Alice’s Arbor
“I typically get the steak sandwich or steak and eggs prix fixe with seasoned fries and it's delish.”
“Personally, I recommend any of the sandwiches for lunch and the kale salad is great!”
“A perfect chill spot / date night stop if you're trying to keep it in Bed-Stuy before the weekend kicks off.”
Alice’s Arbor
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Service: attentive, friendly, feels like home
Atmosphere: unrefined organic quality with what looks like old wood, reclaimed materials, a raw metals. The large, airy space is decorated with antique farm-kitchen goods. Check out the unique, sliding barn door for the women's bathroom (really should be gender neutral, so everyone can check it out).
Food: We came for brunch and chose the $19 prix fixe, which includes an entrée, coffee/juice, and alcoholic breakfast beverage. The fresh OJ is great, and my husband loved his mimosa. The blood mary packs a punch. The omelets are huge, filling, and sub cowboy fries for free. I enjoyed the kale salad topped with 2 poached eggs- it's a meal salad and does not leave you wanting (avocado, nuts, fruit, tangy dressing, very well-balanced).
Plus: Plenty of gluten-free and vegetarian options!
FAIR WARNING: This post will talk significantly about ambiance.
I think that all New Yorkers "graduate" to a certain status after being in the city for 10 or so years. What is this status, you ask? It's being old. And when you're old and dining out, you start to appreciate things like unpretentiousness (is that a word?), lack of crowds, and friendly people.
I planned a brunch with two of my coworker friends here and arrived 20 minutes to scope out the scene. The host/staff member who greeted me was super genuine in her welcome, which I immediately appreciated. I let her know I was just checking in but that I was waiting on two others. She shot me an "I got you" look and let me know that she'd jot my name down in case it got busy. Mad appreciate that.
So what does Sunday at noon look like at Alice's Arbor? The staff was all completely nice and chill, and were attentive and super helpful. The place started to get busy but it never felt loud, obnoxious — and the worst thing you can encounter in the BK borough — pretentious. My friend, who drove in from Williamsburg, commented on how people in the general vicinity just felt "real and normal" and that he didn't have to speak in Sufjan Steven lyrics to communicate with them (yeah, he's the best).
Foodwise, it was all delicious. We ordered the steak and eggs ($15), crab hash ($11) and the Banh Mi Croissant Sandwich (sorry, forgot to grab the price). The steak and eggs came with a black bean sauce, which was pretty unique. The Banh Mi came with your choice of meat. The crab hash was seriously a treat though – the hash itself was potato and crab, topped with two poached eggs and hollandaise. We all loved the food and thought it was exceptional, although the croissant sandwich was a little small. The $19 prix fixe (brunch dish, Bloody Mary/mimosa), and coffee) combo is also killer.
Overall, a solid experience. What I loved most was the fact that I think that if I were to come back, I'd feel the same way about the general 'tude of the place. Definitely worth the rare repeat visit in my book.
I rolled in by myself at like 11:40 before the kitchen closed. The place was still jamming with a dv and like 1/3rd of the tables full. The interior is designed pretty hip and definitely has a more date-type feel at night.
For my party of one, I ordered the Wood Oven Roasted cChicken and a side of brussels sprouts w/ bacon. The chicken was done pretty perfectly. The skin was crispy and the meat moist. You get the thigh/leg and part of the side of the chicken I think. Whereas the chicken was good, the stuffing wasn't that impressive. I took a star off because the "black barley with celery root, parsnip, turnips, celery, carrots, parsley, sunchokes, rosemary chicken jus" stuffing wasn't really that good…
The brussels sprouts were pretty amazing though. These were cooked in some sort of maple syrup and the bacon were tiny small chunks, definitely flavorful. I would recommend this side with everything.
I have been to Alice's Arbor twice, once for dinner which was excellent and once for brunch which was the worst. The décor in this place is totally original and very rustic, it really has a sort of charm and style going on.
For dinner when we arrived there appeared to be a good number of capable people working. My bf and I were seated fairly quickly and were tended to by our waitress often. I ordered the mixed pickles plate and mac and cheese, my bf had the steak. I loved the variety offered with the pickle plate and the mac and cheese was a goat and cheddar mixture, so so so good. I tried a bit of my bfs steak and it was also very good. Once we finished our meals our waitress got our check and we were sent on our way.
Brunch was so so so awful though!! When my bf and I arrived there were probably 4 or 5 open tables that we could see and it still took them about 30 minutes to seat us when there wasn't anyone in front of us. If we had picked a backup place we honestly probably would have left. Once we finally are seated we receive our menus and order. Our drinks, I had an iced latte and my bf had fresh squeezed orange juice, were amazing; but they came out way ahead of our entrees so even though we were drinking them very slowly we had nothing left by the time our entrees showed up. In terms of the food it was good, I had the eggs benedict which had a kick to it and my bf had the french toast. The only complaint with these guys is that they give you next to new syrup for the french toast, so we had to flag down our almost entirely absent waiter in order to get more syrup. Now on to getting the check…. That literally took another 30 minutes… like where was our waiter, what was he doing, because he wasn't attending to us that was for sure. Finally we manage to get a different waiter to get us our check and we leave.
All in all I was really disappointed by my brunch experience because of all of the positive reviews I read and after having a positive dinner experience here. It wasn't that busy and it was very difficult to get anyones attention and imagine if we had plans directly after brunch we would have been so late. I might consider coming back for dinner but not for brunch, just no way.
Went here for brunch with friends yesterday and I'm definitely a fan. We sat outside, and got to sit near the cutest puppy ever so that was a plus and a great start to my Saturday.
Our server was great and the prix fixe deal was definitely worth it. I had the kale salad because I was ~trying to be healthy~ despite spending the rest of the day eating and drinking like shit. Alas, the salad was delicious and actually very filling.
Alice's is a gem in the neighborhood. Brunch here is awesome, and i've never had a bad entree. The vibe is casual and rustic, and there are several tables outside. I've been obsessed with The Cubano on french toast since the first time we had it, but sadly we are late brunchers and they have been out of french toast the past few visits. Order it and it will blow your mind.
The seared scallops are a must try, and the burger and cowboy fries are steller. The roast chicken is perfectly done, and not over seasoned like many chicken dishes I have tried.
On Monday they have an amazing deal for $29 which includes an appetizer, entree and wine or beer.
Minus one star for the only problem with this place-that it gets so darn hot in the Summer. We would go a lot more if they got some decent AC.
I'm glad I found this spot! I needed coffee and wifi and ended up spending hours here. My servers were really nice and laid back. Great cappuccino and I'm obsessed with the toast with goat cheese and honey, it was perfection. The lemonade, not so much. I should've gone for wine as their list looked pretty quality but I wasn't in the mood to drink for once so I went with it. 😉 I'll be back for dinner, drinks, and maybe other laptop nights! Their wifi password is their phone number.
Love love love Alice's Arbor! The food is amazing, staff is awesome and friendly, and the atmosphere is casual and unpretentious. I've only come here once for dinner and once for brunch, but both were great. I preferred dinner over brunch though. They have nice outdoor seating (and quickly helped my friend and I get inside when it started pouring). Unfortunately, I don't remember what I had for dinner since it was a while ago, but I do remember that I thought it was delicious. The one negative about brunch was that the coffee we had was way too bitter (hopefully it was just a bad pot!). I really love that it feels like a neighborhood place and you have to get dressed up or anything.