This restaurant has such a special vibe! We couldn’t get a table but the spot at the bar was as much good! Racheal was amazing and fun! We tried couple dishes but definitely will be back to try more food and coctails
Rachel Hospers
Over salted and over priced. I could’ve cooked a better meal at home. I have no idea how this place sells out their reservations. Cocktail 1/10 Squash 3/10 Mushrooms 2/10 Crab Fried Rice 3/10. We also ordered oyster tacos but 45 mins passed and they never came out. Luckily they ended up taking those off the bill because we never got them. Seems like more issues than just an “off night.” If you have a refined palate, don’t waste your time and money.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
A Cortez
The peking duck or ribeye are solid choices.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Nadia M.K. Weinstein
Casual vibe, excellent service. Dishes were a bit hit or miss, but some of them were absolutely fantastic (do not skip the crab fried rice which I will be dreaming about until my next visit).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Fried Rice
Nicholas
Best dinner we had on Nantucket. Had to get the res exactly at midnight one week prior and it took a few attempts, but it was well worth the effort.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Becca Jean
Amazing! The sashimi dom (I don’t think I spelled that right) was incredible. We ordered more bao buns and devoured the crab fried rice. The noodles, were spicy, but so flavorful.
We went with a big group and shared everything we ordered. It was perfection.
The staff was also amazing and chill. I definitely want to go back and make my way through the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pork Belly Buns, Blue Crab Fried Rice
Dean G
Yes, Nautilus on Nantucket is awesome. Yes, it's small and challenging to get a res during July and August. Yes, the Head Chef, Sarah Barlow is all that. Yes, the front-of house staff (which doesn't turn over) does an incredible job managing the sometimes entitled crowd. No, nobody cares who you are, who you know or how much you make. Just be a good human and you will have a wonderful evening.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Soup 591 (Soup_591)
I’ve been to Nautilus a few times and have had nothing but great experiences. This past trip, my wife and I brought our group of friends to the restaurant for their first trip to the island.
We were met with the absolute rudest server I have ever encountered. Which is a shame because the rest of the experience was great. When we simply asked to split our bill evenly four ways, we were met with an eye roll and a “wait really? That’s going to be very hard to do. Can you write it down?”
After writing down that we wanted the bill split four ways (and doing the math for her), our server, very visibly annoyed, returned our four checks to us without a word and walked away. We were genuinely confused and walked out with a sour taste after an otherwise good experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 1
Kira Ispa
TL;DR: $400 spent on the most mid meal ever. Avoid if you like spending $ on good food.
I am writing this review in hopes to help diners avoid throwing their $ at an overhyped meal. I, too, fell for the Nautilus’s insta photos, google reviews, and exclusivity. But in no uncertain terms - this is *not* a restaurant that is worth staying up until midnight a week a head of time to try to get a resy for. Re: the people in the reviews - “incredible food”, “speechless”, “one of the best restaurants on Nantucket” - I am convinced they are either 1) lying or 2) don’t know good food from the back of their hand.
The food wasn’t bad per se, but it also wasn’t good. Vietnamese fried shrimp tasted like a PF Chang’s dish - overly saucy, quality of shrimp was meh. If you had told me you’d air fried them out of the freezer and mixed them with a provided sauce packet, I would have believed you. Summer salad was soggy and flavors were all over the place. A $42 sashimi don bowl that comes with pre-made seaweed salad you can buy at Costco? Let’s be for real.
Highlights of the meal did include the beef tataki and the chicken frites. The bartender was definitely on his game - the drinks were delicious. Being impressed by 2/6 dishes just did not do it for our party.
Service left much to be desired. Lady with the pen in her hair acted too cool for school the entire time. Everyone has bad days, but her vibe definitely did not help make up for our experience with the food. At the end of the night, we joked that we should have gone to Stubby’s instead bc the boys behind the counter there are always lovely.
Nantucket has certainly changed from what it was 10, 15 years ago - and even moreso after Covid. Food quality is down across the island while prices have skyrocketed. Most of the island crowd is OK with throwing a few hundred dollars at a mediocre meal. This review is to help those of us who aren’t. It’s also to help the folks that stand outside of this place in the evenings hoping to get a table. I was watching people look longingly inside the restaurant during the duration of our meal.. To those folks, along with others staying up until midnight to get a resy - it is not worth the effort. I wish I could say it was.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Beef Tataki Salad
Jaclyn O'Day
The Nautilus has incredible food, great service, and an inviting atmosphere! Here are the items we ordered priority ranked in terms of what we liked the best:
Blue crab fried rice (gluten free) Yellowfin tuna lettuce wraps (gluten free) Crispy Calamari Burrata (gluten free without the bread) Vietnamese beef tataki salad (gluten free) Steamed pork buns
Dietary restrictions: Our waitress was very helpful with regard to accommodating dietary restrictions and navigating the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Fried Rice, Calamari Salad
Time should be updated on maps to reflect the kitchen closing time - arrived around 930 to be told the kitchen was closed
David Belitsky
Same menu over and over. Added drumies from 2023. Time to update, boring if you like food?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Thomas Agresta
This place is awesome. Cocktails are well balanced and their menu has a good variety of flavors and spirits. The food is also excellent, cant say i had a single bad bite. The ribeye with bonchon was excellent. The service is on point, I don't think my water glass was ever below half empty for more than 30 seconds and our waiter was able to speak to every dish and answer all of our questions. Tough table to get, but well worth the effort.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
George Furlow
Food was excellent. I had Calamari Salad and wife had the oyster tacos. They were both excellent. Our waitress was superb. Efficient, helpful, polite and tended to our needs. All questions were answered to help us make our decisions. I would highly recommend. We did not have reservations so we sat at the bar. I’d go again for sure
This restaurant has such a special vibe! We couldn’t get a table but the spot at the bar was as much good! Racheal was amazing and fun! We tried couple dishes but definitely will be back to try more food and coctails
Over salted and over priced. I could’ve cooked a better meal at home. I have no idea how this place sells out their reservations. Cocktail 1/10 Squash 3/10 Mushrooms 2/10 Crab Fried Rice 3/10. We also ordered oyster tacos but 45 mins passed and they never came out. Luckily they ended up taking those off the bill because we never got them. Seems like more issues than just an “off night.” If you have a refined palate, don’t waste your time and money.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
The peking duck or ribeye are solid choices.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Casual vibe, excellent service. Dishes were a bit hit or miss, but some of them were absolutely fantastic (do not skip the crab fried rice which I will be dreaming about until my next visit).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Fried Rice
Best dinner we had on Nantucket. Had to get the res exactly at midnight one week prior and it took a few attempts, but it was well worth the effort.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing! The sashimi dom (I don’t think I spelled that right) was incredible. We ordered more bao buns and devoured the crab fried rice. The noodles, were spicy, but so flavorful.
We went with a big group and shared everything we ordered. It was perfection.
The staff was also amazing and chill. I definitely want to go back and make my way through the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pork Belly Buns, Blue Crab Fried Rice
Yes, Nautilus on Nantucket is awesome. Yes, it's small and challenging to get a res during July and August. Yes, the Head Chef, Sarah Barlow is all that. Yes, the front-of house staff (which doesn't turn over) does an incredible job managing the sometimes entitled crowd. No, nobody cares who you are, who you know or how much you make. Just be a good human and you will have a wonderful evening.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I’ve been to Nautilus a few times and have had nothing but great experiences. This past trip, my wife and I brought our group of friends to the restaurant for their first trip to the island.
We were met with the absolute rudest server I have ever encountered. Which is a shame because the rest of the experience was great. When we simply asked to split our bill evenly four ways, we were met with an eye roll and a “wait really? That’s going to be very hard to do. Can you write it down?”
After writing down that we wanted the bill split four ways (and doing the math for her), our server, very visibly annoyed, returned our four checks to us without a word and walked away. We were genuinely confused and walked out with a sour taste after an otherwise good experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 1
TL;DR: $400 spent on the most mid meal ever. Avoid if you like spending $ on good food.
I am writing this review in hopes to help diners avoid throwing their $ at an overhyped meal. I, too, fell for the Nautilus’s insta photos, google reviews, and exclusivity. But in no uncertain terms - this is *not* a restaurant that is worth staying up until midnight a week a head of time to try to get a resy for. Re: the people in the reviews - “incredible food”, “speechless”, “one of the best restaurants on Nantucket” - I am convinced they are either 1) lying or 2) don’t know good food from the back of their hand.
The food wasn’t bad per se, but it also wasn’t good. Vietnamese fried shrimp tasted like a PF Chang’s dish - overly saucy, quality of shrimp was meh. If you had told me you’d air fried them out of the freezer and mixed them with a provided sauce packet, I would have believed you. Summer salad was soggy and flavors were all over the place. A $42 sashimi don bowl that comes with pre-made seaweed salad you can buy at Costco? Let’s be for real.
Highlights of the meal did include the beef tataki and the chicken frites. The bartender was definitely on his game - the drinks were delicious. Being impressed by 2/6 dishes just did not do it for our party.
Service left much to be desired. Lady with the pen in her hair acted too cool for school the entire time. Everyone has bad days, but her vibe definitely did not help make up for our experience with the food. At the end of the night, we joked that we should have gone to Stubby’s instead bc the boys behind the counter there are always lovely.
Nantucket has certainly changed from what it was 10, 15 years ago - and even moreso after Covid. Food quality is down across the island while prices have skyrocketed. Most of the island crowd is OK with throwing a few hundred dollars at a mediocre meal. This review is to help those of us who aren’t. It’s also to help the folks that stand outside of this place in the evenings hoping to get a table. I was watching people look longingly inside the restaurant during the duration of our meal.. To those folks, along with others staying up until midnight to get a resy - it is not worth the effort. I wish I could say it was.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Beef Tataki Salad
The Nautilus has incredible food, great service, and an inviting atmosphere! Here are the items we ordered priority ranked in terms of what we liked the best:
Blue crab fried rice (gluten free)
Yellowfin tuna lettuce wraps (gluten free)
Crispy Calamari
Burrata (gluten free without the bread)
Vietnamese beef tataki salad (gluten free)
Steamed pork buns
Dietary restrictions: Our waitress was very helpful with regard to accommodating dietary restrictions and navigating the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Blue Crab Fried Rice, Calamari Salad
Restaurantji Recommends
Time should be updated on maps to reflect the kitchen closing time - arrived around 930 to be told the kitchen was closed
Same menu over and over. Added drumies from 2023. Time to update, boring if you like food?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
This place is awesome. Cocktails are well balanced and their menu has a good variety of flavors and spirits. The food is also excellent, cant say i had a single bad bite. The ribeye with bonchon was excellent. The service is on point, I don't think my water glass was ever below half empty for more than 30 seconds and our waiter was able to speak to every dish and answer all of our questions. Tough table to get, but well worth the effort.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was excellent. I had Calamari Salad and wife had the oyster tacos. They were both excellent. Our waitress was superb. Efficient, helpful, polite and tended to our needs. All questions were answered to help us make our decisions. I would highly recommend. We did not have reservations so we sat at the bar. I’d go again for sure
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very busy, small space, amazing food and service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Tuna Poke, Blistered Shishito Peppers, Blue Crab Fried Rice
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