Bar Bolinas

It has a nice outdoor space in the back. The cocktails were a bit expensive for the area. The greens and grain bowl was good, but the kale salad was over dressed.

The shrimp and steak tacos were good. However the portions were more appetizer sized and not dinner menu or worthy of dinner menu price. There was also the poor service. Our waiter kept passing by, maybe on the 4^th time he finally took our order. The customers next to us asked about their meal and the waiter was already half way up the stairs. He wasn’t outright rude but just oblivious, not a quality you want in service people. Taste= 4 star, the portions and service merit the 2. I really wanted to like this spot:(

YES!!! Favorite neighborhood spot! Egg & cheese, late-​night nachos, burger — all amazing! Staff is wonderful and let’s you take your time to enjoy the food. Only downer is the ice coffee… delicious, but really should be a larger glass. Everything else is beyond perfect!

Favorite neighborhood restaurant! Their burger & chicken sandwich were the best we’ve had … Possibly ever. And the brunch is such a pleasant surprise. Very creative take on usual dishes — which makes brunch so exciting again! The biscuits and gravy hit the spot. All I can say if whatever you get here — it will be amazing. Thanks Bar Bolinas ! xx

Staff was excellent… kimchi!!! Drinks were on the money… small, comfortable, friendly neighborhood bar.

This was the perfect place for a rainy day brunch. Warm/​cozy atmosphere, yummy drinks, and most importantly, de-​freaking-​licious food.
They have a pretty eclectic menu ranging from nachos to bao to fried oyster sandwiches. Something for every palate. Normally this means mediocre food — it’s not often one restaurant can cook Mexican, Korean, and American and manage to do them all well. Bar Bolinas is certainly an exception.
We ordered a variety of tasty dishes: pork bao, greens & grains (poached egg/​kimchi/​sweet potato), crispy chicken sandwich, nachos, chicharrones, and a biscuit with honey butter. SO GOOD! The crispy chicken sandwich was particularly memorable with its buttery, crunchy bun and its crispy, juicy, salty chicken. *droooooool*
I’m excited to go back for more!

I have to admit, I was sad when Maggie Brown’s closed, but I was so pleasantly surprised with Bar Bolinas. The food is absolutely delicious, and the bartenders are great!

I love this place! When I’m in NY I stay in this neighborhood, so Bolinas is my go-​to spot. The staff is always super friendly, the food is fantastic, and they have a great drink list with many thoughtfully chosen wines and cocktails.

Absolutely love this place, and if it were in my neighborhood it’d certainly be my go-​to spot for dinner or weekend brunch.
A friend and I had the kale salad and biscuits, both were great. But I was envious of those with the Dutch crunch bread! Next time.
Our bartender was a total sweetheart, and the other waiters were great. Great addition to the area!

Best brunch I’ve had all year. Great bloody mary with bright yellow peppers and olives, homemade sausage patties, excellent huevos rancheros with a red sauce that set it above the mark. Everything here was made in house and delicious!!!

I live around the corner from this place and have been meaning to go ever since it replaced Maggie Brown’s. I have to say — Bar Bolinas is the best addition to my block ever! The food is incredible — not a bad dish to be had — and great for hanging out over a long period of time slowly drinking and nibbling with friends. Dishes seem best eaten as small plates and shared with the group; you’ll want to try everything. Delicious mixed drinks as well if you are so inclined. I will also mention that about halfway through our meal my party unfortunately received some unrelated and very emotional news; the server (Chris?) was incredibly helpful, kind, and empathetic, making what could have been a very stressful situation calm and enjoyable. It is rare to have such amazing service and it really made the night so much better. I will be back again very, very soon.

The menu here is pretty small, but can’t blame them for that because it’s really more of a bar than a restaurant. I had a great meal here, and we tried almost everything because it was a celebratory occasion! They gave us free birthday desserts for my sister, which was very kind, and they were also incredible (one of them was a kind of maple pudding and the other was a corn flake cookie).
I ate the crispy chicken sandwich and it was delicious, albeit a little greasy (the meat to fried ratio was not huge, but the flavor and texture were on point) accompanied by fries. I am a fry woman and these were awesome, seasoned with something lemony, but I wish I had gotten the salad just because it was a lot of fried food. Homemade ketchup, which I respect. All in all a really solid meal, quality service and ambiance, & I’d come back to try the cocktails for sure.

Excellent cuisine, great people.
Highly recommended to dine !!!
We will definitely go back again.

Maggie Brown was my jam, so I was stoked to find out the same folks created this new space. I came with some friends for an early Saturday dinner, and had a fantastic experience.
Yes, this place is quintessential hip Brooklyn: wood paneling everywhere, tea lights, kale, burrata, small plates, jars of water… when will this fad be passé? But I still come, and I still enjoyed my experience, so I guess I’ve sold out and become super Brooklynized. Sad.
Thankfully they do all the above well! Service was friendly and casual, with the wait staff sharing their favorite picks. We started with the burrata and sourdough apps for the table — tasty ingredients prepared simply and well. I have been hearing through the grapevine that their burger is insane, so of course we all order it. And yea, it’s pretty stellar. Moist burger with a layer of havarti cheese, put together in a dutch-​crunch roll. Delicious!
I’m definitely not cool enough to be in the scene, but I’ll throw my flannel on and enjoy all this place has to offer!

i’ve spent 10+ years of life living in northern california, so upon hearing that bar bolinas serves its burger on dutch crunch bread — a common choice for deli sandwiches, especially on the peninsula — i convinced a few friends to meet here for dinner.
on the late september evening of our date, i ordered the «cheeseburger, havarti, pickles, fries» ($ 16). one of my friends ordered the «freekeh, cauliflower, torpedo onions, pecorino» ($ 18) and the other had the «tageliatelle, whilte chanterelle, lobster, mushroom» ($ 20).
their dishes were good. but my burger was perhaps the best i’ve ever had. the patty was thick (1.5″?), beefy in flavor, cooked to a perfect medium rare, but nice and charred on the outside. the burger itself wasn’t huge — i can’t imagine it being more than 4 – 5 ounces cooked — which made it possible to enjoy the big, fat, homemade dutch crunch bun and huge heap of hot french friends on the side. the burger is topped with melted havarti and comes with pickled red onions, thinly sliced pickles, and — as done in california — a little cup of mayonnaise on the side.
i usually don’t eat fries at restaurants because they are usually just filler and otherwise disappointing (limp, soggy, cold, starchy). but these were perfectly browned and salted, crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and served piping hot. i could finish all of my burger and a good chunk of the fries and not feel uncomfortably full afterward. in general, the serving sizes at bar bolinas are ones that normal-​sized females can polish off yet not feel hungry afterwards, a difficult balance to strike.
our server — a tall, well-​dressed hipster type — was friendly, helpful, genuine, and never rushed us. the back room with the big open window overlooking the outside patio was perfect on the late-​september evening we dined there. nice breezes.
there were a few families with young children in the back room, couples, and singles at the bar. the place attracts all types and is comfortably casual.
i’d give the restaurant 5 stars for my cheeseburger alone, but i didn’t think my friends’ meals were quite as tasty as my burger was. so am giving it a 4.

I kid you not — the $ 16 burger here is just as rich and delicious as Minetta Tavern’s $ 30 famous Black Label Burger. Mind-​blowing.
Havarti cheese, medium rare cooked to perfection, between a DUTCH CRUNCH bun? I… I just came. I want more.
TOP 5 BURGER IN NYC

Nate Smith has been on my radar since the early days @ Allswell. I was cooking late until the evenings and when we were finished with an event, we would roll by for his late night menu. The staff was always awesome and the vibe was incredible cool. Actually made some personal friends just by eating there.
Fast forward years later and I hear that this man is opening a restaurant just down the street from me. Oh, Damn, I just could not wait.
I have been a few times since they opened but, my life got busy and I was only able to visit a few times. But last week, i was able to try their awesome burger all to myself.
The couple times I have been there, i was lucky enough to be under the service of Rackel K (the check read) She is a pro. Not only as a waitress but, she makes a serious cocktail as well. Dangerously well balanced. But, she is warm and professional and obviously knowledgeable and talented. So staff is awesome, check!
The first time I went, I don’t really remember what I ordered as I tried a bite of my daughter’s burger and I sort of blanked out the rest of the meal. Sitting there praying she wouldn’t finish her meal. They grow up so quickly, the little jerks.
So, my wife and I went and ordered a few cocktails, a few glasses of wine (which one should eat with the burger I suggest the cab franc) The burger, well it’s another amazing burger in Clinton Hill Fort Greene. You have yourself Lulu and Po, you have yourself Emily and you have yourself this beauty. And like snow flakes and children, each burger is beautiful and special in it’s own way.
So, here the burger seems much smaller than Emily and it has the 24 percent smaller price tag. I would say it was closer to 5 or 6 ounces. But what the burger loses in size, it makes up for in Flavor. This burger is super, musty and earthy… Like the most musty and dry aged burger I have had in recent memory. It’s on this homemade more crunchy than usually bun. The meat is exceptional. Better than most steaks for sure. If I could put the onions from Emily on the burger from Bolinas, I could die a happy man.
I highly recommend a cocktail and a burger. How could you go wrong. I noticed there were some really pretty clams coming out of the kitchen and we were considering the sepia skewers. If you are into Kimchi, this version is definitely worth trying. I was expecting more of a «creative» approach to the dish or an assortment of various vegetables but, it was a straight up just delicious kimchi.
Love the room and the bar and the outdoor area.
Good stuff, thanks for opening up in the area!

Enjoy it while you can — this place is going to take off — you know: crowded, noisy, can’t get a seat, overwhelmed kitchen, etc.
But right now? It’s near perfection and a GREAT addition to the Clinton Hill restaurant scene.
A small space, a short bar. Very casual, bustles but isn’t hectic or loud. (Yet!)
We ate at the bar. Bartender was friendly, attentive, smart about his work. One of us had a cocktail from the list, and it was terrific — the Li’l Mesa. The other ordered a more-​or-​less custom cocktail, rye-​based, also executed perfectly. Balanced, flavorful, and quickly prepared, but with care.
Spanish peanuts — tasty seasoned nuts — got us through the menu phase. It’s a diverse, colorful menu with plenty of options for omnivores, vegans and all between. We shared a sarding toast appetizer — yummy, with plump, tender sardines on texture-​y thick toast. Also shared a very fine chili and coconut soup, which tasted of full-​flavored green chilis (memories of Hatch, N. M!) and light coconut. The chilis pack punch, but it’s the right punch and the flavors all come together perfectly.
Finished up the appetizerfest with the grilled broccoli — tender, but not even close to ovecooked. And like everything else, the plate was full of freshness and flavor.
Grilled sepia was tasty, accurately cooked and the meld of flavors on the smallish plate made it an excellent choice for an entrée-​ish small plate.
The cheeseburger was practically a necessity, if only in order to experience the hilarious phenomenon of a NY restaurant making distinctive use of what is, in the Bay Area, a very ordinary supermarket commodity: the «Dutch Crunch» bun. Bar Bolinas’ version is substantial, tastier than most, and a perfect choice for this very stacked, very California, and very high quality burger. ‘Nuther winner!
Tried to talk my companion into dessert, and failed. Not that we needed one, but that’s a perfect excuse to go back to Bar Bolinas again, soon, before it «takes off.»

Do you know what Dutch Crunch is? Because I certainly hadn’t before I heard an interview with Chefs Nate Smith and Sophie Kamin (
). Apparently, it’s a California thing to serve burgers on Dutch Crunch bread (aka tiger bread). After hearing the description of it, I just had to stop by Bar Bolinas for their cheeseburger.
Right off the bat, it’s has kind of a homey, no-​frills kind of feel to it. What they do have adorning the place is cool, like cool lamps and trinkets on the fireplace. Despite that, it’s actually a well-​renovated space. There’s a back room with a tin roof and a back yard beyond that. My friend and I decided to stay at the bar.
To start, we had the chicharron and the Spanish peanuts. The chicharron was more akin to the pork rinds you get at a bodega than the type you get in a Dominican restaurant, but hey, it was $ 4. The Spanish peanuts (at $ 3) were a good bar snack to go along with the beers. They also had some great beers on tap when we went, including a Greenport saison which was delicious. Good whiskey selection too.
Onto the main course — the cheeseburger. First of all, it’s a very respectably sized patty. Thick and served medium (as per the bartender’s suggestion). There were also a few pickled onion rings on top and pickles on the side. I found the pickles a bit too sour, but loved the pickled onions.
The Dutch Crunch bread was amazing. It added wonderful texture to each bite (also aurally pleasing). Combined with the onions, it made the burger kind of taste like a Funyun (which is most definitely a good thing). My friend didn’t agree with that assessment, so maybe I’m just weird.
The burger patty itself was juicy and marinated/​spiced well. Just the right amount of salty, and a ton of umami.
Oh, and the fries. The fries were among the best I’ve had in a really long time. Super crispy, a little flakey on the inside, and just perfect.
All in all, Bar Bolinas might be my new «it» burger in Brooklyn. I’ll definitely be telling people to try it out if they’re looking for a new burger experience. Definitely stop by if you’re in the neighborhood (or even if you’re not!).

It’s all about that Cheeseburger on Dutch Crunch here ($ 16), which also comes with some really excellent fries.
The rest of the stuff was not as memorable. The Tagliarini with the very intriguing sounding Uni Butter was surprisingly flavorless and therefore more upsetting that it was $ 23.
It’s a nice spot though, and definitely still worth a visit, at least to try the great burger.