Barfish Bistro

The Barfish Bistro signage was removed this week. The restaurant was repainted, renamed and given some white picket fencing inside the windows. This is just the latest change for the troubled spot (remember Bleecker Kitchen? Corner Shop Café?). The name isn’t the problem. I’ve stopped by once at each of its incarnations over the last five years or so. I generally didn’t come back a second time. What has been consistent is food that was adequate at best, and generally at far too high a price point. The service has generally been fair to poor. I can remember a few versions ago watching a manager argue with one of his staffers at the bar. I can also remember telling another manager «This is not a $ 25.00 piece of salmon.» Those who know me know it is rare I complain to anyone working at a restaurant, so that should tell you something. I share this not to bash the newest version, but as a cautionary tale. If the food isn’t nearly worth the price, if the staff is at best indifferent, a literal fresh coat of paint will do nothing. Without serious changes to the quality of food and service, I expect another name change or closure by Labor Day. I’ve seen it shuttered for years at a time before.

Stopped by for happy hour on a Friday afternoon. The place had a good number of people but they had spots at the bar. The happy hour special is $ 2 beers! And they have one of my favorite beers (21^st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon). The space is cool and the service is great. I tried the shrimp riggies and can highly recommend! If you are in the area I definitely recommend you stop in at Barfish Bistro!

Awesome food and service. Great happy hour beer special too. Everybody took great care of us. Food was delish. 5 stars all the way!

A seafood restaurant with the fishes at the bottom of the menu, and very basic choices (you chose your fish + a side). And not much seafood apart from the fishes (1 starter with mussels, 1 with shrimp). Not what you would expect from a seafood restaurant. I had the Quinoa niçoise with seared tuna, it was very good.
All in all, the food is good but it’s not a real seafood restaurant. Service started well but the server was extremely rude when we paid, not even a thank you, so I wouldn’t go back.

There were so many kinds of oysters that it was not easy for us to decide what we ordered! And they offered all kinds oysters at one dollar per a piece. Anyway, we had about five kinds of them. Every server answered our questions politely and recommended some hot dishes. Wine and appetizers were also good especially asparagus!
One more thing, it wasn’t so crowded on their first floor including nice counter seat, but the basement was so crowded.

I know there are some mixed reviews, especially regarding the food, but I liked Barfish Bistro a lot. I came here right after happy hour for Friday evening dinner after making reservations and were seated right away. It was busy (and got busier as it became later) but not overwhelmingly so.
The restaurant itself has a nice atmosphere and you can tell it’s new. I caught up with just one friend there, but the seating area is a good size so I could see it being a good place for a date but also for a larger group /​for happy hour.
For my main dish, I got the skate fish with an asparagus side, and it was delicious. I wasn’t that hungry so was looking for something relatively light, and the waiter recommended this and I’m glad he did. I think it may have been a little bit overcooked, but it didn’t detract too much from the dish, which was buttery and flavorful.
They don’t have a dessert menu — only one dessert (which sounded good, but just wasn’t what I was in the mood for at the time so we passed).

Overall, I was underwhelmed by Barfish Bistro. We had made an 8:30 Thursday evening reservation and were surprised that the place was almost empty other than ourselves and three other tables. That’s usually a less than optimistic signal, but we carried on nonetheless.
The food was uncreative and uninspiring. We shared the burrata cheese and the kale salad. The burrata was actually the best dish of the evening, with a generous chunk of fresh cheese with a mild dressing sprinkled with fish roe. But, unfortunately, its tastiness was offset by the salad, which while fresh was tossed in a subtle Ceasar’s dressing that was way too salty. So salty, in fact, that one of us couldn’t enjoy the salad at all.
We then shared the salmon with broccolini. This entrée was uninspiring. The salmon was well cooked, but the portion seemed surprisingly small for a main course. The broccolini was nicely cooked, and like the salad, very fresh, but the entire dish was average at best.
We were sort of in the mood for a dessert, and were asking the waitress her recommendations. Then, the strangest thing happened. While one of us went to the restroom, she came back and removed our vase of flowers from our table and in fact all of the tables, most of which were empty. She was preparing to close the restaurant, and yet we were still in the midst of dinner! How absolutely disrespectful and rude. We immediately decided to simply ask for the check and we went to a local ice cream shoppe in the village for dessert.
So, my guess is that this place is popular for its $ 1 oysters and drinks happy hour, and it does appear the oyster selection is great, judging from the big oyster menu chalked out on the blackboard above the spacious bar area. But, as a sit-​down restaurant, it is performing at a much lower quality which probably explains the near-​empty environment mid-​evening.
There are much better choices in the area, and where you can enjoy a full meal, including dessert.

Barfish Bistro is a pleasantly open seafood /​raw bar with good service and a number of good beers on tap. I think the food is fine — not great — but fine. I most recently had the Monkfish Bouillabaisse, which was extremely fishy (yes, I know it is a seafood dish). On a positive note, the server was pleasant and knowledgeable.

Amazing food. Had Bruno Mars’ long lost brother as our waiter. Hilarious manager. Doesn’t get much better than Barfish for fresh food and a chill/​hip atmosphere

The management followed up and addressed my issues. You have to give a 5 Stars for that…

Dropped in for happy hour. Great oysters and sauce! Solid selection of $ 5 beers. Friendly staff (shucker gave me an oyster on the house). Definitely going back again.

I love this place! Great vibe. Delicious food. The burrata is the best I’ve had in the city! Also loved my halibut and not to mention our super cute waiter who looked just like Bruno Mars and can sing! Ask about the secret dessert. Will definitely be back!

Barfish Bistro is a great place to eat dinner with friends, but it’s also intimate enough for a date night. The space is just big enough to not be overwhelming, and also not feel cramped. It has a rustic chic feel, and a comfortable atmosphere with solid wood tables and candlelight. All with the back beats of A Tribe Called Quest and Fugees — I was pretty pleased with the musical selection.
I went this past week with a few friends — all seasoned NYC foodies — and ordered pretty much everything on the menu! The food was delicious from appetizer to dessert.
We started with an array of oysters, different varieties explained and recommended by our sweet server, Millie. We also shared the Hamachi crudo plate — melted in my mouth! So yummy. The burrata is flown in from Italy and goes fast, so they were out of stock when we were there, which was a bummer, but also made us think outside the comfort zone and try the Kohlrabe salad. Not something that jumped off the menu, but it was a surprising winner in our app line up. Fresh and light, the mushrooms were a great compliment to the shaved Apple. We also ordered fries to the table for good measure :) thin cut and crispy, just how I like ‘em!
Main course had a few standouts at the table with a few people ordering the chicken riggies and the salmon. I opted for the hanger steak, and wasn’t disappointed. The steak comes with horseradish and chimmichurri sauce, neither are things I generally like very much, but they were pretty mild and the chimmichurri was a great addition to the fingerling potatoes that came on the side. We had a curve ball and ordered the macfish for the table to share. Light and flakey batter, just what you’d want in a fish sandwich. My friend said his Salmon was «one of the best he’s ever had» … Trust me, he’s had a lot of salmon, so I took this is a big deal haha
Dessert wasn’t on the menu, but we asked for it anyway :) I couldn’t even fully explain what was in it, but some beautifully delicious concoction of Nutella, bananas, and some sort of crumble on top. So rich, but I couldn’t stop myself from taking another bite.
There’s also a great selection of craft beer to accompany the food. Our server was, again, super helpful in directing our palettes to find the right beer for our tastes. Not a full glass left at the table ;)

Eh. Wouldn’t recommend it. Most of the food was lacking flavor — or even salt. Very slow service. Overpriced for small portions. Overall — eh. There are many more better seafood restaurants in the area.

Tres pretentious. Warm tap water in carafes that have been sitting out. Tiny roasted carrot salad served a on a huge plate which made it seem even tinier.

Tried their $ 25 lunch special, it was okay. What I didn’t like was how slow the service was, I have to keep lookin back at the waiter so someone will notice how I’m waiting for my meal, making a payment is slow too, I have my card out and everything but I still have to wait for them to get back to me. Will post a pic of what I ordered too. I’m afraid I’m not going back here anytime soon. Not a place to eat during a 1 hour lunch break. Maybe the other food are good. My burger was pretty small. I was surprised I wasn’t full for an almost $ 30 meal.

Came here for $ 1 oysters. Didn’t try anything else since that’s pretty much what we came for, and we had already come from another happy hour establishment. We got there about 30 minutes before the end of happy hour, and we were seated and served immediately.
They told us that there were three varieties of oysters, but they didn’t quite distinguish them on the serving dish, so we couldn’t figure out which was which… But they were all good and we enjoyed them anyway. They came with three sauces.
Bathrooms are clean. There is also a bar in the basement that I eventually plan to check out. Decent service. Would come back for happy hour if I’m in the area.

I tasted a wide variety of dishes, some better than others. Server was very nice, but seemed overwhelmed even though the restaurant was not busy.
The selection of beers was appreciated by all. And the selection of oysters were nice and fresh.
The two standouts IMO were the quinoa-​raw tuna-​egg appetizer and the kohlrabi salad. I would order both again. My friends said the salmon appetizer was also quite good, I don’t eat raw salmon.
I thought the carrots were just meh — tasted overly of cumin to me. But I’m not a huge fan of cumin or carrots…
The burger was respectable and cooked well, but unremarkable. Fries were skinny and crunchy but also unremarkable.
The halibut was a big weak link. Very overcooked fish, very undercooked potatoes, which were crunchy. I did not taste the salmon entrée, but I could tell it was very overcooked by looking at it. The fish portions are also small.
We didn’t order a dessert, but one came compliments of the kitchen. It was sweet of them to send it, but it was too sweet tastewise. It was some sort of pile of chocolate pudding with bananas and toffee.
I think that Barfish will have to try harder if it is to survive in the tough NYC landscape. Need to work on the cooked fish dishes ASAP if this is to be the competitive differentiator.

4 stars for the amazing oysters and great service, beautiful atmosphere and awesome oyster happy hour!!!
Removing one star because we kind of wish we stuck to the oysters. The actual dinner menu and sides were extremely underwhelming. Pricing was a touch high for the portions and most of things were disappointing. The shrimp was totally unseasoned, the smoked salmon was more like a tale on jerky… The fingerling potatoes were well seasoned and the hamachi was pretty good but that anything we haven’t had before. The halibut was ok, but again underwhelming and my husband had the monkfish which was cooked very well but everything else on the plate was meh.
STICK TO THE OYSTERS (cocktail sauce isn’t served with so if you want, just ask). We are preferential to east coast oysters and they were all fresh and delicious. Between the so of us we attacked about two dozen!
Overall was still a fantastic night!

I’m not sure if its Barf (ish) or Bar Fish, but whatever… I’m a fan. You can barf on the fish anytime you want. Happy hour hits the spot. Upstate was a hit and this will be too. I just wish drinks were on happy hour too.

What a great addition to the neighborhood! I am totally stoked to finally have an awesome restaurant in this otherwise restaurantless stretch of Broadway.
From what they’ve told me their still in their «soft opening» phase but, living right near here (and being lazy/​loving the good food) I’ve already eaten here three times.
So far, I’ve had:
1.) the oysters-​originally they were doing a happy hour deal of $ 12 for six oysters and a beer and I think it was $ 14 or $ 15 for six oysters and a glass of wine but it looks like they changed this back to dollar oysters from 5 – 7. I very much preferred the oyster+drink deal but I guess it was too good to be commercially viable. To the oysters themselves-we’ve tried a variety of kinds and they’ve all been really good. Not a single miss in the chefs suggestions.
2.) Beets and Uni appetizer-​this plate is absolutely beautiful. It comes out like a piece of abstract art. It also tasted great with the earthy Uni pairing well with the earthy beets. It’s subtle though. Maybe too subtle to make it into my regular rotation.
3.) Poached Shrimp– my least favorite of the appetizers. It wasn’t bad by any means but was too subtle for my taste and just didn’t stand up to the other options. Was pretty though.
4.) Salmon Tartar– hands down our favorite appetizer. Really fresh salmon, nicely toasted baguettes. Excellent salmon tartar
5.) Curry toast-​another excellent appetizer option. Really flavorful and hearty.
Mains:
1.) Macfish– YUM. Perfectly fried fish sandwich. The fish was so wonderfully flakey on the inside and not greasy at all.
2.) Chicken Riggies– so nice, had to order it twice. I know I know it’s a fish restaurant but this pasta dish is fantastic. The rigatoni was cooked perfectly both times I ordered it and the chicken sausage had just the right amount of spice.
3.) The Burger– another really solid non-​fish choice. This may rank among one of the best burgers I’ve had. Seriously. It’s really good.
4.) Halibut-​my husband had this dish and really liked it as well. Was excellently cooked and seasoned.
The wine/​beer on draft is also on point with the beer menu being particularly impressive.
Overall had three really great meals and looking forward to going back!

If I was on death row, This would be my last meal. I am a huge fish fan and this place is so fresh it might as well be located in the bottom of the ocean. I don’t know what they are doing but I sure hope they do not change a thing. Will DEF be a regular here

Truth be told, we were looking to park ourselves at Sweetwater Social before heading to Pegu Club. However, this place looked new and trés sexy, so why not.
My friend had the ceviche and a margarita and both were met with feelings of yumminess. I had the insanely classy and delicious seared tuna salad. Excellent spot for a date. It wasn’t too crowded and just comfortable for an early-​ish Friday evening. Will definitely be back here if I’m in the neighborhood looking for Sweetwater Social. Or if I’m just in the neighborhood.

Best oysters I’ve ever had. Super thoughtful and welcoming service. Beautiful atmosphere and great for groups. Would highly recommend.

Fantastic oyster selection… The food seemed to be very fresh (seafood mostly). The beer list is very cool and the service was casual but on point. I will go back

Given my (unhealthy) obsession with Upstate, my brain almost exploded when I saw Shane & co were opening a second location right around the corner from where I live. There were some to-​be-​expected new restaurant service jitters, but overall the staff was really nice. The oysters were excellent with a selection comparable to the mothership –similar length, focused on Easy coast– with a beer list that’s a little longer and farther reaching which was a nice surprise. The rest of the menu strays a bit further from the original, but in a good way, except for the fact the fettuccine clams is conspicuously absent. I can’t wait to try it again (and again) once they hit their groove… hopefully with fettuccine clams on the menu.