Colonie
“We started with ricotta gnudi and a fig crostini, then followed with scallops and steak and sides of sprouts and cauliflower.”
“We ordered Leek & Gruyere Scramble with bacon and Duck Hash.”
“For my money it's the best burger in Brooklyn, and yes I once traveled multiple subway lines just for the basket of doughnuts.”
Colonie
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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If I could put no stars I would but I have to enter at least one star just to write this review. For the record, Colonie is not deserving of even this one star. Food was good and we had the ubiquitous pork belly slider and duck hash for brunch. My big complaint however, plainly and simply is that they charged $3 to fry my egg instead of poaching it. My duck hash came with a poached egg on the menu but I asked for it fried well which is how I like my eggs. I don't like runny eggs which is what a poached egg is. The server took my request but when the runner brought it to me, it was sunny side up so we asked again for the egg to be fried well which was how I originally asked. The runner rolled his eyes as if he were put off and when he brought it back from the kitchen he mumbled "here, egg fried well" under his breath. Clearly he seemed annoyed even though I never deviated from what I originally wanted. We had a full brunch and even ordered dessert (albeit mediocre doughnuts with a runny cream filling). As I said, the food was good but not extraordinary. The bill was $55 for 2 people which wasn't cheap for brunch but not unheard of and I am not adverse to paying an extra charge if it were deserved and reasonable. The server (who by the way was very fastidious about telling me which dishes had dairy so I could make the appropriate decisions due to my lactose intolerance) never told me about the $3 "egg charge" so I could choose to have it or not. I told him he should have mentioned this when I first requested to have my egg fried. I said I was supposed to have an egg with my hash and to me, an egg is an egg as I didn't ask to change the ingredient which is what I understand a substitution to be in most places. Since he was so attentive to my non-dairy need it was strange he didn't take a few seconds to let me know that my request to fry instead of poach the egg would cost $3 especially since no where on the menu did it state the cost of so-called substitutions. It is not only inaccurate that this is an actually a substitution but it is highly irregular to charge an unspecified amount for it without letting the customer know first. Dare I say that this is even an unscrupulous practice?!
I rarely over analyze little things like this but I believe the runner who showed his dismay for having the egg returned to the kitchen to re-cook the egg probably did not convey that the customer had originally requested the egg fried well and the egg wasn't done as originally asked. He shouldn't make it seem that I was some fussy customer who was making several unreasonable requests for a stupid egg which I wasn't. The kitchen or someone from the serving staff messed up. It seemed the charge was put on to quash a customer request and when questioned, they even went so far as to justify it with a no substitution policy which it wasn't. I am highly disappointed in this place, as I am always excited about finding good places to eat in my neighborhood. Having been asked by the server when we first sat down if it were our first time, I said yes. It's now my last time. You can just go so far with the food, the competition is stiff in the area and there are many places now on Atlantic Avenue and they should have thought more wisely about charging the customer for something so little as frying the same egg in the dish instead of poaching. If I asked to add an egg, that would be different and at first when I saw the charge, giving them the benefit of the doubt, I thought that was where there was a misunderstanding. When they clarified it was a substitution charge which this is definitely was not and would not take it off, I was not happy. The service and accommodations will differentiate you from those who make your experience worth coming back. This is not Per Se although Colonie thinks they are perhaps with their rave reviews and even with Per Se, whether you're a first timer or a regular, they provide the same service and work hard to make the patron satisfied. Well, Colonie, you might have chosen Cobble Hill to make a splash but this Cobble Hiller is not impressed especially when incorrect applications of so-called policies are made. When you don't reasonably accommodate customers, they generally don't come back. It's not about the $3, it's about my experience, about the server for not informing in the first place, about the annoyed look from the runner and probably about the annoyed chef who had to re-cook the egg and especially about the annoyed runner and server charging for a patron's choice of how she wanted her egg cooked and it's about the inflexibility to not take off the charge when the first time patron questioned the charge. Yes, it's petty but for these reasons, Colonie is short sighted. As a local spot, you need each and every one of your customers to like you especially in the beginning to succeed. Reputations are created and ruined by first impressions. Mine was ruined
EXCELLENT food and EXCELLENT service! My husband and I came here for brunch, and I can't wait until we go back. I had the scrambled eggs that were cooked with this delicious cheese, and my husband had the eggs Benedict, which were amazing as well. This place is a must for anyone in the area looking for brunch!
Venue: Lovely rustic look and large space with an open kitchen where you can sit and watch the chefs at work.
Brunch: Everything is good and portions are large.
Service: Slow.
This place gets packed rapidly on the weekends, so be prepared to wait if you don't show up right when it opens!
I loved the ambiance of this place – really open doors and entryway make for an inviting restaurant, and the rustic wooden seating in the back contrasted with the bright white panels near the bar make for exciting juxtaposition.
Highly recommend the cider on their brunch menu – really dry without being dehydrating, and not at all sweet, which made it quite distinct. I got the burger, which features an over-easy egg and applewood smoked bacon – let me tell you, that burger was somethin' else. My cousin got their eggs benedict, which also came with applewood smoked bacon – so pretty he didn't even want to cut into it (almost convinced him to take a photo #yuppie).
Service is pretty efficient and the bartenders and servers are happy to chat with you if you sit at the bar and ask lots of questions about their farm grown pickled vegetables.
This review is only for their brunch, which is fantastic! My boyfriend and I arrived at around 11:45 am on a recent Saturday and it was pretty packed. They don't take reservations for brunch, so go early or be prepared to wait. There were people waiting for seats by the time we left maybe an hour or so later. We were seated at the chef's counter, which is a fun experience. The two drawbacks about this is that it's pretty warm in that area due to the open kitchen, and the back room only has two small windows that open to a brick wall and plants, so it's not lit by sunlight. The front area has two cute window tables that fit two or three people, and there is also a good sized bar. The back room has tables against the wall, a long community table, and then a long chef's counter, which is fun to sit at because you can watch everyone cooking and orders going out.
We each got an iced coffee, which were strong and large. I got the duck hash (I had heard so much about it!) and he got the biscuit benedict. (The biscuits were delicious and had a great fluffy texture!) I was glad that the portions were large and everything was really tasty! I seriously loved this brunch. Other people have said that the duck hash is too small, but I found it to be a lot of food and very filling. There were tons of potatoes. It was a bit too salty for me, so I took some of my boyfriend's really tasty lettuce (it had some dressing on it) and put it on the hash. We also ordered a side of the sausage, which was also really good.
The service was wonderful. Professional, efficient, and friendly. We hardly had to wait for anything. We ordered the salted caramel custard doughnuts to go and enjoyed them at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Our bill was around $60, but we did order a lot. I think they have a really reasonably priced menu with something for everyone. My boyfriend always complains when a restaurant's brunch menu doesn't have a plate of just classic eggs, bacon, and toast, and he was definitely satisfied by the biscuit benedict!
Went to Colonie on Tuesday night to meet a friend that lives in the area. It was excellent! We didn't have a reservation (which I would recommend) and it was quite busy around 8:30pm on a Tuesday. We had to wait a few minutes, but we were able to order a drink while we did it was no big deal.
We had heard from a friend that the best place to sit was at the "kitchen table" and that's where we were seated. The reason it's called the kitchen table is because it's a long bar stool area around the open kitchen. It was Awesome! There were 3 chefs cooking in the kitchen and we were able to watch them prepare all of the food for the restaurant, while enjoying our own meals. It was so interesting to see and very entertaining!
My friend and I both ordered the Tagliatelle and it was really good! Fresh homemade pasta with just cheese, butter and pepper. So simple yet very tasty. I would definitely recommend. I also had a very interesting glass of wine. It was an orange wine, but considered a Pinot Grigio, which I had never heard of! My friend ordered the fig cake for dessert and that was so much better than expected! It was a great texture and tasted perfect.
Check out Colonie & don't forget to request the "kitchen table." I'll be back when I return to the Brooklyn Heights area!
Everything was spot on here. My drink was delicious n strong, a cocktail called talent scout, like an old fashioned with extra orange. My friend's burger was the best, I stole a share of that. The barman was great, and the place looks lovely. There's no reason to drop a star!
I had a good brunch expeience at Colonie. My cousin, her friend and I decided to meet up here to catch up with each other and enjoy some good eats. I had heard nuff about their duck hash and was looking forward to indulging.
We were seated at a corner of the Chefs table and were immediately greeted by Chef Paul. We watched him and his team pump out dish after dish; damn that bacon looks good, oh look thats the shrimp and grits, yum look at how thick the biscuits are, oooo look at that pancake! I was sold!…Two orders of shrimp and grits with a side of bacon and one order of buttermilk pancakes with creme fraiche and maple syrup; Ill save the duck hash for my next visit. Drinkwise, I went with their Cool Hand Cuke a mix of organic cucumber vodka, St. Germaine, cucumber juice and mint syrup. I'm a complete sucker for cucumber anything so my drink was absolutely delish and refreshing.
The shrimp and grits looked very appetizing. The shrimp were large and the heirloom grits had mushrooms and shallots; My cousin and her friend said they were very flavorful. After watching Chef Paul make my pancake I kind of knew, texture wise, what to expect. It's one pancake, made in a small frying pan; which gave a nice crust to the outside of the cake. It reminded me a bit of a pound cake just with a crust on the outside. Dense cake but still soft on the inside and rich from the buttermilk. The maple syrup soaked right in and the freshly whipped creme fraiche made them that much better.
We made sure to save room for dessert. I knew the doughnuts were a must get but decided to ask the waitress her opinion of what's better, the monkey bread or the doughnuts? (both were equally popular throughout Yelp reviews) With no hesitation, she said the doughnuts Lol Chef Paul even commented and said yeah the doughnuts are a must get, he likes them better than the monkey bread too. I thought that was pretty funny as hes the one that makes the monkey bread and the pastry chef makes the doughnuts. We were brought out four cinnamon sugar donuts filled with salted caramel custard, you could legit see the custard oozing out of the doughnuts! They weren't large in size but more so the perfect amount for the three of us. We each had one and after the first bite my mouth was filled with creamy sugary goodness. I'm pretty sure I had sugar all over my mouth lol After the next bite came the slight saltiness from the custard filling, which was nice contrast. The donuts were warm and a great after meal treat, so good my cousin and I fingerlicked the bowl lol
I would love to come back for the duck hash and to try more drinks.