NYCGuide

The Best Brunch Spots In Williamsburg

Where to go for shakshuka, banana bread, chilaquiles, and more.
A spread of brunch food on a table with a latte in the middle.

photo credit: Teddy Wolff

Whether you count down the hours until Saturday morning or wouldn’t touch a two-hour wait for eggs with a 10-foot pole, brunch is a part of NYC life that’s hard to escape. And Williamsburg might as well be Brunch Disneyland. It has every kind of food and setting you could ever want—which means that picking a brunch spot in the neighborhood can feel stressful and overwhelming. Where do you go? This guide will help you answer that question, and it'll provide some solid back-up plans when you do inevitably encounter a two-hour wait.

THE SPOTS

photo credit: Emily Schindler

Israeli

Williamsburg

$$$$Perfect For:BreakfastBrunchPeople Watching
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K’Far is located in the lobby of the Hoxton Hotel, in a big, bright space that could pass for a lounge in Beverly Hills. It’s from the people behind Laser Wolf (which occupies the roof of the same hotel), and the menu is made up of Israeli food like shakshuka, latkes, and breakfast sandwiches served on long, sesame-encrusted Jerusalem bagels. You can grab a seat in the main dining room under a canopy of potted plants, or you hang out on a couch in the greenhouse-like area that gets plenty of light. Just be sure to make a reservation, and don’t forget to order a pistachio sticky bun.

For a quick, casual brunch, Good Thanks is a great option. This spot—which also has a location on the Lower East Side—has everything you expect from an Australian cafe: avocado toast, flat whites, a mostly-white interior that won’t exacerbate your hangover, etc. Try the whipped ricotta, or get the burger, which tastes like a better version of something you’d snag from a drive-thru. Beverage options include a bloody mary and an espresso martini, although you can also drink a green juice if you aren’t quite ready for vodka.

Did you miss every train this week? Or did you forget to mute yourself while you were watching TikTok during a Zoom meeting? Sounds like you need Baby Blues. At this Greek-American restaurant, everything is a calming shade of baby blue, including the tables, banquettes, and shelves stacked with VHS tapes. The little room looks like a coffee shop crossed with a retro diner, and the menu is full of unpretentious crowd-pleasers, such as baklava banana bread, a BEC, and a plate of creamy soft-scrambled eggs with pita and halloumi.

Sunday in Brooklyn attracts a brunch crowd for three reasons: the food, the space, and the fact that it’s called “Sunday in Brooklyn.” It’s the kind of place where people would go even if the food were hot garbage, but the good new is, it's not. The hazelnut maple praline pancakes are famous for a reason, and you've probably seen them on every single social media feed that you've ever encountered. This place may look like the beautiful home in Williamsburg that you'll never own, but at least you can own those pancakes (or the shakshuka, or biscuits and gravy).

Brunch at Four Horsemen, a tiny and perpetually buzzy wine bar, is so un-brunchlike, they call it lunch. If you want a proper meal with excellent coffee and not just a hangover cure set to bad music, this is the spot for you. The menu changes regularly, but you can expect things like steak tartare, boudin blanc, and butternut squash toast. Four Horsemen serves their lunch menu on Fridays, too, making it a rare weekday brunch spot.

When your head is pounding on a weekend morning, Oh Boy is where you nurse yourself back to health. It’s a small cafe on the corner of Havemeyer and Metropolitan that does a riff on a McGriddle breakfast sandwich. There’ll be groovy vinyl playing, they have plenty of coffee options, and a pretty good smashburger that’s exactly the right level of greasy and crisp. There are only a few tables, so count yourself lucky if there’s room. Once you've bounced back, you might contemplate getting a drink—and they serve natural wine until closing at 4pm.

You could bring just about anyone to Lighthouse, and they’d have a good time. Most of the food skews Mediterranean, with plenty of great vegetarian options like sprouted hummus, burrata with toasted sourdough, and grilled escarole topped with tahini (a Lighthouse classic). But the menu doesn't always stay on theme. During brunch, you can also get chilaquiles, ceviche, or an egg sandwich. If it's nice out, be sure to snag a picnic table on the sidewalk.

RESERVE A TABLE

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Reunion looks like a little coffee shop, but it’s actually an Israeli cafe that does breakfast and lunch every day. There’s some nice sidewalk seating when the weather is decent, and if you stop by on a Saturday, most of that seating will probably be occupied. This place gets busy at brunch, but don't let that deter you from putting your name in for a table. This is one of the best weekend-afternoon spots in the neighborhood, and you should eat some shakshuka here.

Don’t want to deal with the wait at Reunion? Baba Cool is on the same block, and it covers all your casual-brunch bases. Backyard? Full bar? Check and check. Avocado toast? Yes, of course. What is this, not Williamsburg? They have sandwiches as well, in addition to a few different bowls, and soft scrambled eggs that taste like they’re 50% butter. Book a table under a shelf of potted plants in the luncheonette-like space, or just swing by and put your name in.

There’s a pretty good chance that your first brunch experience in Williamsburg happened at Juliette. People mob this place for its atmosphere: part French bistro, part well-kept jungle. You’ll want to be eating on the roof if it’s warm, but the plant room, which is covered in vegetation, is a very good backup plan. As for the menu, it has totally serviceable, French-ish food. But the food isn’t really why you come to Juliette.

Brunch should be a comfortable experience. What’s the point of getting out of bed and maybe even brushing your teeth only to go sit in a rickety chair that digs into your butt, and eat off a table that rocks every time you try to cut something? At Meadowsweet, you can sit on a tall leather banquette and enjoy a pleasant brunch that won’t have you wishing you were on your couch. The food (poached eggs, duck pastrami hash, etc.) is excellent, and brunch is a great way to try the place on a leaner budget.

At Okonomi, there's only one thing on the menu: a traditional Japanese set breakfast that consists of a bowl of rice, miso soup, a piece of fish, and a few small sides—with optional add-ons like uni and ikura. The food is simple and delicious, and, since the restaurant only fits 12 customers at a time, the experience feels special and communal. If you've never been here, make a reservation. Okonomi is slowly becoming an NYC classic, and it's a nice change of pace from your typical brunch spot.

You probably know that Diner, located in an old Pullman dining car near the Williamsburg Bridge, is one of those restaurants you really need to try already. And you probably also know that they serve a legendary burger. But what you might not know is that this place is a truly excellent choice for brunch. The brunch menu changes often, and typically involves an interesting mix of things like brioche french toast, a bánh mì, and a breakfast sandwich with Calabrian chili oil. The burger is always available, and it's always a good choice.

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