No reservations and a 1.5 hour wait. Its very much a family restaurant.
It was raining and this place was packed. I was told the wait would be 45 min. I ended up sitting at the bar with a friend while we waited (we had to wait to sit at the bar too) and ordered Riesling. Thankfully, a lot of people were not there when the host called their names, so skip skip skip skip all these names, and next thing it was my turn!
We were seated at a booth and ordered Sam's pizza, as well as the soup of the day. The medium pizza is good for 2 people. It was delicious.
The prices weren't bad, esp for East Hampton!
Nothing spectacular - this is your average Italian family restaurant. It was a rainy day and the wait was outrageous. I got a drink at the bar while waiting and soon after ordered the soup of the day (chicken,mushroom, barley which was OK) and the Sam's special pizza.
The pizza was delicious and well cooked. A size medium is good for 2. Reasonably priced too, but try to call ahead and make a reservation!
4 stars for the terrific thin crust pizza made the same way since Sam opened the place in the late 40s. Â Nothing else is notable. Â Not inexpensive but its a far cry from a dive.
Decent service, good beer, no reservations and always busy in season. Â Unfortunately, Sams descendants who still own the building have it for sale.
Rainy days out east mean no beach, no pool, no bbqs, no tennis, no golf, no polo, and all around cabin fever which means you can go shopping in East Hampton and eat or sit around playing drinking games indoors. Â I try to opt to go shopping and lunching. Â Sam's is a great stable for salads and pizzas. Â The wait can be kind of long one weekends and service can be spotty however.
Review Source:Sam's is an unpretentious townie bar and Italian American restaurant in the Fabulous Hamptons.
The highly touted lobster roll cost me $19 and was ok. I know there's a place called the Lunch Box on Montauk Highway where the Lob Rolls are even more expensive and too me that just speaks the the ridiculousness of the zip code.
I yearn for the days of the incredible lobster rolls at a drive in on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport CT called Marczi's where the lobster meat was dripping with butter and everything was served all warm and toasty.
Service was friendly and efficient.
The place is small and the bar is right there in front of you in the dining room. If you don't mind eating next to a bar I guess you'll be quite happy with ordinary food at prices quite affordable given the area.
Solely reviewing bar/ambiance/drinks, as I didn't order any food (although that's a good thing from what I saw, and from my boyfriends subsequent food experience..)
Super dumpy of which i'm frankly never a fan - but I anticipated that with the divey ambiance, there could be the potential for great bloodies! Â Sadly, I was mistaken. Â Horrible bloody, and honestly the food looked atrocious (as did the carpet, barf).
Also SUPER trashy/tatted/jersey clientele at the bar and all families/loud screaming children at the tables...and when my boyfriend ordered food to go a few days later, he deemed it barely edible (the one bite i took caused me to concur). Â Service was also not too spectacular, despite the bar being fairly empty. Â A shame, as it seems like it has the potential to be a reasonably priced, low key spot - also, I'd imagined it would stay open late/be a dive bar at night, but they close at 11...
Get pizza at fieros across the street instead. 315093809808x better, although I cannot vouch for the ambiance, having never been inside.
Im not sure if I just got bad dishes or what, but Im guessing not since my gf warned me not to get food here. We had dropped in to get a drink and I decided I had to try it out as it smelled great and, from what I saw, it looked pretty good. The gf said it looked/smelled bad. Since she didnt want to try it, I got take out. I was wrong.
I ordered the small caesar, spaghetti and meatballs, and the shrimp pizza. The salad, which was the best, just because its hard to mess up a salad, was mediocre. The dressing was very thick, which is fine, but it only covered a small part since it wouldnt spread, there were lots of wedges which I hate, and it just didnt have anything great about it like some caesars do.
The spaghetti was ATROCIOUS. It was literally like I made some at home in about 5 minutes. The sauce was almost non-existent and had no flavor. The meatball was bad, too. This is the worst pasta I have ever ordered.
The shrimp pizza was ok just because the shrimps were actually fresh and big, which Id hope since you dont have to go far to get them. Other than that it was crispy, which I expected. It wasnt horrible, but nothing great.
I was let down, it was a lesser version of Olive Garden.
the great thing about this place is that it is open until 11pm thursday through sunday and the good is not half bad! the pasta is nothing to write home about, but great to know there is a place to grab a bite when you are running late and in a bind! no delivery, but efficient take out!
Review Source:I have to say that Sam's was an Oasis in the desert of East Hampton...what a great little place to grab Lunch and a Beer....I had a fabulous Lunch Special of one of the absolute best Lobster Rolls that I've ever had, served with Cole Slaw and a nice dill pickle spear for the LOW LOW price of $15.95....IN THE HAMPTONS? GTFO! I've had Lobster Rolls at the famed Lunch Box on Montauk Highway on the way out to Montauk and they aren't quite as good and I paid $37.50 each....ridiculous....GO TO SAM'S!
Review Source:We were intrigued by the dated but charming exterior (neon!) of Sam's while across the street @ Dreeson's so we decided to go in for a light lunch. Â Pleasant surprise. Â The place has been there since the late forties and looks it. Â Design wise that is; no feeling of accumulated grunge. Â Nice looking bar with booths along the opposite wall and a smallish dining room in the rear. Â
We shared a 9" clam pizza (NOT New Haven style as I surmised, but made with tomato sauce and mozzarella) and a mesculun salad. Â The pie had a thin crust and although I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew of the tomato/cheese/clam combo, (my fault, I should have asked) Â it was subtly seasoned and beautifully baked. The salad was quite good, the house dressing (on the side) simple but tasty. Â I asked for oil & vinegar and got good olive oil and red wine vinegar. Â Along with two pints of artisan draft beer we got out somewhere in the $30s.
As much as we enjoyed our fare, I was really impressed by what was going out to the other tables: Â steaming bowls of soup, spaghetti and meatballs, various pizzas. Â I would have no trouble ordering anything (and I usually avoid ordering spaghetti as "al dente" is a meaningless phrase in too many places) on the menu.
The service was warm, responsive and competent. Â Although I have seen reviews here that implied a bias against the physically challenged, one of the party at the next booth needed to use a walker, with difficulty, and the staff was helpful and pleasant.
Many years ago, I was advised to judge a restaurant's kitchen by it's restrooms. Â The reasoning being that if the restrooms, which you can see, are dirty, imagine what the kitchen, which is unseen, is like. Â I'm happy to report that the restroom at Sam's was spotless.
I've been going to Sam's since I was a kid, and it still feels like a treat every time.Warm, wood-paneled atmosphere, cozy booths, and thin (ish)-crust, New England-style pies. Under new management for the past few years, it remains, to quote Talking Heads, same as it ever was. Which is a good thing.
Review Source:FOOD OK, SERVICE NOT FRIENDLY, CASUAL
I have been here a few times, and won't go back becuase I believe they are not friendly to weekenders, that's how low-key it is. If the food were better I might put up with their attitude, but it's not....its just another place for soggy pizza. What with Cittanuova and now Serafina nearby, I will be amazed if this place is still in business next summer.
Every town has to have a few competing pizza places. Â Everyone argues about which one is the best, given quality, price etc. Â For some reason people from Utica are pizza elitists, and most other places in New York are pretty bad. Â So pizza can get talked up pretty easily.
This is also true of East Hampton. Â There are a few places, like Sam's or Nick and Toni's, which offer pretty good pizza but are probably overrated in the long run.
And yes, I've met a lot of people from East Hampton (locals, summer dinks like myself, and vacationers) who say that Sam's is the best pizza place in the world.
It has a really old school environment inside, to some people it might seem like dive pizza joint with a lot of grease, and to others it probably feels like you're walking into a set from a mob movie.
You can get traditional pizza toppings here whenever you want, and they also have an inventive list of their own original pizzas on the menu.
In case you were wondering, the pizza at Sam's is good. Â Is it the best I've ever had? Â Probably not. Â But for people in East Hampton it holds a special place in our hearts and it's usually the place we recommend. Â It is a little dive-ish and the service can be slow/subpar at times, but when you're ordering a pizza you usually aren't in a huge hurry with grandiose expectations, so I think we can all deal with it. Â There is a full bar if you're thinking beer, which you probably are unless you're thinking Coca-Cola Classic. Â Despite the somewhat old school atmosphere, it's not dirt cheap. Â But it's not even close to being expensive either.
It's odd to find a bar in ithe Hamptons that didn't serve mojitos. Â But that's ok, I came to get a snack after 3 hours of kayaking with my new friends. Â Had Broccoli Rabe, Cocktail Shrimp, and Baked Clams. Â The Broccoli Rabe didn't have enough garlic and the clams had too much bread crumbs packed into it. Â Diet coke tasted "mechanical".
Best thing about Sam's is it's lack of pretentiousness, clean bathrooms, and friendly waitstaff.
Mean people with contempt for handicap service dog. Â I couldn't believe the contempt the employee's of Sam's showed for us arriving with a registered service dog for our Autistic son. Â Our reception by the waitress and manager was so caustic, even after producing our dog's certification, that we promptly left. Â We have traveled all across this great nation with our son and his LEGAL service dog, including airlines, restaurants, and hotels, only experiencing the best in Americans, but unfortunately I do not include the people working at Sam's among the honorable others. Â Regrettably, If you have a handicap or service dog, I would walk one block to Rowdy's Hall; Â the folks there are a warm and receptive bunch!
Review Source:Me and my boyfriend always make it a point to go here when we are in the hamptons. The penne alla vodka is very good, and I love the thin crust pizza. Gotta love a place that will put artichokes with green olives on a pizza. That's right, I said green olives, it is very hard to find a decent pizza place with these toppings available... I have tried. Super casual environment with good food and generous portions- Sam's hits the spot every time.
Review Source:Once upon a time, there were restaurants all over the East End of Long Island like Sam's.
They had shiny wood booths for four all along the wall; a big bar in the middle of the restaurant with the same people there every night; slightly stale rolls in baskets on the table; dowdy waitresses carrying big trays heaping with pizza and spaghetti; and grandparents, parents and kids all chattering away.
That kind of restaurant is now on the endangered species list. Somehow, Sam's has survived the transformation of "the Hamptons" and maintained the same decor, food and people for over 60 years.
You won't find elegant food here. Nor will you find cool retro atmosphere. It is just an old-fashioned, family-oriented, Italian restaurant. And when you are completely fed up with the over-the-top, trying-too-hard restaurants catering to the summer crowd, Sam's will be the refuge you seek.
Sadly, with the crush of people at the door on a typical summer evening, you may not even get a table. However, if you are patient, it may work out.
The bartender/new owner of Sam's is my hometown crush, and they make THE best (non chicago style) pizza ever. Â It's been around since the 1940's, and there is still graffiti from back in the day carved into the back corner wall too - kinda cool. It's a great little family place, and they do take-out as well.
Review Source:If you are not from the East Coast, but you know someone who is, inevitably you have heard that person complain about the pizza in whatever city or town you live in. Â As someone who has always lived west of the Mississippi, I know what I'm talking about here. Â
Most of my wife's family are from the East Coast, so they inevitably swear their allegiance to East Coast pizza. Â There are a few exceptions in their minds, but in general, the best pizza for them is NOT on the left coast. Â
They all swear that Sam's pizza is the best. Â Period. Â
Naturally, Sam's had my full attention when I crossed its threshold and sat down in the nice old school booth for a pie. Â That's another thing about East Coasters: Â It's referred to as a pie. Â You have to understand the context to be able to tell whether we're talking pepperoni or apple when you are anywhere near the northeast. Â
Long story short, I've been to Sam's a grand total of 3 times. Â Each time the experience was fun, and the "pie" was very good. Â The last time we went, we took out a Sam's Special (kitchen sink, no anchovies), a Mario's Mix (veggie with goat cheese I think) and a 5 Cheese pizza. Â
Yup, the pie was very good. Â Not jumping around on the furniture/dreaming about it for 3 nights/telling perfect strangers about your wonderful pie good, but good nonetheless. Â Â The service was a little spacey the last couple of times we were there, but everyone was nice, and we were on vacation so time wasn't necessarily of the essence. They have a full bar, and as I already mentioned a really comfy old school restaurant atmosphere.
Like a beacon, Sam's neon sign (one of the only only allowed in EH) shines on Newtown Lane beckoning to those in need of nourishment. At least that's what one might think looking at the hordes of people that flock to Sam's around dinner time. There isn't anything magical about the sign, however, it's all about the pizza.
After 10 years, my father finally stopped ordering his pizza with thin crust. That's how it always comes at Sam's. If thick crust or deep dish pizza is what you want, this is definitely not the place for you. The pies come in 3 sizes, the smallest being an individual 9" and there's usually some sort of special during the week. They have an assortment of toppings, as well as a few special pies with preselected assortments of toppings with complement each other beautifully. Â
The salads are awesome, always very fresh and with excellent dressings. I haven't tried the pasta dishes because I love their pizza so much, but from the bites I've stolen from parents' and friends' dishes, they're pretty excellent. Reasonably priced with very large portions.
They have a variety of typical Italian desserts, such as cannoli, tiramisu and tartufo. From what I've had, they're great, but not anything different that you'd get from a different Italian restaurant.
Awesome low key atmosphere without being a pizzeria. Definitely worth a try if you're in the East Hampton area! Try to go earlier in the summer (I think they open at 5), it'll be easier to get a table.
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