Union Smith Café

305 Smith St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Phone: (718) 643-3293

Menu

Union Smith’s spacious outside patio is what attracted me as an observer. Despite random negative comments (possibly fueled by NIMBYism due to patio noise) I decided to make it my Saturday brunch option. It was hot and I should have postponed and dined in someplace air-conditioned. I was hung over and sweaty, I reminded myself of Will Farrell in Anchorman “It's so damn hot... milk was a bad choice.” But I tried not to let it sway my opinion.

Let me start off positive, they have amazing coffee mugs. They are not only large but have the perfect size handle for gripping and perfect size rim for sipping. Due to my addiction to caffeine I require large maintenance doses of caffeine, so this scored points. It is good that the cup was large because the wait staff was a little sluggish. Not turtle slow, but no real sense of urgency.

The menu offered a good variety of lunch and breakfast options. It was a little pricey for brunch and sans the free mimosa you could argue it was not worth it off the bat. But I stuck it out and decided on the macaroni and cheese per my waitress’s recommendation. My roommate ordered the fish and chips and his lady friend did the mac and cheese.

First, the macaroni and cheese was not macaroni and cheese. It was rigatoni. I understand if you serve mac and cheese you have to church it up, but it said “macaroni and cheese” on the menu. Liars. The rigatoni did not really work for me. It is just a bit too large of pasta to get the correct cheese to pasta ratio. Conchiglie, farfalle or rotini would have all been better options. The cheese was great; I would just recommend a change in pasta.

I had to steal a taste of the fish and chips. Generally I am picky when it comes to fish and chips, well, with fried food in general. I usually drown my fish and chips in vinegar to mask the oil taste. I will just say the portion was minuscule and the fish may have been from a box. But the fries were good!

Now, like I said before I was sweaty, hung over and had to work later that day so I was not in the best mood. I tried to be objective in my writing but sometimes emotions and hangovers bleed into reality.