Clinton Street Baking Company

i have gone to csbc on weekends before and endured the superlong wait, and it's been definitely good enough to return and wait again. but then i decided to go on a weekday that i had off from work, and was shocked to find out how great their lunch is! many of the same items i have come to love from the brunch menu (huevos rancheros) and even some new things that i hadn't seen on the before! and guess what- NO WAIT! service was wonderful and the food was absolutely on par. yum!

My friend and I wanted to see what all the hype was about, so we decided to check out Clinton St. Baking Company for brunch on a random Saturday. We had to wait three hours for a table. I'm not even exaggerating! There were people packed into the little waiting area and even more spilling out into the street. I'm surprised fights weren't started. The food was fantastic and the drinks great, but I would never, ever go back again.

Yes, the wait is long. But if it's a nice day and you have a good friend to wait with, it's worth it! The banana walnut pancakes were easily the best pancakes I've ever had. The special egg scramble had morel mushrooms, fava beans, and other straight-from-the-green-market veggies, and a delicious goat cheese. Everything was amazing, and the servers were excellent. Worth the wait!! I'll just get there earlier next time :)

You can get a burger and brew for $10 here before 8pm. The other food is good too, but that is the best bang for your buck. I've heard the breakfast here is top-notch, but can't understand waiting outside for eggs and pancakes. I finally went when I took a day off work and didn't see what all the hype was about, it's eggs and pancakes people. Yes it's good, but to stand outside in inclimate weather, no thanks.

if the wait wasn't so long (at least one hour) and it wasn't so packed, maybe we would have a better impression. While the food and service were good, it wasn't worth the wait. Early on a weekend morning, who needs to put up with crowded conditions. There are lots of better finds for brunch in NYC especially downtown on the smaller quaint side streets. Seems like a case of too much good press "ten best places for NYC brunch" creating a lack of atmosphere and ease.

We arrived at 9.30am for the 10am opening and were the first in line. Felt a bit foolish and somewhat skeptical about previous warnings about long lines, but that soon vanished when suddenly crowds descended and the restaurant filled up even before seating. Atmosphere is nice and cosy. Not pretentious like many Manhattan places can be. Clean bathrooms, always good. We were a party of six and tried a good number of their offerings. Pancakes were fluffy and nice. My husband passed on the maple butter and asked for good old regular maple syrup. I had the brioche French toast and thought it was really quite good. The goat cheese and herb muffin with tomatoe jam sounded intriguing but was actually heavy and somewhat bland for such a lovely name. Chocolate chunk scones were delightful, with good quality bittersweet chunks. Waiting is not restricted to the lines outside. Our orders took more than 20 minutes to arrive. The wait stuff kept coming to ask if they could clear things, not so subtly trying to hurry us along. While we were taking a few minutes to sort out the check, they asked if we could go already because there was line outside. Maybe I would do the same if I was a wait stuff raking in tips at the bakery but it didn't feel so nice as a customer, especially not at a relaxing Sunday brunch. Overall, food was generally of good quality but certainly over priced for what it was. I'm glad I went but won't be in a hurry to return.

This place managed to be everything a restaurant shouldn't be in one, sad brunch visit. Long wait - 1 1/2 hours - yes, that was my fault. I shouldn't have believed the repeated '15 minutes for a table' promise from the host as everyone on the sidewalk with me told me she was lying... Once seated was told we would only have 5 minutes to order as they were closing, nice way to be greeted. After ordering we suspiciously received our food in about a minute, actually before we even got our drinks. Yes, as you can imagine, the food was made ahead of time in preparation for the kitchen closing and then plated for the waitress as she waited and then brought right out. Bacon cold, pancakes cold and hard, cheese coagulated. I can see what this place wants to do, they just don't have the skill to pull it off. If someone with the resources was smart they would pounce on the opportunity to this kind of a place in the neighborhood and do it right.