Bruschetteria

The word to describe my lunch at Bruschetteria is "pleasant." (Except for the complimentary glass of wine, which I would generously describe as "inoffensive.")

The $12 lunch special (if you make the same choices as me) included an artichoke bruschetta, a BBQ pork panini, and the aforementioned glass of white wine. That's a damn good deal.

As I waited for my food, I listened to a foursome of French tourists chatter away. They could've been discussing explosive diarrhea, nuclear holocaust, and genocide, but it still sounded beautiful. They don't call it a romance language for nothing.

Good food. Good value. Delightful atmosphere.

This intimate and cozy place was great. Not so great for a large party but if there are two... or three it might be better. The white tiles and green chairs totally threw me off but it was nice. It reminded me of spring.

I ordered the rare tune entree but I had to try the other's entrees. We also shared an appetizer and everything turned into a party in my mouth! My friend's entree had capers which added to the saltiness of her sauce. Overall, though, the dinner was wonderful and the service was pleasant too.

$12.50 for a delicious panini, bruscetta AND wine? Great lunch concept, quick service and friendly server.

Only downside is cash only.

Still my favorite neighborhood spot. Summer goal: become a regular. Came here for "brunch part two" with a friend since our buzz was wearing off and we were craving wine. I know, day drinkers out of college. We're soooo classy. (Please tell me you can see the sarcasm dripping off those words).

Anyway, the waitress was awesome! She was super sweet and funny - the service here is great. The bruschette was delicious as usual - I honestly cannot say one bad thing about this place.

I love this place!!

Me and my girlfriend was wondering around the Lower East Side on a abnormally warm 70F degree weather in the middle of March. What attracted us to go inside this place was because it looked very cozy and simple. The place is not big at all which maybe fits around 20 people in the whole place. They had an small open kitchen which you can see them cooking away. The thing that I really like about this place is their simple menu.

Food - We ordered:
happy hour Sangria - not strong enough but still good
Artichoke Bruschetta - amazing Bruschetta I've had!! I def. can just eat that alone w/o any dip. The artichoke dip was perfect!
Smoked Salmon And Goat Cheese - it was okay, not a big fan of the goat cheese.
Portobello Mushroom & Steamed Spinach Panini - It was good but too much mushrooms.
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Grilled Chicken Panini - Yummy!

Our waiter was very attentive and funny. Our candle kept blowing out because we were laughing too much but our waiter had no problem re-lighting(3x's) it for us. He said "if you do laugh, please laugh away or cover your mouths." hahahha! too funny!

Everything started off so well. The place is super cute and inviting...kinda has a quaint cottage feel to it. It would be a great place to go on a date, or just when you want some place where you can get good food without the wait of a trendy restaurant. The entire menu is very affordable, but keep in mind that it is cash only here.

The deviled eggs were amazing! You get 4 egg halves with each order, and it's super flavorful. The more bruschetta you order, the cheaper each one gets, and with unlimited bread...we got 3 different bruschettas: ricotta with truffle oil, artichoke dip with italian cheeses, and avocado/tomato/onion. The artichoke one is on the heavy side, while the avocado/tomato one is fresh and light...both were delicious. I didn't care for the ricotta with truffle oil...a bit on the bland side.

Up until this point, I was thinking in my head that this place was on its way to earn itself 5 stars. Then our ahi tuna salad and lasagna came out. Both of those dishes fell flat. I could have made a better salad at home, and that's saying a lot since I hardly cook. The tuna wasn't fresh, and the entire salad had a layer of carrots...proportions just weren't right. The lasagna wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't memorable at all. The tomato sauce could have been meatier, and probably would have tasted better if they had added some more butter.

The service wasn't very good either...one waitress to service the entire place (but it's a small place with at most 20 people). When we asked for recommendations, we didn't get very confident answers, drinks took forever to get, when we asked for another cup of ice, she came back with a bottle of coke instead.

I'd definitely come back for the bruschettas and deviled eggs, and probably would opt for the paninis next time.

When I'm hungry, I need to be fed. But when I want to feast, I'm picky about what I put into my body. Wandering around the LES, I peered at about 5 menus around the neighborhood before I was drawn into this tiny, charming little 15 seater.

The food was fresh, tasty, inexpensive, and service was very good. I ordered the chorizo salad, originally supposed to be served with goat cheese - but since I don't like strong cheese, I had it subbed for fresh mozzarella. Totally awesome. The panini (mozzarella, tomatoes and prosciutto) was tasty and the meat v. veg v. cheese was well proportioned. Oh yes, the mushroom barley soup of the day was just wholesome and tasty. I like this place.

p/s: They are also a wine bar and have rows upon rows of wine to pick from.

On the last day of my NYC, I stumbled into this place around 2pm, famished and tired. After a quick stop in a bodega for an ATM visit (this place is CASH ONLY!), I was seated quickly.

I had the $12 (a bruschetta, a panini and a glass of wine or a soda). Maybe I'm easily impressed because we don't have cute, tiny establishments in the land of strip malls where I live, but this was just what I wanted!

I got the traditional tomato-cheese bruschetta and for the sandwich, I got chicken-pesto-panchetta. The wine, for likely not being very expensive, was pretty darned palatable. I got the red.

Good service, almost overattentive for a place so tiny, but better overly eager than rude or invisible, right? The meal was perfectly filling and tasted great. I enjoyed it.

I particularly enjoyed the ladies at the next table (who were close enough for me to hear their entire conversation) who reminded me of the skit Mike Myers used to do on Saturday Night Life, "Cawffee Tawlk"

There are many insufferable puritan types in the food world. A novice food snob may abnegate the use of dried herbs, scorn table salt (vs kosher or fancy-pants fleur de sel), or exhibit irrational enthusiasm for bacon and other cured meats.

Upon graduation from food snobbery 101, we get into incessant behavior such as shunning all but the most seasonal and local of ingredients (which must be grown on a hippie commune in the Hudson Valley region) or the insistent solicitation of proper pronunciation of food words, such as "bruschetta".

This latter type of snobbery gives me particular trouble, given my boorish bringing-up, where "Ya'll" is an acceptable method of addressing others.

In contrast to Bruschetteria's charming decor and pleasant staff, it would appear that malevolence may manifest itself it you were to even *consider* mis-pronouncing "broo-shet-ah" (bruschetta) - perhaps accompanied by a "cah-fay oh-late" (café au lait) or an "eeh-vee-ahn" (Évian) ::smirk::. The restaurant has even gone to the lengths of spelling this out phonetically for the Philistine masses.

To avoid humiliation from an accidental mis-pronunciation, I opted for a chicken and avocado "pah-nee-nee" - well portioned and tasty, accompanied by a refreshing cucumber salad.

Despite all my best efforts, I couldn't escape from my unsophisticated upbringing - I knocked over a dainty display of business cards as I fumbled with my coat upon exiting. Note to future dates: avoid taking me to nice places, such as "broo-sket-ah-ria".

When you've had an afternoon full of Spumoni Garden pizza, Dumpling House sesame bread, and a Doughnut Plant strawberry glazed, it's hard to work up an appetite for dinner - especially if the doughnut was only a half hour earlier. But it was better than the alternate option which was eating in Jersey (since that's where we were staying). And that is how we came to stuff a dinner in our un-hungry bellies.

We shared a small green salad with tomatoes and red onions ($4.50). It was good and the ingredients all looked and tasted fresh.

We couldn't resist ordering the bruschetta, since it's the restaurant's namesake. There's an entire portion of the menu devoted to bruschetta with five different kinds. (I really wanted to try the un-bruschetta sounding avocado/red onion one but my husband is anti-avocado.) We got the tomato/mozz one and the cannellini beans one ($4.50 each, $8.00 for two). The tomato/mozz one was fine but had too much mozz for us. We liked the cannellini beans one more - my husband really loved it - but it tasted about the same as the one I've made at home before (canned beans + olive oil + some dried herbs = appetizer from the pantry in 1 minute).

They offered us extra bread for our bruschetta, which was really appreciated. I feel like lots of places try to nickel and dime you on things like that. The server and proprietor were very nice, and the place is very cozy and cute. I was very thirsty after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and through Chinatown and the Lower East Side so I was impressed that we never ran out of the complimentary water in bottles at the table. They monitored the bottle situation very closely and they refilled our bottle several times.

The bathroom is unisex and is accessible by a sliding door from the kitchen. For a unisex bathroom it was very clean (read: no urine-sticky floors from men who can't aim), however there were no paper towels and no hand dryer. Also, the sliding door is hard to open when you want to get out. I was briefly worried that I might be stuck in the Bruschetteria bathroom forever but then I was able to jiggle the door open a little. Eternity in the Bruschetteria bathroom averted.