Ram’s Head Inn

An annual tradition: Thanksgiving dinner at RHI! Always over the top and you can’t beat the setting. Total relaxation, serene view of Coecles Bay, and the best meal you’ll never have to clean up afterwards! Enjoy after dinner drinks at the bar and wind down for the evening. Doesn’t get any easier!

Return? If I’m in the neighborhood. Nice outdoor seating in the back and pretty good food
Atmosphere (4) The restaurant sits on a hill that slopes down into some tennis courts and then an inlet. It isn’t crazy beautiful view but its a nice open space with Adirondack chairs, a bocce ball court and a corn hole bean bag toss. On a nice summer night, its a relaxing place to hang out. Dinner is served on an outdoor patio.
Food (3+) We had chowder (4), prosciutto (4), halibut (3+), and swordfish (3 — too fishy tasting)
Service (3) Solid
Cost = $ 128 before tax/​tip w/​2 vodkas and a glass of wine

Beautiful view and outdoor seating. Our mimosa and Bloody Mary wasn’t particularly flavorful. The duck confit was a bit dry and my poached eggs were sadly over poached. The lobster sandwich was decent and the waffle fries were delicious.

Ok. Close your eyes… Do it… Now. Picture a great lawn in Virginia or South Carolina sloping down to the water with plenty of trees and chairs to while away the day with an iced bucket holding a chilled bottle of your favorite wine. Mix that with the charm of Shelter Island and the laid-​back lifestyle of the North Fork of Long Island. Couple that with an open porch and first-​class food. A bar that’ll seat fifteen or so with a jazz band that really shines on the inside and a dozen tables to enjoy the music without losing the ability to converse on the outside. You’ll spend hours without realizing just how long you’ve been there. And, you won’t mind a bit. You’ll start to wonder just how soon it’ll be before you can get back. You’ll imagine yourself with that favorite ice-​chilled bucket of wine or a nice day at the private beach. I promise you’ll lose all sense of time. Until the next time…

What a great setting for a relaxed end of weekend meal. The live jazz added to the vibe that was dominated by the beautiful sunset, viewed from their outdoor dining area.
The Summer menu is new and only apps were had as we were there for the music, but my wife and I already know we want to return to experience some of the entrees.
This location is the antithesis of the more known Sunset Beach. The prices, $ 10-​$ 18 for appetizers such as duck confit spring rolls, truffled flat bread and the tuna cocktail (a play on tuna tartar), are excellent considering the deliciousness, portion size and freshness this farm to table menu provides.
They were also promoting a «Tuesday Tasting» series on their lawn (which leads to their private beach), with raw bar and live music as wing men.
Def worth a ferry ride!

It’s a fun trip to Shelter Island on the ferry if you have the time. The island is a great place to spend the day biking, exploring, and beaching.
We made last minute reservations at the Ram’s Head Inn for dinner on Sunday night before Labor Day. What an incredible setting and historical vibe this place has! We loved the laid back and friendly staff… although if you’re looking for a top-​notch, Manhattan style service experience, this is not the place. The food was quite good and the wine selection excellent. We started out with a roasted corn soup topped with crispy pork belly — delicious. You could tell that they actually roasted the corn on the cob over a flame before making the purée. We also ordered a prosciutto, peach, and fennel plate. It was good, though the quality of prosciutto could have been better. For an entrée I ordered the grilled filet over a lobster raviolo, truffle-​creamed corn with a Madeira wine sauce. It was presented beautifully with a small full lobster clawmeat topping the filet. See the photo I posted for a look. I wish it tasted as good as it looked. There was nothing wrong with it, but again, it seemed that the cut of meat could have been better. It was a little tougher and gamier than a top quality piece of beef tenderloin. The lobster ravioli was the star, but I didn’t really think it went too well with the filet. For dessert we split the strawberry rhubarb crumble. It was well-​prepared, albeit a little sweet.
This dining experience would have been a three-​star rating from me, but about half way through our meal a jazz quartet set up and started to play in the lounge area. That automatically raised my rating by one star… it was a group of some of the top players on long island. I’m happy to see that the Ram’s Head knows good music!
We will probably be back the next time we get out to Shelter Island.

We had a tremendous dinner last Thursday evening at the RHI. Had the stuffed veal chop special and it was truly outstanding. Best veal I’ve ever had. Not cheap but was truly worrth it. My wife had the swordfish and it was excellent. The menu is very creative and diverse. Such a beautifui, quiet location that is so unique. We try to get there 2 – 3 times for dinner every year. Again, their chef there is doing a great job.

The food, the ambiance, the service, even the weather all conspired to make our dinner an evening worth remembering.
Shelter Island has some really great places to eat, like Vine Street café and (while we haven’t eaten there) supposedly 18 Bay, but given the food quality, pricing and service, this place should be absolutely on the top of everyone’s list.

The property, the room (we had one with a private bathroom), the service and the restaurant for dinner were wonderful. But the breakfast was shameful. Given the prices of the rooms and the fact that they have a full restaurant kitchen, they could have provided a much better breakfast. The tea was basic supermarket brand, the water for the tea and packaged instant oatmeal was tepid, the yogurt was also a basic supermarket brand full of chemicals and sweeteners as were the dried cereals. There was nothing for us to eat and we had to go into town for decent tea, coffee, yogurt, fruit and eggs. I have had better breakfasts at chain hotels not to mention fabulous breakfasts at many other B and Bs.

Our one-​night stay was lovely. The Inn is charming, our room was clean, and the staff was mostly very friendly. We enjoyed watching the sunset and stargazing from the lawn. Would go back to stay again.
Would NOT recommend Sunday brunch. The food is not good, and it is way overpriced for what you get. I ordered the country breakfast and the eggs came over-​seasoned with chives and the biscuit was drenched in oil. Bloody merry was mediocre — I didn’t finish it. Left with upset stomach for the rest of the day, and $ 90 for brunch for two. Not worth it.

Lovely time. Everything was great except the breakfast

yea i fucks with north fork, and yea i went to this joint
i went to this #historical motel in order to cop a few drinks before watching an mma game on the television and lemme tell u they dont mess around
i mean it was pretty quiet, the bartender saw me and knew what was up so he pour me a giant glass of whiskey and im all *puts on shades, drinks giant glass on whiskey*
I go outside and its real legit nice outside, so i sits myself in an adirondack chair and contemplate important questions like why babies so fat if they only been in the womb and all they eat is baby food??? I mean i eat like 40 chicken wings a day and drink the darkest beers on gods green earth and im huge, but babies… i mean babies dont do shit they just crawl around and eat porridge and yet they is fatter than i am public service annoucnement check you babyies BMI cuz i bet its higher than gerard depardieus and he is diabetes fat
drinks is cheap and the dinner looks really good here, just make sure you set an alarm if you chill on their ridicuously beautiful lawn because i fell asleep for like three hours while i was thinking about babbies and drinking a fuckin pint of whiskey

My wife and I had the opportunity to attend a wedding at the Ram’s Head Inn this past weekend, and the place is simply stunning. Before the wedding started my wife and I sat in some chairs and looked out at the water and we did not want to move when the wedding was going to start.
I have no idea what the rooms are like, or anything else, but the location is awesome.

I have been dinning here for over 25 years. It continues to be a wonderful experience. Beautiful setting, classy and not glitzy. This week I am staying with my wife and three kids. The setting is wonderful. Atmosphere is relaxing. Food and service are excellent. The location is very secluded. We will continue to return!

While I personally did not stay at the Ram’s Head Inn, my family and I did dine at their on-​site restaurant and had a wonderful time. We have a house in Watermill and as a family celebration (no actual reason for it aside from being in one place at the same time), my mother insisted that we drive out to Shelter Island for dinner together.
We left a little early since my parents wanted to have drinks prior to dining, but the weather was dreary and drizzly so our walk around the inn’s property turned into slowing driving past as we gazed out the window. My mother (of course) mentioned what a lovely place it would be for a wedding and reception… and I had to agree, with a softly sloping grassy knoll overlooking the water, only somewhat hidden by all the gorgeous trees, Ram’s Head Inn is definitely beautiful.
We all enjoyed a drink in their bar area as a band set up their instruments to play, and then my 2 year old niece accidentally spilled her Shirley Temple. It wasn’t a big spill, and it was on the bar not the floor, but their bartender wasn’t the most child-​friendly person and while he didn’t say anything (in fact, he said nothing), the look he gave was enough for my parents to wish they hadn’t already tipped him. Great drinks, though. And the band was great, quite boisterous and fun and they loved how much my niece enjoyed the jazz music and danced around the room.
We sat in their lovely dining room for dinner and had amazing service from our waitress, who bent over backwards to accommodate our little princess with a bowl of fruit to occupy her while the adults ordered and then plain pasta for dinner. We enjoyed a variety of items from their seasonal menu, including a raw bar (for me! haha, such a glutton for seafood), beet salad, corn and pea shoot salad (AH-​mazing), pork chops appetizer, duck with foie gras bread pudding (best dish of the evening), roasted salmon, baked bass, steak with beet mashed potatoes… by the end of the meal we had to turn down dessert we were so stuffed with their incredible cuisine! Regardless of whether or not you plan to stay at the Ram’s Head Inn, you should definitely come for the drinks, food and view.

one of the most memorable nights of my life happened here! the atmosphere is perfect!

Oh, dear. Well, first, the positives. The food was great. Not just good, but not quite at excellent. The service was very friendly. (Was it Zagat’s that referred to it as «country clubbish»? We weren’t sure what that meant, and then met our server, who was a bit «omigod, HI!» for my taste, but whatever.) There is a bar with live music, which is nice. Unfortunately, in order to experience the beautiful view, you have to go out to the lawn. Tiki torches abound, and then there are the people at the outdoor bar. Most of the people who stay there are so obnoxiously nouveau riche it’s difficult to listen to their shrill voices. The bartenders (both outside and in) are pretty snotty and think a whole lot of themselves, and the younger they are, the more likely they are to be entertaining the advances of the underage patrons. It was kind of embarassing. Over all, the problems with the atmosphere eclipse the food, and there are so many far more wonderful places to eat on the island, I wouldn’t come back here.