Bourbon & Baker — Restaurant in Manhattan

Weve paid a vist to Bourbon and Baker last Monday and tried multiple dishes just so we can try a little bit of everything. We ordered following:

Shrimp and grits, duck fat french fries topped with poached egg on top, wings (ginormous), risotto, and some sort of a chinese pancake with shredded chicken on top finished with red mayo chili sauce.

I have to say, every single food we've had was very very I mean EXTREMELY SALTY. With all due respect, whoever made these food must've just recovered from covid19 and lost all the taste, because no matter how you like your food salty, every single dishes weve ordered were just wayyyyy too salty beyond its limit. Trust me, I eat my food with moderate amount of seasoning. Even one person in our group who eats food really salty all time stated every single dish weve ordered were even too salty for him.

Oh man... especially the egg on top of duck fat fries (we couldnt even taste any duck fat). Someone must've accidentally poured salt and decided to serve it instead of remaking the egg or something. I can still remember how painful my tongue was from all the salt from it. If I could chew and feel crunchy salt particles as I am chewing an egg, that is just WRONG... additionally, why were we served a bowl of left over pieces of fries instead of normal fries? When a bowl of fries came out, only the top were the normal size fries and as we kept eat them and about a 3/4 way, almost the whole bowl was packed with an inch or less length of french fries like the crums you would find at the very bottom of french fry bags or containers.

The wings, ginormous. Huge. I get it. Its impressive. But things that werent impressive, burnt surface (anyone wouldve said they were burnt and obviously tasted bitter. Id like to question the integrity of whoever cooked these wings prior to serving them to a customer), undercooked chicken (still red inside near the bones), and really over-seasoned (severely salty). I get it wings are huge but if I am going to pay $20 for 6 pieces of chicken wings, I certainly expect something in decent quality, not a bite of salt smothered undercooked chicken wings with burnt surface.

About the chinese pancake with shredded chicken on top, I am not sure what goes into this dish, it was also extremely salty and chicken was very dry.

Dirty risotto, salty just like any other dish Ive described and it was also undercooked. 8 dollars for a very small personal plate size risotto, least thing I would expect is an undercooked risotto.

Last but not least, shrimp and grits. I am a huge fan of shrimp and grits. Yes. When i visit any restaurants and I see shrimp and grits, I always order it. Thats how much I love shrimp and grits. Of course I asked our server how is their shrimp and grits at Bournon and Baker and she strongly recommended it with confidence. With such high expectation and excitement, all of that went down the drain once I took a first bite because i thought i was eating a spoon full of salt. Especially the greens that were in shrimp and grits, were those from canned greens? Because they did not taste fresh at all and also the most salty ingredient out of everything that were in shrimp and grits. Not what I would expect from an over $20 dish.

The only great experience we had from this visit was our server. She was pleasant, helpful, and caring. Checked on us periodically as how a great server should be. Despite how disastrous our experiences were, I genuinely appreciate our server's hospitality. That is why I left 2 stars...

Note- this is the same review I left on Yelp

B&B is our favorite restaurant in town. Being from the South, we lived in Kansas for a couple years before this place opened unable to get good southern food. B&B supplies it!

The atmosphere is great, the servers are great, the food is amazing. The only negatives is that its TOO SMALL! Its not uncommon for it to be packed on the weekend, if you don't come early expect to wait an hour or more or wander off to try somewhere else (ironically thats how we found Hibachi Hut one saturday night). I know they have a prime location but they really need to expand to seat more people. Comparatively, Taphouse just up the street is massive. It can be very disappointing to get dressed up for a date night then not be able to get a table.

But the food is amazing!

Every time we go I get two things for sure-

Deviled Eggs (I ask for two bacon two sriracha, I don't care for the crab or corn though my husband likes them). BEST deviled eggs. Duck Fat French Fries- SO FREAKING GOOD. I love duck and these fries are so dark, fatty, salty and the runny egg over them is perfect.

Also recommend- Shrimp & Grits- gourmet but homey, big shrimp, sausage & spinach, very creamy Chicken & Waffles- BEST chicken & waffles anywhere you can get around here. Chicken is actually seasoned well & the waffle triangle is sweet & syrupy. Oyster Poboy- Big fat fried oyster with slaw on a slider Braised Pork Belly- my husband loves this dish

There are a few dishes that miss the mark for us- the duck tacos were surprisingly disappointing, the Kobe sliders just tasted like regular burgers.

Overall though the menu is a heck of a lot more hits than misses. The small plate concept might throw some people off, but the idea is to try more than one thing instead of just getting one entree (my husband and I usually limit ourselves to 3 items each and 1 shared of something new). Its a touch pricey but not overly expensive and its really on point with the quality.

Oh if you like to drink actual classy drinks this is the spot- my husband has had a moscow mule, pims cup, manhattan and a few other whiskey based drinks and raves about them. They really do have a great drink menu.

One last thing- it makes a great date night especially if you're looking to impress someone!

I highly...

We've been going to bourbon and baker semi frequently since we moved here. We've always loved it and always recommended it to every new person that comes in to town.

Unfortunately after this evenings visit, I'm sad to say that it's just not the same. The quality of the food compared with the increased prices just don't line up for us any longer. $110 for 4 tapas style plates and 3 drinks is something we just don't see ourselves doing anymore. Especially since one of the plates was essentially inedible.

If there's one thing I'd say stay farrr away from, it's the ribs. My husband absolutely always loved the ribs and was excited to get them again tonight. But when they came out, they were so spicy he had to force it down and still couldn't finish the plate. When the waitress asked how they were, he commented that the level of spice was unbearable and he reply was basically "oh yea, I always forget to tell people how spicy they are now." what? If you know a food is beyond the normal range for what an average person can tolerate, maybe that should be disclosed.

We were with another couple, who was visiting B&B for the first time ever (on our recommendation) and they had a different plate - the pork belly - that they said was similarly just as unbearably spicy and neither of them could finish. Spice for the sake of flavor is one thing. Spice for the sake of heat is an entirely different thing though and not an endearing quality when there's so much of it that you can't taste the food and it hurts. It's worse when the waitress even acknowledges that the food is absurdly spicy.

The drinks luckily are still quality, though the cost of a single finger of bourbon has gone up even though the price of some of these bottles haven't increased on the wholesale market.

The one food that is consistently good, and the reason for an extra star is the Duck Fat fries. We enjoy them every time and luckily they haven't changed the spice level on these (there is no spice, for those who...