Permanent Brunch & Burger

4 stars only cos I can’t give it 3 and a ½.
A group of us took my friend here for her birthday on a Sunday. We went late for brunch /​early for dinner (5 pm).
Honestly, I dunno why everyone is making such a stink about this place –we all thought it was great. Bacon bar was good (who doesn’t like bacon, let alone several types!?), zucchini bread was a delicious starter, hell even the red onion rings were good –no ketchup needed.
As for the entrees, they were just as good –and the portion sizes were plenty. My steak was cooked to perfection and my friend’s ham and cheese stuffed French toast tasted really good. Seriously, if/​when I go back I’m totally getting that.
My biggest gripe with this place is the lack of options. For being all about brunch, or some variation of brunch, there wasn’t a huge assortment of standard brunch options. I mean, a simple switched-​up Eggs Benedict plate would suffice…
Oh, and bonus points for the whole use-​yr-​iphone-​to-​control-​the-​music thing (iTunes DJ). It was really fun asking the table, «hey, you guys wanna listen to Toots and the Maytals next, or The Clash?» and then hearing it played in like 5 or 10 minutes. Much better (and cheaper!) than the traditional jukebox.

Oh, Permanent Brunch. I wanted to love you. I couldn’t wait to try your fried chicken & waffles, your ham & cheese stuffed french toast…
I finally made it in on Sunday for brunch at around 2ish. Loved the space, the waitress was nice (albeit distracted), the tunes were rockin’. One star for those elements.
We ordered coffee, which couldn’t have been worse (sludge black– two rounds of creamer barely lightened it); fried chicken & waffle (soggy fried chicken skin; slightly burned waffle which had absolutely no flavor; faux maple syrup); ham & cheese stuffed french toast (honestly, a McGriddle from McDonald’s probably would have been better than this sad sandwich of soggy french toast and seemlingly over processed ham); macaroni & cheese (which arrived cold and lacked any flavor other than garlic).
The food was poor at best, and as a result I will not be back…:(.

So this place is a block away from my abode. When I heard it was coming, and that it was related to Tillman’s and The Redhead, I was intrigued. I then heard lots of negative reviews, and got turned off by the lines, so I figured I’d give it some time to work out the kinks.
I finally made it in a few nights ago. The sign advertising their happy hour special of $ 7.50 for a burger and beer sounded like a good trial occasion.
First the good: Our server was really chill. The décor of the place was fun, and the music (we didn’t rock our own pods) was Marley (and not that Legend –greatest hits BS, it was the deep cuts). Even the chef swung by our table to ask how the food was. They definitely care.
Now, the bad: The place was empty. Literally. The silence between songs was deafening. There is no option from the burgers on the menu, you can only get a plain cheese burger, which they should probably tell you upfront. Me and my bro each ordered our burgers medium-​rare. One of them was medium-​rare, the other was practically medium-​well. We were both so hungry we didn’t want to make a fuss and wait for another burger to come out while the other got cold. We went halvsies on the over cooked burger and split.
I doubt I’d return. I predict this place will be out of business by 2011. If it were my spot I’d bring in new chefs, ditch the menu, and try something new because it looks and feels like a cool place, but with zero soul.

Ugh this place let me down. I wish I had checked the reviews on here beforehand.
My girlfriend has been wanting to go here for a bit so we finally decided to stop by. Its a sunny Saturday with temps in the high 40s in January so I was expecting there to be a bit of a wait, but luckily we walked right in and there were available tables. The menu has a «Daily Omelette» on it, which I assumed the waitress would tell me the ingredients of. She came up and said there were two «special» omelettes and let us know what was in each. Because she said «special» I then asked her what was in the «daily» omelette. Her stern reply was «I just told you.» (Woah, sorry for the mix up lady, shouldn’t be a big deal). So we order omelettes, bloody mary’s and I want bacon as well. I ask «What’s the difference between the ‘Bacon Bar’ (which the menu says had different types of bacon) and the bacon side order?» «Nothing,» is her reply. Ok… I order it anyway.
So we work on our bloodies while waiting for the food, and they are very sub par. I don’t tend bar but I could definitely whip something up much better than that. Not spicy, weird flavor, I don’t know what’s up with these. The food arrives and we’d love to dig in but my girlfriend doesn’t have a fork and there’s no salt, pepper, ketchup or tabasco and the waitress doesn’t offer any of these until I ask her about it. Also no bacon until I remind them. This is basic Serving Knowledge 101. Where did they find this woman and how long has she been serving? She looks to be in her 40s, blond hair and glasses. I’ve never worked in this industry in my life, but I guarantee I’d be able to jump in to that restaurant today and do a better job than her.
So we eat the food, its whatever, not great but not horrible. Its cash only so I run out to grab cash from the ATM outside. I come back and check out the bill: The bloody marys were $ 9 each! The food was in the $ 9-​$ 12 range so I was expecting the drinks to be around $ 6-​$ 8, but $ 9 in this mediocre spot? Huhs? And they sucked. I’m totally fine with paying $ 9 for a bloody mary elsewhere at a nice brunch spot, but this place is a joke. Its like coffee shop seating on a stool, not a nice little restaurant.
I’m probably placing a lifetime ban on this place.

Don’t know why this place has such shitty reviews; I really liked it. I don’t usually try non-​ethnic restaurants in my own neighborhood, for some reason, but I was with a friend in from Denmark and she wanted to try it.
The place was full of yuppies. That was kind of weird but is just a side note; no bearing on the review. I had butternut squash soup, which was awesome, and chicken confit, which was basically a chicken confit, and I should have gotten something else. Everything (bread, fruit, etc.) was fresh and well-​made. My portion was small, but looking around, people who got other stuff on the menu got a TON of food. My friend got the ham and cheese stuffed French toast, case in point.
If you want a huge brunch, check this place out and order a couple things on the menu. It’s not that pricey and everything was good. The crowd was a bit weird, but maybe I came on an off day. I felt I was in the lodge at Aspen or something.

My friend and I had our hearts set on trying out the new east village establishment, Permanent Brunch back in August.
I mean, really, this place had a bacon bar. I arrived there and the hostess tells me I need to be patient as the wait time is over an hour and a half. Within 30 minutes we are seated! The place is small, seating 40 guests, but it’s cozy in a good way. There are tiles around the entire restaurant that my friend told me the owner did by hand with pictures taken in various subways.
The premise behind the name is that this place is opened really late and always serves brunch. All day, all night. The item I wanted was sold out for the day… at 1pm. Being new, the place obviously had some kinks they needed to work out. I ordered Red-​Wine Braised Mushrooms with a poached egg. My friend got the Ham and Cheese stuffed french toast. Both dishes were d-​e-​l-​i-​c-​i-​o-​u-​s. We also had the champagne drinks that were prepared very well and the portions were generous.
I do wish they provided some sort of toast, bread, pastry, muffin, anything complimentary as many other brunch places do. It felt like you had to pay for everything. We also ordered off of the artisan bacon menu. Would I return? No. It was definitely a one time experience that was unfortunately too overpriced, and not really that unique.
BeHappyNYC!

I really wanted this to work out.
I first went here with my boyfriend during their opening month. Because they were new, I went easy on them. The eggs I had were good, and the portion size was perfect. I also ordered the biscuit. This is when the trouble began.
I expected this $ 3 biscuit to be the most fabulous biscuit I had ever eaten. Sadly, I’d prefer a KFC biscuit over this one. It was small, not very fluffy, and a little hard when I bit into it. The jam improved the taste, but didn’t save it.
My boyfriend tried the bacon and was happy with the variety and flavors. Overall, though, we both felt very mediocre about the food and decided we probably wouldn’t come back.
Lo and behold, my roommate’s birthday approached and I decided that the world’s biggest bacon fan needed to go here for a birthday bacon surprise. We show up around 7 pm on a Sunday to find out there is no food left.
I was furious. If you can’t serve anyone, why are you still open? You don’t have anything? Can’t even throw a couple eggs our way? Can’t my roommate bathe in the leftover bacon grease or something? Ridiculous and totally unacceptable.
I’m still mad.

The one and only thing I will say in defense of Permanent Brunch is the fact that a number of the negative reviews on this site revolve around the fact that crowds gather here on Saturday and Sundays. WHY WOULD YOU GO TO A PLACE CALLED PERMANENT BRUNCH DURING TIMES WHEN YOU CAN GET BRUNCH ANYWHERE? It’s like going to a bar called Permanent Happy Hour at 7 o’clock on a weekday. Get with it, people.
Speaking of which, one weekday afternoon my girlfriend and I decided to forego our standby 7A in favor of trying Permanent Brunch. Sadly I can’t comment on the food since we didn’t make it that far… all I needed to see was the overpriced menu and the cutesy, psuedo high-​tech you-​can-​play-​your-​iTunes-​through-​our-​speakers feature to instantly turn me off. (Wow, you have wireless Internet? Guess who else does: my parents).
However the clincher was the fact that a cup of coffee costs four dollars. I think I’ve paid that much for coffee once in my life and it was from a Clover machine, not some slob using an auto-​drip. Maybe the management at this place thinks the clientele will be so distracted by hearing the crappy Dan Deacon song on their SUMMER BRUNCH MIX that they won’t mind paying inflated prices for coffee, but not us. We headed down to 7A for pancakes, a lobster club and coffee all at reasonable prices.

Permanent Waste Of Time
I was very excited to try this place out as i’m a local to the area. Bottom line, not worth the wait. Was very unimpressed with the small menu for a place that does nothing else but brunch. Long wait and pricey for mediocre food.
Only highlight was a nice waitress who was very sorry about the slow kitchen and cold food.

i think this place is great.
a friend of mine and i went for brunch and absolut-​ly fucking loved it.
she had the baked eggs with a biscuit on the side (we both agreed — it should just come with a biscuit)
i had the chicken and waffles.
we split a side of bacon.
and had the donut of the day for dessert.
a couple of cocktails each and our bill came out to a little under $ 50 each. and we were *stuffed* as in — we had completely over indulged — and did not need to eat for the next several days — sort of stuffed.
people who say the servings are too small need to go on back to nj, or wherever they came from (b&t’s anyone?) and get themselves the denny’s grandslam for $ 4.99. the quality of that food might be more suitable to their liking as well.
if you are looking for a completely decadent breakfast anytime experience. permanent brunch provides.
living only a block away from this joint may well prove to be as much of a curse as it is a blessing…

Permanent brunch is a high class operation with a few flaws.
The space– way too cramped for it to be a cozy brunch spot. With thirty seats, everytime someone comes or goes you have to move your table. Also not a fan of the high stool, banguette although it does maximize space. From a business standpoint, it is smart, because they always appear packed and you just feel like you want to be in there.
Service– super friendly and accomodating.
Food– I had the chocolate chip muffins which arrived hot out of the oven served with homemade strawberry jam and this was fab.
Buttermilk pancakes with carmelized plums and crème fraîche were way undercooked (I had asked for them dark) and had an underwhelming flavor except for the plums and crème fraîche. The sugar cured bacon was a little cool otherwise tasty. The tiny coffee milkshake for $ 6 was an ice cream shake and very tasty at that, but teeny weeny for the price.
Overall– If you are a fan of the foods at brunch this is the über spot, otherwise, if you like lunchy foods or want comfy, cozy and a little less sceney head elsewhere. They open at 10:30 AM– HINT– get there before 11:30.

I kinda don’t get the hyper negative reviews of this place. This is a restaurant doing a take on brunch… but it isn’t actually brunch… you shouldn’t actually come here at noon on a sunday… there isn’t a single egg benedict in sight.
Went tonight and really enjoyed it. Super friendly staff, although the waitress was pushing it a little with up-​sell attempts, and great entrees. My stuffed french toast was awesome and surprisingly good with the pile of crunchy green beans underneath. My wife had the pancakes with plum sauce and loved it so much that she didn’t resort to drowning it in the maple syrup they gave us.
The only negative for me was the pannacotta which was unfortunatly pretty gross. The compote on top was yummy, but once it was gone, the pannacotta itself was not quite right. Maybe it was the too firm texture, but it reminded me of the make-​in-​the-​fridge cheesecake my kitchen averse mom forces on me every once and awhile.
I’ll definitely be back… for dinner.

Went Saturday for brunch and was disappointed. This place is so up my alley so I had high hopes. I got the short rib baked eggs, my friend got the stuffed french toast. When the waitress brought our entrees I didn’t think mine was in her hands because they pot looked so small. The baked eggs was unbalanced, too meaty, eggs were tasteless, no bread to soak up the gravy, and the 3 small potatos that came on the side might as well not have been there. The waitress had good intentions, but it took forever to get water glasses refilled, it seemed that the staff played favorites… refilling certain peoples glasses, giving the table next to us complimentary donuts with the check and fresher coffee than we were offered. I will not be back, the potions are small, the prices too high, and it seems i’m not alone in my reaction.

Pros:
–really cute décor
–extremely attentive staff. my water glass was never less than half full
–interesting food choices
–prices not too bad
Cons:
–bacon rashers are not very plentiful at all.
–i wish there were more choices available
–portion sizes are on the small side
–they ran out of baked eggs

After a miraculous acupuncture session that wiped my hangover out I still had the urge to eat something oily and salty. The beer, jameson and vodka punch that I made in it the night before was still swishing around in my tummy a bit.
The wait was 45 min, but the hostess is a cool chick and help ease the pain of waiting.
Bloody Mary with Shrimp Consommé and a cocktail Prawn on the rim, was pretty delicious. The prawn was over cooked, really overcooked. They put some spicy salt on the rim that took this hangover cure over the top.
We are fatties so we ordered the ham and cheese stuffed french toast, baked eggs and short rib ragu and the red wine braised mushrooms with toast and poached egg to share.
The Ham and cheese french toast was delicious. Ham and this creamy herby cheese sandwiched by two French Toast halve and lightly coated with syrup. God damn!!! I immediately thought of
. The green/​yellow beans that it came with were a nice touch of color, but inconsequential. Fried Bread, Ham and Cheese. Hells Yeah!!!
The Short Rib Ragu and baked Eggs was ok. It came out served in a personal sized Dutch Oven. The beef was not as fatty as short ribs can be, but they still had tons of flavor. It was herby and tender. Wasn’t the best short ribs I’ve ever had, but they were ok. The poached egg inside was over done. The yolks were solid and had a strange dried out egg membrane on them. I wish they would have poached the egg and added it right before serving. Some rich yolk would have mixed nicely with the short rib ragu. The Duck Fat fried potatoes were good, but nothing special. The last thing about this, was that it was way to salty. Not to the point were i couldn’t eat it, but to the point where I didn’t want to finish.
Red wine braised shrooms, grilled toast spread with cheese and poached egg was really nice. The egg was poached to perfection. Translucent in color and barely cooked through. The yolk was think and rich and running over the toast. This dish came together nicely with all four components eaten at the same time. There were actually times that I wished the shrooms weren’t there. Again too salty. I did love the bread, cheese and the egg was perfection.
The dishes here looked like brunch and had brunch ingredients, but tasted like dinner. I like the dishes and the idea, but i think the kitchen is falling short on their execution. If they had tapered off some of the salt and the eggs with the short ribs were properly cooked we could have had something special.
In my eyes this place has 5 star potential, but they only get 3 right now.

So, this place is cute. sure. being that it’s all brunch, i definitely expected a small selection. but what i didn’t expect was the super small MEAL. i got the appetizer salad (herb & goat cheese). it was actually this: 4.5 full lettuce leaves, four ¼ inch round paper thin slices of radish, 3 paper thin slices of cucumber and ¼ teaspoon goat cheese dressing (at the most). oh and that was $ 8.
i felt awful for my friends who ordered actual meals and were, well, actually HUNGRY. everyone left starving and whiny. the staff were definitely nice, but the portions were so small for the price that i was shocked. this is the first time i’ve complained about a restaurant on the 9 years i’ve been eating out in NYC. don’t go here if you’re hungry!
if you’ve got $ to burn on tiny glasses of wine and tiny meals, this place is totally OK. because the food is alright. but there’s just not very much of it.

The owner of PB also owns Tillman’s which is a favorite Manhattan spot of mine. What can I say about Permanent Brunch?
The have a side dish that’s just bacon. «Artisanal Bacon.» Like five different types of bacon. My review is five stars, one for each type of bacon. Seriously. This place is heaven.
Second, the bloody mary is DELICIOUS. I’m not a big fan of this drink in general, but they do it very very well.
I love the photos on the tiles and found the waitstaff to be very helpful. The place is a bit small, and I found it hard to get off the high benches. Could have been ergonomics. Could have been that I was weighed down by bacon.

*Note: Changed my 4 star Review to a 5 because You can’t go somewhere 3 days in a row, take pictures & already have plans to go back and NOT give it a 5.
So I think the first thing I have to point out is that I. Brunch. Hard.
The very idea of a «Permanent Brunch» got me terribly excited. Forget trying to rush in before 3 or 4pm. Forget waiting for Sunday to roll around. Just showing up on a Friday night at 5:30pm (Cause I did) is an amazing thing.
What got me in the door was the idea of a Bacon Bar. You can’t tell me there’s going to be 5 different types of Bacon and think that I wont be right in there. I ordered all 5 immediately Plus the Smoked Salmon Rillette and the White Fish Salad. All was excellent with the stand out being the Smoked Salmon (holy HECK that was awesome.)
I have personally tried the Baked Eggs, the stuffed French Toast & the Smoked Salon Sandwich. I also had their home made donuts + the Coffee Milkshake and Fudge Brownies. If you’re thinking «WOW, he’s had a lot there!» you would be correct. I BRUNCH HARD.
The Cocktails are on top of things as well. The Bloody Marys, Royalton and Mimosas all fit the bill of a great brunch drink.
Oh did I mention the Virtual Juke Box? That’s right, with your iPhone or iPod Touch you can place requests in the music system and if you’re REALLY nice the management will give you the iPod remote and you will have complete control of their playlist.
If you aren’t a big Bruncher, then don’t go here. ITs not your bag. If you love Brunching and Bacon and Freedom then get your hide to PB and enjoy a bit of awesome. No one I’ve brought here (I’ve brought about 16 different people so far) has disliked it. #TrueStory

Met up with a friend around 11:30 on a Sunday morning and only had to wait about 20 minutes. Not bad. It’s a really cool looking space, albeit it VERY small. Getting in and out of seating was complicated. Lots of waitstaff around too… made it feel smaller.
The food was really tasty. They have 5 types of bacon. We sampled a couple and could’ve had more. I enjoyed the bing cherry pancakes. Portion size was perfect.
I’d like to go back in a month once they work out the kinks. Hopefully the wait won’t be 2 hours then!

Updated to say that the chicken waffle dish is actually a LOT better than the short rib dish (baked eggs). I was kinda tipsy during the first visit and this time around I realized the short rib dish is not that great… at all… well the fingerling potatos are good but the actual short rib is too drenched… and the french toast is great! Friend thought everything was too salty but not something I noticed. The bread is nice and moist not dry at all. and the Royalton cocktail is tasty!!!
I would not go here for brunchtime (Sat/​Sun) since it’s open all the time…