Bench Flour Bakers — Restaurant in New York

Cute brunch spot residing on a quiet residential corner. My party of 5 dined in on a Sunday afternoon around 1pm, BIG MISTAKE.

(1) Parties of 4+ are generally difficult to arrange for seating and getting in. Here you l order at the counter and have to secure a seat on arrival. We were lucky that are large group was just finishing as we were ordering and managed to get a table, but I would definitely opt for a smaller party. (2) Most of their specialties were already sold out! They seem to have preparations for their dishes in limited quantities of the day, so when they’re out - they’re out! (3) Food took almost 30 minutes to come out. Granted, we were warned as we placed our order that food will take upwards of 30-40 minutes, so I’m not certain I can attribute it to the busyness of the day/hour or if that’s normally the case!

The space, itself, is really nice. There’s outdoor tables that can accommodate 1-2 large groups, and a flurry of smaller arrangements. Indoors is similar with maybe 4-5 tables of 4 that can be arranged to meet your group’s needs. There is a single bathroom located towards the back, self-serve water, and bins for you to return your dirty dish/silverware.

Food was good! Not sure I would wait the long wait for it to be prepared, but it was definitely a filling and tasty meal. The dishes struck me as contemporary diner food with a Chinese influence.

I got the Char Siu Breakfast Sandwich and the meat paired great with the pickled bok choi. The contrast from the bok choi really brought out the sweetness from the char siu. Price point was fair, but the wait definitely killed me.

I had bites from the other dishes and the other one that stuck out was the bourbon chicken hash. One thing I did notice was all the breads were super delish; i will have to opt into a pastry...

I really love Bench Flour and the quality of their food—I come here so often that I honestly wish they were open 7 days a week. That being said, I recently had an experience that left a bad taste in my mouth, not because of the food, but because of the way a situation was handled.

I ordered the strawberry tahini toast (listed at $12 on the menu), with a side of bacon and an orange juice. After tipping, my bill came out to $39, which felt unusually high compared to what I normally spend here. When I asked to see the receipt, I noticed I had been charged $17 for the strawberry tahini toast. The cashier explained that their menu was misprinted—but both the in-person menu and the online menu list it at $12. She apologized and offered me $5 back in cash, which I accepted.

Here’s where things went downhill: when my food came, instead of the strawberry tahini toast I ordered, they gave me the milk bread French toast without saying a word. At no point during the refund was I told that my order was being changed. It felt very unprofessional and backhanded, especially since it was their mistake with the pricing.

I usually love this place, but the way this was handled was really disappointing. Clear communication and accountability would have gone a long way. I hope they take this feedback seriously, because I’d love to keep coming back without...

Been a fan since getting their goods from other local Astoria places like Mighty Oak Roasters and the Breakfast Shack Truck!! I’m so glad they have their own spot. Everything on the menu is of amazing top quality and they’re all about that do-gooder stuff (locally sourced, sustainable, blah blah) but even if you don’t care about that my GoD everything is just sooo good from the breakfast foods (the home fries, the meats, even scrambled eggs they get right) and the milk bread, the croissants/pastries, the sourdough! I don’t even care about sourdough but here it is soooo good. Some say the hours are “weird” but that is understandable. They opened in the middle of a pandemic and they need to keep up with high niche-demand in a short high-peak time frame to stay yummy. I would hate it if they compromised on quality just to become a typical commuter friendly deli/bagel shop that we can get on literally every corner. That’s not what this place is… its one of the few true artisan bakeries around here so lets leave them in that...