Nautilus Diner

If I could give this place 0 stars I would that’s how bad of an establishment this place is. I came here with my family the other night because we wanted good food and fast service. There was no wait and the waitress was there right away to get our drink and food orders. My sister wanted to try the Greek salad with grilled chicken wrap, but did not know what was inside the wrap so she asked. The waitress seemed to have no idea because all she could say was its a Greek salad with grilled chicken. My sister said that she would try it, but to have all the sauces put on the side. We went at a good time because the food was out within 20 minutes, but after that is when everything went down hill. My sister looked at the wrap which looked fine from far away, but after she took one bite she had to spit it out. All over the chicken was a slimy brown sauce. My sister was completely disgusted by the looks of the food and only ate the French fries. She would have gotten something else had the waitress actually checked up on us to see how the food was. When the waitress finally came to see if we needed boxes my sister told her about the sauce on the chicken. Her response was would you like to take home a dessert or piece of cheesecake. I felt like saying are you serious because I do not know how a $ 5 piece of cheesecake makes up for a $ 13 wrap. My sister did not want a dessert we just wanted the check and when we finally got it we were even more mad because the wrap was still on the bill. Let me remind you that my sister only ate the fries on the plate she didn’t even touch the other half of the wrap and you are going to charge us for the whole meal! I was so disgusted by how the whole situation was handled that I will never come here again nor will I recommend it to anyone. Maybe you should teach your staff to actually know what your dishes are and also customer satisfaction.

My son, a Marine, is in town for Fleet Week. Wanting to celebrate his service, our family stopped at the Nautilus Diner for lunch. What an unforgettable experience! Everyone was so welcoming and the food was phenomenal! And don’t miss the incredible desserts! I would give this place 10 stars instead of 5 if I could!

I live right in Nassau Shores so I was extremely excited when the diner opened back up. My boyfriend and I haven’t had the best service though. For example, we were waiting for our check for over 10 minutes as we watched our waiter watching the soccer game on TV. We still came back after that but, we went to the diner the last two Friday’s around 730−8pm and there was hair in my food and then hair in his food. Now we will never go back again. It’s really unfortunate because it’s so close by but I’m not risking having hair in my food again.

I had the Mexican Omelette which was fantastic!
We were greeted by our server before we even sat down, who failed to introduce herself and felt like she was in a rush to get to the next table, which she did with each of her tables. After the meal, our server approached us and inquired about to go boxes, before we gave an answer she was already approaching her next table asking them how their meal was. I had to approach Peter, the host, for the check.
The server seemed overwhelmed with more than 3 tables, however the food was amazing, which is why I gave 3 stars, had the service been better I would definitely have given 5 stars.
A little advice to the server; slow down and allow your guest to feel welcome, not rushed.
Edit: it is completely unacceptable to be talking negatively about your peers around guests. Our server and the manager should’ve taken their conversation about another server out of the dining area and into the office (at least the kitchen) and away from the ears of their diners.

Nice to have this diner back in town! Nautilus has decent food, you know, your typical «diner food.» I’ve gone for breakfast and lunch… pancakes with turkey sausage and a turkey burger with sweet potato fries are my go to meals here.

Came in with my kids and management was so nice, gave my kids little pumpkins to take home. Food was great, service was great, they have my thumbs up!

What a dump. Should have known when we were the only people in this giant place at 1 am on a Saturday night. Thankfully they were able to bring my girlfriend her chicken soup «before they threw it out».
And the bacon blue cheese burger was really special. The mounds of really bad blue cheese and weeks old bacon really highlighted the patty that had clearly sitting around on the grill for hours.
What kind of diner can’t do a bacon cheese burger?
Save your time and money.

Best. Diner. Ever.
Food comes out fast, wide variety selection, and family friendly. I love the atmosphere and staff are friendly.
The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is if you get take out– check your bags before leaving! 3 times it was missing something. But hey– stuff happens! Still amazing food.

If customer service matters to you in any regard whatsoever, do not be a patron of this establishment. From the lack of logistics and planning in regard to the host/​hostess not knowing where to seat any hungry customers because there is no seating chart or any sense of order, to the owner struggling to command a team of untrained servers, displaying a severe lack of management and disappointing lack leadership skills herself. The Nautilus Diner of the past — before the new reopening — is exactly that: a thing of the past. If you’re looking for the nostalgic experience that you crave when choosing a south shore eatery, you must avoid this imposter, posing as a mere shadow of its former self, void of all warmth, love, good food and good service.
My personal experience today at this establishment: Okay so here is some background info on me — I grew up on Long Island, spent nights after middle school and high school dances chowing down with my friends at the Nautilus Diner. The food was good, the prices were great, and the people working the joint were phenomenal — they remembered your face and name, always made you feel like you were home, and had unconditional patience for groups of excited and rambunctious preteens with post-​dance giddiness. I loved the Nautilus diner.
Then it closed. And we all grew up. Some of us moved away — I was one of them. I’ve been living in Texas now for three years. I come home frequently to visit my family and, like any New Yorker, I love to come home to the one-​of-​a-​kind New York style food and eateries. And, of course, I love a good diner.
When the Nautilus Diner reopened my excitement was quickly crushed once word got around that the diner was mediocre at best and the service was horrible. I stayed positive, dismissed the negativity and trucked over to the Nautilus Diner around noon today. The first thing I noticed was the line of customers waiting to be sat with no host or hostess at the greeting stand. When the host did come back to seat the hungry waiting customers, I noticed there was no rhyme or reason to the way they seat people — hence, the frequent disappearance of the host, as he runs around like a chicken with its head cut off looking where he could squeeze some people in to eat. He smiled though, and looked friendly, maintaining his professionalism and manners throughout. I later found out this young man was the manager. He is arguably the best thing about the Nautilus Diner. If the owner, and subsequently the servers, possessed the manager’s positive and kind attributes that I was able to pick up on after only seconds with the man, the diner would be thriving and successful.
Unfortunately, the manager can’t do everything and be everywhere so we had a young man named Chris as our server. From the moment we sat down he had us feel very uncomfortable. To say he was curt would be an understatement — he was downright rude, then argumentative and combative. He was so curt with our small table of three that he entirely forgot to take one of our orders. It wasn’t a big deal to us though — mistakes are made and the diner is a fast-​paced environment. When I saw him again I asked if he could take the forgotten order when he had a chance — he immediately became super defensive, interrogating me with questions like, «Are you sure I didn’t take the order?» And «Why didn’t you say something?», followed by bold statements with unfiltered attitude that bordered bullying.
When the food began to arrive, not a single word was spoken by Chris the server to us. Our «thank you’s» echoed out, unreturned with the same politeness. He was making it clear he hated us for the forgotten order incident. I thought we got past that, but his attitude was making it clear that it was all our fault that he was curt and rude and forgot to take an order and we politely reminded him. Guess we just had to suffer through it. Whatever, we were hungry. Regardless that two soups came out roughly ten minutes before the third, we were excited and ready to eat. Then we all froze.
«Do you guys think the soups are, you know, okay?» one of us asked the other two. We all were thinking the same thing: the server Chris did something to them. Now, all three of us have worked in restaurants and one of us is currently a server for a living. We would never just make this assumption, especially considering how trivial the triggering incident was, but there was something about the server that just didn’t sit right.
I will admit it took a while for us three to convince each other that there is no way that the kitchen staff would allow that and the server’s attitude had simply driven us to a point of temporary insanity in which we thought we were the victims of getting something gross put in our food.
Anyway, food was forgotten but the food we did receive was decent. I attempted to speak to the manager, and personally handed her a 30% tip for the other workers, sans Chris, but she basically dismissed us.

Used to come here a lot back in the day and was excited when it reopened.
Our family of four eats well here for between $ 50 – 70 and has a solid meal and leftovers for the next day.
HINT: The buffalo chicken wings are AMAZING, yes at a diner. I was floored.

Didn’t expect to be reviewing a diner but… I had the strangest craving for a grilled cheese on my way home from work today and I must say, I think it may have been the best grilled cheese ever. It was cooked perfectly. Crisp on the outside, and melty on the inside. The french fries on the side complimented it great. The waiter could of been a little more attentive, it took a little time to grab him to get some mayo but other than that my craving was definitely satisfied.

We came here on a Sunday morning for breakfast. The coffee was excellent! I ordered an egg white Greek omelette-​spinach, feta, tomato and onion. The ingredients were all fresh but it didn’t include much spinach. My daughter ordered strawberry banana pancakes which was also made with all fresh ingredients. She gave the pancakes a 9 out of 10. My youngest ordered a toasted hard roll -(she’s a cheap date) that too was very fresh.
The service was excellent and prices were fair ! Overall it’s a good breakfast spot!

This is probably my second or third time getting take out from this diner. I do have to say every time I come I’m never disappointed. The staff are very friendly and the food is delicious. As well they have reasonable prices!!! This visit I got the chicken gyro platter and it was wonderful.

Food is great, service is friendly and fast! My kids love it so much my son insisted on having his communion party at the Nautilus! Everything was wonderful! All of our guests raved about the food and service! A family favorite!!!

Very nice customer service. Our food was great. The orange juice was delicious. I ordered the waffle deluxe with a side of home fries. I’m glad I did because they were great. The bacon was nice and crispy but not burnt. A perfect way to begin my vacation in New York.

I do not like to review diners!
They are for those who eat to live — not for those who live to eat…
But, a major establishment like the Nautilus should not not serve spoiled food. Our waitress was actually embarrassed as she brought us a replacement. Not her fault at all, but someone in a management position should watch what’s coming out of the kitchen.

This is my second time coming here and still can’t find anything remotely wrong with this place. Service is great. The place is really nice and clean. Food portions are huge and cooked exactly as you ordered. Had the flounder stuffed with crab meat and the Maryland crab cake sandwich. Both were spot on and sides were great. The clam chowder to is a must. Huge pieces of clams in it.
Wife got hot open turkey and London broil in mushroom gravy. Both were excellent to and excited to try more stuff on there menu

I’ve never been here for the remodel, but I went to check it out yesterday ⁴⁄₁₂. We got there at 5ish, just before the dinner rush. The diner is large and has 3 rooms, so although it filled up shortly after we arrived, I didn’t notice anyone waiting for a table. Décor is typical diner style, and it was nice and clean.
I had a chicken quesadilla, which was humongous. They were generous with the amount of chicken and cheese they put in the quesadilla, so I filled up after 1 sliced piece. i had the waffle fries on the side, which tasted kind of funky. Maybe the oil they fried it in was use to fry something fishy or something. I didn’t eat much of them.
My bf had the challah french toast, which looked delicious. I didn’t get to taste it because he devoured the whole plate in 5 minutes, no joke.
They offered dinner cocktail specials, so the bf had a mojito, and I had the margarita. I didn’t expect an amazing margarita from a diner, so I wasn’t too upset when it came out too sweet and pretty weak. My man said his mojito was just ok.
The service was great. The waiter was attentive although it was busy in his section. The people manning the front of the restaurant were courteous and friendly, I think I found my new diner spot.

Meh.
I’ve been back several times since the re-​opening. I used to frequent this diner because it’s close proximity to my house and because the food and service was consistently good.
I can’t really say the same at it’s current standing. I think this place opened before anyone was really ready for it to. My fiancé and I came late one night to get takeout. The process took upward of an hour and we were still missing items.
1. Service is super spotty. Waiters who don’t understand the system and are arguing with management to help them who also seem to have no idea what’s going on.
2. No one seems to know the menu. When you’re paying $ 12 or so for a deluxe burger and it’s supposed to come with onion rings and coleslaw, give it to the customer. When my fiancé and I left with our takeout we check it in the car and noticed the missing sides so we turned right back around and asked for them. The manager (or owner) was nice and gave us some cookies for our troubles but when we got home we were still missing coleslaw.
When I sat down and ordered the waiter was kind of a douchebag. Missing onion rings again and he was like «well it only comes with 2 anyway.» Ummm then bring the 2 it was supposed to come with and shut up.
I ordered a waffle and it was warm but soggy as if they had made it earlier in the day and nuked it when I sat down. Cold eggs, weirdly thin pre-​cooked bacon, and stringy syrup that had clearly been sitting for a while.
But the pretzels with cheese sauce and the wings are really good.
The place just needs to get their act together.

Visit Date: April 5, 2014
I decided to stop here for breakfast before work, which is now my new Saturday morning work ritual. This diner apparently used to be very outdated and run down. They beefed things up a bit and have now opened again looking very spiffy, new & classy.
The atmosphere is terrific. It’s what I like to call club/​diner. It’s a new trend on Long Island to redo your atmosphere with a partial club atmosphere to it. Luckily most diners do not have annoying club music blaring or I wouldn’t be eating there. I do dig the club/​diner scene it does make the diners very pretty.
The service was good, the staff was nice, and attentive. They bought my meal out pretty quickly. I had the avacodo breakfast wrap with home fries. The eggs inside the wrap were good, the veggies inside the wrap were fresh & good and I enjoyed the home fries too.
This diner impressed me and I would come back again after sampling more breakfast places that are on my route to work!