Welcome to a new feature to Feast and Fandom called Restaurants Revisited. Every now and then I will revisit a restaurant that I had either loved or not liked so much and see if they had either improved or continued to fall into a pit of despair. Today's revisited restaurant is Buoy One of Riverhead, NY.

Back on February 6th of 2017, my wife and I found this small seafood market in Riverhead, NY that had also been run as a restaurant. We were looking for lunch during a fun afternoon of wine tasting and a trip to Long Island Vodka Distillery and Buoy One came up when we ran a google search on the cell phone. If you had read that first review, you would find that I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere and the simplicity of the restaurant. I found myself reposting their beautiful food pictures on my Instagram page @feastandfandom and sort of grew somewhat of a social media friendship with them. I kept missing their food and looked forward to returning during many of my trips to Long Island, but sadly something had always kept me away. It was just how the plans fell and time constraints worked against the follow up visit. Then as time continued to drift, so did our friendly back and forth comments. Sad, but inevitable. Since that last review, Buoy One has expanded at an amazing rate with opening locations in Westhampton, East Hampton, Mattituck and Manhattan. They have truly brought their brand and their love of great seafood to many new hungry bellies that crave these delights of the sea.

(PHOTO PROVIDED VIA GOOGLE)

THE RETURN

(PHOTO TAKEN BY JOHN BOCCELLARI

We finally returned to Buoy One this past weekend on Saturday February 9th. It had been two years since I had first walked into the doors of Buoy One. At first glance, I had been reassured that nothing seemed to have changed upon my arrival. This was a good thing. As I walked into the front door with my wife I saw the fresh seafood in display cases where they operated their seafood market. As a seafood lover, I was in heaven. We were quickly seated by a friendly member of the staff who gently put our menus down onto the table and presented us with a giant specials board. It was a dry erase board that was about three feet tall. There was a stack of them off to the side of the room. I loved this. The specials presentation had not changed and it fit with the environment that we were in. They have a way of making their look and feel really work for them. My wife ordered her margarita and I ordered my rum punch (pictured above) which were super tasty.

THE FOOD

(PHOTOS TAKEN BY JOHN BOCCELLARI. PICTURED ABOVE BEGINNING UPPER LEFT TO CLOCKWISE: OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL, FISHERMAN'S BASKET, PEPPER SEARED TUNA)

We started off with an order of Oysters on the Half Shell for me and an order of Pepper Seared Tuna for my wife. The oysters were refreshing and briny in the right way with great ocean flavor. They really hit the spot. My wife's tuna was perfectly seared and the crispy wonton on the bottom of each piece really gave a nice texture to the tuna. The flavors really popped. My wife and I both shared the Fisherman's Basket which is more than enough for two people to share. The Fisherman's Basket featured fried basa filet, shrimp, scallops, whole clams, oysters, calamari, Idaho fries, onion rings and a BBQ cole slaw. The food was not all that heavy due to being fried and the flavor of each piece of seafood really stood out. Excellent execution with this dish.

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

Buoy One really impressed me with this visit. They upheld their standards. We had great service. The food was the star and speaks for itself. There is no doubt as to why this restaurant has been able to expand the way that it has over the last two years. I see nothing but great things for them on the horizon and I cannot wait to visit them again. I just hope that it does not take another two years for me to do so. Great job guys. I give a 4.7 out of 5 stars. This beats the 4.5 score slightly from two years ago.

Buoy One has five locations:

1175 W. Main Street

Riverhead, NY 11901

(631) 208-9737

62 Montauk Highway

Westhampton, NY 11977

(631) 998-3808

17 Race Ln

East Hampton, NY 11937

(833) 286-9663

Inside the Mattituck Marketplace

10095 Main Rd

Mattituck, NY 11952

(631) 298-9797

930 3rd Ave

New York, NY 10022

(212) 813-0003

Find Buoy One online at www.buoyone.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/buoyone

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#restaurant #review #foodreview #restaurantreview #sefood