So last night which was Valentine’s Day my man took me to Jimmy Hayes in Island Park, NY. http://jimmyhayssteakhouse.com/home.htm

Now I went with high expectations of this restaurant.  I had been told it was high end good food and of course primo steak. 

The atmosphere was like a dark bar, heavy wood paneling with soft lighting.  Not bad.  It seemed a good way to blind you from the poor eating experience you were about to have.

The service was outstanding I must say.  It being a “holiday” and all I didn’t expect too much although THE WAIT to get the food was considerable.

The food was awful except the soup.  I’d ordered lobster bisque with shrimp.  It was thick and flavorful and had small bites of shrimp.  The porterhouse for two was ordered cooked MEDIUM.  It wasn’t.  It was practically raw.  Now I do enjoy my meat medium rare, but err on the side of caution by asking for it medium. It was even ridiculous that when the waitress brought the she was already APOLOGIZING as she was giving us the meat.  You don’t DO THAT with a piece of meat at that price!  (see website for menu).  I wasn’t especially wowed by the texture or the flavor of the meat.  I found myself reaching for salt. Also the creamed spinach was a disaster.  It didn’t taste like spinach at all, it was flavored with something that tasted like potpourri.

The table seating was practically on top of one another. (I guess they thought WE were cattle and hemmed us in as such.)  Unless you managed to get a booth.  We were people watching and both noticed the same thing.  Apparently any ol’ thing was appropriate for dining out.  One couple next to us the guy was wearing a button down shirt and was untucked wrinkled, and his wife was no better looking as if she had just rolled out of bed.

The verdict: I DO NOT recommend this restaurant.  It was a severe disappointment.  Thankfully my dining partner was a pleasure who was the saving grace of this experience.