NYT Reviews Colonie

By on May 3, 2011 8:40 pm in Food

NYT photo

The New York Times reviews Colonie [127 Atlantic Avenue] and awards it one star. The review, by Heights native Sam Sifton, is mixed and throws an elbow at what the writer feels is uneven service.  On different note,  BHB reader/pumpkin carver of Grace Court Alley Peter Steinberg and his wife (whose wedding we covered here) are the folks in the NYT photo. Steinberg tells us he “loves” the restaurant.

“Meh”/one star review aside – most BHB readers have given Colonie positive reviews – we thought you’d enjoy a couple of non-food related passages from the piece:

NY Times: Residents who run into one another at the Variety Mart on Montague Street speak fondly of Noodle Pudding and Henry’s End, both on Henry Street, or Jack the Horse on Hicks Street, where the liquor store once was. They sing songs to the memory of Bouillabaisse on Atlantic Avenue.

But for celebrations and date nights, for art and excitement and fun, they more often walk down to Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens or Vinegar Hill or descend into the Clark Street station or the labyrinthine corridors of Borough Hall, and take a subway elsewhere to dine….

….Brooklyn Heights was one of Manhattan’s first suburbs, which explains something about the neighborhood’s reputation as a culinary backwater. It has been gentrified for many more years than most neighborhoods in north Brooklyn. People eat at home in their impressive brownstones. It gets late fast there.

Colonie, with all its strengths, would do well to embrace that realization and with it a truthJohn Cheever milled for years in his short stories set in Shady Hill: After Daddy’s off the train, he does not want to wait for dinner.

Share this Story:

,

  • AEB

    A worthy review with good insight into the BH ethos. That the Times reviewed the place is perhaps the real story.

  • dog lover

    My understanding is that while Sam Sifton is a terrific writer, acknowledge as such and liked among the food critics, he is also known among them for not being a true foodie. Full disclosure: this is what I overheard just a few days ago. Maybe a true “foodie” will review Colonie for us on the BHB. I too hate being treated poorly by a restaurant staff and made to wait long periods of time to get a table. So we want to know Is the food worth the wait?

  • heightsguy

    I commented on another thread that the latest trend in BH is instead of serving a steak or duck breast one gets a few tiny slices that total far far less than an entire steak or duck breast. This at Jack the Horse, as one example. Add a drink and a $10 salad and your total is $50 and you leave hungry. Oh, sides are extra!

  • AEB

    Small portions are like a little love.

  • Topham Beauclerk

    @dog lover

    Bad service at a restaurant is never worth it especially in a place like New York where there’s another restaurant every two feet. Jack the Horse is another neighborhood restaurant with good food but lousy service and cramped seating. I never go there now and one somehow or other survives.

  • David on Middagh

    Heightsguy, the trendy/WASPy portions have infected Park Slope, too. Last Sunday, I left one restaurant hungry and undernourished after ordering the “brunch pizza” which comprised a single slice and some greenery. (In fairness, it was delicious, what there was of it.)

  • Mario

    @dog lover: His review more than adequately covered the food, of which he was generally very positive. And his comments about the service hit the nail on the head — despite enjoying the food, I haven’t left Colonie once having had a fully positive experience. It’s ok to be ambivalent about it.

  • EHinBH

    I dont care what NYT says, Colonie is a good place for dinner — 10 times better then Henry’s End. The best hood place is JtH, but the menu is limited, so it gets tired. NP is great for some things, not so great with others. The rest of the lineup is terrible. I’ll always be confused as to why good restaurants dont open up here. It’s very odd considering how many people go out around here. What about the Wine Bar on Henry. Is the food good there? Went for wine one afternoon a while back, but the service was terrible and the guests were all tourists.

  • Quinn Raymond

    I am puzzled. My wife and I go to Colonie quite a bit and have always had a great time with the staff. Goodness, what a bitchy review.

    If the reviewer “does not want to wait for dinner” there is an excellent McDonald’s restaurant a few blocks down Court Street that will get him fed ASAP. Maybe he could get a Happy Meal to cheer himself up too?

  • Remsen

    WASPy portions? What is that?

  • David on Middagh

    It’s my way of saying, “very small, as the waste of an ichneumon.”

  • HarryK

    Since many of the above commentators are leaving enthusiastic ‘attagirls for neighborhood places they enjoy, I want to put in a vote for Seasons, which has replaced Bread and Butter on Henry St. My wife and I had a wonderful meal there last night, and, if you’re looking for value as well as delicious food, their $25 three-course prix fixe definitely has it. I really hope BH supports Seasons – we can’t expect to get good food here if we don’t support the places that are working hard to live up to our expectations. And no, I don’t work there and am not related to the owner!