Goldenrod

CLOSED — not a shock. Repossessed… from what I hear it is the 2^nd or 3^rd time in recent years.
Since my last review, over the past couple of months, this place really took a dive. Even on beautiful days the gorgeous patio would be empty. Once the regular bartender left, the whole place fell apart. The last time I was at Goldenrod was around Halloween. My BF and I were the only ones in the place and the bartender couldn’t even properly pour a beer… it was 100% foam and she kept filling it, dumping it and slamming it down. When I asked for a new glass, I was glared at like I was asking her to climb Mount Everest. It’s a shame. This place would’ve been great to have so close for the winter.

Wish these guys knew what they’re doing. It’s a beautiful space, but the staff and the vibe is so weird and off-​putting. Last time I was there, some dude was playing guitar & singing with must gusto. Unfortunately, nobody was paying any attention, well, because he was awful. It was loud as hell. I was tempted to pay him to stop.

Nice location, decent service, reasonable prices but one major flaw: The pizza is hugely disappointing.
While the «NY Style Pizza» is monstrously sized, it was bland. I’ve had better pizza at $.99 pizza joints. Frankly, «South Brooklyn Pizza» should be ashamed of themselves.
Pizza is one of the cheapest and easiest menu items to perfect. At least have the decency to give the crust a little flavor and don’t skimp on the sauce. I’m not talking corn meal dusting or (gasp) herbs and spices — even adding some damn salt would be an improvement.
It’s like these guys tried to squeeze as much profit from this menu item, while still staying within the bounds of what can legally be labeled a pizza. In short, the crust (while well cooked and crispy) lacked any flavor, the sauce was skimpy, and the diameter of sauce distribution left a questionable crust-​to-​toppings ratio. The cheese was likely fat free (read: void of all flavoring) which didn’t help either.
I know it’s a lot to ask for a $ 25 pizza to be enjoyable, but could you guys at least try to try harder?

This brings me absolutely *no* pleasure – I came here a bunch over the summer as the outdoor space is great, and they tend to have some nice beers on tap. They also serve S. Brooklyn pizza which is pretty delicious. We were actually proselytizers of this place – we never understood why so many people overlooked it.
That said, I’m NEVER coming back (which stinks because the outdoor space is great!) – last night I went with my family and another family, with the intention of ordering some beers and pizza for a labor day goodbye to summer.
I have never seen the waitress before on earlier visits, so she was new to me, and in fairness she was the only one serving a few tables, but we waited 40 minutes for the pizza. When one from our party politely asked what was up, she said simply «the order was given to the kitchen» and shrugged at us (???) and walked away. Ten minutes later he went to the pizza kitchen to see what was going on (as we watched parties around us being served ahead of us – even though one table in particular came much later). She intercepted him and acted extremely offended that he defied her authority I guess? and promised 6 more minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, nothing. We decided to leave. We paid for our beers and pretzel, and she acted offended we were leaving (no apologies – more like anger – even though our pizza was curiously missing from their kitchen – we assume they never made it). Her attitude in general meant no tip (this is rare for me – I tend to be a big tipper as I have been in service and have had many friends work for tips – I understand how important they are. She was exceptionally horrible and rude). Then she started screaming at us (young children included) to get the f&ck out of her place and never come back, and get our f*&king kids out.
WHAT!!! I have had bad service, but this was insane. The idea that she could have expected a tip after the worst service I may have ever encountered (and I’ve lived in this city for more than a decade) is bananas, but what’s more, she put the cherry on top by cursing at us. NEVER EVER AGAIN.

«These drinks are STrOnG!!» –says the drunk girl on the bench with her hand on her husband’s crotch. Yep, that’s me. Come here if you wanna have a strong drink, and a cozy outdoor vibe! Oh, and use the bathroom before you come here or when you get home, or risk being utterly disgusted.

I loved the patio area. $ 5 pints and half off pizza during happy hour from 5−8pm. You really can’t go wrong. I love the atmosphere of the bar and I’m always looking for a place with a good Happy Hour. This place gets it done. They have a small bar menu and the pizza I think is from South Brooklyn Pizza. I will defiantly be going back on a nice weather night.

Nice easy-​going atmosphere, nice beer selection, and open mics on Mondays. Very friendly personnel.

I’ve lived in the next neighborhood north of here for about seven years now and always meant to check out what this bar once was, PJ Hanley’s, Brooklyn’s oldest bar (est 1874). Sadly I never made it but when I saw they reopened as «Goldenrod» I finally came by to check the space out. The actual space is beautiful, they have a very open main room with lots of historic architectual details, they also have a large side room that seems mostly for dining and/​or parties. The part that drew me here was their large outdoor patio. It’s a patio on the side of the bar right by the street but takes up an entire lot of land and is completely separated from the sidewalk. That’s about all the plus sides of Goldenrod.
I came on a slow night when there was only a couple people at the bar and a few people out in the patio. The service I got from the bartender was pretty horrible. Putting that aside their draft menu is limited to a handful of craft beers and at they don’t offer any bottled beers. Drafts are $ 6 – 8 so I ordered one of the $ 6 options and handed the bartender a ten. She comes back with a receipt and change. Apparently they charge sales tax on top of the beer prices listed. This is primarily a bar and they don’t have bottles and are adding sales tax and paperwork on top of the listed beer prices, these are two things I’ve never experienced before. I didn’t feel bad in the slightest tipping 50 cents and leaving after that first drink. Most likely never to return.

Came here after a softball game. Ordered the Pizza special they have there and some on the tap beer. The pizza didnt have any options for toppings which was a bummer, but the pizza itself was definitely satisfying. It has 8 pretty big slices of pizza, perfect for 4 hungry guys after a game! Definitely can order that with some wings and it would be a perfect paring with some beers for 4 people.
Their pricing is ok, however, they have some really weird pricing between the glass and pitcher for some of their beers.
Some of them by the glass would be $ 6, pitcher would be $ 18 (Makes sense), but others made no sense, like one was $ 6 a glass, but $ 24 for a pitcher. That just totally made no sense.
Usually when you order a pitcher, its to save a deal instead of buying 3 glasses of beer, but there is no discount. Mind as well just buy it by the glass.

Some. Of. The. Worst. Music. Ever.
Unbearable. And probably why it’s empty on a warm summer evening.

One chilling winter night this year, with snow everywhere, I stepped into this place for dinner and a drink. The bar was almost empty, but I chalked that up to the inclement weather.
The very nice bartender suggested one of the bar’s special bourbon-​based cocktails. I forget the name, but I can tell you it tasted sort of like vomit… sort of, but not totally. This fact — that the drink didn’t taste exactly like vomit — would be the high point of the evening.
I also ordered ravioli with a butter and sage sauce. Now, how can you mess up butter and sage? You melt the butter with the sage in the pan, you add a little pepper and then, perhaps some cheese at the table and to the customer’s taste.
What I got instead was a heavily salted white — flour– or cornstarch-​based — goopy gravy. I age 25% of the food, then pushed it aside, asked for my bill, and left. Fortunately, I was able to get a seat at Bergen Hill up the street, get a glass of wine and one of their toasts, and wash away the Goldenrod experience.
Until someone I trust tells me to my face that they ate there and it was delicious, I won’t ever order there again.

Probably some of the worst service I have ever had. After waiting for 15 minutes to be recognized by the waitress (there were only three tables) we finally got to put in a drink order.
We were sitting directly in the sun and I ordered an orange juice. When it came out, it was filled to the brim with ice that was melting quickly and barely any juice. When i asked the waitress if she could bring it with no ice, she let me know (rudely) that Ice is «customary and I should have specified.»
Refused to bring another and would not take it off the bill. Not great.
Food was decent– margarita pizza.
I live nearly next door so will most likely be back, only due to convenience.

It took 20 minutes to bring our drinks, our pizza order was wrong and our check did not arrive. I had to go to the bar to place orders and to pay, and to get our change.
It’s very simple… stop texting your friends and checking your Facebook… and do your job.
The fact that this place has now changed hands maybe 3 times in as many years makes me wonder when this will be changing hands again… it’s so sad.

Coming from someone who is not attached (either positively or negatively) to whatever this place USED to be, I have to say that yes, the initial few months were pretty awkward for this place. But we came back not too long ago and were delightfully surprised to find a solid IPA on tap, decent wine, and friendly service at the bar. AND it was empty, which we tend to prefer over loud obnoxious bars. Also-​the interior décor has come together more and if you live in the area, it’s a nice alternative to Abilene if you feel like you go there too much.

I read soo many bad reviews over the newly revamped Goldenrod, formerly known as PJ Henleys. From memory, when I visited PJ back in the day. It was like any other bar. Drinks, salty food and a fun outdoor space. Fast forward a year, my friends and I came out for Black Friday and spent some time in the new Goldenrod. The bartender was nice and recommended some fun beers. I had the «Bayou» and it tasted like BBQ. It was smokey and just made you want to have a burger. It was delicious.
The personal pizzas was amazing too. Just wish that it would’ve been bigger, for the $ 14. You all know about bars, you order a personal pizza and your friends stare and find ways to take a slice when your chatting it up with everyone else! lol Great times! I don’t care what they call this place, as long as the food keeps coming and we have awesome barkeeps, it will always be a great time with friends and fun strangers.

The food here is so good. Great staff, Steve is awesome and really knows his stuff. I’m glad this is a new place in the neighborhood. Great competition for the bar down the street.

Great bar and the best pizza in Brookland. Ask for MIriam, a fantastic bartender who will take great care of you. Miriam told us every thing from the history of the place to how to top our pizzas. This place was awesome. Thanks MIriam.

Came in for some pizza on a Saturday afternoon. Ordered the bacon/​blue cheese pizza and classic marg. Both were decent. One pizza came out quickly and the other one showed up almost 30 minutes later. They offered us a pretzel for the inconvenience. It was actually pretty tasty.
Our server was a strange dude. He just didn’t say much and was awkward.

Just one question: WHY??? Hanley’s was awesome. It was one of the last few reminders of Brooklyn’s history in an otherwise trust funded neighborhood. It was perfect once upon a time– a great bar, great atmosphere, and pretty decent bar food. I even held my 30^th birthday party there last year.
My husband and I went here, shortly after they re-​opened under this new name, and were completely sad. It was empty. It lost its regular crowd. The menu was odd. No bar foods like wings, nachos, etc. Rather, there was a list of odd combinations of food. I won’t even get into the misspellings of items on the menu («Organic» has an «r» in it, etc). It just seemed insincere. In my mind, the menu decisions played out like this:
«Hey, Larry! Hipsters like organic, and gluten free everything, right? «Yeah, they do!» «Awesome! So we’ll just throw some random organic, gluten free dishes on the menu. don’t bother spending time on making them good, and don’t worry if it makes no sense for a bar with a following. Just throw some crap on it, and viola! Business!»
Wrong! The food was honestly not great. My husband had the mussels, and I had the pizza from the place next door. My husband’s food came more than 10 minutes before mine. He felt so bad, that he didn’t want to eat before my food came, but it was taking so long, I didn’t want his food to get cold. So I told him to start eating. My pizza was so bland. I had the Margherita pizza. I’m from Brooklyn. I know what Margherita pizza is supposed to taste like. This wasn’t it. The sauce was tasteless, as was the cheese. The only thing I tasted was the basil. My husband loves his mussels, and they were fine, but nothing special. They smelled too. A little too strong, which tells me they weren’t so fresh. The waitress was really nice, but didn’t know much. We asked her questions about drinks, and she really had no idea. She was likable, so we didn’t want to be hard on her, and she really tried.
I’m so angry. I was upset when Hanley’s shut down, but I assumed that the person who took over would realize what a neighborhood gem this was, and keep with it. Perhaps, slightly change it up, but not destroy it. We came here specifically because we were in the mood for Hanley’s. We were wrong to assume they would keep it the way it was. I loved that it was one spot in which hipsters were not prevalent. I don’t always want to eat with them. I give them maybe a year unless they wise up.

New name, but the history remains. What once was the oldest bar in Brooklyn known as PJ Hanley’s is now reopened as Goldenrod. Restored to formal glory, tin ceiling, wooden bar, century-​old detailing, you feel transported back in time. Old school. Down to sawdust on the floor for you messy drunks. (Just kidding, but it is a nice touch)
Place is spacious, long bar, plenty of tables and outside seating area.
Wish they would have drinks menu, my usual gripe — but the beer selection is great, both tap and bottle, and there is a full bar if you know what you want.
Some of the food still has a room for improvement, Truffle shrooms was fried to the point of being dry bits, instead of being sautéed as waitress mentioned, but their pizza made up for that mishap. Tried both Bacon and Blue (bacon, burnt tomatoes, blue cheese) and Villager (spores salta, speck and peppers) and they were fantastic! Crust and favors were right on the money.
Music selection did not impress, too new and mainstream for this place.
Note: it opens at 6pm.