Saraghina Caffè — Restaurant in New York

UPDATE

I absolutely cannot dispute the acute passage of time between the incident and when I posted. My intention was to come in person to address the situation, but I travel frequently. When I did, it also admittedly was 4 months after the incident, but didn’t want to disrupt the obviously busy brunch flow.

Regardless, I can’t help but appreciate you standing by your staff and supporting them, especially in the wake of how much time has passed.

That being said, I will push back on two points.

While it is unfortunate that I didn’t get the manager’s name, my reference to his nationality was not in the vein of suggesting bias due to his background. It is a descriptor, as would acknowledging that I’m ethnically Indian. I don’t imagine his being French played a role in his behavior. I apologize nonetheless for framing that clumsily. I’m appropriately chastised.

I, however, fundamentally and categorically disagree with how he framed the encounter. I was careful to point out how I was both very aware and incredibly understanding that it would be a day that would be wildly challenging to accommodate a walk in. I opened with that.

My issue, once again, is that he went FAR out of his way to stress that you were booked for months- specifically until March. I did not pull that out of thin air. And, I will reiterate, I didn’t even consider there was anything amiss until a friend pointed how strange that was and then I checked.

To be fair, I cannot fathom why he would do such a thing. I have no clue. I can only guess to motive. What I do know is that he misled me. And there is absolutely no question of that, regardless of whether or not you are able to confirm it.

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I had a pretty wild experience with the manager a few months ago that I wanted to share and am hoping reaches the owners.

It was admittedly a busy weekend in Fort Greene. Bright, sunny, lovely. Perfect for the dog parade happening. Not shockingly, lots of spots with long waits, so my friend and I were bopping around to see who could fit us in soonest.

I came in alone to check since it’s a sizable restaurant and was hopeful. The French gentleman at the host stand informed me they were booked. I wasn’t surprised and was ready to move on to the next place. But he made sure to let me know that they were not only booked that day, but they’d be booked until March- MONTHS away.

I actually didn’t think twice about it initially. I literally congratulated him on their success before I walked out.

When we finally found a spot a couple doors down, I shared with my friend about how in demand they were. He’s the one who alerted me to the idea that it was unusual and very unlikely.

I go to check online. Open bookings. Clear. Availability everyday.

It’s rare that I give a bad review. I like highlighting places that deserve positive attention. The restaurant industry is a tough one, especially these days.

It’s clearly been some time since this has happened, but it’s stuck with me and I didn’t want this to go without it being noted.

The whole staff shouldn’t be punished, but this shouldn’t go unaddressed either.

It’s also rare that I feel slighted for how I look, which is why it didn’t immediately strike me. Without being explicit, I invite you to take a guess why he might not have been interested in...

TLDR: Food is good, but truly overpriced for what you are getting on the quality and taste front. Service is okay. Servers are nice but they can take a while to get you started with your meal and management/hostess move pretty scary when it comes to seating walk ins. While their Resy profile says otherwise, it’s definitely a reservation forward establishment.

Food is pretty good but it never makes up for the dining experience. It’s generally pretty tight and the tables are small. You will not have a dinner without someone brushing up against your back while you eat.

On 3/19/23 I dined alone for brunch and didn’t appreciate how the manager claimed all of the open two tops they had open were reserved, but when I finished my meal at the bar there were even more tables open. I worked in hospitality for many years and outright lying like that left a bad taste in my mouth. This experience is what actually led me to (finally) leave a review on this place.

I live in the neighborhood and have eaten here several times before my poor experience above but my last visits has always had a strong chaotic undertone, it’s an overstimulating place!

I almost always opt for Evelina down the block. The menu is bit more seasonal(revolves more frequently than Saraghina) and is the same price point. Saraghina also lacks that extra touch that you would receive from other restaurants with the same price point/concept. A good example is during the summer months when Whole grilled fish frequents the menu. While many restaurants at similar price points selling whole fish will butterfly(debone) the fish before serving (such as Evelina) this is not the case at here. As you can imagines this only exacerbates the experience of eating in a cramped, small tabled restaurant.

I agree with many of the other reviewers though, inside is prettyy to look at! Not too functional though :/

I think there is room for Saraghina to improve, but I along with many of the other seasoned locals in the neighborhood can agree this spot can use some fine tuning.

(Pictures attached are from different days I dined with the restaurant since their opening. That clam pizza was hella awkward why would they put the shell on the...

My friends and I were excited to have a meaningful time at the Saraghina Caffè in Fort Greene as we’ve dined at the Saraghina Pizzeria in Bed-Stuy and always enjoyed ourselves. Based on the clout Saraghina takes pride in, ultimately we were left feeling a disappointed with our experience.

We arrived requesting a table for 3, very comfortable with waiting for something to open up. The host said no problem, took my name/number into the Resy app, I received a confirmation and said we would be notified in about 30m when the table was available. We waited 1h 30, never received a text and eventually walked back into the restaurant, frustrated we had waited so long. When we returned, the restaurant was not busy at all and there was an abundance of available tables. We brought up our extended wait time to the host - he was a bit confused, dismissive and generally apathetic to our situation. He seated us but didn’t offer us anything complimentary for the extended inconvenience of us waiting for a table 3x (!!) the estimated time. This was really frustrating.

Once seated, our waiter Rocco was kind and attentive. We ordered drinks, oysters and pizzas. The drinks came, eventually pizzas but no oysters. When we brought this up to our waiter, he was apologetic and complimented us some Prosecco. This was truly appreciated! Thank you!

After eating, while we were still enjoying our drinks one of the bus boys continued to come to our table clearing away every. single. item. with each trip. He made a very clear point of discussing Saraghina’s brunch menu, in the case that we wanted to come back in the morning. Message received: leave. We felt rushed out - which was upsetting because of the long delay in receiving a table AND because there were still a few other patrons dining at nearby tables.

Ultimately, we had a really lovely waiter (shout out to Rocco!) and the food was tasty but with the level of quality and high standards expected at an establishment like this, we were really disappointed in the...