668 The Gigshack

It has been a tradition since its founding years for the organization that I work at to have a staff retreat off in Montauk Manor. Last year they dropped by the Gigshack and they've upheld the tradition by going back this year. The hosts/hostesses recognized us and gave us a warm welcome. We had a large party and so they had originally separated us into two tables. We asked if they could fit us on one long table, and they were happy to accommodate us.

Having been working in NYC for the last year, I felt that the restaurant had an oddly Southern-hospitality type feel, perhaps because it's so close to the beach. Our waiter was very peppy and sold the food as though his life depended on it. He did a good job of tracking our orders and making sure that we would get second rounds when we were running low on drinks. On the subject of drinks: I ordered a house margarita (cost $10) and several of my coworkers got the jalapeno version which I believe was $11. I should have gone with the Premium or Signature versions because my drink was pretty "meh." The jalapeno margaritas were... interesting. I had a sip of a friend's. It has an odd kick in the after taste. Not unpleasant, but not good either.

I ordered the ribs with a side of fries because I was hungry. I was pretty disappointed by the size of the dish ($26). The coleslaw and cornbread were great additions to the plate. The coleslaw had a unique pinkish/orange? color to it. Not sure what was in it, but it wasn't too heavy with the mayo and had a great taste. The cornbread was fresh out of the oven, warm, and soft to the point that it crumbled when you held it up. The cornmeal texture was a little to plushy, but the flavors were all there, especially considering that I usually don't eat cornbread. The side of fries was costly ($7) but delicious. They were the thin type that are fried crisp and lightly seasoned.

The ribs, which should have been the main attraction, fell short of my expectations. The smallest rib bones were barely bigger than my pinky while the largest were maybe as thick as my middle finger. The meat itself was a tad dry, though they did fall right off the meat so it was easy to eat it with knife and fork (I never use my hands to eat ribs, wings, etc). The glaze was also average, so all in all not very impressed.

The desserts were slightly above average. The Red Velvet Cake that I ordered was pretty standard, with the icing being better than normal (doesn't taste like pure cream cheese as does some places). The Key Lime Pie was sweet and tangy, but not really my thing so I can't say much more about it. The Chocolate Lava Cake looked phenomenal, but I didn't have a bite because I was already forcing myself to finish the Red Velvet Cake (one of my coworkers just sat there watching me eat it, counting the number of bites it took me to finish it. It took 13 if you care to know).

I don't really come to Montauk very often. Or actually, like ever, so I can't really judge it against the other restaurants in the area. But the high prices and average food docked a few points, but the service pushed it up to a 3 star for me, a solid choice, but not somewhere that I'm completely sold on.

Dropped by here for dinner over the weekend, and although they had limited availability for tables, one of the hostesses was kind enough to seat us at a table in the lounge. One star for the friendly hostess and one star for our server who was way more efficient than the waiter we could had done without. The food was 'OK' but nothing to write home about and the pricing was typical for the area, so I won't complain on that count. The real tick off was the service (if any) from the waiter who basically did no more than take our order, walk off and forgot to bring back lemon for our water as requested, distracted himself to the table next to ours while in the middle of what appeared to be an obligatory attempt to check if there was anything we needed (?), and then literally taking longer than the time it took for us to finish our meal to bring us our check.

This place may be okay for drinks, but I'd say there are other places with better wait staff worth checking out in town if you're looking to have dinner.

So during my trip we ended up going here twice!  So apparently, its good for a day and night:)

Lunch was delicious... the fish tacos are kind of amazing and I would highly recommend them.

Also, the night life is happening and fun.  We went for drinks and to enjoy the live music later on a different day during our trip and had a blast just hanging out.

A chill atmosphere to not be bothered with all the hustle and bustle of some of the other places being overrun.