Honu in Huntington, seriously depressing signs of deterioration under new ownership
We've been loving Honu Kitchen and Cocktails for the past few years after not having liked earlier iterations of this place starting with Blue Honu... improving when it was small plates and becoming becoming homey with the food and moderately priced while still having those gorgeous dining areas with the huge sparkling chandeliers and very professional, informative and friendly servers. Managers weren't conspicuous but things ran very well.
Til our most recent visit. Admittedly it was probably a Sunday, not a good night to eat out, but yech, it was just depressingly empty, unprofessional and the beautiful room and its lights have lost their sparkle. I don't think the chandeliers have been cleaned in a year, possibly. I've always taken in the beauty of the room and loved the lighting and ambience, so the difference to me was that it seems a kind of shabbiness of maintenance and service has taken over and the place felt sad and eerie. We both felt it.
Server was young, seeming very inexperienced and disinterested, certainly not informative nor attentive at all. Not even close to the very sharp leveI of service combined with friendliness of the past. I can't even remember what we each ate, but I don't think it was memorable as good or terrible, just there.
The most memorable part of the whole meal was having a manager hover over the two occupied tables, refilling water glasses and otherwise just sort of hanging off to the side waiting for someone at the two or three occupied tables to take a sip. It seemed kind of creepy.
It just felt sad and unsatisfying, and I hate when a long time favorite restaurant of ours declines to the point that it gives me the creeps. We may try it one more time before giving up for good, mid week, and see if it still has any appeal, but the writing on the wall is not a reason for optimism.
