The Bellwether

Recently went to Bellwether and had a great experience. At first I was apprehensive of the exotic items on the menu, but was glad there were some adventures people in our group.
Firstly the drinks were creative and delicious.
The pickled shrimp was a great twist on something so simple.
I got the eggplant curry dish being conservative and it was pretty good.
Both burger options we’re very good (oyster burger and regular burger). I’m not a big fish guy but tried two of the fish dishes and they were good.
I heard good things about the lamb tar tar but was really unsure about trying it. I did any ways and it was VERY good. Great flavor and texture. Most importantly I did not get sick in any way from it.
Overall I would def recommend this place. Classy appearance, knowledgable and nice staff, and great food.

I went on New Year’s Eve. The menu was limited, and the service even more so. Only two people on the floor. It was as if they were trying to shuffle the dinner guests through because they had more important things to do (but where was the staff)? My french onion soup came out barely even lukewarm.
Cute atmosphere. But the experience lacks dramatically.

Came here because Beco was closed and we figured we would give it a shot. I ordered heuvos rancheros like dish for brunch and it was obvious that it was pre-​cooked. The toritilla came out hard as a rock and there was way too much sour cream on it as a whole. Overall it was meh. i prefer my food nice and fresh to order.
My boyfriend got the french toast which was pretty good. Neither of us is the biggest fan of apricots so once again it was overpowering.
Sticking to Beco or Jimmy’s Diner is a better bet.

I truly think the cold fried chicken sandwich saved my life.
A gargantuan piece of boneless fried chicken slathered in honey dijon and half-​sour pickles on a hot bun… hohhhhmylordy it’s sweet heaven.
My lunch partner had the squash & chevre scramble and was equally in love.
Bonus points for the spicy, super tasty Bloody Mary in a rocks glass gettin’ me toasty at 12pm.
(This was my first time there — word on the street is that they very recently updated their staff & menu and the place has vastly improved… if that’s the case, then I can attest: Whatever they changed, it’s working.)

I went for Brunch and had the Squash Scramble. It was really amazing. Excellent staff, beautiful restaurant. Highly recommend for a quiet meal just outside the hustle and bustle of Williamsburg’s main drag.
The cook definitely knows what he’s doing!

Kind of a dud. But then again I didn’t expect much from a restaurant at the cursed location of the former Royal Oak, the bar of bad memories for all circa 2005.
Seriously though, this place is so generic and undifferentiated from the other thousand oyster/​cocktails/​small plates bullshit places littered around Williamsburg. It’s passable I guess, but give me at least a shred of originality.
Docked a star for tile floors. It makes this restaurant extremely loud and unpleasant acoustically.

Why does everyone do small plates now, to make more of a profit??! NOt like they are priced lower. $ 17 for a vegetarian pasta should be BIG! Coho Salmon was good but very, very small. You charge people fro BREAD, beyond tacky.
Kale was very good and a normal price. Panna Cotta was good. great wine list
Great space and service was good but I would say get a Burger!
SO OVER spending $ 75 and leaving hungry…
I will go to ST Anslem next time, way better food and way better portion sizes.

This place is perfect… if you’re one of the jerks that was actually suckered into living in one of those new god awful condos built on Bedford ave…
Me and my lady (who was lookin fine, i might add) went in there a few night ago for a pre-​all-​nighter cocktail. We tried to get a seat at the bar but the place was packed to the gills with a bunch of putzy lookin guys in boat shoes.
Finally, after about 8 minutes of standing around lookin slack jawed, we were greeted by the bartender and asked what we wanted… seeing as most of the drinks probably sell for 700% profit, I decided to skip paying their rent for them with one order and just got a Long Trail IPA… big mistake. Now I’m not sayin the Bellwether waters down their beers… but that was the weakest, pee coloredist IPA I’ve ever seen. It was flat too.
My biggest complaint about this place is the fact that it’s so COMPLETELY OBVIOUS that they are desperate to be on one of those Food Network panel shows like unique eats or something… the segment would go something like this:
«bellwether is tucked away in a forgotten little industrial zone of Williamsburg. Brooklyn. They’re just out of the way enough to be private, but creative enough to be trendy and welcoming… one thing you have to try there is the poo cocktail… first, they take the most decadent and sweet Irish crème you’ve ever taste. THEN, they add a hot butter milk biscuit that will remind you of the ones your third grade teacher used to to make and top it with the warmest poo in New York. And THAT: is the best thing I ever drank.»
No thanks.

When I heard Dan Ross-​Leutwyler recently left his position as Chef de Cuisine at Fatty ‘Cue to come relaunch the kitchen at Bellwether I could hardly wait to come sample the new fare. I was already coming here pretty regularly and what was good before has now been raised to sublime. I dare say they now make the one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever eaten.
Let’s get one thing out of the way before I dissect the rest of my inspiring meal: I heard about Dan’s new position while I was a guest at his recent wedding. So yeah, we’re old friends and I feel it’s only right to give full disclosure. I really believe what I’m about to say is not biased by that friendship or by favoritism (we paid for our meal). And I’m sure you all know how great Fatty ‘Cue is so I hope that lends some more credibility. Onward!
Since we were a party of two and it was a mellow Tuesday night, we decided to sit at the bar. Oysters are always a great way to start, and at $ 2.50 a shell they are neither cheap nor expensive. What I can say is the quality is exceptional and they’re worth the price. Riesling pairs nicely, as does the ‘Rosay,’ but if you want to get really interesting take barman Justin’s recommendation and go with the Porterhouse Oyster Stout.
From there we had the Fluke Crudo with Heirloom Melons. This was an amazing balance of sweet and acid from the fresh melon and pickled rind which is brightened by the fresh basil and pea shoots. Somehow the flavors are restrained and the freshness and subtlety of the raw fluke is not lost. In my opinion this perfect balance is where cooking as a craft is elevated to an art-​form. I’ll probably be blasted for saying this, but I actually liked this dish better than the Fluke Carpaccio I had at Eleven Madison Park last fall.
A fast follow to the fluke was the Pickled Shrimp. This is well executed and delicious, but it’s meant to be whimsical rather than lofty. The playfulness of serving packs of Saltines to eat the shrimp atop is a nice touch and I felt this dish was about deconstructing the comfortable and familiar in an unexpected way: The acid and spice from the pickling combines the nostalgia of shrimp cocktail with the texture from the crackers.
Next up was the Curried Eggplant. The menu says it’s served with flatbread and while this is probably meant to be more accessible and unpretentious it’s really a disservice to make it sound so simple. To me the bread was the most delicious, flakey, savory, Paratha imaginable with complexly seasoned eggplant as the perfect condiment. It’s a generous and filling portion too.
Following the eggplant we had the Lamb Tartare. I was a bit afraid this would be too intense but there was no gamey flavor at all. This dish was another peak and it made me grin speechlessly. Its easily on a par with the occasionally offered Beef Carpaccio with Pumpernickel at Roberta’s – enough said.
We finished with the previously mentioned Cheeseburger. I’m not exactly sure how to describe why this one is better than most, but it comes down to a crusty sear surrounding a juicy, loosely granular texture – but not crumbly – patty perfectly seasoned and flawlessly cooked medium-​rare topped with sharp cheese and the most amazing house-​made pickles. At $ 16 it could be a reasonably priced meal in itself. So just try it. You don’t have to take my word. But you’d be crazy not to.

I had my wedding in the backroom at Bellwether this past weekend. I contacted them a week and a half before the wedding date since my original venue was no longer working out. I quoted them my small budget and they accepted and worked with me immediately planning out the logistics. I have to say the restaurant, and back room where the wedding (including ceremony) was held is absolutely beautiful. The food (cheese boards, proscuitto, mozzarella/​tomato salad, fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, steamed mussels) was DELICIOUS and i had guests coming up to us gushing about it all. Especially the mussels! The staff was extremely helpful and accommodating as well which made the night run so smoothly so that we could concentrate on just having a good time.
I highly recommend this place for small events. They really came through for my husband and I in a crunch. I had 40 people total and there was more than enough room for a reception, dinner and dancing. One other thing that should definitely be known is how amazing the sound is there. The backroom already comes equipped with turntables so a friend DJ’d and it sounded incredible through their top-​of-​the-​line vintage sound system. A big thanks to Latoya and the rest of the team who made it all happen!

After curiously passing by a few times in recent weeks, we tried Bellwether on Friday night. Was a good meal — we’ll be back.
I just looked through other reviews and I’m not sure if (a) prices have dropped or (b) portion sizes have gotten bigger, but we didn’t have an issue with the PPS (price per serving).
Some highlights:
— I’m not usually a cocktail girl, but decided to try one of their’s and loved it – good cocktail list. However, this will be the only thing that I will say I wish I had a larger portion of. But this is my issue with lots of Brooklyn places right now. The drinks comes in measly ‘old time’ glasses so the PPS (price per sip) is incredibly high… Anyway, good drinks. Boyfriend had two glasses of wine, both good, well priced.
— We shared the sardines with bread and butter — YUM. Sweet + salty = happiness. I could have ate this all night.
— We also shared the pickled shrimp appetizer. SO good. I could have ate this all night as well. Wait, did I say that already?
— I got the red snapper which was exactly what it was supposed to be. A well cooked, lightly dressed piece of fish with veggies on the side. I wish the veggies were a bit more cooked (a little too crunchy for my personal taste), but that said, I appreciated their freshness.
I have to say, the restaurant is beautiful. Time and effort was really put into the décor here and we appreciated it. It was a very pretty place to eat/​drink/​relax. Also the music was great — perfect mix for the crowd. That said, I wish they turned it down JUUUUST a bit.

When Royal Oak closed down and Bellwether opened in its place I was intrigued. I finally went in with my girlfriend. We were looking to have a drink and something like, an appetizer maybe. Not much on the menu for this sort of night so we split the curried eggplant with flat bread. It was pretty good but as with almost every cheese and meat plate, bread type appetizer there is never enough bread. They wanted to charge $ 3 for an additional serving. The chef rolls and bakes the flat bread to order. Sounds nice but no thanks — just make more in the first place!
I watched as the girl next to us was served her salmon entrée. She busted out laughing at the waitress. I looked over and saw her plate of about 3 bites.
Our drinks were good. The food prices are just too high. The fried clam roll was something like $ 16. Drop the prices on the food guys, you’ll keep me in your restaurant longer and I will buy another drink. Just because your neighborhood is scattered with brand new condos doesn’t mean these people splurge on eating out. With a farmers market on saturday and Whole Foods on my way home from work I would rather eat at home. Nobody would question these prices in Manhattan.
Much better options nearby include:
Brooklyn Winery
Roebling Tea Room

I had one of the best meals in recent memory at Bellwether dinner a few weeks ago. Though the daily-​changing menu can make things difficult for any remotely picky eater (which I might, sadly, be to an extent), nothing disappointed. I started with the bloody mary gazpacho with crab salad – it was interesting, the crab salad was very generous, but there wasn’t that much gazpacho. It was perfectly smooth and spicy, however, and started off the meal right. My friend had the salmon tartar special with naan, which she enjoyed immensely. We then split the preserved lemon chicken for two – perfectly roast with just the right amount of skin, interesting flavor, and plenty of braised kale to go around. We were perfectly full by the end of the meal.
I’d give four stars for some kinks in service, but i have no doubt that they will work those out with time. The décor is lovely, and the drinks were fantastic – I started with rose, and quickly switched to a whiskey sour that I’ve literally dreamt about.

I wanted to like it and perhaps the problems are part of their infancy but all in all not a good experience. Awkward interaction at arrival left us hanging out by the bar for a while while we waited for an empty back dining room seat.
The bartender never acknowledged us in spite of being the only ones standing but we didn’t mind thinking we wouldn’t be there long. Eventually an owner or manager who had been sitting next to us offered us prosecco which was a gesture at least but a cocktail menu would have sufficed.
Once we got seated in an otherwise empty back room the service also felt awkward and ill timed. The menu online was different than the menu offered and when I asked if they had something from the side menu I had see the waitress just commented that the menus change all the time. We ordered the burger (undercooked) and the roasted chicken and while I am a fan of small plates (think Gwynette St) — satisfaction with small plates has everything to do with flavor which didn’t hit the mark here– maybe seafood is better?
I gave them two stars under the assumption that brunch would probably be better in terms of menu and that the place has potential. I tried to go to brunch the weekend before but got there to closed signs saying they weren’t doing brunch that weekend which is the same weekend I think they had a late night party of some kind.
Seems like they need to pick an identify and go with it– could be a great cocktail bar with small plates if they focus on a different menu, a much more extensive cocktail list and go heavier towards nightlife but if it’s truly the dinner crowd they are after there is serious work to be done.
High prices, low standards in menu execution and service authenticity.

Two stars… only because this place just looks so damn good.
I absolutely love the interior of this place. The mosaic floor, nautical blue banquettes, vintage radios, and analog speaker system. Looks great, sounds great. BUT the food needs serious work, as do the prices. My chicken came out undercooked, and the crab appetizer was not the freshest.
Have not tried to oyster happy hour, which sounds like a good deal (if the oyster are in fact fresh), but for now I’ll think about this place for drinks only.

Preface: This is a «Heavy 3» in that I’d like to move up the rating after another positive experience; I just can’t go there quite yet.
The Space:
Beautiful renovation of the old, somewhat grungy «Royal Oak». Nice, bright interior, comfortable seating all around and plenty of space (it seems) for the extended happy-​hour and bar crowd later in the evenings. I look forward to returning for some of their more interesting vinyl record listening parties and fun-​sounding theme DJ nights.
The Service: Couldn’t ask for more. It was the service that will get me to make repete visits. Williamsburg is filled with places of this caliber, so service is key.
The Eats (Brunch review): Having tried a number of items at our table, I can say with reasonable certainty that you won’t be able to order a bad item here. A limited menu (good move) paired with delicious items such as a pork belly & egg sandwich, crab cake eggs benedict, and a set of popovers to start = yum. Nice, reasonable portions.
Room for improvement: Pricing. 6 little tater tots for $ 5? Pass. Drinks are a bit on the pricey side as well, but certainly worth a slightly higher range than your run-​of-​the-​mill options.
Looking forward to my return. Hope to have a dinner review shortly.

I’ve walked past this place so many times and finally decided to check it out the other night. I’d describe it as: Pricey and Awkward.
It’s pretty obvious that this place is aiming for the ‘New Condo’ crowds that are slowly taking over the neighborhood. There’s even a brand new one right across the street from Bellwether.
I was only going in for a drink but I felt really uncomfortable with the whole scene in there. People were wearing suits and ties… drinks were overpriced… food was overpriced… It felt like I was in New Jersey or something.
I’m sure this is perfect for those who have just moved into those condos, it’s just not for me!

I went to Bellewether the other night as it is new and close to my friend’s apartment. We sat at the bar which is really beautiful, and big and had a few drinks. I was feeling adventurous and tried a liquor I had never had before. BIG MISTAKE. The bartender was kind enough to give me something more to my liking without charge.
A drink in and we decided to try the raw bar. The oysters we fresh, and briny. The shrimp cocktail was a delightful throwback and yes, I would like more of that cocktail sauce! True, I wasn’t much of a fan of the lentils, but the toasted grains I could certainly do again.
Also hello! Williamsburg is expensive. The ten thousand other places in Williamsburg charge the exact same amount. Welcome to the new Brooklyn kids!

I honestly don’t know where to start. The place looks good, but it already looked great when it was Royal Oak.
The owners of Anella and Calyer have decided to open yet another inexplicably expensive «SMALL PLATES» joint. Really, it is beyond me why anyone would want to pay $ 24 for a small plate of steak when they can go to FIVE LEAVES or ST. ANSELM and have a whole meal of LOCAL FARM RAISED meats at a cheaper price? I wanted to leave, but was convinced to stay.
We were hungry when we walked in there at 7:45. I look at the menu of «small plates» and another group above which should be seen as «even smaller plates.» The waitress recommended we share the plates, suggesting that they are sharable as they are in many tapas places.
Our chosen spate of small plates included a crab salad ($ 15), fried oysters ($ 12), artichokes, chicken ($ 21) and steak ($ 24). Yes $ 21 for a small chunk of chicken.
After an hour of waiting, the host asks us, «how is everything?» Don’t you see the clean white plates in front of us? We haven’t eaten anything. Do you have any bread? «No – but here’s an espresso cup with a small chunk of picked cauliflower.» Two tiny chunks for 4 now-​starving people. SMH…
Finally the $ 15 crab salad comes out, and we all laugh. How the hell are we supposed to «share» this? We get one tiny forkful each and it’s gone. For the artichoke dish we fought over the sprig of lettuce and the waitress had the gall to ask us who wanted the remaining olive sliver floating sadly in the puddle of oil. A missed treasure.
ANOTHER HOUR goes by. Where the hell is our small chicken and our small steak? We start begging them for the bill so we can just get our hungry asses out of this tiny nightmare.
They bring out the two tiny remaining dishes at 10pm — and guess what? They were SMALL! Four people pecking at a chicken so tiny, it looked like a scene from A Christmas Carrol.
And since when does a rare steak take 2 hours to cook? They must have cooked it in a small oven in their small kitchen with all those small plates and small portions of food. The other thing that’s small? The amount of people in this place. 6 at the most.
They gave us 2 free beers, tripe, and a dessert for our troubles but only after we suggested they should start comping us for our intense misery. A small token.
THE ONLY THING THAT WASN’T SMALL? THE BILL:
Cue horror music:
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!
For such a small and unsatisfying dining experience, you get one nice little small tiny star.

Do you remember Royal Oak? You know, that dark and dingy bar on near the Lorimer stop that go wander into to drink, dance to 90s music, flirt with the hot bartenders, do more shots and then move on to the next stop. Well, it looks like too many people moved on it seems and grew tired of the grimy grooving going on down on Union Street and now the space has been gutted and renovated.
And this Brooklyn 2.0 version is spruced up and even gosh darn pretty. The teal tile and banquet accents play off the wood tiered ceiling and white tablecloths. This is less a bar, and more a restaurant/​lounge offering an array of small plates, creative and delicious $ 10 cocktails like the delicately sweet Good Girl, hot and spicy Fire Bird and a perfect cold weather killing Hot Scotch. We sat at the bar and chatted with the friendly bartender and owner while knocking back some drinks. The layout is the same as Royal Oak, it has just been scrubbed and painted over to make it fresh as new. The back room is still there and would be a good spot for private events.
Since they are still in their soft opening phase, there were only a few other groups in the space and we got to listen to some of what their world class speaker system can do. Unfortunately, they’ve already run into neighbor issues which I hope get figured out so they can really let loose on that sound. While I didn’t try any of the food I look forward to returning for some oysters and other tastes.