Brick Cafe

Came here for date night and was extremely pleased. Had the steamed mussels for appetizer, a bottle of red from the $ 25 wine bottle list, penne alla vodka for entrée, and tira misu for dessert. Wait service was on top of things but out of the way. Music was perfect for the small, italian restaurant setting. Come on a week night to avoid the crowd! Only disappointment was that Brick is NOT BYOB.

Oh dear. This place gets one star because the dining space is good and quiet and one star because the food was edible. The service was very slow, the waitress really couldn’t care but I overheard one waitress reeling off drinks specials so perhaps some of the staff are ok! The food was very basic, cooked only to an acceptable standard, and expensive. To add to this they deliver the food on very large plates that don’t fit in the table. This is basic when setting up a restaurant — don’t buy flat ware bigger than your tables! When I was sat there waiting for my order to be taken I did look at some reviews on here and it does seem like more of a dinner place… but what I had today (omlet with cheddar and onions) isn’t going to make me want to come back and find out.

Fabulous! I ordered the «Complete Thanksgiving Dinner for Four» from Brick Café and it was AMAZING!
Everything was was beautifully prepared and ready to serve with simple to follow re-​heating instructions.
To start there was delicious mushroom soup followed by Caesar salad. Turkey breast stuffed with sage stuffing, string beans, mashed potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes and cranberry relish followed by outrageous apple pie and a complimentary bottle of wine.
The staff could not have been more helpful and charming.
Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal!

Small and quaint for Saturday brunch, get there early as parking in the area is hard to come by. Had the Quiche du jour and potatoes. Delish. tHe white sangria is a bit sweet

We went here for brunch on a Saturday. Was not crowded-​maybe half the tables were full.
I was disappointed with the food. I read reviews that the gnocchi was great. And previous photos made the gnocchi appear like beautiful homemade puffy pillows. However what they served me was more like the store-​bought shrink wrapped packages. The sauces were good… But even the best sauce is not pleasurable on sub-​par pasta.

A friend of mine and I came here for brunch. She lives nearby, and said that she heard good things about the place, and that she would like to try it. I checked it on Unilocal,and other places, and I notices that different people have different opinions about the place. And when this is the case, I rather check it by myself and decide.
First, I like the fact that the tables are not too close to each other, like many restaurants around New York do. I think that to enjoy brunch, dinner or any other one on one sitting, you need to have a minimum amount of space. So good start.
The menu and the selections is great, and I don’t think that you won’t find at least one thing that you are going to like. We started with sharing a Caesar salad, which was OK. I had better. My friend had mussels in garlic, which was really great, and I felt sorry I didn’t take the same, since I ordered steak and eggs (Usually my favorite, just not this one). They could do better, and I think that they know it. Because I didn’t eat even half of the steak.
So I am thinking about 3 and a half stars, but just for the Mussels I will go with 4 for now.

Came here for brunch with three other people. Very cute restaurant with a nice ambiance but the brunch itself was underwhelming.
Though well-​priced, the build-​your-​own omelette was dense and not very flavorful. The quiche was very thin and watery and looked lacking in eggs, which is kind of :(when you think about what quiche is.
Breakfast potatoes were solid as was the olive tapenade that came with the breadbasket. I would give Brick another try for its atmosphere and neighborhood feel, but I’d steer clear of the eggs at brunch time.

While the portion was a bit small one time, the food honestly is some of the best in Astoria. If you are unhappy with your order, the owners make sure you are pleased with the next.
In short, great food, great customer service, and more often than not they get it just right. I’ve eaten here about five times and four of those times were 5 star, hence a 4 star rating.

Overrated and underwhelming. I’ve always wanted to love this place as a regular/​local but alas certain things are not meant to be.
Been here for dinners, V-​day, cozy rear bar and brunch.
Dinner: the veal is mention-​worthy. That’s about it.
V-​day: disaster on all fronts; service, food, overall experience.
Late night rear bar: painfully inexperienced amateur bartender. Couldn’t answer basic questions about the menu and managed to screw up our order.
Brunch: nothing wrong with it, then again, nothing to write home about either.
Goodbye B.C. It was a torrid, yet memorable affair…

Gotta give them 5 stars because I come so often: D i live basically on the block and I come almost weekly in the summer especially.
Here’s the low-​down:
Food: go for brunch. I can’t speak for dinner but the place is known as a brunch spot. I almost always get omelets and the ingredients are so fresh. The veggies are delish. The omelets come with a generous helping of home fries that are really wonderful. They are small, cooked a little on the browner side but really nice. The omelets are large and always fill me up. I also have tried mango french toast for brunch (it was a special) and it was so good. I haven’t had anything that tasted like that. They also give you delicious white bread and olive spread and hummus when you get there! This is one of my favorite touches of brick café.
Drinks: I crave their bloody Mary’s!!! So.good. I always get one with brunch. Not too spice but very flavorful. I always love a good mimosa too!
Service: the servers are so nice here. They are pretty attentive. One of the girls is so sweet. She remembered me when I went in and hadn’t gone in a couple of months. She asked how I was and was so nice. The servers all seem to work pretty hard.
Atmosphere: so cute! It has a very European feel. The inside almost reminds me of a French country café. The outside seating area is pretty well-​sized. They open the windows in the summer so if it’s too hot you can eat inside but feel like you’re outside.
*note: brunch is not bottomless, nor are there drinks included with your entrée. The drinks are about $ 6 to add to brunch.

Food was deelish. I had the steak and eggs brunch dish. Server kind of took a while to return to our table a few times and even after the plates were taken away. Wasnt sure if they wanted to give us our tab or not…

I came here on a Sunday afternoon for my graduation brunch. I had originally reserved a table for 6, but we were easily accommodated when I told them we would be 7 people instead. Since it was a nice day, we sat outside under the shade. The open doors gave the restaurant a nice airy and open feel.
The servers were nice enough, but hard to find at times. As for the food? We had…
— bread with hummus and a tapenade
— bruschetta: it came with two pieces with a lot of tomato and balsamic vinegar on the plate to soak up. Tasty, but not something I’d necessarily want to go back for
— truffle fries: definitely had a truffle flavor, and were surprisingly filling
— Penne Vodka
— Gnocchi in tomato basil, Gorgonzola and pesto sauce: the gnocchi was nice and pillowy. The tomato basil sauce was eh, and the Gorgonzola and pesto sauces were solid
— four cheese burger
— strawberry French toast
— steak sandwich

Sadly they’ve made some unnecessary changes. Because we loved brick so much we gave it 3 tries after the menu changed and what not. The first two we got horrible service. Waitress was nowhere to be found the entire time. The menu changes are a shame. We loved enjoying meat and cheese plates before our meal, they took it off. Got rid of the delicious brick salad. New menu looks cheap, even corporate — very odd.
we used to love this place-​no more. What a shame.

The only thing I would go back to this place for are the Mussels in garlic/​wine sauce!
That dish was amazing and filling too!
The breakfast items were disappointing, french toast was soggy and overly sweet. The bread was heavy and covered in watery strawberry topping.
Steak and eggs dish — the steak was similar in taste and texture as a wet cardboard. The only thing good on the dish were the eggs but even that was slightly over cooked.
Both dishes came with potatoes, both of which were cold!
On a side note the mimosa was very good!
Overall wouldn’t come back unless just for those yummy garlicky mussels!

I really like the place but it is always crowded. I enjoyed the cheese platter and the wines. I also love the pasta. Though during the dinner hours the places really dims the lights a lot. I could barely see my friends. Also it can get pricy. But overall it is a nice place and has been around for a while. I grew up around the block and saw this place growing up.

I think the food here is great. The menu is small, but I feel there are is a great variety for all palette types.
The service is a little slow, but sit down with a bottle of wine and enjoy the company youre with and the free olive spread ;)
Both times I’ve been I got the black linquini with clams/​mussels/​shrimp. The pasta is made in house which I love. It comes in a really flavorful broth/​sauce. The second time I got it the noodles were over aldente. So a little mushy, but I still really enjoyed it.
My BF gets the gnocci and it is amazing. I would recommend getting it with all of the sauces.
The staff is very very friendly, and over all I think the prices are fair.
Looking forward to coming back soon!

Decided to come by for a Sunday brunch with my mother and two year old daughter. My first problem was that the table we were placed at was super small. Anyone who has toddlers knows that the main objective while going out to eat is to keep the area in arms reach away from your kid… this is extremely difficult given a table this small. Even without my kid, things would have been tight and uncomfortable (this is a pet peeve of mine… restaurants should measure and test out tables!)
I liked the menu itself, a perfect mix of breakfast and lunch options… heavy and light. I was in the mood for a salad, my mother and I split the caesar. The dressing had an interesting taste to it, not bad– just different. It wasn’t too strong, and the salad had hardly any cheese on it which is the best part of the salad! So that was disappointing. I ordered the Penne Alla Vodka, which was very tasty. My mother had the steak sandwich and was surprised that it was an open sandwich, and the menu didn’t include that in the description. She didn’t find it memorable.
I won’t be returning for brunch, but may possibly give dinner a try.

Brick caffe just keep getting better everytime I come here, the food much better and this time the mussels made me pickup my I phone and give them a 5 star!
And the service became so much better and friendly…
Use to be tuff here and full with grumpy servers, today days the staff is awesome!
Keep it up guys!

Everything here was on point. «Egg in a hole»? Count me in!
I might be just a teeny tiny bit biased on this review because.
1) I came here for my birthday brunch.
2) I was in great company.
AND
3) I was in a VERY good mood.
All that aside, I know when I’m getting great service and having delicious food.
I think many people overlook Brick Café because it isn’t on a very busy street and also may seemed closed if you don’t look carefully. Don’t be fooled because the interior is beautifully decorated with a nice rustic/​romantic feel. Its perfect for a date or family brunch since its actually quite roomy inside.
When we arrived we were greeted nicely at the door and seated promptly at our own cozy table by the window. Our waitress was very nice and pointed out all the specials which all sounded great, they had a smoked salmon crêpe that I had my eye on!
Now for this «Egg in a hole» business. If you know me, you’ll know that if anything sounds strange on the menu… I’ll probably order it just out of curiosity.
Its usually a hit or miss and this time it was a big hit!
The «egg in a hole» from their brunch menu is essentially a piece of pan-​fried fluffy brioche with a hole, in the hole is a perfected cooked egg. It comes with maple syrup and it becomes the perfect combination of French toast and poached egg.
When you cut through the middle of that egg and the yolk oozes out… heaven!
I also LOVED dipping my toast in sunny-​side up eggs as a kid, this definitely reminded me of those memories.
My boyfriend had a create-​your-​own omelet with asparagus, prosciutto and gruyère which he really liked and we shared the French toast with strawberry syrup. Everything also comes with home fries which are really addictive.
Everything about this place made me love it and I cant wait to be back. This is another winner out of all the great places in Astoria.

Dinner review!
This place is very convenient in the sense that it’s open extremely late, even on a Monday night, but parking in the area anytime after 6:00 p.m. can be quite a challenge. Blocks are very long in this area, so parking «a block away» can mean quite a walk. It’s pleasant on cold evenings, though!
Food: I ordered crab cakes, which were recommended by the server, and found them quite good! Risotto special was (surprisingly) not bad! It looked worse than it tasted for sure. Hazelnut ice cream was amazing!
Service: the server was quite friendly and wanted us to continue chatting, but it was 11 p. m…
I’ll likely return.