Zagat Gives Brooklyn Heights Newby Red Gravy a Thumbs Up

By on January 7, 2013 9:29 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Food

Saul Bolton’s new eatery, Red Gravy, opened at 151 Atlantic Avenue in late December. Now the Zagat Blog has weighed in with its review.

Zagat: Of course, if you want to get into the true Brooklyn Italian vibe, the best day to go is Sunday, where, as the restaurant gets off its feet, you can find Bolton busy in the kitchen making Sunday gravy. While Bolton wants to showcase his skills at this cuisine, his main goal of opening the restaurant in Brooklyn Heights was to bring something new to the neighborhood. Based on the reaction of locals sitting next to us on each side, he has already been successful.

Photo: Val Frankel via Twitter

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  • Heightsman

    Zagat…as relevant as a fax machine in 2013. Tim and his wife were smart to sell.

  • James

    Saul Bolton? That sounds Italian… And Zagat is BS. Going out for Sunday gravy? Interesting concept…

  • GHB

    I hear his real name is Sal Boltoni

  • JoJo

    “his main goal of opening the restaurant in Brooklyn Heights was to bring something new to the neighborhood”

    What’s new about Italian in this area exactly?

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    @JoJo, have you been there? Might not hurt to know what you are talking about.

  • HenryLoL

    Went there on Sunday. Was actually really good.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    Agreed @HenryLoL. Only been once, but it was a terrific experience. They told us it would be 20 minutes to wait for a table. It ended up being 25 – they bought us a round of drinks for our 5 minute “inconvenience.”

  • JoJo

    @ColumbiaHeightster I’ve looked at the menu, checked out the space, and read all of the reviews, which seem fairly uniform in saying that the pasta portions are tiny.

    I’m sorry that you seem to disagree, but I don’t see anything on the menu that’s “something new”. To each their own.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    @JoJo, so, no, you haven’t been there. Sweet basis for forming an opinion though.

  • Moni

    If I see more comments about “tiny” portions, I doubt I’ll try it. Simple red gravy Italian doesn’t cost a lot to produce, and I don’t like being ripped off.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Agreed, there is no excuse for small portions of pasta.

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    At the risk of sounding like I work there (which I don’t), I can assure you that the portions were not small. I got a pasta dish, which was more than big enough, and my wife had a good sized piece of fish. That said, there was a wait when I went, so by all means, don’t go and keep that wait as short as possible for rest of us!

  • Moni

    Moni, if you were worried about “being ripped off” you would have bought the ingredients and cooked yourself. Being served more than you should be eating in one sitting just to make you feel like you’re getting a value for something being marked up 300% is silly.

  • Prom Gal

    We finally had dinner at Red Gracy, and frankly, sad to say, we were not impressed.
    My overall feeling is that this is a place that has potential, but needs work.
    A nice starting touch was some hot, homemade focaccia brought to the table with some sort of dip, which turned out to be hummus. Good hummus, mind you, but not really an exciting start for an Italian dinner.
    The starter salad was good, but at $15, the portion was too small for sharing.
    The two pasta dishes we had were incredibly overly salted. The portions were normal sized portions for one diner. The idea of large portions is gross. The problem here was food so salty it ruined what was potentially a fine dish.
    The service was good, and the attitude polite and generous.
    We shared the gelato trio for dessert, and when it arrived, our waitress said it was on the house. Really excellent gelato, just the right consistency and temperature, and two of the favors. Chocolate honey and Meyer lemon were outstanding .
    Homemade cookies filled with fruit and nuts were served along with the espresso, a nice touch missing from most neighborhood restaurants.
    All in all, an OK dinner, but overpriced, in my opinion, and nothing really outstanding.
    We’re hoping with time they will work out the kinks and go easier on the salt. In the meantime, well stick to Noodle Pudding and the Queen, where the food is much better, and a better value.
    The no reservations policy is another downside, even though they weren’t crowded at all, and there was hardly any wait.
    Dinner for two runs well over $125-150 with two glasses of wine. As I said previously, Red Gravy needs work.to merit those kind of prices.

  • Mr. Crusty

    Great review PromGal. Thanks. So much more informative than the stupid posts saying that they would never eat there because of the restaurant’s name or what a construction worker said before it was even opened.

    Seems a little pricy for my tastes. I can’t seem to enjoy a meal if I think I’m being charged exorbitant prices.