Vincent’s Clam Bar, a classic Italian, family-style restaurant, is not even a 10 minute drive from Hofstra University. The restaurant offers a bustling, welcoming and intimate environment to any patron who enters.
This week, after hearing good reviews and overwhelmingly positive comments from other students at Hofstra, I visited Vincent’s Clam Bar for the first time. Since I had not previously dined there despite living on Long Island and being at Hofstra for more than two years, I had to find out if they were right or wrong for making such a claim.
Upon entering Vincent’s Clam Bar, it feels like you’re stepping into a different world. I was taken aback going from the quiet, gray colored plaza to the bustling and warm mahogany entrance.
As I waited to be seated, I found myself thinking, “How come I never knew about this place before? There’s so much going on here!” Families, college students (specifically with Hofstra merchandise on) and patrons of all ages crowded the halls of Vincent’s from the front to the back. It felt like this was the perfect place to be having dinner on a Sunday night.
My party and I were sat at a table in the middle of the restaurant, close to the neighboring tables, when a waiter immediately came and greeted us. The menu was filled with a wide variety of classic Italian options: pasta, brick oven pizza, salad, soup, shrimp, calamari, chicken parmigiana, chicken marsala and more. Our table was presented with large loafs of warm Italian bread to share amongst ourselves.
We ordered miniature meatballs as an appetizer, which came out very quickly and provided a great start to our meals. The marinara sauce tasted savory and rich, while the meatballs were perfectly delicate and packed with flavor. I would heavily recommend them.
I ordered the penne alla vodka with grilled chicken as my main course. Similar to our appetizers, the food came out before I could even wonder, “When’s our food going to get here? I’m hungry.”
My meal had a rich, bright tasting vodka sauce that covered the pasta as well as the grilled chicken throughout my bowl. The abundance of chicken throughout my dish gave a variety of flavors to such a simple, classic Italian meal.
The biggest takeaway I noticed when our meals arrived was the portion size. You could easily make two full meals out of what you’re given, even three if you are already full after eating the delicious appetizers. I took the other half of my meal home for another night. For a not-so-pricey meal, I felt I got bang for my buck.
As we ate our main courses, the sounds of the restaurant and the sense of community came to life. People were laughing, families were celebrating and conversations were alive. To say the place was full of people would be an understatement.
“It’s the best Italian food that you can eat on Long Island,” said Jack Carella, a food runner at Vincent’s who currently attends Hofstra, when asked about his thoughts on the restaurant. “Vincent’s has an exciting, bustling, intimate atmosphere that makes you genuinely feel like you are in Little Italy.”
Vincent’s feels like a community staple of Long Island. Any Hofstra student should take the short drive to experience a sense of community that doesn’t exist anywhere else on the Island, especially with family weekend coming up so soon. I will most definitely be returning there when I get the chance – after I finish my leftovers, of course.
Vincent’s Clam Bar is located at 179 Old Country Road, Carle Place, N.Y., 11514.
