The Pines
“We shared the cabbage with boar belly, the squid with shishitos, the asparagus with poached egg, the black bass and the blade steak.”
“The first time this summer I sat outside in the backyard and I had roasted corn and kebabs.”
“They should sell the tomato mustarda and caraway butter on the side cos I can't be the only one who would buy it…”
The Pines
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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I have never heard of scales on a fish being "the way it's cooked". I can only hope that the person who gave this excuse improvised but failed. I expected more from a $30 fish dish maybe scAles add to the weight?
I found this small gem recently, and I loved it. The restaurant has a decent craft beer list, and I enjoyed the Hefe. This was accompanied by the bread –normally something I avoid — which was nothing short of amazing. The caraway baguette with whipped salty butter was enough reason to go here. The treme pasta with grilled shrimp was in the top 10 pasta dishes I've ever experienced, and I would return to The Pine just for this dish. The spicy dish had remnants of an Asian influence while staying true to its Italian pasta origins. My bartender / server was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable while retaining a casual warmth.
The restaurant is a bit pricey, but completely worth it in terms of uniqueness and quality.
As we were walking in I felt a little nervous about this place. I read a ton of mixed reviews, and I wasn't sure what to expect. When I left I definitely had a very lukewarm feeling about the Pines.
I didn't pick the place but we were going on a triple date with out of town friends who had never been to Brooklyn. I was wondering how much this place would affect their view of Brooklyn and their regard for our taste in food.
So the dinner was fun and engaging and intellectually stimulating. The service was amazing. Our waitress came by to explain each dish. The servers came by to wipe the crumbs off the tables multiple times. Glasses was constantly filled with cucumber and squash soaked water. They were quick to ask if we ran out of wine or needed more beer.
Each dish was beautiful. Looked appetizing. And we had plentiful for it to go around.
So why only three stars?
Each dish was slightly off. Perhaps I shouldn't read the reviews before going. I definitely felt a little underwhelmed for the price we paid.
The food was not horrible, but it was off on some dishes and most dishes were not compelling or amazing. And if you want to charge these prices for food, I would expect a novel surprising experience.
THE FOOD
Amuse bouche of gazpacho with mint oil. The combination did not taste great together. The gazpacho was thick and chunky and the mint oil was barely there.
The dressed salad with greens. The vinaigrette was sweet and sour, very appetizing. I liked the hazelnuts that topped this dish.
Ripped bread with freshly whipped butter. This was my favorite part of the meal. Crisp crunchy outer crust of a caraway baguette that snaps as you twist it. Soft fluffy white innards of the bread with fluffy, slightly salted butter. Delicious.
Sugar snap peas with dill crème fraîche. The sugar snap peas for crisp and sweet, they were the best part of this dish. The dill was light, a fresh take on creme fraîche.
Roasted Cauliflower with sautéed red cabbage and smoked bacon. The bacon was savory and delicious, and perfect to the meaty umami flavor of the roasted cauliflower. You could do with or without the red cabbage. The red cabbage was sauteed with the bacon, so there was a smoky lardo flavor. Delicious. This would have been the best dish except there was a slight malodor after the dish was sautéed and the green sauce was too salty. The last four spoonfuls of this dish tasted like a mouthful of salt. We had to forgo the last bits because they were inedible.
Pasta. This dish did not have a description. I saw bits of broccoli Rabe and enoki mushrooms. Simple dish. It would have been good except it was a little over salted as well.
The prime rib was medium rare, juicy, well seasoned, and missing a good crust. The roasted fingerlings and mushrooms were a good touch. An even better accompaniment was the cooked mini cast iron of kimchi to go with the prime rib. Very good pairing.
The fish had a good crispy skin, was tender and had some peas in the broth.
The dessert was raspberry sorbet, chocolate olive oil cake, plum and toasted hazelnuts. The chocolate olive oil cake was a great execution of olive oil cake. You could taste the rich, slightly bitter olive oil and it was paired with a dark chocolate. I loved the toasted hazelnuts. The poached plum was sour, but didn't really fit into the whole dessert.
The space looked like someone's abandoned farmhouse/ motel that no one bothered to renovate. The waitress told us that most of the installations were from a restaurant upstate that the owner decided to reopen in Brooklyn. Kinda cool, kinda spooky, kinda run down.
I hope the chef would adjust and add new dishes. Its wonderful to hear a restaurant is so buzzed about in this neighborhood. I look forward to the day when his great ideas are consistently executed.
Bread is good but the foie gras is better. It's served very simply, without any kind of precious presentation. The pastas change frequently; it seems like there will be the same base pasta but with different meats and sauces and vegetables within. Try at least one, such as the borsa vuota. In fact, my recommended dinner for 2 is bread, foie gras, a vegetable, a pasta, and the blade steak and/or another entree.
If you're imbibing, the cocktails are great (Air & Sea if you want something lighter, The Pines if you don't mind sipping on Christmas trees) but the wine list is also great. They're all about biodynamic wines and all the servers are good at making recommendations based on what you plan to order.
They're on OpenTable but the peak dinner times usually book up a few days prior. Might be worth it to sit at the bar or little bench in the back to wait.
Whatever positive vibes my fiancee and I had after our first visit to The Pines a few months ago–I recall solid drinks and a tasty blade steak–were erased by our last dinner here. I'm not sure I've ever paid so much for such distinctly unenjoyable food.
The best part of it was the bread we ordered at the beginning with honey butter. (If I had to guess, the bread seems likely to have come from across the street at Runner & Stone–a much better bet for your dinner.) The shishito appetizer came next: preciously plated off-center on a huge plate, the peppers were flabby and dominated by a way-too-creamy romesco.
We then had an hour-plus wait for the mains (as did everyone else around us, it seemed, because no one had food on their tables. The wait staff did not indicate to anyone what was going on other than to say "it will be right out.") We had the duck breast and the pork. The duck's flavor was quite nice, but they had absolutely cooked the crap out of it. Skin was crisp to the point of leathery, and the flesh was gray. But that pork…my god. "Bonito" was the final ingredient listed among seven or eight, but when it arrived, the plate was literally crawling with an enormous mound of bonito flakes reacting to the heat. The overwhelming fishiness in combination with barbecue sauce, pork, and kimchi…apologies to the chef, but disgusting really isn't too strong of a word. We ate about five bites of it before giving up (the waitress didn't bat an eye, probably because this reaction is a frequent occurrence). The chefs may have thought this was a good idea on the chalkboard, but it was truly disturbing in execution.
I debated two stars given that my recollection was that we had an above average meal the first time…but no. I can't even remember what happened anymore because my mouth still tastes like fish flakes. Slow service, bizarre food, premium prices. Pass.
I'm always dragging my boyfriend out to Gowanus or Carroll Gardens to eat at new places that I read about, and I was glad we made it here! I loved the ambience of the place, from our little table in the back to the lighting and carefully curated decor. This part of Gowanus is growing so fast and it's always exciting to see which new places are popping up.
At The Pines, we ordered:
-bread with butter
-cabbage with boar belly
-blade steak
-some kind of broccoli (it's not on the menu that's on their website)
-a glass of wine each
Everything was really good! The only negative that I would mention seems to be something that others have also noticed: high prices and small portions! I'm all for small plates, but these were some pretty small portions that were pretty expensive. We weren't full by the time we finished!
Another great thing about The Pines is the backyard! I don't know if a lot of people know about it, but it's awesome! Super laid back and low key. Lights strung above and an assorted array of seating for different types of groups. There is beer by the can and also a bbq grilling up cheap and tasty treats! We went out to back after dinner, had a beer, and enjoyed the summer night. I was hoping we would be able to eat dinner in the back, but they don't serve the full menu there.
Overall I really like The Pines and the feel of the restaurant, but it's a bit expensive to be a casual dinner.
I really do love this place, and I keep coming back, but it needs to come down a notch in pricing. I get that the execution is beautiful, and the ingredients are fresh as can be, but we left here at around $60 a person, without drinks. Don't get me wrong, the service is amazing, and I cant' get enough of the food. It's just with all things considered, the food is exorbitantly overpriced given the venue and location. The servers always suggest 2-3 items per person, (two appetizers and an entree). The appetizers range from $14-16, the pastas are $24-26, and the entrees are $24-26.
I guess what I'm saying is that I want this place to be accessible and not luxury, because that's what the food, ambiance, and vibe protrudes, but that's not what the price affords. It scares me when $60 dinners become the norm for casual dining.
We had a good meal at The Pines. Though I think our experience indicates that this restaurants has a little more work to do to truly hit the mark of excellence.
I understand the concept is farm to table. The service was excellent as our server was able to explain each dish to us and taylor the meal to our party's pace. However I feel that the menu lacks emphasis and force and overall lacks a theme.
We had the Prix Fixe dinner family style which included
* great bread with a whipped butter.
* Amuse Bouche of Gazpacho with mint oil… Not a bad start to cleanse the pallet
* A dressed salad with a bed of what tasted to be Gai Lan? It was not bad but it was just a salad.
* Sugar Snap Peas – Surprisingly my favorite dish of the night as the Peas were really crunchy and full of flavor
* Roasted cauliflower with sautéed red cabbage and bacon – Very good in fact I really enjoyed the aroma and the various textures of this dish
* A small Pasta bowl – It's pasta
* 45 day old dry aged prime rib with a bone marrow – Not bad, nicely cooked but not enough punch
* Flaky fish with crispy skin – I loved the oily and crunchiness of the skin.
* Raspberry Sorbet, chocolate olive oil cake, plum and toasted hazelnuts – This was delightful actually, not too sweet, not to heavy. But subtle enough to capture the meal.
I think The Pines has work to do, and the pricing is sightly too high for the neighborhood if the menu isn't hitting it out of the park.
But I'm hopeful that they'll get there.