Old School Brooklyn

I loved the cod! I’ve been there a few times. Meatballs are delicious and the service is great. No complaints on this end!

Now closed!!! With mysterious notice from the city in the weekend
Don’t waste your trip
Or youll be sad like me

I went here for brunch, and a word of warning to any vegetarians: the eggs taste and smell really strongly of meat. I’m not usually very sensitive to it either — if I can’t see pieces of meat I’m usually fine — but I literally couldn’t eat mine. My dining partner got the crab cake sandwich and it was fine but he wasn’t impressed at all. And it’s pricey. Also, the waiter made a weird comment about my hair. I’d skip it.

We wandered in here unplanned because Buttermilk next door was jammed. I am glad we did as it was a great find.
It’s basically good home style comfort food style in a very ambient setting.
I started with home made mozzarella with peppers and balsamic vinegar
Entrée was a beef stew with mashed potatoes, carrots and pearl onions
I didn’t have dessert but my Fiancée had the brownie sundae which I tried and was very good.
They have good independent tap beers too. I had a great Porter called Centennial
Finished up with a nice Latte
My dining companions all enjoyed their food too.
Good find this place, we will be back.

My dear friend planned her birthday brunch for the spot next door, but as a 90-​minute wait was just not going to cut it, we wandered over to Old School for some instant gratification. Great choice!
I was first struck by the lovely décor: an intricate ship on a shelf surrounded by pink flowers, a spinning wheel on the wall, exposed brick, cloth napkins, and numerous old-​style portraits. One classy joint.
Three of us opted for the bottomless brunch (illegal maybe, but enforced it sure ain’t) with the Nutella, banana, and toasted almond waffles. The waffle was crisp, the almonds were a wonderful complement, the bananas a sweet addition, and we all know how good Nutella is. The fourth friend got the egg sandwich. I poached his arugula salad, which was kind of too salty, but it’s nice to eat some plants with your pile of sugar and fat. And of course, the bottomless brunch did not disappoint. The bellinis were light and lovely, and the sake bloody Mary tasted just right.
The staff were all very kind and attentive, even when the place got a little busier. It is a great spot for brunch, if you don’t mind heading down to Gowanus for it!

I went there on two occasions and this review is an average of them. First was a dinner with friends. We went to Old School because the line at Buttermilk was huge and we were nicely surprised with a great meal, excellent beer/​cocktails and good service. They kept noting how they were competing with other restaurants in the area but they were just as good. It was hard not to agree from that meal. The waiter recommended coming back from brunch. I said I would.
The second time, I took my parents for brunch. It sucked. they didn’t have several menu items and the menu was only 1 page long. no potatoes of any sort (it’s brunch) and none of the options seemed particularly appetizing. We almost left when it was decided to just give it a shot and see how the food was. Bad mistake. I ordered the steak and eggs with my father and my mother got some breakfast burrito thing. the steak and eggs looked/​tasted like prison food — no joke. No flavor, overcooked meat, soggy veggies, cold eggs… it sucked badly. plain and simple. the breakfast burrito was just simple and boring. service was inattentive (same waiter as when I came in for dinner) and he was just wandering aimlessly around the restaurant. it wasn’t that busy but he looked very overwhelmed.
I’ve been a server, worked in restaurants in college, etc. I know when customers are being overly picky, being generally discerning and when they are being given terrible food/​service. I’d say give it a shot for dinner, maybe, but stay away from the brunch. it’s gross.

I love everything I’ve tried, but appetizer favorites are the baked ricotta (bubbly warm oozy cheesy goodness with a touch of honey) and the absolutely delicious house made mozzarella with peppers. The cavatelli with wild boar bolognese is rich and meaty, with an herbed ricotta that melts into the sauce as you eat. The linguini is in a sauce that reminds me of puttanesca, with lots of olives and capers and super tender baby octopus. We always have great service here, attentive and well-​timed. And the restaurant «feels good» to eat in, cozy without being cramped, romantic, not too loud. Go eat :)

The food gets five stars. Our table got the black kale Caesar and the arugula salad. Both were absolutely spot on. Excellent. And we all loved our entrees, which were a couple of the pastas and a fish entrée. I had the polpette, which (and I hate to make this comparison, but I guess it must be made) were better than Frankie’s. And I love Frankie’s polpette. They were delicate and tender and not at all greasy. Well done.
Service gets three stars. Barely.
The food at this place is great. The wine list is FINE, though nothing to write home about. The service is not up to snuff though. The experience of eating there does not do the food justice. That said, it’s worth checking them out for the food alone.
Oh yeah, Worst Name Ever.

Although I’m willing to try this place out again, I had a few complaints with it the first time around.
Firstly, we had to wait half an hour for a table for absolutely no reason other than the host trying to be slick. There were two of us and we waited for 10 minutes which is exactly how long he said it would take. A table opened up but a party of 4 came in and he had told them to sit there. Except, they said they’d be right back and it took 20 minutes for us standing outside (in November) before he realized they’ve vacated their possibilities in this restaurant and he sat us there. Worst part was how generous he was acting, in telling us «I decided to give you guys a four top’ jokingly. Yeah, bud, we were slated for this four-​top before your masterful engineering. Didn’t like that guy, hated that part of the experience. So just remember, if you’re a party of 2, you’re an afterthought and you might be bumped unfairly. And no, they really weren’t busy. We were the only people waiting. No room for confusion, just comes down to highly uncool behavior on his part.
Once we sit down, two entrée items I ordered were not available any more on a Saturday at 9pm. And I’d find out about 5 minutes after ordering each one. I ended up having the Cavatelli pasta. It was good. It was Italian food. You know where else you’ll find good Italian food in Brooklyn? Just about everywhere. Everywhere.
My girlfriend had the roasted hen which was great. What they did, they did right. What they didn’t do, they seriously didn’t do and seriously didn’t care. The kitchen seems to be in good order but the management is clearly overwhelmed and in a bad place. Poor hosting, insufficient ingredient ordering, and fairly mediocre service isn’t going to be winning these guys any stars. Management, it’s good that you’re in a hip and up-​and-​coming culinary part of town, but that’s not enough. You CANNOT exist just on that and you should know better than this.
In summation, food was good out of what they had left which wasn’t much (Saturday at 9pm, remember?). Food was all that was good, but not great. Décor is sort of cool too but on the ‘trying-​too-​hard’ side of the spectrum. A gramaphone. Some wooden trinkets. Old school things. We get it.
I’m willing to try Old School again in the distant future with hopes of a much better experience, but for now this is a big, hard PASS.
PS Their beers aren’t pints. They’re 10oz glasses at best. Don’t let the menu lie to you.
Edit: To address the owner comment. Sir, you very clearly did not read the review in the first place but decided to get heated and try to retaliate in the snarkiest manner you could muster up. Saturday at 9pm (not 10pm like you wrongly reiterated) is prime time restaurant hours in New York City. We’re not in the backwoods. Most restaurants in your neighborhood and surrounding areas are packed. Secondly, like I wrote as well, you had one table that we were waiting for, and we were told that we were the only party waiting) until you decided to give it to a bigger party who bailed anyway. It’s really as if you almost didn’t read the review, but decided to (foolishly) retaliate publically.
I hate to break it to you, bub, it doesn’t take a restaurant owner to know what a bad restuarant experience is. A customer is all it takes, although I did work in the business and have worked explicitly with hosting when the need was there, which is why what happened aggravated me to no end; I would have not done such a thing with customers, because it was highly unclassy. As was your response to my review, really in its entirety. So I will change one thing from my review; I am absolutely unwilling to try this place again.
Unilocalers, you want real ‘old school Italian’? Check my reviews for some places I’ve been going to in Brooklyn for over 15 years that have not done wrong by me or my friends just yet.

Thought this place was a Tapas Bar, but the new owners recently changed this spot into an «old school/​Classic Italian» joint, of which no stone was left unturned. Everything we ate was delicious — even the bread and white bean dip they set on the table. We ordered crab cakes, arugula salad and ricotta dip for appetizers. I had a delicious mushroom truffle pasta. The portions are smaller than what I am generally used to, however we all left happy and satisfied. Great ambiance and décor. Also met the Mayor elect (DiBlasio) he and his wife were dining at Old School also, there was a separate table for their bodyguards, cool! Come try this place you’ll be happy you did.

At first I was suspicious about Old School Brooklyn-​it has a pretty weird name and there is no lack of good Italian in the area. Both times I went I was pleasantly surprised. I had the same waiter both times, and he seemed on top of his game. The firs titme I went was for dinner and I had the baby red oak salad and lobster pasta, totally satisfied with both. Dinner was good, a little pricey for the area, but brunch was a great deal. They have a special where you get an entrée and unlimited brunch drinks (beer, mimosa, bellini…) for $ 25 and can stay up until 2 hours, although I am pretty sure no one is timing it. The best part was that at Sunday around 12:30 there was no wait. It’s a small place so I imagine I just had good timing, but it was a really fun place to throw down some brunch drinks. If I brunched more, I would probably exclusively choose this place for the deal because you can’t beat it if you know how to get your money’s worth (meaning, drink a lot and fast!).

Awesome place: great food (arugula salad, steak and orecchiette), awesome music (motown), good service (travis and british owner), cute ambiance, and all reasonably priced. Loved it

I want to love this place. I really really do. But…
We got two things. One was tasty but mediocre, nothing special but not bad. The other was a smoked salmon salad, basically, and it was almost all salmon. All right, but when we asked for extra crostini to have something to eat the salmon with – because there were two small pieces and that was it – we were offered only a croissant FOR FOUR DOLLARS. Don’t charge for bread when you don’t offer enough on an entrée.
Also the chef was using his unwashed, glove-​less hands to touch everyone’s food in full view of the restaurant, and then TOUCHING HIS MOUTH AND NOSTRILS.
I am still nauseated thinking about it. And they have an A rating.

Considering the competition on this block (Frankies, Prime Meats), the folks at Old School have their work cut out for them. So far, they deliver seamlessly: the food is as authentic as it gets, with the cavatelli and meatballs — absolutely perfect. We loved the laid back service… truly a neighborhood gem on the verge of becoming a destination restaurant. You probably want to enjoy it before that happens.
PS. To the bitch (Queen R) whose tagline reads «Snobbery, Refinery, Realism» — seriously, get a life. You don’t give a restaurant 1 star because its wine list is «unstructured.» It’s not their fault you have delusions of grandeur.

So initially I wrote a review and gave them 2 stars, because I had rather uninspired wine for what I deem to be way too much. With rather mediocre service.
It was true the wine and the list had the personality of a washed up italian dish rag, and yes you Alessandro need help composing it.
I noticed that another reviewer quipped on that fact as well. Surprise, surprise, his review was taken down too.
I would love to respond to you on how to better structure a wine list, but your wanna be intimidating albeit pompous message and the fact that months later you still having nothing up on the site speaks volumes about you and your establishment.
Places like this are a dime a dozen with better food and wine selections, and usually are a bit more inspired than Yawn.
Good to know the owner pays Unilocal to remove reviews too.
AVOID.

Another nice Italian alternative in Carroll Gardens.
I had the Cod and it was amazing. Just perfectly done. My wife loved her pasta. Looking forward to going again.

Saw this place listed as newly opened and since I was walking past there on way to train I figured I would stop in. The place is adorable looking. Wood tables and floors with old paintings and knick knacks on the walls. Plenty of elbow room between tables and a full bar in the center of room. Waiter was very good and kept my water glass full. (one minor quibble would be the water glasses are too small, if you guys are gonna keep them put a carafe of water on the table)
The put out a basket of very fresh and really excellent bread with a little bowl of olive oil for dipping. Outstanding. I ordered the cavatelli with sausage and broccoli rabe, I love broccoli rabe and it was excellent here with the perfectly al dente cavatelli. Wouldve rather had chunks of sausage as opposed to crumbles but it was still excellent with the thinly sliced garlic and smattering of red pepper flakes.
The menu had lots of yummy looking dishes but sadly Unilocal does not (yet) provide me with an expense account so I will have to make a return one night. If any of my YT pals want to check it out give me a holler.

Went here on Saturday night after deciding not to wait at Frankie’s up the street. Really good food and cool décor.
I ordered the turkey meatloaf which was plentiful and delicious. I think these guys are on to something good.

Old School Brooklyn is far from old school foodwise. I was expecting red sauce Italian and instead an eclectic menu with lots of flavors bursting about. The space is roomy with tables not piled ontop of each other and comphy chairs– love that. The décor is old school– ktichy, charming, vintage wainscotted bathroom is lovely.
Bread comes with white bean, garlic dip– nice!
Green gazpacho with mint, cukes & pineapples was a refreshing treat– $ 8
Cavatelli with sweet and spicy sausage & broccoli rabe– $ 15
The cavatelli was also surprisingly delish– sitting on a lovely brodo and topped with parmigiano– this was a great pasta. Pasta is so tricky– deceptively simple yet when done right so satisfying. Was too full for dessert, but planning a return trip for the housemade ice-​cream in their sundae dessert! Old school is the best school!