Quick Take: The Brook House- Stony Brook Village, NY/ Overall Rating 3.25 out of 5 Stars

Mr. Guido Says: ***1/2

Mrs. Guido Says: ***

Mrs. Guido's 2 cents:

There's a little game I like to play when going to The Brook House; It's called "Spot the Coach Bag". Situated in the Stony Brook Village Center, in picturesque Stony Brook Village, a colonial style town, The Brook House is a throw back to good old fashioned Americana. Upon entering, there is a miniature scoop shop, seperating the two halves of the dining area. The dining room is always busy, whether you come for lunch and dinner. If you get a seat in the front dining room, you can watch the locals going in and out of the quaint boutiques neighboring the restaurant, which is where I like to play my game. The demographics seem to be desperate housewives and wealthy retirees; I guess I'm in training for the former. Food wise, the menu is limited, serving basically sandwiches, burgers, and salads. Having gone for both lunch and dinner, I would recommend visiting for lunch; the menu is much more suited for this meal. I have sampled the Grilled Portabella sandwich, both with a side salad and with sweet potato fries, and a Wheat pita pizza salad that was on special. The Portabella could have standed to be marinated in balsamic a tad longer, and therefore was bordering on bland. The salad was standard, but small. The sweet potato fries are always nice. The pita special was a surprise treat; a whole wheat pita topped with chopped black olives, sundried tomatos, and melted mozzarella cut into 6 triangles, served around a massive romaine lettuce salad with shaved romano, grilled artichoke hearts, more black olives, in a balsamic glaze dressing. The salad was much bigger than expected, and tasty, although the artichoke hearts could have been left out. The sundried tomatos complimented the whole wheat pita very nicely. Overall, the service is pleasant if not a bit rushed. On the dinner trip, we were asked to leave after paying the bill because someone was waiting for the table. I found that to be rude, being in the food service industry myself. I thought this would deter me from coming back, but we needed to find a local lunch spot in a pinch, so we decided to give it another shot. The Brook House is a nice looking place in a nice looking area, however, I feel that it relies too much on ambiance and conveneince than its actual food.