Beets and Carrots — Restaurant in New York

I only write reviews when I'm either really impressed with a place or the opposite. Unfortunately, my initial great impression of this particular restaurant has been permanently tarnished and it is with a heavy heart that I have to update my review.

I first came here about 3 years ago for an amazing lunch with my husband and son. I deeply support the initiative for grass roots, organic, farm to table approach and wanted to support this charming local place and the efforts they're putting in. That's why I decided to host my birthday party here for the first time since COVID, get my family together and wow them with what I thought would be a spectacular gourmet evening.

The chef went over the menu for a family-style prix fixe in advance, and we agreed on 6 appetizers and 3 main courses plus 3 desserts, shared among 12 adults, and ordered some extra dishes for 4 kids.

When we arrived, we saw that two tables have been set up for our party, with a huge draft coming from the outside aimed right at those tables, so most people had to keep their coats on. No one greeted us upon arrival, and we kind of had to figure things out for ourselves. Half hour after we came, we were finally approached as two waiters started setting up plates, but still no one really spoke to us and were just on autopilot, not even a smile.

The dishes started coming out, and we noticed they were not evenly distributed among our two tables. Not only that, there wasn't nearly enough food to feed the 12 adults from the portions allotted for our pricey prix fixe - though they were placed on large dishes and barely fit on our narrow tables. I felt super uncomfortable and apologetic to my guests, as we had to squeeze in to make the plates fit, and we kept passing scraps of leftover dishes from one table to another.

We ordered a few more appetizers and dishes for the table that seemed to only get the scraps, and we asked the staff several times to split each dish that was coming out among the tables. They repeatedly still only brought one given dish to one table, so we had to pass it over.

Also, no drinks were included so we were charged for every single soft drink and tea/coffee, which other prix fixe usually include. The bathroom was tiny and we had to walk through the kitchen to get there, and that felt super awkward, especially with kids.

Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed because of the lack of foresight and poor service. If the waiters or chef actually came out and asked what we need to be more comfortable, or at least gave us a few more dishes at no charge seeing how we kept directing them to make sure we have enough for both tables - I would have greatly appreciated that. Just a smile or acknowledgment would have gone a long way. Instead, I had the feeling that they thought we were being difficult, or like we had three heads when asking for some pretty common sense basics, such as to set us up with individual plates for the "shared" desserts.

I do take responsibility for not having asked enough questions prior to reserving, and definitely paid the price tag for this lesson! The bill came out to way more that the prix fixe because of all the extra charges, and that money would have went a long way at pretty much any other restaurant, including upscale banquets.

And I understand it's a small place but I did not expect them to take our reservation if they could not accommodate a larger party, especially since we told them in advance about the kids and infant we had in our party. Despite the high-quality food, this place ultimately left a bad place in my mouth. I spent more time stressing out about the guests being comfortable and fed, vs actually enjoying the cute decor with the ambient music and delicacies.

Bottom line: this can be a good place for an intimate lunch or dinner for a couple, but is not equipped to handle larger groups. I personally will not be...

Fellow Foodies, we need to save this one-man kitchen in the hinterland of Bay Ridge, at 3rd Ave and 99th Street. Beet & Carrot's professionally trained Russian chef confects his Euro-Russo, haute-provincial plates from farm to table, using dairy sourced from the Amish and meats from a family farm upstate. What you get at Beets & Carrots is not chi-chi frou-frou, but gourmet reality, at way below Manhattan market price.

How about veal cheeks braised in red wine on polenta? Or mini turnips stuffed with mushrooms? And the description of beets on pumpkin puree for an amuse-bouche, or salad of roasted root vegetables for a contorno, cannot do justice to the soulfulness of judgment and taste in this chef's confection of his plates. Each is its own world.

The chef is doing this all on his own, in a closet of a kitchen, without so much as the help of a dishwasher, never mind a sous-chef, as his wife runs the airy, bright, kitcheny dining space. That means a long wait for the food, but a wait well worth it.

Problem is, this is not quite the neighborhood for this chef's gustatory artistry. A year ago, the menu had 3 dozen offbeat offerings. The current one-page menu looks diner. The Park Slope friend I convinced to come out to Bay Ridge eyed both it and me with uncensored censoriousness. So we set the menu aside and went for the blackboard specials, making a special request for small tasting plates. Feast your eyes on the pics attached, as we did on the food. And the chef overruled our declining dessert, insisting on a complimentary taste of his pumpkin bread made with pignoli and olive oil, topped with a beet sorbet. Moaning good.

Now, no offense, but how many Bay Ridgers are going to go for veal cheeks? Not enough, I'm afraid. This is not food for the squeamish, the snobbish, or the plebs. This is food for the skinny glutton, the gourmet adventurer, the traveling foodie. I promise you, it will be worth the trip. Take the R train to the 95th Street station on 4th Ave, and walk up to 99th St and over to 3rd. There is a wine shop on the corner of 99th and 3rd where you can pick up a bottle, since Beets and Carrots is BYOB, not having space enough for a regulation size bathroom to qualify for a liquor license. But are you going to complain about BYOB?

In my opinion, this chef is too personally inventive to be limited by a menu. I think he should offer only chef's choice everyday, making the best of his personally picked ingredients and culinary inventiveness. Set up a big black board on the sidewalk with the day's offerings a la carte, and a pris fixe for four small plates.

Big problem with my idea is, not much foot traffic that far up 3rd Ave. He needs a following, so you fools for food need to trek out to the Shore Rd boundary of Bay Ridge. Come, pioneering palates, for pioneering plates under the Verrazano. If it's a nice day, you can saunter down 3rd avenue to 95th Street, to Paneantico, where you can pick up the very best in Old world artisanal brick oven bread, or almond biscotti, or sundries of classic Italian...

My review is based on our most recent visit. We have been to Beets and Carrots a couple of times before (and enjoyed our food and experience), but not in the last year. We were excited to come back with a friend.

To make it clear, the reason for my 2 star review is the insanely inflated prices on the price fixe menu. I'll explain in detail for context below, but my recommendation would be to avoid this menu.

They offered this as pick 3 dishes (one appetizer, one entree and one desert) and pay $75. I selected beets and pumpkin as my app, Charred broccoli from the entree choices, and apple pie from the dessert choices. The appetizer was very tasty and decent sized for a starter. The broccoli was literally one sliced crown and stem, with parmesan, lemon and granola. Small portion for a main course, and the stem was not peeled back, so the texture was very tough and stringy. I ended up not eating that part. The apple pie was standard sized (same size as my husband's pumpkin pie slice, which he ordered a-la carte from the regular dessert menu), and was quite tart.

We frankly didn't think too deeply about it while there, preferring to just have fun with our friend. But upon reflection, we were confused why I paid $75 for my meal. The average cost of an appetizer on the standard dinner menu is about $16, and a slice of pie from their regular dessert menu is $12. That means I paid $47 for a slice of broccoli, part of which was too chewy to swallow.

I called back the next day, to express my confusion and ask why the price fixe menu was so much money. The woman who answered was nice and asked the chef on our behalf, stating that he sets the price. She relayed back to me that the $75 cost is because there are limited time items on the price fixe menu they don't offer on the standard menu, and the portions are also larger. FYI, the pie was indeed available on the standard menu, and the portions were definitely not larger than anything on the standard menu, as my husband and friend's meals reflected.

She did say she was sorry we overpaid, but there was no offer of any way to make it up to us (maybe a credit for an appetizer or something to bring us back?). I don't feel satisfied with the explanation, and it's made me not want to go back.

I do believe in supporting local businesses, but would just advise you not order from the price fixe...