tullulah's

this is such a great tapas restaurant! we went for happy hour and the drinks and appetizers were amazing. definitely recommend the "sans gria" (vodka, lemon, simple syrup, red wine). we loved the manchego arancini in truffle sauce so much, we had two orders. they are very generous with the portion sizes as far as tapas go. after drinks and tapas at the bar, we moved to the dining area. everything was delicious, but we would have loved more scallops since it's a main dish. the staff is friendly and the prices are very reasonable. the bartender and chef definitely know what they're doing. highly recommended!

michelle's birthday party. just returned from having the pleasure of eating at your "fantastic establishment". not only was the food delicious, your staff did a splendid job of catering to the needs of all the party goers. thank you for a great experience and thank you for making my best friends birthday so very special.

love this place!!!. very trendy cool place...looks like a cool brooklyn type eatery. the specialty beers were fabulous as was the service. they have a very friendly crowd and the bartenders were very social nice people! the server was very good and the small plates were fantastic! we ordered about 5 things each one better than the other..wished they were big plates :) we will definitely return! they also recently renovated place looks great!

dee-lish, baby.. simply delectable. succulent cheeses. tantalizing breads. yum-o, baby. baby.

great place! fantastic and creative menu. the chorizo with sriracha aioli was a favorite of mine. so much so, we ordered it twice. perfect portions with quality taste. the restaurant inside has an excellent ambiance with an interesting look. they change their menu seasonally, which makes it feel like a new experience each time. highly recommended -dotruereview

an unexpected fisher-price meal. sadly, not culinary big leagues.. went in for sunday brunch with the family after hearing that this place is pretty popular and attempts to use fresh, local ingredients, we trucked it out from port jeff, happy to have finally gotten to try the food.

looked like an empty mission cantina, spartan, with more random odd kitsch and a college bar like feel.

onward to the dining area looks like a dark, damp, cold and uninviting peter luger's. often not a reflection on the food, but in this case...

asked our waitress -------- what the bar had to drink.

"we have everything" was her response.

cute. thanks for the guidance. i came hear to eat, drink and spend money. help me do that, please.

i asked for a list, and she told me they didn't have a beer or cocktail list, just a wine list. she then stood silent.

a bit baffled, i asked for her to bring me the wine list. ordered a glass of an unmemorable meritage, that tasted like it had been uncorked for several days.

now on to the food.

unfortunately, none of what we ordered seemed to be seasoned, apart from the rib eye meat, and the overly seasoned and burnt fried chicken that came with the waffle.

we ordered:

the avocado d.b.l.t.
with duck bacon, lemon dill aioli, egg, brioche roll.

sounds good right?
wrong.

flat. it tasted like eating only the bread and sauce from a cold burger king whopper. fries were room temperature, which was slightly cold.

pan-seared rib eye
with mixed summer greens, roasted mushrooms, poached egg, ginger
vinaigrette.
no discernible seasoning; as a result more flatness. fries cold, bread cold, rib eye with cold rubbery chunks of hard fat, cold undercooked mushrooms ( tasted like store-bought reconstituted chanterelles: disgusting)

simple egg with crispy pork belly
egg over easy, tomato, arugula, lemon
herb aioli, brioche roll, garlic herb
pomme frites
-again, no discernible seasoning; as a result more flatness. cold fries and cool, rubbery pork belly.

fried chicken with waffle.

chicken was the only thing that had seasoning, in fact so much so that you could see the sea salt resting like a dusting of snow atop the burnt, deep-fried chicken, which was accompanied by a log cabin faux maple syrup and log cabin faux maple syrup with lots of, perhaps vinegar and much hot pepper added to it, unpalatable.

waitstaff was aloof and unconcerned, apart from the busser, who was professional and apologetic.

in closing, i'll quote the previous reviewer, who said:

"...when going to a nice spot like this, you expect more... i don't mind blowing money if the food jumps out, but all this food did was fall short and i'm so so so disappointed. i really had high hopes.
at the end if your meal, your check will come in a little book where they want you to leave a cute little message, all but one that i noticed were rave reviews... the other was just some immature moron telling the waitress to take her top off or something. i'm surprised and a little bothered that tullulah's is as big of a hit as it seems to be, i had a pretty plain-jane meal, and mildly poor service...
in comparison to just about anywhere i've had similar dishes i'd go to the other spot (which again i'm actually sad to say, because upon walking in i really liked the vibe, the art, the crowd, and the damn sign out front)
oh well. worth the try... i guess... maybe... eh.
:(
..."
hopefully dinner will be better, though i have to say i am hesitant to try.

my review has changed over the years; this place was better when they were a closet that just served sandwiches.

everything i liked last night, i've had much better somewhere else.

walking in and sitting down you get a good feeling and a good scent that everything is going to work out real well... this isn't exactly the case.

service was medioker at best, and i only give it that much credit because the waitress was at least nice, despite them all being quite inattentive and forgetful.

three different waiters forgot the lemons we asked for at least 4 or 5 times, but more importantly, let's move in to the food everyone raves about.

it's tapas, i get that but tullulah's fakes it. the steak, was 40% in edible, trust me i even tried eating the giant chunks of hard chewy fat hoping maybe it was at least buttery and would complement the meat, no, not at all, bad bad idea..

the duck was great, good dish for sure, as was the fried poached egg, but there was certainly no flash, and i wasn't able to detect the "drizzle of truffle oil" at all.

it all seemed like stuff i'd make at home, only a cheap, quick, imatation way;

the gouda mac n cheese was good, but more so just seemed like kraft elbow mac, and a decent gouda cheese sauce that doesn't impress.

most things we had were fine.. they were good... but when going to a nice spot like this, you expect more... i don't mind blowing money if the food jumps out, but all this food did was fall short and i'm so so so disappointed. i really had high hopes.

at the end if your meal, your check will come in a little book where they want you to leave a cute little message, all but one that i noticed were rave reviews... the other was just some immature moron telling the waitress to take her top off or something. i'm surprised and a little bothered that tullulah's is as big of a hit as it seems to be, i had a pretty plain-jane meal, and mildly poor service.

oh and the truffle fries- not great either
in comparison to just about anywhere i've had similar dishes i'd go to the other spot (which again i'm actually sad to say, because upon walking in i really liked the vibe, the art, the crowd, and the damn sign out front)

oh well. worth the try... i guess... maybe... eh.

:(


-----13 apr, 2009-----

clockworks got it. indeed, when you walk in, you are shocked (if you knew nothing of this place beforehand) there isn't some chill, pub style bar with a funky decor. instead, you are in a walk in closet, with less frills, however it is all you can hope for and more from a simple take out place; it is certainly fresh n' tasty and truly worth a shot. i'll be going back to try something different very soon.

now, just so you know, the menu is going through a renewal process, so let's cross our fingers we don't lose our favorites.

amazing private party venue. we held my son's bar mitzvah shabbat dinner here and tulullah's came through with flying colors. they bent over backwards to make us happy in ways that were meaningful for us. very tuned in and helpful staff, great owners. the food is beyond phenomenal, especially for the south shore. love their ice balls for the drinks! we had a joyful and meaningful dinner with our out of town guests. ~ karen

better than good!. my wife and i were looking for a place to eat in bayshore as we were going to see a show at the boulton center. as we were not familiar with the town's saturday night restaurant sceene we were sort of hoping for a good place. what we found was a great place! it was perfect as the plates were "small" plates so a lite bite could be easily had but the quality of the kitchen work was beyond what we could have ever anticipated. we opted for a seasonal salad that was a tasty blend of both greens and fruit with lighly candied sunflower seeds as garnish. my wife had scallops with mushrooms and accented with blueberries, which sounds a bit weird but provided a nice punctuation to the dish. i had cod that was prepaired on a bed of cripy pork belly on a bed of whipped parsnips. very very good. best part for us tullulah's is just steps away from the theater. great if you have just shared a bottle of wine and perhaps a cocktail....

don't go here with 4 people or more. we arrived at 7:30 on a saturday night, were told a 1 hour wait. no problem. gave a cell number to the guy, went around the block for a drink. went back 45 minutes to check on our table. not ready yet but the girl (nasty with attitude) doesn't know when it will be ready. now an hour and 15 minutes have gone by, no phone call. we walk in (no place to wait inside, too small) and we ask for four empty glasses so we can at least enjoy the wine we brought while we wait in our car. they refuse to accommodate that. then we see a couple go in and head to the back and be seated. i notice there were 2 empty tables for 2 in the back, one behind the other. we asked if they can put them together for us and they said they don't do that. our friends who brought us there said that last time they put 2 tables together to accommodate 4 of them. this nasty girl refused to help us. we asked how much longer and she didn't know and suggested we don't wait any longer. how does a restaurant not seat anyone after 7:30 on a saturday night and stay in business? never been treated so poorly at a place in my life. in this economy, you would think a business located in bay shore, with a lot of local competition, would be fighting for each and every dollar and customer.don't go here! you will ruin your night waiting to be seated! by the way, they never called our cell to ever tell us a table became available.

great burgers. this is one of my favorite places for a burger on the entire island. my gf loves their veggie wrap. it's very nyc-ish with the cozy dining room (well really an oversized hallway with tables) but you can't go wrong with the food. always the same cook who is visible in the kitchen. my only helpful bit of advice- if they quote you 20 mins, go with 25 mins. i've stood there waiting after i thought i gave them more than enough time. but that's fine... the food is too good for that to be a problem.

very good, especially for take out!. there's a few things in life that make me truly happy. somewhere near the top of that list lies truly good french fries. tullulah's offers seven (yes, seven) varieties of fries, all of which are quite tasty (even if they could afford to be a little crispier). their wraps and sandwiches are quite good as well, far better then you would expect from a take-out place the size of a dorm room at a state college.