The Best Restaurants in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens

Published 1 week ago• 18 minute read

A dish from Hungry Thirsty, a new Thai restaurant in Cobble Hill. — A dish from Hungry Thirsty.

Standout Italian food, Lebanese home cooking, and terrific Thai

by Updated May 7, 2025, 12:48pm EDT

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A dish from Hungry Thirsty.

| Hungry Thirsty

This is an entirely overhauled map in that we’ve combined Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. Since the neighborhoods are small and somewhat intertwined, it’s no big deal to walk down Court Street from one to the other, especially in the warmer weather.

The restaurants in both neighborhoods have been satisfying locals and visitors for a while now. The stretch has always featured solid neighborhood spots and red sauce classics. Yet in the past couple years, restaurants have opened that keep it local as far as the scene but are more ambitious when it comes to the menu, including the La Vara and St. Julivert duo, nostalgic spots Swoony’s and Cafe Spaghetti, Popina and its wines, and Thai restaurants like the new Hungry Thirsty and Untable. Read on for more selections from the Cobble Hill Carroll Gardens corridor.

Melissa McCart is the lead editor of the Northeast region, which covers New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. She has over 20 years of experience in food writing and editing, having worked for Mark Bittman’s Substack and his website on Medium; as restaurant critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and at Newsday. She has freelanced for the Washington Post, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Wall Street Journal, and more. She co-authored Bread and How to Eat It with baker Rick Easton for Knopf.

Robert Sietsema is the former Eater NY senior critic, with more than 35 years of experience as a restaurant critic in New York City. Previously, he has written for the Village Voice, Lucky Peach, Gourmet, and dozens of other publications. He specializes in food that’s fun to eat and not expensive, covering the five boroughs, New Jersey, and beyond.

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Al Badawi opened in 2021 as a follow-up to Ayat, a popular Palestinian restaurant with several locations. Over time, though, the menus traded their most popular dishes, and both places served a similar menu of chicken and beef shawarma, family-style mezze, and Palestinian pizza. Only one has 100-seat dining room at the Cobble Hill border, though, and for Palestinian food in the area, Al Badawi is your best bet. BYOB.

Two shawarma stations — The beef and lamb shawarma at al Badawi.

The Long Island Bar and Restaurant has been open since 1951, when its clientele consisted of hungry dockworkers looking for somewhere to eat. It closed in 2007, and was revived a few years later by its current owners, Toby Cecchini and Joel Tompkins. They kept the old neon sign, refurbished the space, and added a menu of cocktails that are reasonably priced for the area. There’s table service and a full food menu with cheese curds and a standout burger.

A bar with light wood and bar stools. — The Long Island Bar reopened under new owners in 2014.

Burritos with lamb. Guacamole with pita. Tacos with shawarma. Lebanese Mexican food isn’t new — the combination is responsible for foods like tacos Arabes and al pastor — but El Cedro put a modern spin on the cuisines when it opened in 2024. The owner, Maher Chebaro, was born in Beirut and worked in restaurants in Miami and Chicago before opening in Cobble Hill.

A round wooden board with guacamole, yogurt, and muhammara with pitas. — Pita with guacamole, labneh, and muhamarra.

Lillo Cucino Italiana has been reviewed, raved about, Instagrammed, and TikTok’d: Somehow, it still feels like a hidden gem. Part of that is because of the owner, Giampietro “Lillo” Remia, who will probably take your order and make your pasta, too. He’s known for his traditional, unfussy Italian food: cacio e pepe, chicken Milanese, and tiramisu. The place is teeny — about 15 seats (no bathroom) — and it doesn’t take reservations. Cash only.

The Cobble Hill outpost of this Bay Ridge restaurant serves traditional Yemeni food in a casual setting. The lamb dishes stand out here, along with the slow-roasted chicken over rice. Meals come with a warming bowl of broth and the portions are plentiful.

Lamb on saffron rice, a plate of rice mixed with chicken and vegetables, and a large piece of Yemeni flatbread next to a silver dish of garlic paste. — Lamb and saffron rice from Yemen Café.

Open since 2011, Shelsky’s has become a staple in the neighborhood when it comes to pastrami, bagels, lox, pickled fish, and delicatessen eats, a restaurant from Peter Shelsky, of Eleven Madison and Cafe Sabarsky, and Lewis Spada, formerly of Brooklyn’s Fish Tales. A pork roll, egg, and cheese on a bagel is becoming a classic, and don’t sleep on the lox or pickled herring.

Bagel cut in half with cream cheese in the middle. — An everything bagel with cream cheese from Shelsky’s.

Alex Raij and Eder Montero are major players the Cobble Hill dining scene, and their Spanish tapas restaurant La Vara is a compelling destination for Moorish and Sephardic fare. The grilled beans, octopus with citrus and olive oil, and Iberico sausage are some standout snacks. Raij and Montero also added the international seafood restaurant Saint Julivert Fisherie to the neighborhood. Don’t skip the specials at either location, especially the springtime gooseneck barnacles.

Just over the BQE in what’s going by the Columbia Waterfront District resides Popina from James O’Brien, with a menu of pastas, vegetables, and seafood at neighborhood-friendly prices. Don’t miss the recently expanded back patio, now with a bocce court.

A vast back patio with an overhang. — The expanded back patio at Popina.

If there’s a restaurant serving better onigiri in Brooklyn, we haven’t found it. Juju Cafe’s rice balls come wrapped in plastic, but they’re made to order with ingredients that are hot to the touch. The flavors include Spam, pickled plum, shrimp tempura, and spicy roe — but the restaurant will fill them with any combination of ingredients on request, so long as they’re in the kitchen.

A hand holds a rice ball wrapped in plastic. — Juju Cafe and Deli makes rice balls to order.

June is a go-to spot for natural wine in Brooklyn, with by-the-glass offerings that change regularly and an extensive bottle list that includes sparkling oranges. All of its wines are natural, and the staff is very knowledgeable when it comes to recommendations. There’s also a solid menu of seasonal small plates: cheeses, mortadella, Little Gem salad, and entrees like a burger or a half-chicken. In warmer months, opt for the secluded back garden, but the low-lit, dark-wooded interior is cozy, too.

A dramatic bar in Brooklyn. — Inside June.

Founded in 1930, Sam’s may very well be Cobble Hill’s oldest restaurant. At the very least, it’s the oldest place you’ll find stiff cocktails and spaghetti with meatballs. The basement-level spot has everything you’d want from an old-school red sauce joint: There are checkered tablecloths, red booths, and a brick oven for making pizzas.

Outside of Sam’s restaurant in Cobble Hill. — Sam’s has been open since 1930.

Lots of restaurants claim to serve “home cooking” — the meals that chefs grew up eating or otherwise enjoy at home in their off hours. But few do it like Nabila’s. The Lebanese restaurant displays its dips, spreads, and salads on plates and platters, as if you’re actually in a chef’s kitchen, with larger dishes — stuffed cabbage, beef dumplings — arranged in Dutch ovens. You can look them over from behind a sneeze guard, and point out the ones you want, or order off the menu in the dining room.

A white bowl on a white counter top is filled with cabbage rolls with pomegranate seeds on top. — Malfouf mahshi, stuffed cabbage with rice and beef.

Swoony’s is an American restaurant from the same owner as Cafe Spaghetti. The specialty here: gut-busting grill grub, like creamed spinach, clams casino, short rib au poivre, and a double cheeseburger with Thousand Island dressing on an English muffin-style bun. Like the food, the restaurant has an old-fashioned feel; it’s located in a three-story house that was built in 1931.

Swoony’s is opening next week in Carroll Gardens. — A dish from Swoony’s.

Cafe Spaghetti is a newer Italian restaurant in a neighborhood full of old-school standbys. The restaurant is known for its pasta, but there are other ways to eat here, with dishes like meatballs, baked clams, eggplant Parmesan, and chicken Milanese. Some dishes diverge from staples to reflect the modern age: “breakfast spaghetti” with bacon, and at brunch, ricotta pancakes with orange-blossom honey. Don’t miss the backyard garden.

Three pasta dishes blanketed in red and white sauces are arranged on a plate.

For whatever reason — The Bear? — restaurants selling foods from Chicago have multiplied in recent years. Bobbi’s, a small restaurant with a retro vibe, specializes in wet, gravy-soaked Italian beef sandwiches served with sweet peppers or hot pickled vegetables. The large menu has all sorts of other dishes, too, like Italian sausages, Chicago-style hot dogs, and personal pan pizzas.

A Chicago-style hot dog with a side of tater tots is served in a red basket with parchment paper.

Untable opened last fall alums of Thai restaurants, Somtum Der and Ugly Baby. The tagline is “unconventional Thai food” and it largely keeps to the promise with dishes like a super hot “what the hell” fried rice. Check out the specials and Instagram as far as what to order from its often changing menu. The restaurant has recently attracted attention from Michelin with a Bib Gourmand.

The exterior of a red restaurant, Untable, in Caroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Carroll Gardens used to be full of old-school Italian bakeries, but today, there are only a few left. Mazzola, open at this location since 1928, is known for its lard bread — a brown loaf baked with cured prosciutto and provolone. The bakery makes a great slice of Sicilian pizza, too: The sauce is thick and sweet on its crispy crust.

A tray of square slices splotched with fresh mozzarella.

Gus’s started as an approachable neighborhood steakhouse serving dishes that can border on enthralling, including hash browns with trout roe and chicken a la plancha; it has since transitioned to a menu that includes pasta. There’s also a 4 to 6 p.m. happy hour Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday listing a burger and fries for $20, pasta for $!5, and glasses of wine for $12.

A burger with onions and melty cheese sits on a plate at Gus’s Chop House.

This bistro from Battersby, Joe Ogrodnek, and chef Marc St. Jacques displays a menu rooted in French Canadian cuisine but doesn’t stick to it. Look for scallop crudo, tuna toast, and duck fat potatoes among snacks. There’s also an ultra-rich omelet with peekytoe crab and seaweed butter, as well as baked seat trout and caramelized duck breast. The wine list shines here, too.

Lucali starts taking names for dinner at 5 p.m., but fifteen minutes earlier, there’s usually a line down the block. Then there are the rules: It’s cash only. You have a time limit on your table. It’s B.Y.O. wine, but only one bottle is allowed. New Yorkers put up with this because pizza at Lucali is quite special. The dough is thin and chewy, with blistered spots around the perimeter. The only other item on the menu is a calzone: You’ll want to order it.

A pepperoni pizza pie with green leaves of basil scattered on top set on a table

When Thai favorite Ugly Baby closed, the keys were passed on to former employees, who have since opened Hungry Thirsty, a new restaurant with an entirely distinct menu, save for a few homages to Ugly Baby like the beef shank curry. While Ugly Baby was known for its extreme spice warnings on the menu, Hungry Thirsty is ever so slightly toned down. Dishes include items like a shrimp-and-mushroom curry or fried snapper with Thai tea slushies served in cartoon mugs.

A round maroon plate of food on a yellow background.

After five years, owners Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli shuttered Franks Wine Bar, kept the wine selection and transitioned the space to an expansion of F&F Pizzeria. The former takeout only spot now has a dining room, too. The sit-down menu includes a handful of pies, pastas, big salads to share, calzones, carpaccio, and a Sicilian chicken. Note dine-in is Wednesday to Sunday.