Hideaway

It’s probably no shock to most people that you’re paying top dollar to be eating/​drinking anywhere on Fire Island. Hideaway is OK if you keep this in mind and ignore the pretty mediocre food.
But it’s not about the food. It’s all about the view!
This is to say, if you can’t sit outside overlooking the water, go elsewhere because there’s nothing special about Hideaway’s interior (nor its food). My group arrived via boat on a Monday night and the place wasn’t busy, but every seat outside was taken, so I can only imagine the weekend mayhem! In fact, you probably couldn’t pay me to come out here on a weekend. We gave in our name and came back in a half hour to the perfect bayside table. A perusal of the menu meant that I had to ask our waitress to speak to the kitchen because I was immediately met with a blank stare when I asked about vegan options (the guy who docked our boat told us that they would be able to accommodate us. Props to him for being helpful!)
I had a pretty nice time here considering the fact that I had to order «the tuna, without the tuna» which amounted to a small pile of vermicelli noodles pan fried with a few mushrooms. They took off 10 dollars for the lack of tuna, but this plate of food under no circumstances warranted the 28 dollar price tag.
I’m OK with paying for an experience. If I wasn’t, I’d grant this place one or two stars and tell you to avoid it. The experience is totally worth it, though not on a weekend unless you want to be a part of some tired beach crowd «scene.» On a quiet weekend night, however, it was pretty spectacular to sit outside on the water underneath a dark summer sky ignoring the fact that I had a plate of tuna without the tuna in front of me.
Pro tip: If you dock your boat here, they’ll waive the fee and the kid who works this dock is pretty cool, so make sure you tip him!

Was there this evening, very friendly service, great view, oh yeah, and the food was delicious too.
Had the stuffed clams and grilled calamari. Both terrific.
I had the tuna on a bed of rice noodles, tiny mushrooms and a tasty sauce under the noodles.
AND, bottles of wine were half price!
My friends had the mussels and short rib appetizers as their entre and they thought both were great.
Dessert was a little disappointing in comparison to the rest of the meal, but overall a definite winner. I will certainly be back.

Amazing views. Live music was a nice touch.
Excellant food (I had the striped bass entrée) but service was poor to fair. Will come again but next time with a reservation

Clam & corn chowder = awful. Fire the chef.
Waste your money at one of the other over priced restaurants in the area. Lower your expectations as the restauranteurs on this island care more about their P&L than customer satisfaction and food celebration.

Excellent drinks, presentation, service and even better food. The view is breathtaking.

awesome if you’re rich and white, you’ll get sat immediately. otherwise, mosey on next door to Housers

How this has 3 ½ stars is baffling to me. I used to be an OB regular and this was – and as of a few days ago, still is – the most consistent and creative restaurant on OB. Not to mention delicious.
Chris Hunter ably helms the kitchen (as well as gives lemon verbena to customers dining outside being bothered by pesky insects) and tuns out delicious seafood, as well as non-​seafood dishes. It’s understated, has great outdoor seating, and possibly the best mac-​n-​cheese with crumbly blue cheese ever.
Yes, you do want a zippy cooler or the 5-​rum punch which packs its own punch and is well worth it. In fact, there isn’t a bad drink on the cocktail menu.
Yes, it’s expensive, but so is everything out there. And unlike some of the others, it’s totally worth it.
I don’t have a bad thing to say about it, except that it’s really far from us, sadly.

Food was great waitress was great. Hostess was extremely rude and nasty. Will not come back again

I will never be coming back here. I went here for lunch with my friend and the waitress was HORRIBLE. When we arrived we already knew what we wanted and ordered everything right away. I had ordered the Mac and Chess and my friend order the Manhattan Clam Chowder. We waited 40 flipping minutes for our food and the waitress barely ever came over. I was able to finish my mojito and when I asked for a different drink the waitress told me she would check if they had it and would come back, she never came back. A different server had to ask us if we wanted our check and the hostess had to bring us our check. It was so bad that the people in the table next to us even said something about the fact that we were waiting so freaking long for two plates that were appetizers, it was just so ridiculous. There was also another table who arrive about 10 minutes after us and they got they entire meal and were constantly visited by the waitress before we got our appetizers or were even asked if we were ok. They didn’t even make sure we had water, I swear we could of dropped dead at the restaurant and no one would even know. Never again will I go here.

Ate there tonight. Had the mussels, arugula salad, chicken thighs and salmon. One of the best meals we have ever had. This is my first Unilocal post but I felt that it was worth my time. If you want an amazing meal with great service along with ocean front dining. I HIGHLY recommend this place. Enjoy.

Best in OBFI. My wife and I always eat at The Hideaway, and celebrated our wedding anniversary this past Friday: Shared the lobster udon and pork chop specials. This was the best and most memorable meal we’ve had in some time, so good that we went back again the next night for more lobster udon! The chef is always spot on, and the staff are typically more attentive than those at others in Ocean Beach.

While every other bar is filled with 20-​yr old ‘bro’s’ anytime after 9pm, this is one place where you can find solace on FI. The bar area is small and usually filled with older locals, but once you grab your drink feel free to walk outside and enjoy a relatively empty outdoor area. With great views of the bay, classic rock blaring from inside and (for FI) cheap drinks, this is by far my favorite place to head out for a night where you’d like to chat. Looking to grind or to find dudes in striped shirts? Get out. Seriously, or I’ll tell your Mom on you.

Good food by fire island standards. The «local» cocktail was tasty, cucumber vodka and fresh watermelon juice. I had the muscles with pork belly and jalapeño wine sauce. The muscles were good but the pork belly really should have been crispy and not poached in the broth. My husband had the bacon lobster roll which was okay not the best. Thick hunks of lobster but you could tell it had just been thawed out, didn’t taste fresh and definitely Canadian lobster. The rosemary fries were the standout of the meal. Not anything special but it was nice to sit by the bay.

Go straight for the lobster roll! It’s their speciality and the only thing on the menu that will fill you up.
While the fish tacos and cold ramen are decent, the portion size fails to even quench hunger for an hour. So use them as sides.
The ever so famous Rocket Fuel is perfectly blended, but the mojito, ice tea and ice coffee fail on all accounts. Your better off having a straight drink or water.
Seating on the outside is ideal but the inside gives you a break from the heat with an equally amazing view.
Came here during the day (all ages) and night (40s and up).

Wow! My experience here was very different from most of the others I read. A large group of us dined around 8pm on Friday. We were greeted immediately and were told we couldn’t be seated outside. While it looked like there was seating, we were told that there would be no tables for a party our large for the rest of the night. No biggie. We sat in a table by a window and there was a nice breeze. I ordered one of their signature dishes, the Tagliatelle with lobster, pork belly, Hen of the Wood mushrooms and some kind of pollen I can’t remember. My husband had the ribeye steak, which for the price relative to the other items on the menu and the size of the steak, was actually a good value. The pasta was quite tasty. It was fresh pasta with all the stuff I said earlier. My only complaint and the only reason I did not give Hideaway 5 stars, is because it was quite salty and I LIKE my food salty. So for ME to say it’s salty, it’s REALLY salty. I always struggle with whether or not I should send something back and I usually don’t and just chalk it up to experience. Then I always wish I had at least told the chef so that he/​she could correct it. The tagliatelle would have been outrageously good if it had been less salty. The ribeye was cooked perfectly and while it wasn’t the BEST ribeye I’ve ever had, it was still really good. The mushroom purée with the steak was also over salted but flavorful. I didn’t mind it as much because I would ordinarily put salt on my steak anyway. The portion size was surprisingly big, which I mentioned before. I would guestimate that it was about 12 oz. My girlfriend had the pastrami spiced tuna, which she said was excellent. My sister had the simple salad and shrimp stuffed clams and she said both were yummy. My friend had the mussels and was pleasantly surprised they came with hand cut fries. It also had plenty of mussel «juice» leftover for sopping up with bread. He gave it 5 stars. Lastly, the seafood bisque. It looked a little more like a soup than a bisque but it was outstanding. It wasn’t overly salted like another reviewer wrote. Without hesitation I would go back to Hideaway. I would probably not order the pasta again though or if I did, I’d send it back if it was too salty again. For a group of 7, with the 18% gratuity included, it was $ 46 a person. By the way, I disagree with Chris R. The rum punch was delicious!

Had to update my review-(restaurants Change all the time!) We had a great experience here for my friends 40^th. First off the staff was super friendly! Our waitress was so knowledgeable about the menu (which is rare for the beginning of the season) and there were lots of great options. The drink menu was feisty and fun. I got ‘the local’ which was the right amount of sour and sweet topped with a cucumber but it was light on the booze… however it was tasty. Three out of the four appetizers were 4 star worthy: the corn chowder, the cold seafood platter and the popcorn cooked in lobster and bacon — yep– it’s as good as you think towards the bottom (mix it up!) the one appetizer that I highly discourage ordering is the Korean ribs. Tasted like dog food-​I had to spit it out (and when I told my husband that he said he wished he did too but didn’t want to be rude) totally nasty. The main entrees came-​I was thoroughly delighted with the monk fish-​and the green sauce was outrageous (could have used a smidge more)…I split this with the tuna dinner and I have to say the tuna was just okay, but definitely NOT sushi grade. The tuna was fresh but kinda chewy — the noodles that accompanied the dish were good. 6 cups of Coffee came out and they were so burnt and disgusting this was the killer for me. Seriously they tasted like yesterday’s coffee. We told The waitress and she came out as soon as she could with fresh coffees (but not for everybody??). I had a bite of The cookie ice cream sandwich — it melted my mouth and my heart. Totally amazing! I have high hopes for this summer spot to maintain this level of almost everything for the rest of the season! There’s definitely room for improvement but overall BRAVO!

Find somewhere else!
Went in yesterday with a group so (18% tip is added), it looked fantasic, with it’s uneven floors. I really thought at first glance this could be a great regular place to visit, then…
Service was rude, not manhattan rude, but «I’m trying to go home, rude» it was 6pm ish…
Drinks were disappointing;
Rum punch was just mixer and rum, with some coconut rum as well… Blahhhh.
White Sangria, not that I tasted it, looked fantastic, but all those drinking it said it was poor.
The waitress must have known, she didn’t come back to offer more drinks or even water.
Food:
NE Clam Chowder, very salty, no clams, loads of fish bones. Waitress looked at me in horror when I asked for crackers. «we don’t do crackers, we have bread»? Was she trying to be stuck up?.. She brought the Stale Bread once the soup was finished.
Pork Chops were so sweet… You know what, My review just stops here.
So glad someone told the waitress to split the checks, 18% went poof with shocking service.
This place is to be avoided!

Wow! The food at the Hideaway is amazing! Chef really pushes the limits, bringing a freshness to Fire Island. Exciting menu! Great view of the sunset while eating NYC quality food with a Margarita in hand. Heaven!!!

My husband and I went to the Hideaway last weekend. The food was good (good enough for Fire Island, that is) and the setting on the bay was lovely. However, the service was so rude I wouldn’t go back and am sorry I gave them my money this time. Even though we had a reservation (for outside), the hostess acted like she was doing us a favor seating us. Then, even though it was 6pm and the restaurant was empty, she would not give us the outside table we reserved. If I want this kind of atttude, I can stay in NYC for dinner. When we tried to ask the manager about it (or maybe she was the owner — woman with short brown hair), and she was terribly rude and abrupt. We will skip this place next time. Although our waitress was perfectly fine, I don’t need to be treated like that by the management of a restaurant. If the second woman we spoke to was the manager, she should be replaced. If she’s the owner, then she needs a serious attitude adjustment. If I ran my business like this, I would be out of business. Actually, the Mermaid restaurant next door, though more casual, had excellent food, even better than the food at the Hideaway. We plan to become regulars there.