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The Williamsburg Brooklyn-based culture guide to New York and beyond.

Brooklyn Restaurant and Bar Listings for Williamsburg, Bushwick and Greenpoint

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Suzume

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A cozy Japanese gastropub with ramen, sushi, and shareable small plates including crispy chicken wings and spicy fish tacos with pickled carrot and cilantro. The ramen is certainly a good choice, but we prefer the sushi and tacos. If you’re more in the mood for drinks, they have a fantastic whiskey and sake list. The cozy atmosphere makes Suzume perfect for a romantic night out.

Featured Reviews

  • Grab a stool from the polished walnut bar that claims almost half Suzume’s 650-square feet of wiggle room — peruse through some Japanese and American beers, rice wine and grape wine, and a flurry of tropical sounding libations flavored with ingredients like coconut water, passionfruit, and calamansi — and the place comes into focus… The salmon ramen, as well as Briones’ poke,sushi, and rolls, all use responsibly caught and local fish when possible, though it’s harder to go local in the winter. Suzume’s sushi is anything but Edo-style traditional. It’s made from fresh, high quality fish, but often dressed with unexpected flavors, like the calamansi ramp vinaigrette found in the salmon poke

  • Japanese corner spot Suzume’s owners did their space up in thrift-store style, from a wood-panel bar to a chandelier that looks like it could have appeared on a late-seventies Stevie Nicks album cover. A small menu embodies the same nonchalance: Basic sushi rolls are fuller and more flavorful than most, with spicy salmon and avocado melting together beneath a mild mayo sauce enlivened by charred shishito peppers. The best item here is also the most basic: House ramen consists of delicious chunks of braised, fatty Berkshire pork belly and tasty thin wheat noodles.

  • Despite all of those ANDs, Suzume packs a lot of good things into a surprisingly concise menu. There are a few sushi options, a few “snacks” (tacos, wings), a few bowls of ramen, and a few other items just in case you’re the hardest person in New York to please. As for prices – the most expensive thing on the menu is $11. The addition of a great drinks list also makes Suzume a place where you can have a gin-beet-carrot-apple-ginger cocktail while eating a spicy tuna roll and feel neither like you’re at a spa nor Tao. What this all boils down to is a happiness free-for-all – no matter how or what you order, it’s going to be good, and it’s going to be fun.

Getting There

Sweet Chick

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Sweet Chick is the brainchild of John Seymour who also owns Pop’s of Brooklyn. The menu offers classic soul food staples (all organic) such as roasted pork tenderloin, dry-aged rib eye, & grilled fish in addition to chicken & waffles. In terms of your waffle choice, you can order a regular buttermilk Belgian-style waffle, bacon + cheddar cheese, rosemary mushroom, or the special seasonal waffle. Delicious sides includes buttermilk biscuits, spicy shoestring french fries, ritz-cracker crusted mac and cheese, and pickled watermelon.

Featured Reviews

  • “Quirky” takes on Southern staples – think “creative chicken ’n’ waffle combos” – and “seasonal” cocktails make these “droolworthy” eateries “excellent places to indulge”; they get “jam-packed” at prime times, but “friendly” staffers help keep the feel “fun.”

  • Though the design and vibe of Sweet Chick is generic Williamsburg kitsch, the food here is outstanding. If a hankering for buttery fried soul food can counter the ceiling chandeliers made from rusty feed troughs and water served in recycled Jim Beam bottles, you’re in business. We’re talking mac ‘n’ cheese that is mercifully creamy, and bacon-wrapped oysters that will make you consider ordering a second plate. And that’s just appetizers.

  • Chicken and waffles aren’t a duo we generally get excited about. Granted, we’re not from the South, so it’s possible the real thing has eluded us. Lazy attempts as ironic menu items around here have always left us feeling like the chicken and the waffle are two completely separate species, not meant to make sweet love in your mouth. But things done changed. Sweet Chick now has us thinking differently.

Getting There

Syndicated

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Call us haters, but we typically don’t like movie theaters that serve food. In concept nothing could be better, but in execution the food typically sucks. That’s why we love Syndicated, a dine-in cinema in Bushwick/East Williamsburg that actually has tasty grub. Up front, there’s a large bar with two big screens that typically run campy 70s and 80s fare. In the back, there’s a proper 50-seat theater that has daily screenings of indies and classics. There’s a bar menu and a theater menu, both serving fried American fare including Chicken Sandwiches, Burgers, and Tator Tots. Gourmet? No way. But you won’t be disappointed if you’re craving comfort food. Cocktails are in the $12 range and have fun, film-themed names like Blade Rummer, East Rider, and A Sidecar Named Desire. Come for a movie or just a fun night out at the bar.

Featured Reviews

  • This combination American restaurant, bar and movie theater in Bushwick serves burgers, sandwiches and crowd-pleasers like loaded tater tots, along with cocktails and seasonal beers. Separate from the dining area (but with its own menu), the 50-seat screening room shows a couple of films each night, often curated according to director or other themes.

  • There’s no gleaming 1930s-style marquee beckoning you through the doors of Syndicated, a cinema-bar-restaurant hybrid sitting inconspicuously in a barely marked former warehouse on Bogart Street. Instead, those Art Deco touches can be found within the 70-seat main dining room, which is dressed with geometric sconces, high-vaulted ceilings and projector screens playing muted classic movies. Anchoring the space is a four-sided marble-topped bar that’s packed with moviegoers guzzling craft cocktails before catching throwback screenings of Wayne’s World and Do the Right Thing… An all-in-one movie date. Behind the kitchen lies a 50-seat, dine-in cinema rigged with rows of cushy banquettes, half-moon two-top tables and five varieties of house-made popcorn ($6), including curry powder and caramel corn.

Getting There

Tacocina

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Tacocina is a taco spot from the people behind Shake Shack, which would be pretty exciting on its own. But it’s also located in Domino Park, a new outdoor space on the water in Williamsburg, and they have a bunch of picnic tables with great views of the river and Manhattan.

Featured Reviews

  • It’s the first taco stand for hospitality industry titan Meyer — the guy behind such establishments as Shake Shack and Union Square Cafe — and he’s tapped Barbara Garcia, Union Square Cafe’s former sous chef and an Aguascalientes, Mexico native, to oversee culinary operations at the restaurant. Meyer says that while he and plenty of other people have been eating tacos for a long time, he wanted to involve someone who grew up eating them… She put together a menu of six tacos to choose from, ranging from pork and mango to shrimp and chayote tartar to beef and salsa negra. There are two vegetarian options, too: a mushroom and elote sauce taco and a monterey and cotija cheese taco. Chips and guac, cheese chicharrones, and Mexican shrimp cocktail round out the snacks menu, and there’s a vanilla ice cream sandwich slathered with chocolate crunch on one side for dessert.

    It’s a casual affair, with cocktails — including a mezcal negroni — coming in at under $10 and cans of rosé. There’s also draft wine and a tight list of three summery beers. Horchatas and Coke in glass bottles add to the summer vibes. 

  • Tacocina is a taco spot from the people behind Shake Shack, which would be pretty exciting on its own. But it’s also located in Domino Park, a new outdoor space on the water in Williamsburg, and they have a bunch of picnic tables with great views of the river and Manhattan. So, the wait to order at this counter-service spot can stretch over an hour. Once you do get to the front of the line, get the fried mushroom and shrimp tacos, and some small plates, like cheese chicharrones and chips and guacamole. But the main reason you should come here is to drink margaritas on the water with a group. Have one friend get here early and wait in line, or day-drink here on weekends.

Getting There

Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos

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A family-run spot with homemade tortillas and some of the best, authentic Mexican food to be found in Brooklyn. The atmosphere is without frills and the waits can be longish, but the tacos are well worth the hassle. We love the Carne Asada and Chorizo tacos, but you really can’t go wrong.

Featured Reviews

  • Los Hermanos’ menu is so straightforward, the staff doesn’t even feel the need to take your order. To avoid anything getting lost in translation, the system here requires you to jot down your picks on a piece of scrap paper and slide it across the counter to the ladies working the grill. Grab a Mexican soda out of the fridge, or better yet, crack open your BYO-six-pack and wait for your name to be called. If the main area is full, you can even walk into the factory – mind the parked car and the tortilla equipment – and cozy up to one of the tables on the other side of the glass. With tacos priced at $2.25 a pop, tostadas for $2.50, and a quality sized quesadilla for $3.25, you can have a delicious and filling meal at Los Hermanos for under $15. You’re out for BYOB Mexican food, in a garage, in Bushwick.

  • At the taquería, there are seven different filling options—carnitas, enchilada, beefsteak, cecina (salted beef), chorizo, chicken, and veggie—any of which can be had in taco, taquito, torta, or tostada form. The very best of these choices, and everybody’s favorite, is the chorizo. The ground sausage tastes of cinnamon and red chilies, in a floral-funky way. The mix includes bits of creamy white potato slicked with a flavorful orange chorizo oil.

  • A tortilla factory, cranking out fresh, soft patties of corn and flour from its warehouse just off the Jefferson L stop in Bushwick. But in 2006, the owners wisely added a small cantina to the space, where they serve tasty, super-cheap tacos, tacquitas and quesadillas that have been described to me by far more discerning West Coast taco connoisseurs as “the real thing.”

Getting There

Traif

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You won’t find anything kosher on the menu – bacon donuts, baby back ribs, fois gras with egg and bacon, scallops – and that’s the point. In Yiddish, the name refers to foods that are forbidden by Jewish dietary laws, so it’s not too popular with the local Hasidim. Menu dishes have included delicious oddities including Cornmeal-Crusted Soft-Shell Crabs, Strawberry-Cinnamon Glazed Berkshire Baby Back Ribs, and Risotto Of Maine Lobster with Spicy Sausage. A very non-Kosher experience for experimental eaters who love their pork and shellfish.

Featured Reviews

  • Chef Jason Marcus’s flaunting of all things unkosher could have been seen as a slap in the face to the nearby community of Hasidic Jews, but his orthodox neighbors are unfazed by the concept. Off of a hyper-seasonal menu and out of the diminutive open kitchen come neat small dishes for sharing.

  • There are three rules when it comes to eating at Williamsburg restaurant Traif: 1) Don’t be hungry, 2) don’t be on a diet and 3) don’t be a vegetarian. As to the first, all the food is served small-plate style, and while the dishes are delicious, they’re way better for sampling than stuffing yourself, and you’ll be furious if you gulp down a serving before you really get to taste it. To the second, the food is oft-slathered in barbecue sauce, fried or sprinkled with bacon, and it will kill your Weight Watchers points. And to the third, the restaurant’s name is a cheeky reference both to the decidedly unkosher shellfish and pork food it serves, and there are very few (if any) veggie options, so take a carnivore.

  • Given its name (which roughly translates as ‘non-kosher’), look for “lots of pork and shellfish” on the “innovative” Eclectic menu of this “intimate” Williamsburg “winner”, featuring a small plates–centric format geared toward “sharing”; regulars say “splurging on the tasting menu” is the way to go.

Getting There

TØRST

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TØRST is an essential destination for any lover of craft beer. The owners have elevated its consumption to an art form. The Danish bar, partially owned by one of the dudes behind Evil Twin Brewing, has 21 taps regulated by a “The Flux Capacitor” which ensures drafts are served with the right amount of carbonation and at the perfect temperature. Yes, it’s geeky as hell, but the staff is friendly and the impeccable design is Scandinavian minimalism at its very best. The beer list includes all-star brews like Evil Twin, Other Half, and Oxbow and a large selection of cans and bottles to further complicate your decisions. The affiliated restaurant Luksus closed in 2016, but fear not, TØRST now has its own revamped menu. There are about a dozen shareable plates including Littleneck Clams in Country Ham Broth, Pickled Mackerel, Crispy Chicken Skin, Asparagus with Smoked Trout, and some fantastic sourdough bread with a selection of cheeses. They also have sandwiches such as a tasty Fried Main Shrimp Sandwich and the obligatory Burger. It ain’t cheap, but it’s a wonderful experience.

Featured Reviews

  • The 21, temperature-controlled taps at this Greenpoint bar range from light to dark, each handle reflecting the color of the beer it pours. There is beer and only beer here, and it’s served in wine glasses. The inside resembles a 70’s-style model home. Yet, while the interior design harkens to the past, the brew selection is a foamy vision of the future… Only the best, most obscure brews are penned on the mirror above the marble countertops, which may as well include the message: “Serious Beer Drinkers Only.”

  • Started by a consortium of “hardcore beer and food” types (including a Momofuku research lab chef, a former beer sommelier from DBGB, and the guy behind Evil Twin Brewing), this temple to all things brew is dedicated to bringing you some of the tastiest and rarest suds. Torst is a Danish bar boasting over 20 carefully-selected beers, which are all kept fresh through a high-tech, temperature-regulating system.

  • The menu is divided into snacks, sandwiches, and small plates, but no matter what else you’re getting, you should also get some bread…. a knee-buckling reminder of just how good a bite of bread and butter can be… The Crispy Chicken Skin is a fun and satisfying riff on the classic plate of wings, with its crackling pieces of skin flattened and forged together, it’s served with a generous bowl of thick Point Reyes bleu sauce for dipping (this goes nicely on your bread, too), pickled slivers of celery, and a squirt bottle of Crystal hot sauce. For something more complicated and Nordic, order the chunky Beef Tartare, which may have been the single best dish I had across two meals here.

  • Scandinavian food is hotter than a Finnish sauna right now, so praise Odin that the same culinary Vikings who made gravlax sexy are out to conquer the bar scene as well. On the front line is new Greenpoint drinkery Tørst—Danish for “thirst”—helmed by legendary “gypsy brewer” Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø and chef Daniel Burns, formerly of the planet’s hottest restaurant, Noma in Copenhagen. These warriors are laying waste to tired ideas of what a great taproom should be, with a minimalist space that looks and smells like a modernist log cabin, and rare brews from thoughout Europe and North America.

Getting There

Vamos Al Tequila

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A fantastic and authentic Mexican restaurant in Greenpoint serving the family recipes of the married couple who owns it. The ambiance is drab, and the drinks are weak, but the food is always made-to-order and satisfying. The tamales are made in-house and are a standout. We love the Chicken Enchiladas in Green Tomatillo Sauce, but everything on the menu is pretty darn good. Brunch is available on weekends – and yes – they have a fantastic Huevos Rancheros.

Featured Reviews

  • Vamos Al Tequila sets itself apart by avoiding the hipster vibe of the neighborhood and focusing instead on authenticity. Native Mexican couple Cirilo Luna and Joaquina Flores brought their family recipes with them when they came to the states some 30 years ago. This shows in the very first bite of the complimentary salsa, spicy with abundant jalapenos. The somewhat cheesy décor is better thought of as festive, with flags, sombreros, a cactus, and even a fake taco stand between the dining room and the kitchen. Green, white, and red bulbs shine from above the bar, where flavored margaritas are served alongside Mexican beers. Tamales make for the best appetizer, with a jalapeno and steamed cheese combo or chicken with not-too-sweet mole sauce.

Getting There

Walter Foods

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A reliable gastropub with a solid raw bar and a loyal following. We love the French Dip, a throwback dish which is actually hard to find these days. The staff is always friendly and since Walter Foods has been around too long to have “buzz” the waits are never too long. A solid choice if you’re looking for a hearty meal and a fancy cocktail in a quintessential “new Brooklyn” establishment.

Featured Reviews

  • The space immediately announces itself as one you’d like to settle into: A dark wooden bar, with stools to match, is a prominent fixture, as are floor-to-ceiling windows and antique-style lighting that lend a warm glow and understated old-timey vibe. That aesthetic carries over to the food and drink, which, like the space, seems to give you exactly what you are in the mood for: Well-mixed cocktails, executed with seriousness by bow-tie–clad barkeeps, include classics such as the Tom Collins, a frothy refreshment of gin, lemonade and soda, and respectful innovations, like the fig sidecar, a soothing blend of fig syrup, aged rum and more lemonade. The dinner menu, meanwhile, is populated with hit-the-spot standbys: There’s a formidable French-dip sandwich—moist slices of filet mignon in a crackling baguette—and a heaping plate of juicy fried chicken, with a greaseless, well-seasoned crust. It’s no wonder that the formula seems to be working so beautifully right out of the gate.

  • Embodying Brooklyn’s “Socratic ideal of a neighborhood place”, these “pub-ish” spots supply “solid”, spiffed-up American comfort fare and “killer” cocktails; “reasonable” prices and “comfortable” interiors seal the deal – they “care about the details and it shows.”

  • The cocktails are all very good, and they will be served to you by guy who calls his vest a waistcoat. Second, this place has one of the best French dip sandwiches we’ve had. People talk all about the lobster roll and the fried chicken, but that French dip is where it’s at. Order that and a dozen oysters and you’re gonna be in good shape.

Getting There

Westlight

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Ascend to the top floor of the William Vale building in Williamsburg and you will be treated to a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline. The view from their spacious wrap-around terrace is unparalleled in all of Brooklyn, and that’s a good thing, since the staff is generally rude and unaccommodating. Still, that view! Grab a seat outside and enjoy a small plate such as Butternut Squash Hummus or Shrimp Cocktail Dumplings. They have a burger available as well ($18) and assorted desserts if you have a sweet tooth. Reservations recommended.

Featured Reviews

  • Unsurprisingly, the food is even better than the drinks. Carmellini and executive chef Anthony Ricco (Spice Market) took cues from global street foods for the small-plates menu: Octopus skewers are generously meaty enough to withstand a bold seasoning of rocoto chili ($15), and crispy potato skins are rendered as little yuzu-hollandaise–sauced, caviar-crowned spuds that are a little too easy to pop straight in your mouth; you’ll wish you got more than six for $18. More filling is a dry-aged burger ($17) capped with a savory swath of mushrooms and onion jam. It’s a tad messy, but hey, nobody can judge you all the way up here.

  • Panoramic skyline views from the terrace and glassed-in lounge are the big draw at this hot rooftop bar in Williamsburg’s William Vale Hotel, also offering a menu of crafty nibbles conceived by chef Andrew Carmellini (The Dutch, Locanda Verde). As expected, a well-curated cocktail list comes with the territory.

  • Up on the 22nd floor, Westlight, the bar, affords nearly 360 views out over Queens, Brooklyn and the east coast of Manhattan—even the elevator vestibule offers an incredible vista. Swinging by last Saturday, a small line had formed outside the hotel when the bar opened at 4 p.m.; be forewarned that the outside line leads to yet another line inside. The system’s a good one, though, as it means the bar’s not slammed all at once and really everything moves pretty quickly from line to line to seat…

    Are we all down with $15 cocktails now or do I just have Stockholm syndrome for food writers? Either way, for a rooftop, prices aren’t completely heinous… You can get a decent glass of whiskey for $13 and beers are around $7.

Getting There