Modern Snack Bar

This restaurant is neither modern nor filled with snacks but a great stop! We had a party of seven and we were seated quickly. The ladies had the strawberry mojitos and were VERY pleased. Good reports from our group on the Reuben, clam strips, and lobster bisque. Our waitress, Jen, was so welcoming and sweet!

One of the best! It’s an oldie but goodie. The food is always great, especially the pies. The waitresses are so kind and always very friendly to my children.

I have been coming here my entire life, and have yet to be disappointed with the food or service. This place is great! The décor reminds me of my late grandmothers house with the wood paneling and artwork. The food is delicious, LOVE the fried shrimp, mashed turnips, roast duck and pretty much anything on the menu!

Step back in time and enjoy home cooking. Better than that enjoy a soft shell crab sandwich that is to die for. The pies are fabulous and you can sit at the counter and enjoy a slice if that’s all you want to do. The wait staff is homespun friendly, fast and accurate but not rushed. The atmosphere causes everyone to talk to one another like the place is one big family dinner at separate tables eating moms home cooking. Great food at great prices.

The snack bar is a north fork staple. It is an old school diner with charm. I have been eating here since I was a kid (the children’s menu was 5.95 at the time)!
They still have the same waitresses from when I was 5 years old; so it’s always a trip back in time for me.
But — the food has always remained solid. Our typical orders include: garden salad, prime rib, roasted turkey, fried shrimp, and of course their soft shell crabs. For sides, you must get their mashed turnips. Dessert: banana cream or lemon meringue.
It’s a solid diner with delicious food & super friendly/​sweet staff; most of whom have been there for years.
Plain, simple, home cooked food that is very good. Note: they are closed from Dec — April!

Adorable, old-​school and homey. Instantly felt at
Home. The staff is super sweet. Stopped by after shopping at the outlets. I had a burger with a side of onion rings, my fiancé the shepherds pie. Delicious and just what you would expect. Delish comfort food.

Old-​fashioned comfort food … Done well ! Chicken pot pie, Chicken croquettes, Roast Pork loin, Stuffed Flounder, Turkey & Stuffing, Meatloaf, mashed turnips, when available get the Peconic Bay Scallops, too. One of the few places you can still get my favorite childhood drink — Chocolate Egg Creams! The day before Thanksgiving the line to pick up Pies was out the door. They have seasonal hours and close for Winter in December so check the hours before you go.

Great «comfort food’. I personally love these old school restaurants. They have a certain charm about them, & sadly, there’s not too many of them left. I hope that they don’t upgrade this place, as it’s one of the reasons that we go here. Don’t expect 5 star food here, but do expect good reliable service & consistent food…(try the turnips w/gravy.yum !) Highly recommended. Then afterwards (or before), go across the street to Woodside Orchards for some cider.

Good old fashion home cooking! Love this place and the food was awesome. The staff there are super friendly and made us feel like being at home. Highly recommend.

If you’re starving there’s enough to choose from on the menu, just nothing that yells out to you, «try me.»
…good for a late night burger on your way back from a random adventure. good eatin’, sometimes… old feel not impressive and not what I expected when I first stopped.
People like their fresh crab cakes I just think it all seems like your average diner in a classic, vintage setting. Nothing more nothing less

Diner from yesteryear. popular for its real crab cakes, lemon meringue pie and a few other items. Found it an ok stop for a casual lunch or dinner. Sigh, wasn’t charmed. but found the people very pleasant and professional, clearly used to handling crowds.

Vintage atmosphere, great food and service. We are repeat customers.
Recommend the turkey dinner, broiled flounder, mashed turnips…
all good.

We’re not familiar with the North Fork and were driving from the cross sound ferry to The Hamptons. We just took a chance on an old fashioned looking diner. Boy were we surprised. That was the best lobster salad/​roll I think I’ve ever had. It was real fresh and and ample portion. Old fashioned and old looking worn out diner with pleasant and helpful service. I’d definitely return.

This place is great! Just recently tried it for the first time. Very quaint, old-​time feel inside with reasonable prices and just-​right portions. Friendly service too! Excellent turkey dinner, great stuffing and mashed turnips, fried soft-​shell crab, fantastic lemon merengue!

I love the Modern Snack Bar. The biggest problem is deciding what to have. My mother was crazy for their soft shell crabs and their Long Island duckling, both of which are still popular menu items. I adore their lobster salad, so that is what I almost always order, even though it’s a bit pricey. Usually, I get this as part of a salad platter, but this time around, I opted for a sandwich on rye bread. The chunky, meaty lobster salad was even more delicious than I remembered! My friend (who, shockingly, had never eaten there before) ordered the clam chowder to start, which was thick and full of fat pieces of clam meat. She followed this up with their chicken salad, which was very good, a generous portion. We had no room for dessert. I can’t imagine a trip to Long Island without visiting the Modern Snack Bar!

Great local place with some amazing home made comfort food. Love the soft shelled crabs, shepards pie and soups. Friendly service. Can get crowded so go early or late

I just got back from lunch at the Modern Snack Bar. This was their last day of operations until spring. Maybe that was the problem. One of the worst sauerbratens I have ever had. In fact, it wasn’t sauerbraten. What I had was a very, VERY mediocre pot roast with ginger snap gravy. The red cabbage was straight out of a jar.
This meat couldn’t have been marinated for more than 10 minutes, if that.
Newsday raved about this place. What a disappointment! The sauerbraten was supposed to be a staple at Modern Snack Bar for decades. They should have been ashamed to put this on the table. Either that or Newsday needs a new food critic.

This place has been around forever and not much has changed, but that’s a good thing. The food here is always very fresh and pretty much everything is made from scratch. I’ve had the turkey dinner the last couple visits and it’s the best by far of any restaurant I’ve been to. They give a nice mix or white and dark meat, creamy mashed potatoes and stuffing and the gravy is great, not the typical diner white turkey gravy. The rest of the food I’ve had is very good also. The pork loin is amazing but not available every day, in fact a lot of things are only available certain days so check their online menu. They make killer pies too especially the lemon meringue.

The restaurant is very unsuspecting as you drive up. When you walk along the path to enter, you will smell the glorious aroma of beer battered onion rings, which you should order once you sit down.
The clientele is vast and all together local, which is expected once you taste their food.
We ordered:
The lobster bisque (quality found that rivals in the best restaurants in New England)
Beer battered onion rings (because you have to)
Tuna Melt (just the right amount of cheese and tuna on rye bread)
The Lobster Roll was incredible. It was not on the menu, so don’t be afraid to ask for it. I had it on a kaiser roll. There was an impressive amount of lobster and the taste was out of this world.
The service was amazing. Everyone was very friendly and courteous.
We intend to make a follow up visit out next time in town!

It’s kind of funny, the only thing modern about the modern snack bar is the fact that they have electricity. Lol. This is about as old school of a restaurant as you will find. Everything about this place is old-​fashioned. My biggest gripe is the old ugly rug in the dining area, let’s face it all that does is get dirty and smell. Moving onto the food. My wife and I started with the New England clam chowder, it tasted okay. The potatoes were cooked well enough, but the little amount of clams in the soup were way overcooked; they were very rubbery. I’m not saying that the soup was bad, but certainly not the best I’ve ever had. I ordered their famous softshell crab sandwich. The crab seemed fresh, lightly fried, and tasted very very good. However, it was served on a large Kaiser roll that I thought took away from the crab itself. Sometimes the star of the show can be overshadowed, in this case the bread took away from the crab. My wife ordered the lobster roll or sandwich in this case. The lobster meat tasted good but the exact same thing happened as the other sandwich. Way too much bread and the lobster was lost. Pricing was a tossup, the lobster roll was a decent price at 16.95. However, at 14.95 it was one of the most expensive softshell crab sandwiches that I’ve ever had and the only one that didn’t come with fries. This place is cool and it is a landmark. There is so much history here and I can appreciate that some people love it. As for me; I may not return, it’s just not my style.

This recent trip back to NY was all about seafood and sentimentality. It’s got to be 35 years since I’ve eaten at this iconic restaurant on Rt 25 (yes, I was a kid!). Enjoyed their Lobster Bisque, Soft Shell Crab, and Baked Clams. I must return to try the roasted LI Duck. It looked beautiful. The Lemon Meringue pie was a tad disappointing (the filling). Lovely service. What a delicious walk down memory lane.