Green Leafe Cafe — Restaurant in Williamsburg

Oh how the mighty have fallen... What was once probably one of the coolest long-running bars in the commonwealth has become somewhere I would recommend to actively avoid if in Williamsburg.

For context, I was a Green Leafe regular for years, beginning when I popped in for a beer at midnight on my 21st birthday after watching a movie with some friends. I would pop in a few times a week with some of those friends for the rest of my time living in Williamsburg. However, with the ownership change and renovations, this bar has been steadily declining in quality since re-opening, culminating in my experience the other night.

I was attending a friends wedding in Williamsburg, and was a groomsman. After the reception had finished many attendees migrated to the Leafe to continue socializing. As party of the wedding party I had arrived at the venue early in the day and had a bag with me carrying my phone charger, a hanger for my suit jacket, and a spare shirt. I was told by security at the Leafe I could not enter with this bag as it was "too big," and security didn't even bother to search it which I would have been happy to comply with. (Also, why do bar bouncers need to be dressed in pseudo-police gear? Big ref flag whenever I encounter that) None of their social media nor their website make any mention of this policy. Luckily my car was near enough to drop it off, though that seemed a completely unnecessary trip to me. After entering my experience was not better. For both beers I ordered I was charged different amounts than what was listed on their beer list on the TV screens behind the bar, which is particularly inexcusable if you have an electronic menu you can change at any point rather than a paper menu it takes time to print new copies of.

More broadly than these specific experiences, the vibe of the Green Leafe is that of the most generic, gentrified, former dive bars I've seen in many cities. If you want good, well-executed pub food with killer beer lists go to Amber Ox or Dog Street Pub, they both fulfill what Green Leafe is going for far better than the Leafe could in its current incarnation.

All in all, I cannot recommend the Green Leafe to anyone anymore, despite having regularly gone there multiple times a week...

We were on a family vacation looking for pub food and unfortunately this was the only restaurant that came up matching our needs.The food was okay as well as the service until it was time to get the check. With only two other tables in the entire restaurant at dinner time on a Sunday (3 staff), it took us 15 minutes to get the check, not a huge deal but we had little kids that were ready to go, and the check was wrong. Our waiter was going to take care of the $5 difference when a waitress dropped off my bill running my card for the original amount. I brought the check up confused asking why it wasn't corrected, inquiring if the whole amount was going to be credited or just the few dollars so I would know what to look for on my statement. I was annoyed because we waited long enough (we were there 2 hours by now) it was my second day of vacation and now my credit card was all screwed up with over $245 of charges. The nasty manager, slow as dirt, was going to "fix" it and basically was so aggravated by my questions she told me I was making a scene and had the other waitress call the cops! I am from NY, she doesn't know a scene, I wasn't even yelling, PLUS there were 2 other tables, now I know why. Make sure to pay in cash or you'll be asked not to go back to the restaurant after the cops get called. It is my pleasure to never return, the food wasn't that great and I dont need the aggravation. I told them my newborn was going to wake up and need to eat (not that it put a fire under their *sses to speed the process up, the manager told me it's fine because she has 4 kids). Needless to say the cops suggested other great restaurants to eat at while we were staying in Williamsburg and strongly recommended I write a review to share my experience so you know what it will cost you to have pub food at the Green Leaf in...

My heart is breaking as I write this review. My wife and I visited this place a few times in 2009/2010. I have been looking forward to coming back ever since May 2010! I couldn't have been more disappointed with the place! They have pics online advertising a WEEKEND HAPPY HOUR. We get there, see the sign from the picture, only the weekend happy hours are erased. So thanks for the false advertisement. Then we were disappointed that they don't still offer the giant mozzarella sticks. They don't offer any mozz sticks anymore (weird, but okay I don't need them that bad anyway). Our server was Matt and he was awesome for the first 10 mins we were there. He was friendly and very attentive. After I ordered the spicy chicken sandwich from their specials menu, he came back and told me they ran out so I had to pick a different item (bummer, but still no big deal). Then he comes back and says he got called to a different location and we'd have a new server. This is when things went real downhill, real fast. We had someone bring our food and NEVER, EVER come back to check on things, get drinks, or even bring us the check!! Literally NOT ONCE! I had to go up to the bar and ask for my family's restaurant check and ask for to-go boxes. There was maybe 3 tables and 3-5 bar patrons so it's not like we got lost in the shuffle because everyone was so busy. They just didn't have their act together and/or are lazy. We are from PA, so we don't get down here very often, but when we do come back, we will absolutely not be coming back to Green Leafe. There are plenty of other places to eat with better prices and probably way better service in the area to waste more money here. Thanks for the memories! (to the old owners) The Green Leafe will always hold a special place in my heart.

Food - 3/5 Prices -...