Chestnut / Café Steinhof

This is where I would love to share a wonderful story about dining at one of the Brooklyn dining hot spots, Chestnut. Unfortunately, I have to say that my experience with the restaurant is so poor that even before I dine there, it is likely that I would never go there.

I noticed an advertisement for Brooklyn Restaurant Week, and called ahead with plenty of lead time knowing that restaurants get filled quickly. No one at the restaurant picked up the phone, so I left a message as per their instructions which specified leaving detailed instructions and that they would call to confirm. Over the course of the next weeks, I called again to confirm and left another message. I e-mailed them. Finally, I got an answer from them today, the very day my reservation was supposed to be on, that they were not able to accommodate a party of our size and beyond that they were full anyway. If the lackadaisical approach to service is the first impression that the customer get at this restaurant, then I can hardly imagine the service at the restaurant itself. It seems that it will be a long shot for me to ever try the restaurant.



Not one to give up a dinner opportunity though, I ended up going with some of my original party to a bustling place in Park Slope called Café Steinhof. A small, cheery and well lit pub-like restaurant, I was pleased to find this little delicious venue on the suggestion of my cousin's girlfriend, Jullie. The restaurant serves Austrian comfort food, and does it very successfully. Amongst our party we had wiener schnitzel, beef goulash, some weisswurst (very tender with a wonderfully snappy casing), a bit of kielbasa, some potato roesti, and a delicious slice of sour cherry linzertorte. The restaurant was an excellent last minute substitute for Chestnut, not to mention undoubtedly more economical, and the service was quite good.