Black Forest Brooklyn

Cooles Restaurant mit Bar im deutschen, oder eher bayrischen Stil. Hier kann man Spätzle, Wurst und verschiedene Biere aus der Heimat bestellen und dabei noch Fußball gucken. Der Gastraum ist sehr geräumig und hat auch Platz für besonders große Gruppen. Wer sich gerade in New York oder Brooklyn aufhält und das Essen von zu Hause vermisst, der ist hier richtig. Meine Spätzle waren sehr lecker und die Atmosphäre freundlich und angenehm. Hier treffen sich auch regelmäßig Deutsche oder Deutsch-​Amerikanische Meetup Gruppen.

Local beer garden with good food and great beer options. Folks are friendly and it’s always got people hanging out!

Black Forest is wonderful! It’s one of those places you can sit at all day, beginning with coffee and work in the afternoon and ending with a few beers by evening (or a few beers throughout) when it transforms into a beer hall. My server Kat was wonderful; she knew exactly what happy hour beers were best and what food I was craving. She was very accommodating without being overbearing. I sat there for hours, got lots of work done, and left sufficiently buzzed.

Near the Greenlight Bookstore. The place is fun and the food scratches that itch for German food without being stodgy. The beer options are thoughtfully selected. You know you should be eating more sauerkraut. Do something about that and head to this friendly neighborhood spot.

We were a couple sitting on the bar.
Bar tenders were both nice and service was good.
We weren’t that hungry so we took the roasted beets salad with the goat cheese and lettuce.
I must say it was quite simple, maybe too simple and not so appealing.
The lettuce looked kinda ragged also.
Overall, it felt like the salad was not adequate to such place.

The lunch special was amazing! Great service from Dirk. The food was nice and hot and well prepared. The atmosphere was also dope. Feel like im in Germany

My wife and I had brunch with my son and his boyfriend Saturday afternoon. They had been there previously for dinner and had a positive experience. We ordered drinks and a pretzel which was a bit burnt but OK. We ordered meals and waited for about an hour for service. The brunch snitzels were OK. The house Benedict was under seasoned. But the worst was my wife’s order, the German brunch which was nothing like the description, no croissant, no sausages, no fruit salad and actually delivered 10 minutes after the other entrees… without the soft boilled egg delivered another 5 minutes later and was hard boiled. A very poor kitchen and management. Staff was lovely and made the experience tolerable.

I’ve visited Black Forest around 7 – 10 times over the last 2-​years and with every visit the experience seems to diminish in quality. The first few times were great — the service was good, the food was incredible, and their drink menu is huge. However, the last few times were a little shaky — they seem to always sell out of food and not tell you until you’ve already mulled over the menu for a few minutes and are ready to order which can be very frustrating. The service is so-​so — not very apologetic for long wait times and sold out food.
Our last visit had a lot of things working against us — it was a Saturday night, it was PACKED, and there appeared to be a huge party of like 20 taking up a quarter of the seating area.
— The wait time for a party of four was 40mins and they wouldn’t let me put my name down because not everyone was present just yet.
— They sat us in the back bar stool area which didn’t give us much space for conversation and we ordered an appetizer and our entrée.
–Thirty minutes later and still no food — we finally got our waitress’ attention and she apologized for the wait but didn’t give us an estimate. I would have been more angry about this if it weren’t for all the other people around me equally frustrated with the long wait time for food. There was absolutely no one coming out of the kitchen — leading me to believe that maybe there was an issue in the back but beyond a halfhearted «Sorry for the wait» we were offered no explanation.
— After having 3 different kids run passed us and roll around on the floor — we requested another table and were promptly moved and told it would be about five minutes for food.
— Twenty minutes later the food finally arrived all together and we inhaled it and asked for the check and left as quickly as possible.
We stuck it out because we were given a gift card as a Christmas present so it wasn’t really a financial loss on our part. I really do love the food here and I’ll continue to cautiously visit on weekday evenings vs any time Fri-​Sun in the hopes that my bad experiences were isolated events. It might be that this place just got too trendy and the demand is too much for them and the kids! So many kids running around — but that’s not the restaurants fault.

Super yummy! Great service. Great drinks.
You will likely only be able to pronounce ¹⁄₃ of the menu but everything we tried was good. Daniel was our server. He was very attentive and gave great suggestions.
The Camembert Pit (insert German word here) salad was amazing!
I will be back.

Shocked this place doesn’t have higher reviews.
Fantastic food with huge portions — I’ve been for brunch and dinner several times. This is a local go-​to for me, and I’ve brought out of town friends here and they all love it. Great for both big and small groups, any time of day.
Prices are fantastic too for quality and portions.
Chicken schnitzel (comes with eggs for brunch… yum), spaetzle, chicken wurst, mushroom flammkuchen, and pumpkin/​cauliflower flammkuchen are all delicious. Dressing on house salad is delicious, and shoe string fries are not too salty or greasy.
Wide selection of alcoholic and non-​alcoholic beverages.
Wait staff can sometimes be a little cold, though. I’ve been a few times and have seen 3 waiters — one was fantastic the one time I saw him, one who I’ve had a few times was a bit cold one time but very friendly the other, and the other was cold the one time I saw him.
Wait time for food is decent — not too slow, not too fast. Worth it for the quality of food.
Great seating and atmosphere — open, lots of light, and great look and feel overall.
I’ve never had their delivery but I’m sure it’s great…

Great service, delicious and filling food, and excellent beer. I had the Nurnberger and my cousin had the Flammkuchen. Both were terrific. The interior is cozy but big at the same time. Love the cuckoo clocks on the wall. Only complaint is I wish more entrees came with mashed potatoes instead of boring fries.

Mein Mann und ich waren am Weihnachtsabend hier, weil wir gerne, zur Feier des Tages, etwas Deutsches essen wollten. Es war suuuuper lecker!!! Die Schnitzel sind wirklich zu empfehlen, ganz zu schweigen vom leckeren Weizenbier… und unser deutscher Kellner (Dirk) seeeehr zuvorkommend, flink und super nett!!! Er machte sich sogar die Mühe uns ein paar Tipps für NYC zu geben, da wir erst seit ein paar Tagen hier sind.
Also alles in allem haben wir uns wirklich wohl gefühlt und freuen uns schon auf den nächsten Besuch.
Herzliche Grüße an das Black Forest Team and a happy new year for all of you :-)
Mila & Rafael

Another good German addition in the area. Superb selection of beers on tap, as well as food options.
Few evenings ago I had drinks and bites with some friends and we had a blast!
It was a Friday evening and our server was quick, responsive, and really nice.
Beers are a bit expensive ($ 8 – 10), but food is relatively cheap. We shared a delicious wiener schnitzel with fries, and fried mushroom.

It had a cool, hipster, spacious indoor ambience. I loved seeing the ginormous beer glasses. It was a great time hanging out with my friend, and our server was really engaging and attentive, but honestly my draft beer wasn’t too great. Perhaps it’s my fault because I chose it. Furthermore, the sausages were OK. The bread or sausage weren’t exceptionally fresh or tasty. I’d definitely come again, but it wasn’t great.

This place is about the beer and atmosphere. Generally a good crowd but the staff gets a little overwhelmed if you come primetime (say, 10p Saturday).
Really wanted to love the food but unfortunately not so — the snacks are great (pretzel, meat plate) but I wasn’t fond of the entrée options. Most notable was the spätzle which was seasoned with butter and that’s it — yes I know its supposed to be a ‘mop’ like a side of bread, but even fresh bread by itself is pretty darn good, right? This spätzle was a bit one note (butter) when eaten alone.
The beers are still outstanding.

I have no idea why this place has such low ratings. The service is super nice, the beers are great, and the food is delicious. I tried my husband’s brat and it was very well done. The atmosphere is wonderful and they even have a big projector screen which is currently playing the U.S. Open.

Great location as a lot is happening on n this block, and is near BAM. This is a German Biergarten. There are plenty of options on draft, but beware the smallest glass will be half a liter. Very open layout with just the right rustic touch with half the space holding wooden picnic tables standing under two large skylights, and the remainder with newer country 2 – 3 person square blonde wood tables accompanied by spring green wooden chairs matching in color some wainscoting and fireplace mantle. The same blonde wood creates the tall stools at the bar. Most of the walls are open brick, which is common in BK, yet always appreciated by myself. Likewise to the ubiquitous «Edison» style filament anti-​energy-​efficient light bulbs.
Like any respectable beer place, they readily offer you shot-​glass tastes of various beers before commitment to order. I love IPAs, and just because I did not find a similar brew to my current taste did not stop me from this 5 star review. I can appreciate that they have many colorful (and sometimes rare) alcohol options, and I settled on their darkest beer, the Köstritzer Schearzbier which satisfied my thirst thoroughly with its tasty black character. Music was a medium loud of various popular eclectic cool, hip, retro or unusual sounds. I think if they wanted to sing «traditional» German song fare to the local BK ear, no one would have come, and this place would not have been as crowded as it was this Saturday night.
Service was friendly. They sell organic German delicacies and apparently coffee and cake, which I cannot comment because I did not partake in those options.

Black Forest is one of our favorite places in the neighborhood to grab a drink or bite to eat! It’s a chic indoor German beer garden that appeals to beer lovers and beyond!
Pros:
–pretty beautiful space with long wooden tables, a big bar, chalkboard bar menu, and skylights on the ceiling
–great location on Fulton (just past Fulton and Lafayette intersection)
–huge communal tables available which makes it a fantastic option for large groups
–diverse beer selection (handful of wines and shots too, and you can do a beer flight or a shotski!) with many sizes (all the way up to a boot!)
–food is surprisingly delicious, we have enjoyed the pretzels and sausages (of course to be expected at a German beer garden!), as well as some of the flatbreads, salads, fried mushrooms, and Mac and cheese. All were really well done.
–they have outdoor sidewalk seating which offers great people watching
–generally a fun mixed crowd of couples and large groups, have also seen many families here
–bottomless mimosa brunch on Sundays!!!
Cons:
–maybe drinks are a bit on the pricier side (not entirely out of the ordinary for the neighborhood, but still maybe a bit high)
–service can be slow or inefficient at times
–gets packed many weekend nights that may be hard to get a table
Good place for a drink or bite in fort Greene!

If you like German beers, they have a pretty solid selection of about 15 beers on tap. I had an Hofbräu Dunkel, followed by a Schneider Aventinus. They also serve Rothaus Tannenzäpfle, the only unpasteurized German beer available in the US. Drinks are not cheap, though: $ 8 – 10 for 0.5L.
Food is actually more affordable. The Beer-​battered, fried champignon mushrooms & aioli ($ 7) is a tasty starter, perfect for sharing. The Bauernmädchen ($ 13) is a tasty flatbread with sour cream, shredded spicy citrus kale, roasted pumpkin, cauliflower & toasted almonds. Kässpätzle ($ 14) are homemade German egg noodles with smoked slab bacon, shredded Emmentaler cheese, fresh nutmeg, sauteed onions & house salad[1].
As far as wurst, my Lange Rote Bratwurst ($ 9; spicy pork, beef & veal sausage) was a bit disappointing: pretty bland, and not spicy at all. The shoestring fries were great, though. If you’re very hungry, get the Wurstplatte ($ 28): a choice of 4 sausages that comes with shoe string fries, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes & spicy citrus kale.
What drags the rating down is the service: sloooooooooooooowwww…
On a Thursday evening at 7pm, when we arrived we were told to sit anywhere. While we were waiting for our friends to arrive, we sat on one of the large communal tables, gave the waitress an order for two beers, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more… In fact, some of the people who were sitting next to us on the communal table got up and left after about 20 minutes. I would not have minded to just go to the bar and get the drinks myself, but we were specifically told to place our orders with the waitress.
When our friends arrived, after about 25 minutes, we decided to move outside. I told the bartender to bring our drinks outside. Once outside, our drinks never arrived. When the waiter in charge for the outdoor area arrived to take our orders, we placed our drink orders a second time. And waited some more… Same interminable wait happened when we placed an order for a second round of drinks: after about 15 minutes, we had to remind the waiter about our order.
Not sure why service was so bad: the place was only about ²⁄₃ full, and there were several waiters and waitresses working the bar, the main dining area, and the outdoor area. Just puzzling.
Unless you don’t mind having to wait half an hour just to get your drinks, go somewhere else.
— — — — —
[1] If you’re vegetarian, order this without bacon.

As we traversed around Brooklyn we wanted to find a beer garden to post up and have a large beer to help enjoy a hot Saturday afternoon. We popped into Black Forest Brooklyn and although there isn’t much outdoor seating, the oversized skylights helped make the bar feel very open with the added benefit of air conditioning!
Though the beer was quite tasty and the selection numerous, the wait staff was almost impossible to flag down and was very cold when we asked questions and placed our order… Not to mention the beer was pretty expensive! Maybe I’m used to DC prices? (hah who am I kidding DC is still bad!)
I think I was a bit caught off guard at how many families their were at the establishment also. Lots of babies! That is in NO way a reason for my 3 star review, but I don’t think I was ready for how family friendly the establishment was when I was drinking a liter of beer… If you are desperately wanting some good German beer and a place to post up with the fam, this is an excellent spot. However, if you want a more rowdy and young crowd I would suggest making the trek to Radegast!

Service is number one here and I really appreciate that.
Food is a very close second with authentic dishes and portions.
Bratwurst is great with stringy crisp fries, sauerkraut, mustard, and ketchup.
My only recommendation would be to get some curry ketchup! I’d return regardless.
Bummer that the only garden area of this bier garten is the sidewalk dining.
All and all, a lovely place to dine with very good service which deserves a higher than usual rating of 4 stars.

Waren sehr gespannt auf das deutsche Restaurant mit Biergarten in Brooklyn. Draußen konnten wir wegen des Wetters nicht sitzen aber in dem großen Raum
war es nett und cool zu sitzen. Es gibt eine Wochenkarte für Lunch, die Preise sind, verglichen mit denen in Manhattan, sehr moderat Unsere Quiche mit köstlichem Salat war lecker. Dazu ein Kölsch… Herrlich. Gern hätten wir das Gulasch probiert, haben uns dann für Apfelkuchen mit Eis und Sahne entschieden. Sehr zu empfehlen!
Marion

You know, I rarely find myself trying out a new spot, liking it THAT much and itching to return as soon as possible. So as you can tell, I had a really fantastic experience at Black Forest Brooklyn and can’t wait to go back. When you combine tons of craft brews, excellent pub style food and a really bright, warm atmosphere… what’s not to love?
This place is huge! BFB is somewhat divided into two sides. One side consists of the large picnic tables which are perfect for after-​work happy hours, parties or just really large groups. It has that communal, casual feel which makes for a great space for socializing. On the other side are the smaller tables of 2 or 4, as well as the bar (with ample seating). The inside is BEAUTIFULLY decorated– antique German clocks, artwork, high ceilings with vintage bulbs. We arrived about 6pm and got a seat right away despite there being a decent crowd.
The first thing I noticed: the vast selection of German beers. Aside from, Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier, my knowledge of German brands are limited. Our waitress was extremely helpful and let me taste a few. Ultimately I settled on the Riegele Kellerbier which was smooth, light… and one of my new favorites.
I think it’s pretty safe to say if you’re going to a bier garden or German eatery, you must order a warm pretzel. Their Riesenbrezel was not only bigger than my head, but delicious. It has just enough crisp on the outside, soft/​dough-​y on the inside and with the perfect amount of salt. Wonderful for sharing! For dinner, I ordered the Bratwurst which came with a warm kaiser bun, apple cider sauerkraut and shoestring fries. I loved it. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of sauerkraut, but it just worked wonderfully with the German sausage. All in all, my meal was spot on and I happily ate the entire thing. (No regrets.)
It’s safe to say I will 100% be back. Possibly next week even. We had a pleasant experience with the staff and the food exceeded all my expectations. PROST!