Jake Starr Restaurant And Bar

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  Grata breakfast, pro only the best on town. Dinner was tasty and our server was excellent. Highly recomend

  Posted on 10.04.14 Tommy

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  Ate lunch here recently.  Overpriced and mediocre food.  The bread on my panini was stale.  There is no excuse for serving stale bread.  The drinks and tap beers are the bright spot for this place.  The food is not good.  Do not expect too much from this place.  I would not recommend it.

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  Posted on 05.24.13 M A.

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  I had a pretty horrible experience at Jake Starr Cafe.The burger which I ordered medium rare, came back burned to a crisp on both sides, it tasted terrible and looked like they either tried scraping off the burnt part of the patty or it was stuck to their grill. If you can imagine all the food they cook on a grill then have a burger sit and burn on it that's what I had to taste with each bite. The burnt burger along with everything that was previous cooked on the grill.
  
  The burger was also smaller than the bun, considerably smaller. The piece of lettuce I got was almost as big as the plate. I basically had tare the lettuce with my hand, rip away the excess bun and re-build the burger. I eat at a lot of local restaurants around Port Jefferson, from Billies, Toast, Lake Grove Diner, all have much better burgers than Jake Starr. I don't know how a chef would let a burger burnt like that leave their kitchen. I will not be going back. Their servers can also use some better training.

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  Posted on 05.13.13 Angelo P.

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  Meh. Really liked it at first but the menu is tired.  This place is really a Cafe with restaurant aspirations but the food seems prefabricated, not fresh.  Too much pasta on the menu.  Overpriced

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  Posted on 05.01.13 Jeff P.

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  The food is good  and the service was very good.  I feel for what you get, it is way overpriced.  The wine list is way over priced and so are the beers.  You are better off at a good itlaian resturarant or a really good steak house.  Your bill will be the same.

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  Posted on 03.25.13 kim k.

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  Discusting place. A spider came crawling out of my dish on my salad. Dirty. They have a dish washer that you would have in your house. Dishes go inside a bucket, they wash with sponge and then stick in washer. Food very dry with no flavor. Would never go back...

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  Posted on 10.01.12 Sara W.

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  I still can't believe what happened... I occassionaly dropped in with two other friends by chance because their neighbor, a Thai food restaurant does not accept credit cards. There were three waitresses inside, with no other customers. They did not tend us, leaving us standing in the doorway in awful silence. When we try to seat ourselves in a table, one of the waitresses immediately stopped us, saying that table was reserved, even there was no sight of a "reserved" sign. We changed to the left wing of the room, but they kept talking to each other without even looking at us. We waited for 10 minutes, trying to order food, but they just pretended not heard us and doing other trivial things.  Here comes the interesting part..., a family came in, and they was properly tended, seated, and their food was ordered immediately when they called the waitresses. My friends looked at each other with a "unbelievable " expression, and we were angry about this. We walked out without saying anything, and still,the waitresses didn't try to stop us, and no one cared about our leaving.
  
  This is the most rude service I've ever got, and we are still confused by their ignorance. Why they ignore us?

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  Posted on 07.27.12 Chong Yu L.

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  Breakfast review: The selection of pancakes, french toast and waffles were unique. We had there rice crispies french toast and there salmon omelet. Was a pretty decent breakfast, not very convenient that the place only accepts cash tips even though there staff was wonderful. We may visit again. May.

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  Posted on 05.25.12 Jamal M.

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  I enjoyed Strawberry Fields years ago before the decline in quality, so I was really hoping Jake Starr would be a winner.  Unfortunately, it's just another way overpriced and VERY mediocre restaurant for the area.  
  
  The panini we ordered were incredibly dry and just doused in pepper to the point they were barely edible, the chicken was so thin and overcooked that it was basically just breading.  The side salads they came with were bland and tasteless.  The caeser salad was bland with barely any taste to the dressing at all and came with soggy tasteless croutons.  The wings we ordered had a fairly decent buffalo sauce, but were so overcooked and dry that it didnt matter what the sauce tasted like.  All in all, it was a $50 lunch for three people (2 sandwiches, a salad, and wings) and none of it was even remotely good.  
  
  Jake Starr......don't bother.

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  Posted on 02.29.12 Keith W.

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  So far I seem to be the only person to review jake Starr for breakfast. My son and I like to go for a drive on Sunday mornings and have breakfast somewhere. The usual suspects are always on our radar...Maureen's kitchen, Toast and JT's.  I have driven passed this place 100 times and didn't even realize it changed names until this past weekend.  So anyway...we decided to try it.
  Easily just as good as the aforementioned places and the pancakes were quite possibly the best of the bunch.  If their coffee was as good as Toast, this place would definitely be tops on my list. The Belgian waffle was pretty darn good too.  A great feature is that there's no kids breakfast menu but they state that they'll make any item in a kids size.  That's fantastic because my 10 year old has the palate of a 30 year old and typically likes the items that are NOT on the kids menu.
  All in all, great place for breakfast with excellent and friendly service.

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  Posted on 02.27.12 Glen R.

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  Okay, I love the space a lot.  It's a great place to sit down, take your time and enjoy your meal. The service isn't bad.  I definitely enjoyed my panini. But... I don't know, this place just doesn't win me over completely.  Maybe I'm a bit biased though.  I loved the place that was here before; Strawberry Fields and I loved their menu more. The paninis at Jake Starr feel a bit more greasy to me than they should.  I'm sure some people would love this place, but to me, it's just a place that will do.  
  I would probably come back here and give it another try though.

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  Posted on 02.19.12 Karen P.

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  My wife's salad tasted like every single item was soaked in lemon juice and was unedible. Unfortunately the service was so terrible we weren't able to send it back because there was no server in sight in the hour between us getting our food and pathetically just gesturing at someone standing near the kitchen door for a check. I would normally pencil this up to understaffing but I noticed that the one female waitress spent nearly half an hour chatting with some customers who appears to be related to the owner. That's all well and good when you have one table but there didn't seem to be an empty table in the whole place and the only other employee (the employee actually working) was taking orders, running food, bussing, and making drinks at the bar.
  
  Besides the terrible salad and even worse service, my burger was decent. But it was also $14 for a burger with sweet potato fries. I can have that at Roadside in Smithtown for 6 or 7 bucks. And I don't have to wave frantically at anyone to pay my check.
  
  Sorry Jake, you're not a Starr.

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  Posted on 12.05.11 Chuck S.

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  We had always gone to diners for breakfast and when we found this small restaurant with a personal touch, we we're very happy.  The waitresses are so friendly and pleasant and the menu is delightful.  We even went there for dinner.  It's nice to go to a small local business instead of a major chain restaurant.  At dinner, they had live music and the atmosphere was social and happy.  I love the music and menu.  We are a repeat fan.

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  Posted on 08.07.11 J S.

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  Nice little place tucked away by the train station in Stony Brook. You'd miss it if you weren't looking hard enough. It's next to the 7-11.
  
  Prices are fairly reasonable for dinner, avg. $16 for an entree. We had fried ravioli for an appetizer. We actually wanted coconut shrimp spring rolls, but they were fresh out. The ravioli was good, but the spring roll sounded exciting. Oh well.
  
  I got the Connor as my entree, a panko-breaded piece of chicken topped with cheese, spinach, and a balsamic reduction, served with smashed potatoes and grilled zucchini. My fiancée got the Steven, a piece of tilapia coated in coconut and served with smashed potatoes and grilled zucchini. She raved about the zucchini, which is a good thing, I guess. I loved every bit of my entree.
  
  Definitely seems a neat place to hang out, especially for the college crowd the place no doubt gets when school is in session.

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  Posted on 06.12.11 Kevin S.

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  I've driven by Jake Starr Cafe no less than 2348 times since it first opened around the April 2010 time frame. It is occupying the space of the once iconic Three Village establishment, Strawberry Fields cafe which originally opened in 1990. It has now been reclaimed by Scott Koppelman (the original Strawberry Fields owner) and after some/a lot of capital improvements, BAM you now have Jake Starr Cafe & Catering. Here's what transpired for our business lunch:
  
  The space:
  + The entrance is exactly the same as it was before, you walk in and you're immediately in front of a wall which requires you to turn right or left. I'm giving this a positive because it reminds me of Strawberry Fields.
  + It's cozy, functional and quite large for the small-ish building that it is.
  + They have a fairly long bar in the back spanning the back wall of the restaurant
  
  Foodstuffs:
  + Stacey Lee. Grilled chicken with tomatoes, spinach and swiss cheese with an herb mayonnaise. I did this on a whole wheat wrap instead of a panini and had them HOLD the cheese. I tried to get a low cal version of this. Overall, this was pretty decent...the chicken was a bit dry, charred and thin but the wrap was put together well and the herb mayo was good. It's good enough for me to give it a (+) and not a (-).
  - The un-necessary oily macaroni salad they served on the side was just that...un-necessary oily. I liked the garlic and herbs they've infused in to this olive oil but it was just a "tad" too oily.
  + Jordan Starr. Turkey, brie, sundried tomatoes, lettuce and honey mustard in a wrap. She got it on a whole wheat wrap and liked it...wasn't the worst but wasn't the best she's ever had.
  
  Service:
  + The girls who work here are very friendly, efficient and very accommodating. Nice work ladies.
  
  Stuff:
  They're supposedly known for the best "burger" in the Three Villages...whatever the hell that means. I miss Strawberry Fields...especially their Linzer Tarts and cookies in general. I will have to come back to try their "best burger in the Three Villages"...
  
  In summary, Jake Starr is a solid 3 Yelp joint IMO. It's a bit pricey for what it is and though it was somewhere between fair to good, I will probably go back to give them another shot. They serve their breakfast all day long...that's awesome! Perhaps I'll stroll in at 402pm next time and want breakfast LOL! This AFTER my burger.
  
  THIS has been a review by Gaurav

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  Posted on 04.06.11 Gaurav P.

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  Just returned from dinner at Jake Starr, and was not in the least bit impressed.  It was practically empty, except for a large table of 12 Stony Brook U students.  I wouldn't think that it would draw many students, despite the proximity to the school, because of the steep prices.  Our family of 4 waited a very long time for our burgers to arrive, as the lone waiter seemed to bring out each of the large group's entrées one by one.  I believe our burgers sat around for a while while he served them.  
  
  The burgers weren't bad, but as important as the meat being served, a place that boasts about their burgers should realize that cooking the meat the way the customer orders it.  They were too overdone for my liking.  Not very juicy.  Why even ask how you want your burger, when they served us medium well instead?
  
  Bottom line for me was that there are much better places to go for the money.  The lack of people should have tipped us off.  I will be surprised if they stay in business.

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  Posted on 03.29.11 Ross M.

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  WOW! This place has really transformed itself.  The food here is amazing.  This might just be the best kept secret in all of the Three Villages.  Scott the owner and designer of the menu is really talented.  They just started having live music a few nights a week, and there beer and wine selection is really quite good and very fairly priced.  This is a very warm and comfortable place for a couple, a family or even alone for some peace and quiet.  They have a few big screen TVs and a pleasant sound system.
  You can get breakfast anytime of day here too!  The BILL (sandwich) is without a doubt the best sandwich I have ever had (maybe it was named after me too?)!

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  Posted on 11.03.10 bill s.

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