Restaurants

Hungry? Well, while you’re visiting Long Island, your appetite will definitely be satisfied. Just as each region of Long Island offers a totally different experience for tourists and residents, though the culinary options are plentiful throughout the island, the types of restaurants vary greatly based on your location. For example, you’re more apt to find all of the popular fast-food and midpriced chain restaurants in and around Nassau County and western Suffolk County than in Suffolk’s North Fork and South Fork. In those regions, what you’ll find are smaller cafes and restaurants, the majority of which are not part of a chain or franchise.

Since most of Long Island is fairly affluent, you’ll discover an abundance of fine-dining restaurants, some of which showcase the work of celebrity or award-winning chefs. You’ll also find a diverse selection of culinary specialties, ranging from classic all-American cuisine to meals influenced by regions, cultures, and countries from throughout the world.

With wine becoming such a strong focus of Long Island’s tourism and industry (at least in the North Fork), many restaurants throughout the region offer vast wine selections and gourmet dishes accompanied by expertly selected wine pairings.

In 2009 and 2010, with the hard-hitting economic recession impacting just about everything and everyone, one noticeable trend among many of Long Island’s top restaurants was the introduction of more affordable prix fixe menus, particularly for dinner. While guests are welcome to order whatever they’d like from the main menu, many of the more upscale restaurants also offer three-, four-, or even five-course prix fixe menu options, with far fewer choices but for a predetermined, often very affordable, flat price.