Bar
Portside is one of the more accessible drinking joints in Port Jeff if only because it is off the beaten path and has an outdoor patio area.
Located at the end of an parking lot with nothing else there, they have a good location for the young crowd that calls this place home. Â We wandered in to have a drink and decide what we wanted to do. Â
Plenty of bouncer action at the entry but overall the crowd is in the 20-something range. Â Very loud, very young and on the dirty side, the place is made for drinking. Â No bones about it and no apologies. Â Not sure about the grill part and really wouldn't attempt it here anyway.
Prices were decent, drinks were fine - so depending on what you are looking for this could be a good starting place for your night out.
Parking in muni-lots.
First off, how can you hate on a place that has Happy Hour from 2PM-7PM on weekdays?
Now, if you're looking for fine dining or the swanky ambiance of the rest of Port Jefferson, I'd say look elsewhere. You want a gourmet burger or free-range-vegan fare? I believe there are restaurants in PJ that cater specifically to your needs -- Â if you care that much about such matters, you won't be satisfied with this place (or probably any standard-American watering-hole type of place). How one could fool themselves this isn't mostly a bar when they first walk in is beyond me.
Here you'll get the standard you-don't-care-if-it's-fancy-as-long-as-it's-Âawesome-with-beer-pub grub. The food is quite a steal if you go during Happy Hour -- the fried mozzarella definitely doesn't  come from the freezer, and if you ask for your wings 'extra-crispy' the chef pulls off some pretty decent wings.
Getting half-priced appetizers also helps you buy more of what you really want to come here for: beer. They probably have the best on-tap beer selection in Port Jefferson (although, to be fair, that doesn't take much). They have quite a few local brews, but also things like Arrogant Bastard Ale -- you can't beat that.
And of course, the staff is amazing.
I went to Portside with my girlfriend on a Saturday in June for drinks.
Seems like a nice place, great outdoor deck which would be good for dinner.
Drinks were a tad on the expensive side, but pretty reasonable. Honestly, my girlfriends Margarita was nothing exceptional, but you can't really pass judgement on the place based on one drink. The main attraction of the night was the live music. I'm not sure what the band was, but they were playing some 60s style music. The place was hoppin' -- people were dancing and clapping and having a great time. Mostly an older crowd (30s,40s,50s) with some in their late 20s. My girlfriend and I danced some swing, had a nice time.
It's a place we may check out again.
Despite a somewhat odd menu lacking in the pub food department, Portside delivers the important stuff: suds and liquor. Nice outdoor seating area, live music, and a chill wait staff (sometimes too chill) make it a great late night stop. Great selection of local beers, and a very well-stocked back shelf. It's in an odd place, nestled underneath Toast with a glorious view of municipal parking, but if there's drinking to be done, it had best be done here.
Review Source:Was excited to try a new spot in the downtown area. Unfortunately, this place isn't that great. the menu is very limited to the typical pub foods - buffalo wings, sliders, salads, wraps... the buffalo wings were good but extremely salty - not sure if they were processed or not. The sliders were just ok, the fries were good. Prices were reasonable. The service was friendly. They do have a bunch of tap beers, but I was hoping for a slightly more impressive selection. I guess if i'm in the area, I would go back for a beer or 2... but probably not any time soon.
Review Source:Atmosphere is great for a nice day. Â Outside seating, and even inside seating gets a good breeze with the big open doors.
Bar is fine. Â 10 or so beers on tap, mostly the norms for the area (miller light, bluepoint, etc). Â It's actually still the physical Back Yard bar, with the big Back Yard logo in it. Â $4 domestic, $5 import.
Thought the food was pretty lousy. Â Tried both a burger and mahi tacos. Â Both $10 bucks, which is a bit high. Â Burger was mostly tasteless, stale roll. Â Mahi tacos were really just pretty bad. Â Dry fish, lousy slimy tortilla.
Bathrooms look like they haven't been touched. Â Leave much to be desired.
Bar staff seems to be mostly if not all 20 something year old women. Â On three trips found it hard to get their attention as crowd seems to be mostly friends.
**update 12/28/2012**
My friends got thrown out of there for "cheering too enthusiastically for the Knicks" Â This was when they had the Knicks on every TV. Â They were told "this is not that kind of place" Â Well your food is not good, your service sucks so it is not like they were going nuts in a fancy haute cuisine restaurant!
I was very excited to see that another business opened in the space where Tumbleweeds formerly was, and before that The Backyard. Â Especially one that has a good selection of beers. Â Unfortunately the experience I had there was not very good.
 We went there on a Sunday afternoon after hearing about the owner/chef having a cooking demo downtown.  I appreciate people who give back to the community.  So we go there and there is nobody there and we walk in to the place.  2 girls are there chatting, and they saw us walking in from a distance, then we walk in and after another 45 seconds or so of chatting, we are acknowledged and sat outside.  So we sit outside and are given 2 menus.  I suppose I got the "Dinner" menu cause the prices were 2x as much as my wife's!  For instance Nachos for $12.99?!  The items on the menu were the same too!  Wow I sure hope they don't charge that much for dinner because it is not exactly a 5 star restaurant.
 So we order 2 waters to start while we peruse the menu, they came out like 10 minutes later while the 2 aforementioned employees are chatting in there.  The menu was not very large and served pretty much PJ bar fare food.  My wife ordered a bay breeze, which came out about an additional 10 minutes later while we were the only people at this place.  Drink was reasonably priced at $5.50. Â
 The food was OK, but also took forever to come out while again we were the only people there. Â
I wish them well because I like variety downtown, but I would not recommend eating there.. especially for dinner given the high prices I saw on the menu. Â The service is non caring, and the 2 girls working that day really did not care about much other than whatever they were talking about. Â Food quality was ok, and like I said decent bar. Â Will return late night on bar crawl but will not eat there again. Â The service standard there is very low.
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