Le Fanfare — Restaurant in New York

I ate here for the first time on December 14 to celebrate finishing a final. My friend and I sat at the bar, and per the bartenders recommendation, we ordered the grilled octopus. While chewing on a bite I bit into something hard that stabbed my tongue. I ended up pulling out and inch long metal fish hook. In shock, I handed the hook to the bartender and informed him what happened. He was horrified and promised to take care of us. In hindsight we should have left the moment it happened. However, I have worked in restaurants for most my life and tried to be understanding of the situation. Our server promised to take care of us and in doing so kept pouring me drinks. At the end of the meal he presented us with a bill with barley anything taken care of.

The next morning my tongue was throbbing and swollen. I spent the next day going to a ENT doctor to have it looked at. I was fustrated at the situation and emailed management twice about what happened. I asked for them to reverse the charges and pay for the medical costs that resulted from the hook (a small copay and cost of antibiotics). When they finally got back to me they tried to explain that something like this is so rare that it wasn't their fault and offered me a gift card. I found their response insulting, hence the review. I didn't want to leave a bad review, I rarely (if ever) review restaurants. However, this goes beyond terrible customer service. We are not talking about a hair in the food or an undercooked dish. We are talking about a metal fish hook that was used to catch an octopus. It was in the fish for who knows how many days before it was "cleaned," prepped, and cooked. In the end it is not about the money but how the restaurant handled the situation. I will never be returning and advise others against coming here. It's been a few weeks since the incident and I still have flashbacks to...

Le Fanfare might just be the best kept secret in North Greenpoint. When you cross the threshold into the beautifully designed space and receive a warm welcome (to the strains of live music on the weekends, no less), it's like entering into another world. That feeling of being transported is an ineffable quality that is perhaps more central to a great dining experience than any other.

Sitting at the handsome curved bar up front is maybe even the best way to experience Le Fanfare, especially at the criminally underattended happy hour during the week (cheap sage daiquiris! $1 oysters!). If you've ever been to Total Wine Bar in the Slope (which closed several years ago), you know how much more fun it is to sit in that horseshoe kind of configuration where you might strike up a casual conversation with a bunch of strangers, especially with the friendly and engaging bartenders and staff (looking at you, Carlos!) holding court and keeping everything cool.

The food is killer and surprisingly authentic Italian--try the spaghetti neri (you are literally in the ocean right now!) or the bucatini cacio e pepe (you are literally in a pepper mill right now!) and you'll know what I mean. Or if you're rocking brunch, don't sleep on the spaghetti carbonara, perhaps the most civilized way of ingesting bacon and eggs known to civilization. The hanger steak at $25 for dinner is also kinda ridiculously affordable for what you get.

If a restaurant could be the mayor of Greenpoint, I vote for...

We are a young couple with 3 months old baby. We can't allow ourselves to go to restaurants everyday because of the age of our baby. Today we chose to join le fanfare. We have ordered palenta and zucchini pancakes. Instead of zucchini pancakes we got lemon pancakes. Our server (forgot her name , start with M) apologized and offered to keep the dish. It was nice of her. While I was having my palenta , my husband started to try the pancakes. Then another server ( Polina ) approached to us , grabbed the plate with the pancakes and defiantly throw the dish to the garbage. Just in front of us. It was very insulting. I have never experienced such service before. I had my palenta and was holding my baby napping on me. My husband was still waiting for the right pancakes and finally got it after 45 minutes since we came to the restaurant. The food was really good. Thank you for that. And we got a free desert from our server (not Polina ). We appreciate it. We are really disappointed of the hospitality by the particular server Polina. Instead of having a great brunch , we left the place with unpleasant feelings. (I would be glad to rate with 5 star review because of food, but the hospitality ruined the overall experience. Restaurants are not about food only, but...