So disappointing. I love the concept of the weekly changing prix fix menu but the food fell flat and the service was shockingly bad. I saw every table around me complaining about their service too.
Lack of seasoning and the execution was just off on a menu that sounded delish. Perhaps it was an off night but I wld be hesitant to make that investment on money and time again.

We dined on a Friday night, July 19^th. I will have to say that the dinner was excellent, wonderful array of Tapas for the appetizers, extremely tasty and presented wonderfully, followed by an excellent pasta dish. The entrée choices were Stripped Bass or Lamb. I had the lamb and loved the flavor. My friend had the Bass, which I tasted, and agreed it was delicious. Small portions but quality food. The down side was the service. We waited a few minutes for our table so we ordered some drinks at the bar. By the time we ordered our drinks our table was ready, so they said they would deliver them to our table. We waited 10 minutes for our drinks, that I didn’t think would ever arrive if I didn’t literally grab a wait staff to bring them. While we were waiting for our drinks, no water or service was provided. It was a hot evening so we stayed inside for the A/​C. However, we were seated by the door that went out to the patio, and the wait staff kept leaving the door open. When we asked them to keep the door closed because of the heat coming in, we got an attitude from one of the waiters. There was at least 6 servers in the restaurant that night, and it did not appear that any of the staff were dedicated to our table. It was a shame since the food was great but the service disappointing us. Not sure I’ll return.

Went to this restaurant based on the other reviews. We would not rate it so high. On the plus side we loved the décor inside and the service was very attentive and positive. however, the dinner took over two hours, a long time to sit and wait, too much time in between each course given that the whole restaurant was eating the same thing. Our table was in the corner and was great until the two other table filled and the waitress and us had to ask someone to move each time to get to the table. The food was good but the seafood stew was more like an appetizer portion. my favorite was the scallop app and the peach desert. The wine glasses started at around 15 $$. I think the restaurant is a little overpriced. dinner for two with wine. 200 $$$

I couldn’t believe this place the first time I ate here… about 6 weeks ago. So I came back about 5 more times and am now convinced this is the best restaurant I have found on the East End. The chefs are very inventive, creating a terrific dining experience. The menu changes weekly, offering the best of whatever is locally available. The service is equally amazing. This is truly a foodies delight. I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

Amazing localized food. Very creative and great tasting. Menu changes weekly. A welcome addition to east end cuisine. Best restaurant on the east end!