Birreria

Bartender seemed a bit condescending. No bar napkin or coaster? But he made a decent cocktail.
Bar stools were a few inches too short to make sitting at the bar comfortable. Seats were turning fast. Music was loud and American and not well selected. Not much of a view. No reason to go.

Eataly, what happened? The Birreria used to be my favorite spot in the city. The décor was airy, simple, tasteful; the wait staff was attentive, fun, but not overbearing; the wine list was incredible (wolffer rosé cider!), and the reason we all came back time & time again was the phenomenal food. Simple, no frills (in a good way), straightforward, incredibly high quality meats, cheeses, fresh salads — everything you’d want in a mid-​summer escape from the city below. The Birreria was a go-​to special occasion /​treat yo self spot with one of my best friends, we were regulars for years.
Unfortunately, we visited again this past weekend after learning that our beloved Birreria was rebranded as «Sabbia», a restaurant with the theme of «beachside Italy». Decided to give it a try and will not be returning. As we arrived at the top floor, we were overwhelmed with the new décor — tacky taxidermy seagulls, buoys, picket fences by your table… kind of like Party City threw up in there. Once were seated, it took about 10 minutes for our waitress to come by. We asked her about the rosé cider that we love, and were sad to hear it was no longer on the menu. She suggested another sparkling rosé cider and brought us tastes, which were (both) flat and tasted like blueberry (we noticed later on the menu that the only cider they had — the one she gave us – was blueberry. Would have been worthwhile to mention). We asked our waitress for a taste of their driest rosé, as we were planning to share a bottle. She came by about 10 minutes later with a very sweet, dark pink wine. Again this is not what we had in mind, so we ordered the only other bottle on the menu and decided to just settle on that, which was frustrating as we recognized this bottle as the most expensive rosé on the old Birreria menu, and now was listed as the least expensive ($ 40/​bottle) on the new menu. About 15 minutes later, our waitress — who was becoming increasingly inattentive and unfriendly– came by for our food orders. The menu has completely changed — the new selections on the (aesthetically very busy) menu are overly complicated & the theme seems over the place, and everything is EXTREMELY expensive. For example — the $ 24 salad which was supposed to be a take on a Niçoise was just a salad w/​a scoop of tuna fish on it (guy next to me ordered this)…
Anyways, we got the meat & cheese plate and «sausage with broccoli rabe». When the food was ready, we were given 2 skewers with meatballs on them? Which we then realized was sausage meatballs with broccoli rabe IN them, but the way it was phrased on the menu, we were expecting… broccoli rabe with sausage. My friend bit into her meatball, which was raw. We didn’t see our waitress for the majority of our meal, so we told her at the end and she was nice enough to remove this from our bill, which we appreciated.
After our disappointing meal, we headed downstairs to look around. We went into the wine store and the bottle we had just ordered for lunch was available for $ 15 purchase. Pretty incredible to sell the exact same bottle upstairs for almost 200% more…
Spare yourself this underwhelming (if not borderline bad) and very expensive experience. Too many other good restaurants in the area. Birreria was perfect as it was… as they say, if it ain’t broke…

200 pm on Saturday with wife and another couple. Very cool vibe, bright and open. Crowded but manageable. Very creative and tasty drinks.
2 bartenders, 2 completely different cocktails with the same name. The big fella made great drinks. The older fella with the short beard not so much. The wives took that round back to the big fella who made them delicious for them.
Maybe we’ll come back, but there’s so many places to explore!

The quality of food has gone down so much compared to last year, so did the service. First they call to confirm the reservation and send an email and when you show up they told us that the table will be under the sun (the place was half empty). When we refused we were seated at a better place. Not cool.
The marinated eggplant with the couscous priced 25 $ was so oily and heavy that one of my friends got sick after half an hour. The rest of the dishes are by far unimpressive. The place still has a nice vibe on a summer day but certainly not something I“ll be going back this summer.

I was excited when I found out there was an Italian restaurant on a roof top but I was less than impressed. Not much of a view and the food was sub par. I got a pasta with shrimp, muscles and «squid» what came out was undercooked pasta, cheap calamari rounds, a few muscles and one cut up shrimp… Maybe one shrimp (giving them the benefit of the doubt.) what was good was our server. Very friendly and helpful and the wine. But skip the food, maybe get some cheese and wine.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere here! It was a nice sunny afternoon and perfect for a rooftop lunch. I got one of the house Brewer beers which was solid, and our group shared a cheese and meat place as an appetizer. All of the items were Beth tasty, and I would be happy making a whole meal of those apps! I ordered the chicken for my entrée which was also very tasty– the skin was nice and crispy and the fregola underneath added a nice element of chewiness to the dish. The only suggestion I have is to add more of some kind of green to the dish? There were little bits of asparagus in the fregola, but I probably could’ve counted the little bits which probably added up to maybe half an asparagus spear. Overall, Id probably come back here on a sunny day for the ambiance, although I’m more anxious to try all of the yummy things at the restaurants downstairs!

Eataly in itself is a beautiful space. This rooftop eatery is a very relaxing place to dine in what would otherwise be a hectic space.
The atmosphere in terms of who visits this place is a little «up in airs». I felt pressured to order a drink because that’s what I’m expected to do here. I wasn’t given any sort of recommendation for a drink, it was just implied that I better order something.
We chose this option rather than the other restaurant options of Eataly because it has a little of everything rather than being strictly vegetarian or pescetarian. I got the only fish option on the menu: house salt cured cod with whipped potatoes and spinach. It was pretty good. Nothing wowed me in terms of seasoning. It was simple and fresh. For a $ 28 price tag and it being cod, I just thought that was a bit much. It wasn’t a filling portion by any means either, pretty appropriate as a tasting menu size. I am really waiting for the day that food in New York is valued for what is given.

Excelente lugar buena cerveza mucho ruido pero tolerante son rápidos en el servicio pidan la allagash klippenstein y de comer min estar d orozo

So I went to Birreria for a friends birthday and I was hardly impressed.
First of all let’s start with the fact that the menu is too expensive and not worth AT ALL! Beers are ranging from 7 – 11 dollars and whatever, it’s NYC so let’s charge this much.
The food is the deal breaker completely. My friend and I ordered the plates of cured meats and it was 25 $ for 10 thin slices! And the meats were not even that great, just average but to charge this much was ridiculous! 12 $ would have been overpriced on so little. We also ordered the Wagyu beef skewers which were good but again 10 $ for 2 small skewers.
The reason I am giving them 2 stars and not 1 is because the manager and the bartender were very nice and gave us our money back on the plate of cured meats. I would most likely never be back there though

My sister and I had reservations on a Wednesday evening at 7pm, but was running 15 minutes late, so we called the restaurant to inform them of such, and the hostess was very friendly and stated she’d make a note and it would be fine.
The restaurant is actually located on the roof top of the building where Eataly is located.
Upon arrival, we were asked what type of water we’d like, and it was immediately delivered. Our glasses were filled in a timely manner, but he spilled water onto the table and our menus in the process each time. I would prefer him to just pick up our glasses to fill our water versus watering the table each time. On top of that, we had to wait a while before our waiter finally showed up, though he did apologize for the wait. He seemed very busy, as it was a busy night, and it seemed as though they were under staffed at the time (I assume).
He took our order and then dashed to the next table. At this point, I was starting to think there is no bread offered while we wait for our waiter, and our food. Again, our water was topped off, and my sister asked if we could get some bread. Bread appeared a the table just as fast as the water did.
Considering the service, I decided to just order the entrée and skip the appetizer and dessert, so we ordered the Pollo con Spinaci e Mela (Cascun Farms Seared Chicken Thighs with Sauteed Spinach, Apples, & Shallots) and the Baccala e Patate (house salt cured Atlantic Cod with Spinach, whipped Yukon Potatoes & Lemon). The chicken dish contained three pieces of chicken, two of which was cooked to perfection, but the third was ever so slightly under cooked. The cod dish was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The whipped potatoes and lemon had potato chunks in it, which I loved. It gave it a nice texture and you can really taste the Yukon potato. My only complain was that there wasn’t enough potato and spinach to go with the piece of cod.
I was pretty hungry, so I finished my entrée when my sister just started on the second half of her entrée. I watched my empty plate sit in front of me for a good amount of time although my water has been filled twice… Our waiter never checked on us. We actually had to flag down our waiter to get the check and then he scurried away to another table again. Busy. Busy. Busy.
It is extremely loud in the restaurant. Can barely hear myself talk let alone the person sitting in front of me. The atmosphere was like a bar/​lounge, but I’ve had better service at a bar than at this place.
My only reason for coming back is for the whipped Yukon potatoes! If they do to-​go, then that’s what I’ll do though.

Whoever is reading this, please try their duck entrée. It’s freakin amazing. It melts in your mouth. Our server was really cool and she totally suggested awesome stuff. She literally helped me with picking out my drink (I got the Dry Rose Cider, and loved it sooooo much) and entrée. I forgot her name, but she’s definitely an asset to this place. It was a pretty good dining experience. And I left with a happy tummy.

**More Like MEHlan**
Not impressed. The price did not match the small portions, mediocre quality, and lack of hospitality.
I’ll put the worst first.
PASTA DEL GIORNO — The pasta was terrible… I know authentic pasta is often made al dente, but this just tasted undercooked and frankly kind of stale (even though it shouldn’t have been since they supposedly make all their pasta fresh). I get fresh pasta from Uncle Giuseppe’s and it is a whole lot better than the stuff they brought out… even Olive Garden is a step up.
INSALADA DI CAVOLO, SPECK E UVA — The salad was also terrible. I’m not sure what they did to the greens but they tasted crunchy and devoid of any sort of flavor. The apple slices were good but were so minisculely thin, I wonder how many salads they can make with just a single apple. This was probably one of the worst salads I had in 2015.
COZZE ALLA BIRRA — Mussels were meh. The sauce was nothing special but was at least pretty good to soak up with the complimentary bread.
CROSTINI DI FEGATO D’ANATRA — Pâté dish was OK, but there was nowhere near enough of the crostini with which to eat it. Asking for more of the softer complimentary bread wasn’t a big deal, but it wasn’t designed to crispy enough for the pâté and this dish suffered as a result.
The complimentary bread was OK – again, nothing wrong with it, but considering they have a bakery onsite, I expected more than just some thin slices of some «rustic» looking bread, whatever that even means.
I got their pasta beer, and while it was just OK (at ten bucks), I have to give it to them for trying to do something unique that fits in line with the restaurant. They otherwise have a couple other beers they make, as well as a decent selection, although some of them were grossly overpriced even for what I would expect them to run in a restaurant.
Service was also a bit uninspiring – never rude but not attempting to be pleasant, which you’d expect for the price point.
I will say the ambience was nice – tables felt nicely spaced apart, and there were great views of the Met Life tower and surrounding buildings.
FINAL VERDICT: Try the pasta restaurant downstairs or simply go elsewhere with many great restaurants in this neighborhood at or slightly above this price range… it’s not worth it.

What an amazing rooftop restaurant! We made reservations for lunch here and had a splendid time sipping beer, and munching on delicious food.
We started with a few appetizers — fried pig ears and sliders. They were all very tasty. I especially enjoyed the fried pig ears — crunch and taste were superb. We then had mussels and wagyu beef as our main dishes. Everything was very flavorful. I enjoyed my ginger beer very much as well.
I can’t wait to come back next time I’m in the neighborhood. Although you don’t have a high rise view, you are on a rooftop with views of building tops — which are just as amazing when in NYC.

On a Saturday night at 8pm, it wasn’t crowded. This may have to do with the fact that the beer garden now has the roof up since it’s getting cold. My date and I came up here to order a drink while we waited for our table to be ready at Manzo, downstairs at Eataly. The atmosphere was very relaxed. There is enough bar space for the people who just come for a drink and the people who come to eat dinner or grab drinks with a group. As it is right above Eataly, it is a good place to kill time if you have to wait for a table.

If you’ve read my other reviews, then you may already be aware that I hate Eataly. Too crowded, people walk too slow (or not at all), too narrow… The list goes on and on. When we were informed of a beer crawl kicking off at Eataly’s rooftop (Birreria) I was hesitant considering how much I hate the lower levels. But I decided I like beer, I like rooftops, and why the hell not?
The elevator to the roof is tucked away by the 23^rd street entrance. Downstairs there is a hostess that had no idea an event was taking place (umm ok?). The elevators lead you up to the 14^th floor, followed by a staircase, and ta-​da you’ve arrived at Birreria. Granted it’s the end of October so it’s on the cooler side, but it’s not yet winter and therefore not yet cool enough to justify keeping the roof almost completely closed. It really does sport a greenhouse effect and you find yourself peeling of layers of clothing while gulping down beer in hopes of cooling off.
I don’t know if it was because of the event or because it was right before dinner time, but the place was packed and it was impossible to get to the bar. The bar also sports heat lamps and fans… Another reason having the roof closed was a mistake. This place has potential but they have quite a few things to work out first. Clean bathrooms, though!

I don’t think some of the reviews are warranted here — this place isn’t that bad. Granted ok fine it’s a 3.5 but probably the best value restaurant at Eataly.
Fortunately my fiancé and I were lucky to have a gift card, so we used it to have dinner here Friday night around 7ish. We were able to be seated right away as the restaurant was not busy but the bar was. I knew that I should have gotten me a beer but I got the awesome Bordeaux like fruity zomo red wine instead, well bodied. We share the salty, crunchy and yummy pig ear appetizer which I felt was plenty for $ 8. Was not a fan of the accompanying anchovy sauce though.
For my main mean I had the pasta of the day which was a fresh long cavatelli like pasta (unsure of the Italian name) with a nutty (almond) tomato, basil sauce. It was almost like tomato meets pesto. Tomato flavors, Pesto texture. $ 17. Looked small but portion was just right.
My fiancé had the chicken thigh with some kind of pepper or tomato salad I don’t recall. There was three thighs; they were a little small though. For $ 24. We supplemented with well done broccoli rabe but again it’s not hard to make good rabe.
We didn’t stay for dessert. The whole bill was $ 75. Our server was very good, prompt and knowledgable. He answered all of our menu questions, and he put down a table stopper since our was wobbly.
Space is ok. Nothing special. I guess it’s a rooftop summer thing. You have to find the bar entrance through the elevator banks that are near the restroom area at Eataly.

Takes reservations for parties of 6+.
Beer selection is extensive and fantastic (and not limited to Italian beers). & the views give you the New York Pheelz f’reals.
Food is okay.

Make a reservation or be prepared to wait. This is a rooftop beer garden above Eataly. They do have a great selection of beer for those who come here to drink. The roof is retractable. However, you don’t get much of a view dining here. There is a good amount of tables in the dining area as well as seats at the bar, but not a lot. Nice ambiance, very relaxed.
Definitely share a cheese plate and meat plate with your group before your entrees. I really enjoyed the parmigiano. I must say, I was a bit disappointed about their menu. It is pretty limited. There was not a lot to choose from and I enjoy having options. I was appalled that they did not have a great selection of pasta. That’s very strange to me considering what kind of restaurant it is. I was not feeling something too hearty that day so I ordered the portabello mushroom, and it was delicious! The mushroom tasted just right with the whipped goat cheese, beets, and balsamic vinegar. But I wish there were more slices of beets, there were only two little slices that came with the dish. This entrée was enough for me at the time, but probably not enough for someone who’s pretty hungry.
Service was very good. Our server was very attentive and professional. I also noticed that the bartenders are very friendly and they also offer beer samples if you’re stumped on what to order since their selection of beer is quite impressive.

O verão de New York trás coisas realmente interessantes. Uma delas são os Roof Tops. Restaurantes no topo dos prédios. Especificamente este, tem uma atmosfera excelente, onde você pode optar pelo bar ou sentar-​se para almoçar ou jantar.
Escolhemos de entrada alguns queijos e peito de pato como prato principal. Tudo muito bom. As cervejas são bem variadas e bem servidas. Preço honesto e serviço estilo americano.
Ótima pedida.

Adorei o lugar! Essa terraça com um ar de verão e uma cerveja gelada depois de tantas andanças foi tudo de bom! Só o serviço deixou a desejar…

I’ve been here twice, both on a Saturday afternoon.
View: There isn’t much of a view since, at least both times I went, there retractable roof was not opened all the way.
Atmosphere: Cool and relaxed. The bar area can get a bit crowded raising the temperature of the area. Get ready to stand if you’re going for drinks only; chairs are for those eating only. Crowd at the bar ranges from young to old, locals to tourists.
Service: Bartenders were friendly and attentive. Don’t hesitate to ask for a beer sample if you’re torn about what to order.
I would love to go back for the food.

I could’ve sworn I reviewed this place… I came here for happy hour on St. Patrick’s Day (because that makes sense).
The rooftop bar is pretty cool. There’s a retractable roof, but the bar is only a small portion of the roof compared to the restaurant part. Get there early to snag a table or a seat at the bar.
First thing you’ll notice is an amazing beer selection. Top notch, really. A lot of Dogfish Head, Allagash, and other domestic crafts, as well as Italian beers that you probably can’t get anywhere else. Had a ton of great stuff, but started out with their Peroni happy hour special (2 Peronis + Fried mushrooms + Dry aged beef arancini for $ 20 every day 4−7pm). Great deal, but sadly, the arancini balls were not good. Very bland, and really could’ve used a spicy marinara dipping sauce. The fried mushrooms were better, but also pretty bland.
They also offer one of the saddest cheese plates I’ve ever seen. Literally a flat white plate with three slices of cheese haphazardly placed on top. They didn’t even give us more bread. The hazelnut honey was really good though.
Lastly, we also ordered the braised pork belly, but the bartender misheard us and gave us the sweetbreads instead. It was good, but I really wanted the pork belly. Other than that, the bartenders were nice guys and offered to replace it, but we were too hungry.
Basically, come here for the beers and the view, but don’t expect much from the bar food.

The beauty of New York is that you can turn any and every corner to find something great and delicious. In this concrete jungle, you’re often bogged down and forget to look up! Well here we are. Top of the building, with Eatly just below, Birreria is a great little secret.
This beer garden has plenty for you to choose from. Pair it with a cheese and meat plate. Pick something delicious as your entrée and when you’re done, go back down to Eatly for some coffee or gelato!
The view is nice, who doesn’t like a pretty sunset or view of the city that never sleeps?