Louie’s Oyster Bar & Grille

Ask anyone who lived in Port Washington long enough to remember when Louie’s was the unstoppable force of a restaurant where everyone went for great food and to enjoy all that Port has to offer. You will here the same thing: it was the spot– until it wasn’t. The place took a major nose-​dive some time in the late 1980’s and never recovered.
New ownership took over and raised the once glorious landmark to little more than a skeletal pier. Upon reopening we were to behold a shiny new restaurant complete with tiled floor, sweeping decks for outdoor dining and all kinds of tasteful, nautical brick-​a-​brac. No carved sea captain totem pole here! However with this new, shiny and sterile restaurant much of the charm– for good or ill– and personality disappeared.
The staff seems disinterested and sometimes annoyed that they have to do their job; despite the fact that they are, actually, at their job. More than once, the bartenders simply nodded with an up-​thrust of the chin to indicate that they had 1. acknowledged my existence on Earth and 2. was ready to take my order. Makes you feel welcome, doesn’t it? No, no it doesn’t. Despite the surly– sailor impressions of the bar staff and the lack-​of-​any-​creativity dinner menu, the major selling point for Louie’s is the location and the view.
Some highlights to look forward too:
Uncomfortably awkward bar stools on the outside bar.
A section of the outdoor seating area that has been deemed a ‘smoking section’- despite the fact that this violates NYS law and the management is too scared, too apathetic or too busy working on their ‘young hostess pick-​up game’ to ask the offending smokers to stop.
Service is quick-​fire, and there is no personality– anywhere. Do not expect your servers to smile or emote actual human characteristics.
Your food will come as it is described on the menu. No more, no less. There is no room for artistic expression– there are profits to be had! Off-​white baked mac & cheese, served in a white ramekin, served on a white plate. No parsley, no garnish. If you were slightly color-​blind, you would swear they are serving you an empty plate. Think of the most boring presentation of any menu item you can and you too can be the chef at Louie’s!
Come for the view, be prepared to wait during the summer, suffer through the mediocre service and food. All in the name of that elusive perfect selfie with the Louie’s dock sunset in the background!

I came back, maybe I shouldn’t have.
I stopped for lunch on a warm spring day, just like last time.
It was not busy, it wasn’t packed. I asked to sit outside and was given the run around again. It felt like groundhogs day.
Having flashbacks to the last time, I was just getting annoyed as I was walked all over the place with the waitress looking for what seemed to be an imaginary table when I clearly saw spots open.
I finally gave up and asked to be sat inside.
Food was great as I had expected. They gain a star for that.
The service here is good, the view is great. But after doing this twice save your money for a place that doesn’t have a stereotypical type.

Although Louie’s has shrunk their portion sizes since I started coming here, the food and views still can’t be beat. There’s a small parking lot for the restaurant across the street. Reservations cannot be made for outdoor seating, but the view is worth the wait for an outdoor table. The outdoor deck is on the water and the sun setting over the water is stunning. Aside from the gorgeous views, the seafood is delicious! The waiters are very attentive and prompt. Each time I come I try a different dish including the Cioppino, Uptown Mac n Cheese, Fried Calamari, Baked Clams, Lobster Roll, and Salmon. I don’t think you can go wrong picking anything off of their menu!

The food s very mediocre. But if you are looking for a place on the water and r not very picky about the plating or the noise from other guests… this s not a bad option… the queue was Ling btw

The two tail lobster is delicious, as expected. We also tried the lobster Mac and cheese, salmon, crab meat stuffed shrimp and the shrimp scampi– all recommended. The menu is pricey but you get what you pay for, the service is also really good.

Brought my family from out of town there on Saturday night. Had a drink at the bar, very bad service and VERY expensive drinks. Ate dinner, bad service, crappy food. The most painful part was the bill. Last time we will go there!

Louie’s is the restaurant that outshines other restaurants in Port Washington Main Street.
It is not super expensive or too fancy, however it’s just above the casual level so that you can dine in with the right kind of atmosphere.
I recommend Surf and Turf, Filet mignon, Lobsters, Little Neck Clam and Oysters. And their clams and oysters taste very fresh each time I come here.
Their service is alright. Not bad at all. I understand that during the dinner time it can get super busy. I don’t mind waiting a little while for my food. No biggie.
What I love mostly about this place is that, you can sit outside during summer/​fall time by the sea and enjoy your meal comfortably (except for the flies)

Louie’s is the jewel of Port Washington. Great place to have cocktails overlooking the water and magnificent sunsets!
Apps are always good, wish the food was more consistent! We find it hit or miss. My husband only ever orders a burger because «that» he says is the only thing that is Always good. The fish? Lobster?
Not so much.

The view is absolutely fabulous.
The food is very average. The food is actually somewhat underwhelming when you consider the actual cost of it.
Service is prompt. No real complaints here just that the food is overpriced. If i really want great seafood there are better spots elsewhere.

I had reservations for a party of 9 on Saturday great Family Lunch and we are all pleased from friendly service, food, ambiance and a meal with a water view was the highlight. The atmosphere was very comfortable and quiet. Every dish was excellent I went with Eggs benedict, others choose lobster roll, twin tail, Jumbo Shrimp etc. The kids menu were a large size for kids. Excellent seafood with most entrees priced from $ 20 to $ 30. I’m a fan and would go back again.

Only thing I really enjoyed was the lobster bisque. We ordered calamari as well and found a piece of hair. The waiter didn’t bother accommodating us when we asked for the check and he also had a very bad attitude. Overall, our first waiter was very nice but the other waiter later on made the whole experience even worst. Unfortunately, I will not be coming back or recommending this place to anyone. Sucks because they have a gorgeous view.

Very unimpressed. Food was OK, but very very expensive. We arrived by boat, spent almost $ 300.00 for dinner & drinks. We requested water for the boat, but were told water is only available for the boaters that paid for overnight slips. By the way we called ahead of time and asked if we could get water at the dock and were told Yes.
I don’t think we would ever go back

I visited Louie’s Saturday evening with two friends. I searched Unilocal for oysters while I was in Glen Cove and this place came up. Made a reservation for 6pm on open table. Arrived on time. We were seated around 6:15 due to the line of people in front of us. The place was packed. Outdoor seating had a 40 min wait. We opted to sit inside.
Complimentary bread was ok. Came with butter. I asked for oil and vinegar. Made it even better.
They oysters were OK, not GREAT. We ordered 10 mixed east and west coast. Most were small and had small shells in it? I’m thinking they were not cleaned well. They were sandy. I didn’t eat one cause it had some slimy stuff that even my palate couldn’t think of having.
Lobster bisque was ok. Good flavor but could have been hotter temperature wise.
My friend had the twin lobster tails. Very good. Broccoli was crisply strands. The rice was average, nothing special.
I had surf and turf: one filet mignon and one lobster tail. Good.
Overall my dining experience was OK not great. I came here for the oysters and I was disappointed. Seems that regulars are the repeat customers here.

Theo and I took a nice drive to the area and stopped by the go-​to Louie’s. I had nice fresh clams and tasty lobster roll. The service was s l o w. But the outdoor seating area is clean and cool.
We will go back.

HALF A STAR! Do not go. $ 160.00 plus tip for 2. It’s never how much the bill is, it’s the quality of service, food taste and presentation. Attached you’ll see Lobster Bisque (not bad) had to have server heat ONE soup. Then the Lobster cold cocktail appetizer came along with salad in ONE SHOT… Too fast no one is paying attention. I had the scallops supposedly with procuitto.. Really where is the procuitto? ?? Ready for grilled swordfish it was just ok. Leaving the restaurant, we noticed the servers wiping tables and still leaving food, napkins BEHIND! IT GETS WORSE, leaving via yacht we couldn’t help but to notice ALL THE PLATES, SILVERWARE, NAPKINS laying around the dock. DISGUSTING. Went last year to Louie’s and gave it another chance still ZERO CHANGE. If it wasn’t a for the view and the alcohol flowing, thus restaurant would be out of business. Don’t go!!!

Great view of water, Canadian geese, sailboats. Steamers by the bay — what could be finer? We don’t get steamers on the west coast so any time I can indulge in steamers, I do. Also enjoyed the traditional lobster roll (Celery and mayo), but others in my party enjoyed the warm Connecticut style (scallions) lobster roll. The staff is quite friendly, and told me to return any time, she’ll save me buckets of steamers. I hope I can. Although the patio is the place to be, it’s nicely air conditioned inside, and lots of photographs to look at. Hemingway. Babe Ruth!

So let me start off by saying that standard wait time on a weekend for outdoor seating is about an hour and a half.
We waited 15 minutes to be seated inside, no biggie.
I had a Blood Orange Margarita which was amazing as well as Baked Clams as an appetizer. The baked clams were okay… Not amazing.
As an entrée I had the stuffed shrimp with this HEAVENLY sauce. I enjoyed the meal but not as much as I was hoping for.
For dessert I had the Holey Moley. It’s really just a vanilla sundae without the brownie and some fudge and walnuts.
To be honest you’re paying for the view. Come here for a nice brunch with the ladies or a romantic dinner outside. Otherwise, it’s not my top pick.

I used to love Louie’s Oyster Bar & Grille, have great memories of eating amazing fresh foods outside. In the northeast blackout of 2003, they were the only place in town with power, we had a great meal there that evening.
For the past couple of years the quality of food and service has been declining. I’ve had poor quality food the last three times I’ve eating there, and won’t be going back,. I’m not even sure they deserve two stars, I just hate to be writing such a poor review of a place that was so great.

I don’t mind waiting for good food but its 2015, don’t tell me that I will receive a text message when my table is available. They take orders on a iPad like platform and now restaurants have apps where customers can know where stand in regards to the wait list. The least you can do is put up a white board or a chalk board instead of hiding a piece of paper behind the counter making people come up every 15 minutes to know where they are on the list.
I came here on a Saturday at 2:30 pm and it was packed. After waiting 30 or so minutes we were sat outside; the humidity was real. We ordered a dozen of east coast and a dozen of west coast oysters for apps. For entrees we ordered a crab cake sandwich and a couple warm lobster rolls. All of the sandwiches come with fresh chips which are really good. The lobster and the crab cake were ok, not bad, not good, but ok.
Getting the attention of the wait staff can be frustrating as well. I’m honestly surprised this place says they’ve been named #1 Seafood Restaurant on the Island. Maybe the owners think so.

I’ve been here a few times in the past. Louie’s have two rooms you can rent out for a party or event. I have rented out one of there rooms in the past for a baby shower the room was located as you walk in next to there check in desk.
On this birthday occasion we didn’t rent a room out but we did call a few days ahead of time to make a reservation for our large party.
We sat inside there large back room that faces the water. Louie’s has out door seating which is beautiful but you can’t make a reservation for outdoors just show up and pray you get lucky or just have patiences and wait.
Now on to the food, we had a to large a group of people to list all the items we picked out and comment on them all but I did as everyone how there meal was.
First off our servers name was Kevin and I have to say he was absolutely a joy and wonderful. He is an exceptional example of how customer services should be. He was extremely attentive to our group, fun and sweet. Thank you Kevin for taking such amazing care of our group while at Louie’s
Ok now that I got that out of my system I will say that I did enjoyed my food very much and so did our group. There was only one issue were one persons steak was over cooked but Kevin took it back and asked if my friend would like a side while her food was being redone. Since everyone else was eating their food. She had another side while she waited and when her new steak did come it was cooked perfectly.
What I liked the most besides the food was the service Louie’s provided that night. We were such a huge group of people and we were there for 4 hrs and not once did anyone at Louie’s try to rush us out of there. The service was just amazing. Unlike other restaurants on the island that rush you through your meal. I hate going to a restaurant with a group of people and being rushed. Thank you to the Louie’s team for your exceptional service.