Charlie Bird

Voted the #2 Favorite Date Spot of New Yorkers according to this list:

Great wine, great food. Very sexy, dim lit ambience.
My friend and I split a veg dish, an appetizer, and a pasta.
Veg dish– caramelized cauliflower
Appetizer– bone marrow
Pasta– rigatoni with suckling pig ragu
Everything was great. The bone marrow was delicious and the rigatoni was very good as well. The winner of the night was the caramelized cauliflower by far. The candied hazelnuts with the mint and the steamed cauliflower and roasted cauliflower combination was to die for. I’d come back just for that dish!!!

Crowded for a an early Tuesday night. The food was excellent. Lots of flavor in everything. Some of the pasta portions were smallish. The Farro salad was awesome, but the cauliflower seemed over drenched in vinegar. The focaccia bread was fresh, warm, light and crusty.

Bring a girl here. She’ll dig it.
Let her pay.

Charlie Bird doesn’t have a lot of seating but the cozy environment makes it sexy and hip. I loved the hip hop tracks they played and the waiters were attentive. There’s definitely a retro vibe and their extensive wine/​drink list is a nice way to ease into a night out. We ordered:
Razor clams — so incredibly fresh and amazing!
Farro Salad — it lives up to the hype. I’m not a huge salad eater but it’ll help fill you up and easy to share
Roasted Chicken — this was so juicy and tasty. Would definitely order again
Broccoli Rabe — was a bit too salty for our party but if they had held out a bit with the salt it would have been a great side

Charlie Bird is a hip, yet unpretentious restaurant with good food! I went for dinner last night and it was hopping for a Monday night. Although all the tables were filled, it wasn’t too loud, and I didn’t feel packed in. The restaurant had great ambiance and wonderful, dim lighting that made for a cozy meal.
We opted to order family style so we could all try more dishes. We asked our waiter what the best dishes were and I think he steered us in the right direction! We ordered the Gnocchi Rosa, I believe they change the preparation of the Gnocchi daily, but what we had was surprisingly spicy and delicious, and the gnocchi itself was perfectly cooked. We also had the Rigatoni Ragu with Saffron & Suckling Pig, the pasta was a little toooo al dente for my taste, but still a good dish. We also ordered the Burrata, which you can never go wrong with, my only wish was that there was more Burrata, if you are sharing this dish you don’t get very much! The Crispy Brussels Sprouts were PERFECTION, this was my FAVORITE dish, just so so so good. We got the caramalized cauliflower as well, which could have been better… I really like cauliflower, but compared to the amazing Brussels Sprouts, these weren’t very special. The French Friend Potatoes were very crispy and well herbed, but really its hard to fuck up french fries. We also got the Crispy Sea Bream, which was crispy, but may be been a little dry. For dessert we shared the warm chocolate bundino cake which was tiny, but delightful and served with VERY good olive oil ice cream, which I have never had before, and found refreshingly good.
The food was good, the environment was extremely pleasant and cozy for a winter’s eve dinner! For a restaurant that is currently hip and on all ‘the lists’ the staff was friendly, laid back and unpretentious. Also the hostess Kimberley was a delight!!!

If you like your better than average-​very good cooking served with a side order of Biggie Smalls and Eric B. and Rakim, Charlie Bird is your place!
Charlie Bird is a fun restaurant and one I would return to. The 3.5 star sentiment is pretty accurate for the food and service, but the bumpin atmosphere pushes it to 4 stars.
I had the Octopus, Burrata and Farro Salad. The Farro Salad was my favorite. A lot of texture, and flavor with the addition of mint, roasted pumpkin and pistachios. The day we were there, the Octopus was slightly over cooked, but mixed with the ceci beans and prosciutto the flavors were spot on.
Overall, as I said, solid food… but the reason you go is to get that with the atmosphere… Great Bar area… great tunes, if you like 90s Hip Hop… just a cool vibe in general!

I’m actually kind of surprised to see the mixed reviews of Charlie Bird. I’ve been here twice now, and I think it’s pretty fantastic. The first time, I stopped by with a few friends for a midday glass of wine and a crostini snack following a movie at the Film Forum. I loved the waitress’s wine suggestion, a really nice Borgo del Tiglio that reminded me of a light chardonnay, and my toast was delicious too.
I returned for a Friday night date, and enjoyed the sultry atmosphere and hip hop playing quietly in the background. We started with the raw scallops, which were delicate and perfect, served in their shells in a refreshing pool of citrus. I also really loved the warm herb laden bread, which was complimentary, and brushed with plenty of olive oil.
For my main course, I chose the cavatelli with suckling pig ragu. It sounded the most interesting, but it was a pretty standard ragu, with nice chunks of meat. The cavatelli was nice and chewy, absolutely homemade. At my husband’s insistence, we split a dessert as well: the chocolate cake with olive oil gelato. I can’t resist olive oil gelato, honestly. For someone who lacks a huge sweet tooth, I really enjoyed this dessert, and was so sad when it was rapidly gobbled up.
Our waiter was attentive and helpful, and the hostess was friendly too. Overall, Charlie Bird is a really solid spot.

So good! Loved the plate sharing concept. Got to try a lot of great dishes. My favorite was the duck ragu. Awesome wine selection also. A New York City gem!

I came here one day by myself for lunch because I wanted to try their razor clams, but ended up getting so much more. They had a lunch pre-​fixe for $ 25 that came with a small plate and a pasta, so I got the razor clams as my small and the chitarra nero pasta as my main. Looking through the rest of the menu, I couldn’t help but get the bay scallops as well.
Bay scallops — served raw in it’s shell, with meyer lemon and pistachio. This was delicious — sweet, tart, briny, and earthy. It worked very well.
Razor clams — also served raw in it’s shell, with fennel and chiles paste. This wasn’t as notable on the palette as the scallops, but also very good. A little bit of heat with the brininess, and lightened with fennel.
Chitarra nero — squid ink noodles tossed with crab and garlic — tasted like the sea. It was a good plate, but I was expecting something more/​better after the two starters. Oh well, can’t win them all.
Buttermilk panna cotta — rounded off the meal with some dessert. It was okay. The blueberry meringue pieces were a little big and difficult to break apart — a little unwieldy for a delicate dessert.
There were certainly other items on the menu that I’d like to try so I’ll be back.

I came here with my boyfriend, and we had a great dinner. He prefers to call it «Charlie Baby» though, which, it seems only natural considering the portions are for small birds. My babe ordered a pasta dish and we were somewhat concerned about where the other half was. We hope the staff ate it. Their caloric needs must be high at the rate they race to and from the table clearing things. I gave my boyfriend a kiss and by the time we opened our eyes, someone had already brought back the credit card. I’ll just assume that they have a unicorn on duty. Anyway, they did not want us lingering as long as we would have liked. Fortunately, the oysters worked, so we were ready to get out of there and head back to the pitched tent on our balcony.
The food was good, the ambiance was nice. Overall, A little «wham, bam, thank you ma’am» but it was good duck.

Sorry, Charlie. I’ve given this spot a few chances and I remain unimpressed.
The food is good — I won’t tell you it’s not. But the portions are so laughably small, and so head-​scratchingly overpriced, I’d feel like a fool for telling you this place is worth it. The Smoked Cod Salad, for example, was a brushstroke shape of lentils that took up maybe 10% of the plate’s real estate, with minuscule pieces of fish that together probably added up to one regular bite of a bigger fish dish at any other restaurant. It was $ 15. Which seems to be the going rate for the majority of their shareable items here. Which are, again, shareable items with very little to share. The Farro Salad, a bowl of grains, pumpkin, pistachio, mint, and Parmigiano, is probably the most popular dish, and the sole recommendation I’d side with should you still decide to eat here.
I’ve only come for lunch, but every group I’m with seems to complain about the menu. One section is just called Small & Large, with no delineation between which, except to maybe infer size based on price tag, which at a place like this, is no given. Between the other sections — Raw, Salads, and Pasta — no one seems to know how much or what to order (hint: it’s not the Smoked Cod Salad). The servers will help map our your meal in that respect, but catch them while you can — the place gets packed and they seem a bit short-​staffed.
The space is tight, and I’m always seated at their half-​floor, bird’s nest-​style back section. It’s adorned with trendy yellow booths and boombox artwork that matches the hip-​hop soundtrack spinning in the background. And I wish that music and motif worked here, but they should just cater to their true demographic — senior citizen women of Manhattan whose small plate appetites and old money pair well with Charlie Bird’s business model.
In other words, not me.

Food was delicious, but expect smaller portions.
Had the long neck clams and scallops, tagliatelle, farro salad, grilled octopus, cauliflower side and seared duck.
Everything was beautifully seasoned.
Service was brilliant, would definitely return.

Sat outside (big umbrellas — a plus for my fair skinned self!) for lunch today. Loved the food — The burrata was a tad salty, but all other dishes — Octopus, spicy crab pasta and chicken — were delicious. Will certainly go back and try more food and order that chicken again. The kitchen also very kindly split the pasta and chicken on 2 plates despite us sharing all plates. Major plus.
Plates are small, so we spent ~$ 110 for 4 plates and a drink a piece. Bit pricey for what you’re getting, but we expected that.
Only negative was spotty service. We waited 20 min. between finishing our «starters» (burrata and main dish the octopus) and the pasta, another 15 for the chicken. Wouldn’t have been too big a deal, but it’s lunch, so we were in a bit of a rush and didn’t anticipate a 3 course type meal. Tables around us were also frustrated with the wait. Waitress wasn’t very apologetic, which is disappointing. All in all though, I’d try again, just make sure to not be in any rush.

Had a reservation here and was seated promptly indoors, but at a table right beside the open window. A nice cool breeze blew through the entire night.
Our server was great — told us what wasn’t available for the evening and perfectly described two dishes we were debating. Between two couples, we ordered 2 apps, 2 pastas, 2 vegetables, 1 entrée. It was the perfect amount of food without feel stuffed. I love the blend of traditional ingredients with some more modern and in-​season ingredients — giving this restaurant a nice twist on your basic Italian.
The standout for me was the farro salad with shaved Parmesan and beets — heavenly. A perfect blend of different flavors. But, every dish was great!
This place a a fun, casual-​trendy vibe, where someone with a $ 15,000 watch could sit next to a person wearing a hoodie and we could all eat happily.

Great atmosphere with dim lights, romantic and somewhat intimate setting. But the restaurant is kind of narrow so they have tight seatings.
The food was amazing. We ordered the grilled octopus, scallop, veal chop and the bass. The scallop was so fresh and so good. Probably the best I’ve ever had. However, the portion is tiny. And that goes the same for their wine pour. Reasonably priced for NYC, 2 people: 2 apps, 2 entrees, 2 rounds of drinks around 200.
Oh and they play hip hop which went oddly well with the restaurant. I love me some jay-​z and drake when I dine and wine na mean

Dinner for four at Charlie Bird last night. Great friendly service and cool space. Main courses: 2 steaks, lots of fat and gristle. Cod with corn, ok but average. Pork chop, sub-​standard. Thin cut with not much flavor, over done.
We had several appetizers: rigatoni, really good but tiny portion for $ 24.00! Tripe toast, best ever. Buratta way too runny and tasteless. One dozen oysters, poor– when do you not finish all the oysters?
We had a bottle of Italian red wine and 3 cocktails. Total came to about 500.00. There are way better restaurants to spend your $ 500.00. I will not be back.

I had eaten at Charlie Bird with a group of coworkers, arriving approximately around noon hoping that we could get there before the crowd. When we arrived and told the hostess we were 6 and we did not have a reservation. She suggested we sit at the bar because there was no space for us. She didn’t seem thrilled that we were there and didn’t appear to want to try and accommodate our party. Looking at the bar it seemed there wasn’t space there, but a slew of open tables that I was assuming we’re booked for reservations.
As we were attempting to think of other places to go nearby a gentleman who I assume was the manager/​owner came to the hostess stand and asked how he could help us and immediately was looking for ways to seat us. After dealing with a very unenthusiastic hostess this was much appreciated. After several minutes we were seated.
For the group we ordered the Farro Salad, Tuna salad, artichokes, octopus and cauliflower. The only thing that wasn’t superb was the tuna salad. The artichokes had to be my favorite! They seemed to have been flash fried so weren’t incredibly oily and were perfectly crispy!
For the main meal I had ordered the black bass, which was out of this world! It was served with asparagus and small onions in what tasted like a sherry vinegar. Sweet and light… perfect lunch meal!
Right as we were about to ask for the check we were offered dessert and had to give in after seeing the menu. We ordered the chocolate budino and the cheese plate. The cheese was so creamy and delicious and there aren’t even words to describe the chocolate budino with olive oil gelato. It was sweet with a salty aftertaste and I was so tempted to lick the plate. One of the best desserts I’ve ever had!
I will be back again, but will remember to make a reservation next time!

This place is one of my favorites in the neighborhood. Former inhabitants of the space have quickly turned over (not unlike many restaurants in this general area), however, I think and hope that we’ve found a keeper with Charlie Bird.
Expect clean and modern takes on Italian classics, with plenty of seafood specialties. My favorites include the razorfish clams, scallop crudo with browned butter, any of the pastas and warm fig focaccia bread.
Servers are attentive, knowledgeable and provide great recommendations. Ask for wine pairings if you don’t know what to wash your meal down with. In the summer, the patio is open for outdoor dining and the windows open up for an extra burst of fresh air.

I don’t get it. I was reading all about the hype of this place so I decided to try it out for brunch, but unfortunately it was the most underwhelming brunch I’ve ever had. The restaurant was practically empty when we arrived around noon, so I was a little skeptical. It began to fill up a little throughout our meal, but not that much. To my surprise, there were a lot of families eating here, which I thought was weird considering the not so kid friendly old school hip hop blasting in the background. Anyways… we were seated next to a family with screaming kids that were walking around. Normally, I wouldn’t put the restaurant at fault for something like that but the restaurant was completely empty, yet they decided to pack everyone next to each other. Aside from the crappy atmosphere, which is minimal to me when reviewing a place, the food was just underwhelming.
First off, I should say that this place isn’t really a true brunch place. The menu was mostly lunch items with a few breakfast items such as eggs and the special of the day which was pancakes. With little to choose from in the breakfast food area, my friend and I both decided on the poached egg dish. When we ordered the dish, our waitress told us that it only came with one egg and that she recommended adding another. At $ 16, the thought of only serving one poached egg when it’s the main part of the dish, completely blows my mind. We went with the upgrade because we were hungry guys and decided to share a side of their french fries too.
Once our egg dishes came out, I was a little confused. The menu said poached egg with brussel sprouts, so I was expecting a decent portion of brussels along with my poached eggs. Instead, there was a skimpy portion of shaved brussels on top of the dish. The dish consisted of the poached egg (2 since we upgraded) sitting in a pool of some sort of broth, with macadamia nuts, and small duck crackling pieces. The macadamia nuts added a weird sweetness to the dish and the broth kind of ruined the taste of the runny yolk from the egg once cut into it. The dish lacked different levels of flavors and had me longing for more of something. We hoped that the french fries would save the day, but they were just regular french fries with salt and rosemary and no ketchup was brought out, so there was no saving grace with those.
All the hype I read about this place was for their dinner service, so maybe I’m missing something but after having brunch here, there would be a lot of convincing to do to get me back here for another meal!