I passed by tonight and noticed a chalkboard read something to the effect of them having a new revamped menu coming soon and then tonight I get the comment below…
Hi to all from Brooklyn Label-We’d like to let everyone know what’s up lately at Brooklyn Label. We have brought on a new Head Chef, Ed Bode, whom some of you already know from Union Picnic. We’re happy to have him and look forward to the additions he will bring to our kitchen and menu.
As for the plethora of other questions:
1. Booze IS coming, we have been approved for our liquor license but have to finalize a permit from the previous owners first. If you’ve ever dealt with the city on anything, you know, I’m sure, this means we could have our license in a couple of weeks, or, mostly likely, a couple of months. In the mean time, we are going to a winter schedule and closing at 7pm. When we have our license and spring has sprung outdoor seating, we will reintroduce dinner.
2. We are working very hard to improve things at BL, from bringing in more vegan and vegetarian options to changing over to soy oil (instead of butter) to cook our eggs, hash browns, and some of our breakfast entrees. Many of our purveyors have hiked their prices substantially, especially baked goods due to a huge increase in flour prices this year (I won’t even go into the politics driving that issue). When we’ve needed to we’ve raised prices to reflect our increased. We’ve been looking at different distributors to try to cut costs, and when we can, we will reflect it in our prices.
3. Brunches here are crazy, there are no two ways about it.
4. We appreciate the hard work that went into starting up Brooklyn Label, and we believe we can continue to improve.
Thanks to all of our regular customers and weekend brunch-warriors for coming to our restaurant. We’ll continue to listen to your feedback.
Sincerely-
April Goettle
GM, Brooklyn Label
I think it’s great that the new management over there is ‘listening to feedback’. Brunch is always crazy there but that’s still no excuse for the seriously bad attitudes of the staff there. It takes a lot for me to say that because I know that being a waitress/waiter/host/hostess is no easy task – especially when things are crazy. But the fact that every single time I’ve been in there I’ve felt that the staff was either rude or incompetent – or both – has to count for something.
I’ve witnessed it take ten minutes to turn a table over there. The people have left and then it’s five minutes or more before the table is cleaned and then yet another five minutes or more before the table is sat. All this while there are twenty people waiting staring at the table. It’s like BL is more concerned with hiring cute hipsters instead of actual people who can do the job.
I have no problem waiting for a table or service if the person who finally does come around is nice and genuinely apologetic for the wait. It’s Waitressing 101. I still eat there but only as a last resort which is a shame because it’s right downstairs. If there’s any improving going to go on, I sincerely hope they take a look at the attitude and competence of the staff. A smile works wonders kids.
so true. if there’s no tables available then i’m happy to wait, but it kills me to see it take so long to turn them over. at least it’s better than greenpoint coffee house, where we were once greeted with “yeah, it’s gonna be about a 30 minute wait for a table, and then we’re just slow today so it’ll be at least another 45 minutes for food.”
the service has been abominable and getting worse. do not make me wait for the check, not when i am sitting there with my wallet out and the place is half empty. if things are crowded and my food is late tell me, apologize, offer me coffee or something or at least refill my water glass.
and like suckers we keep going back there, but after the last time, they are on permanent ban in our house. i’ll go to grumpy for my coffee and if i’m desperate for food down the street we’ll go to casa. at least there you are made to feel like a valued customer and the prices do not go up every single week.
the dinner situation just deteriorated. it’s stupid and nonneighborly of them to close at 7, however, when people got used to them being there. i can understand closing early if it’s dead but people were using it as a neighborhood resource.
as for “brunches are crazy” what i want to know is how they justify jacking up brunch prices so they’re different than the prices during the week.
i had a lot of respect for those folks but it is no gone. they have a gold mine so they are just plain treating everyone with contempt and stopped valuing the neighborhood a long, long time ago. they might as well be in 11211 in terms of their attitude, and that is not a compliment.
finally, clearly, they can’t keep competent waitstaff. there’s got to be a reason for it.
We attempted to go for dinner there the other night, and thought nothing of showing up at the typical dinner hour of 7. We were greeted with “We are closed for dinner”. Which was a statement we couldn’t really wrap our heads around. Did they mean they were closing the kitchen down to get ready for dinner? Either way, it was clear we weren’t welcome. So we went to 68 (which was lovely by the way)
Oh well. I still like their brunch provided you arrive before 11.
every single time i go to brooklyn label for brunch i get the same waiter who seems to be completely strung out like he was up all night doing coke. has anyone else had this experience? needless to say, he is very cranky in his strung-out-state. but the huevos rancheros are excellent.
For the record they have a new chef once again at BL and it seems things are on the up again. Ive had dinner there quite often in the last few weeks, all after 7pm, and the food has not only been great but consistent. I am always willing to patronize neighborhood joints and am so excited to see more places in the point with great food, keep it coming.