Smithtown Restaurants

Where do you go to eat when you want to stick to a budget but don't want to sacrifice on taste? I suggest Sizzler on Main Street in Smithtown. My husband and I were there on a recent weekday for an early dinner and we were very satisfied with our experience.

The atmosphere is casual and pleasant, with upbeat hits from the 80's and 90's playing at just the right volume. Sizzler does things a bit differently in that instead of being greeted by a hostess and immediately seated upon walking in, you read the menu board prominently displayed on the wall and then place your order with the cashier. Next you choose your own table and place your receipt on it so that your waitress will know what you ordered.

Since every meal comes with an unlimited salad bar, you grab a plate and start to feast. Sizzler maintains an excellent salad bar, which in actuality includes much more than just salad.

You will find the standard ingredients for a salad, which are all very fresh. Three different types of lettuce (iceberg, spinach, and Mesclun) are featured, but you'll also find excellent salads of the other variety: pasta, potato, macaroni, and cold slaw. In addition, there's hot and delicious fried chicken, onion rings, corn poppers (my personal favorite), potato wedges, a taco station, soups, and a pasta station. While most of the salad bar foods and condiments were adequately labeled, a few were not, making it a bit difficult to distinguish between things like sour cream and whipped cream. However, it wasn't hard finding a friendly waitress to help me with this.

Our main courses were delivered to our table by an attentive waitress just as we finished the last bites of our salad bar course. We opted for the Mega Bacon Cheeseburger with French fries and Malibu Chicken Sandwich with a baked potato. I should note that the Malibu Chicken Sandwich is not really an item on the menu; the breaded chicken is usually served off the bun with melted ham and cheese, but the cashier took my modified order without batting an eyelash.

My husband's Mega Bacon Cheeseburger was grilled to a perfect medium rare as requested, and was topped off with a gooey slice of melted American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Sizzler's "special sauce," all served on a potato bun. While the bacon could've been a bit crisper, the French Fries were hot and flavorful, with just the right amount of crunch. My Malibu Chicken Sandwich was also very tasty and came with a foil-wrapped baked potato with butter.

Desserts are featured as part of the salad bar, and include ripe fruit of all varieties, chocolate pudding with whipped cream, Jell-O, and another standout -- a soft-serve ice cream machine with vanilla, chocolate, and a mix of both. Hot fudge, caramel, crumbled Oreo cookies, peanuts, and colored sprinkles complete the tasty treat.

Overall, we had a satisfying dinner and would absolutely recommend Sizzler for a reasonably priced but enjoyable brunch, lunch or dinner. It is an ideal spot for lunch since you can easily be in and out in 40 minutes or less. It is also the perfect restaurant for families, as children would surely be happy with making a meal out of the salad bar alone. Based on all of that, Sizzler gets 3 1/2 dishes.