Kitchen at Cobble Hill

Two other tables of diners on a weds night for dinner. With seating were asked if we want flat or seltzer water so we opt for seltzer. What the waiter doesn’t tell us tho is its $ 3/​glass, we found out with the bill.
Now on to the food. Started with the soup of the day (roasted red pepper and cauliflower vegan purée). Texture was nice, lots of red pepper flavor. Latkes were pretty delicious, I’d describe them like thin cut hash browns loosely shaped into pancakes. They were crispy and went well with caramelized onions and thick sour cream.
Watermelon salad was small cubes with too much feta and a good amount of arugula. Mint flavor and dressing were good, just didn’t impress me and wasn’t as refreshing as I imagined. Beef stew was comforting like Babushka would do.
Service and food came out slow but overall I’d try again with a new menu.

I had a great experience here. I went on a Thursday evening, was surprised it wasn’t busier. I decided to walk in because the menu in the window looked good, and I liked the décor.
I ordered a Manhattan to drink. Thought it was weird that an olive was in it, but it was very good. Ordered the grass fed burger which was great. I’m normally not impressed with burgers at nicer restaurants, but it was solid. The side salad was also incredible.
I’m honestly not sure why people gave it fewer stars. My server Sergey was great. The only downside about this place is they only take Cash and American Express, which is why I gave 4 instead of 5 stars. Customers want convenience.

The carrot soup was sugary and watery.
The latkes were uncooked and oily in the middle.
The burger was – fancy meat as advertised? Doubtful.
All in all, bad bad bad.
It’s just like Karloff.

Wow! A great meal and excellent service. I regret not coming in before because Ive been missing out on some wonderfully executed food. Our table had the chicken soup which was super flavorful, a grilled calamari special which was outstanding, and a lamb special which was tremendous. The waitstaff presented the wine we ordered and offered tastes, which is an extra touch I don’t often see anymore. I’m looking forward to my next visit.

The good was a good smattering of modern European dishes. It seemed slightly overpriced for the serving sizes. Wine list was mediocre with fair prices. The cocktails looked nice, but didn’t try one on this visit. No need to make a reservation on a Tuesday night — there was no one there when we walked in. By the time we left, maybe 5 tables were filled. The latkas were really good, wish there had been three instead of two for $ 9! The chicken soup was decent, but the dumplings were not that great. The modified strog was good, small portion though. We had a question about the AMAZING brussel sprout side and how it was prepared, and the owner came out and answered us and thanked us for our patronage.

A very pleasant spot for brunch. Very friendly and attentive service and a lovely ambience. Good coffee and the Brussel sprout side is really, really yummy. Only issue was that my poached eggs were a bit overcooked. I love me some benedicts, and they have some good options (including chicken sausage and smoked salmon bennies) but that egg needs to be perfection for 5 full stars.

February with it’s cold and rainy days makes me crazy nostalgic for the comfort food of my childhood and gets me dreaming of my grandma’s beef stroganoff and potato latkes!
Lucky for me I discovered this gem of a restaurant about 3 years ago and have been here for solo lunches of juicy, grilled to perfection burgers. Date nights with my man, where we move through decadent cocktails and onto the crispy Latkes, Brussel Sprouts that are just out-​of-​this world, and too-​many-​to-​count bunches.
Now that the revamped décor is all grown up and glows with soft sophistication, the Kitchen is my first choice for drunken late night dinners with friends and out-​of-​towners who want a taste of the «real» Brooklyn they read about. Basically, this place delivers a sexy and warm atmosphere and consistently achieves great stuff food-​wise, right here in Cobble Hill. So I no longer need to sit in traffic, cross the Bridge and back again to get my weekend Soho Tribeca fix.
If you are new to this place try any of the Specials, you will not be disappointed! Their signature Crispy Potato Latkes are amazing. The portion is huge with two pieces to an order (more than enough to share) Also the Kale soup is silky, creamy, nourishing perfection, I love this for lunch.
There are so many attractive vodka and gin cocktails as well as infused vodka. If you are feeling bold, go for the garlic and dill infusion or the ginger. If you are the «delicate wallflower» type they also have a girl-​friendly raspberry :)
Olga and her team are always a pleasure and super helpful. I’m a real fan of this restaurant, from the thoughtful and inspired menu, to the warmth of the service staff, down to the elegant marbled tables and sprinkle of Russian clientele to add to the authenticity.

I had great dinner. Nice and quite, very relaxing. I will be back for half chicken. I recommend to try this place.

My wife and I are there very often we are always surprised by how fresh and well prepared the food is! We’ve tried pretty much everything and could not suggest anything in particular, it really depends on what you’re looking for. The menu is very rich going from classic Russian dishes to a fantastic American burger, lots of fish dishes. Money wise if you are on a budget or want to have a quick meal they have a special lunch menu for only $ 8!!! Cmon what do you buy with 8 $ even a sandwich in a deli costs more!

The atmosphere, food, and wine at this restaurant make it a solid neighborhood option. It is reliable, with a good selection, etc. A pleasant space and experience.
After two visits, I remain frustrated by the service. Employees are kind, but the slowness, forgotten requests (to exclude peppers from a salad, or bring bread and butter to the table_​) and a general lack of efficiency do affect the diner’s experience.
I hope the restaurant can find its footing service-​wise, it will make this a more appealing option in the future!

We have been going to Kitchen since it was originally Karloff, and decided to ring in the New Year there with a group of 20 (10 adults and 10 kids!). Olga and the staff were incredibly accommodating and friendly. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was upbeat/​fun, and we could not have been happier. Highly, highly recommend dining there!

Update: we went for dinner and although the service was slow, dinner was fantastic!
Went here for brunch. It was quite good. The eggs Benedict with chicken sausage was perfectly cooked and the spinach underneath was a nice touch. The waitstaff was very attentive — and very kid friendly. The waiters were smiling at my 8 month old, whereas other waiters at other restaurants have looked down upon families with babies. My husband got the cheeseburger, and it was very good as well. It was a tiny bit greasy and had to be eaten with a knife and fork– but the taste was quite good. The French fries and the mustard dipping sauce did not disappoint. Will return for dinner

Not sure how long this has been Kitchen but this is no longer Karloff and it’s been redecorated. What remains though is a similar menu and WiFi access that contains its name (and that’s the only clue you’ll get).
The stroganoff was a little bland and dry but the meat was tender. Not sure if it was the absence of sour cream, mushrooms, noodles or what but something seemed to be lacking.
They were out of the beef and pork dumplings for my chicken soup so I agreed to substitute the cabbage dumplings which were actually a good choice and complemented the excellent soup. I am not a big fan of white meat chicken as it tends to be drier than dark meat but it was not the case in this perfectly balanced classic. One thing that I have to note is that I expected an eastern European dumpling meaning some kind of dropped leavened flour/​bread ball in the soup but there were dumplings like the Chinese kind with a filling. Wonder why it wasn’t described on the menu as pelmeni or kreplach which would have been more accurate given the Russian/​eastern European theme to the menu. Think Cobble Hill can handle Russian and Yiddish terminology.
The deviled eggs were good and satisfying. Hard to have fresh eggs handy for an appetizer that tastes like they were just boiled but these were. The filling was creamy and appealing.
Our dessert was Steve’s key lime pie, a good Brooklyn standby. The dollop of whipped cream was how I like it, unsweetened and plentiful. I would be curious to try their chocolate tart or honey layer cake next time though.
The service was good and not horrendous as reviewed by others but this was a slow Tuesday night and not a Sunday brunch. I was not disappointed at all with the service which was attentive and engaging.
For a local restaurant it is adequate and certainly can satisfy different cravings with other choices like a $ 22 steak frites, salmon and roast chicken. I would be willing to come back or order delivery on another night when I am too tired to cook.

Great atmosphere, excellent service and the food was delicious. Salmon with buckweed was amazing.
Highly recommend.

The restaurant’s space was beautiful and the food was decent, which is what merits the 3 stars. The service, as others have commented, was horrendous. Went here on not a busy day, at an off-​time and waited 20 minutes before one of multiple waiters took our order. Also had to take the initiative asking for the check.
The menu itself presents a nice range of options but the food falls a bit flat, especially the kale and grilled chicken salad. I guess if you have over an hour to burn waiting for your lunch i’d go here. It’s lovely scenery.

i wanted to like this place as the decorations and vibes were all pleasant, but i have never… ever…had such horrible service as i did on a sunday night at Kitchen at Cobble Hill.
our appetizers took a reEEEaAAlly looonnnnggg time to come out, but nothing to fear since AS Soon As they got to our table our entrees magically appeared as well. we juggled between trying the apps and eating our meals… it was lame at best. the pierogis were good (could have just ordered those), but everything else i had including the deviled eggs and salmon salad were so overly salted that i couldn’t taste anything else.
our waitress was just not experienced. her timing was horrible… embarrassing even. we wanted to try some dessert, but again had to wait an insane amount of time just to have our order taken. when it FINALLY came out… guess what… it was wrong. we ordered banana and chocolate chip ice cream but instead were served a lavender ice cream so soapy and floral that the only thing going for it was its capability to mask the salt taste leftover from the meal. we sent it back and waited another 10 minutes to get the right ice cream. at that point we were done… didn’t eat the ice cream and didn’t even receive an apology from the waitress!
i wanted to like this place. it was a fail on multiple levels.
never again.

I love this place, it is bright, beautiful and comfy. The food is great, I like especially salmon burger, which is very juicy, potato varenikis and latkis. They have a good wine selection with a very decent price for a bottle of wine. I definitely recommend this to my friends!

Omg ! The chicken soup is amazing ! The dumplings are so tasty and the avocado toast was to die for x

We came here on. Sunday afternoon for a drink. There was a good mix of people and the staff was very attentive. We settled on a bottle of Rosé which was quite good. Although we weren’t here for food, the menu looks good and the space is small but inviting so we will be back soon to eat!

The Fish Soup was great. Service was a bit weird seemed short staffed when we were there. Infused vodka was good also.

Went back here for dinner, service was a bit worse, they seemed a bit overwhelmed. Otherwise, the food was mostly quite good.
Drink: Baltika 6, I think it was 7 bucks. It’s an honestly good Baltic Porter (as in a sweet Eastern European style Porter.)
If I had to add this as part of the review, it’s a 3.5÷4 star beer (for it being a good Russian beer) at a 4 star price
Appetizers:
Had: Varenikis: Smashed Potato Dumplings | creamy mushroom sauce | 10
OK Varenikis, reminded me of some smaller places with similar texture/​flavor. Mushroom sauce was a step up from the normal though. 3.5 Varenikis, 4.0 sauce, 3.75 dish. There were 6 of them for the price which is reasonable (for Cobble Hill.)
Tried:
Vegan Borscht | 6
Oddly did not come with any dollop of sour cream. OK flavor. I’ve had better Borscht before but I have definitely had worse. Refreshing.
3.7
Dinner/​Side:
Had:
Chicken Liver Sandwich | creamy chicken liver pâté, shaved egg whites on toasted dark rye & pickle | 11 Same as before just 2 bucks more
No real difference in terms of size. If anything, I don’t mind it being 2 bucks more as it was still definitely worth it. I think they should add a mini-​pickle or something on the side to cut the richness but it is so good.
4.7
Crispy Brussels Sprouts: 7
Excellent, super crispy, good portion. 4.3
Tried:
Pan Seared Idaho Trout: lake trout, caramelized cauliflower & buckwheat kasha risotto | 19
I don’t like trout much but the fish here was cooked really well. Didn’t try the cauliflower but the kasha is delicious, super nutty.
4.0
Grilled Vegetables & Goat Cheese Sandwich | grilled zucchini, portabello mushrooms, yellow squash,
carrots & goat cheese on toasted dark rye | 10
Tried it, was pretty good. Bread as before worked well for the sandwich contents. Good vegetables.
Did not try: Chicken and Avocado Sandwich, I didn’t try it as I don’t like avocado. He enjoyed it.
Dessert:
Well, I kinda got dessert
I ordered the «Russian Honey Cake,» aka Medovic. it came with poached pears and was 7 bucks.
Instead, I got a cake for 9 bucks with a berry sauce, which was listed as Smetmanik (which is a sour cream cake.) I love the former dessert while the later was OK. They also said it was honey cake which is weird since I know exactly what honey cake is, as there is an amazing Russian bakery near me called Taste of Home (
,) which has 2 different types of honey cake.
I’d probably give the Smetmanik a 3.0, though this is probably more the situation rather than what happened. I mean, if it wasn’t that it was clearly posted that it came with poached pears, I would have assumed it was the secondary type of Honey Cake sold at the other place.
The place is still around a 4 for dinner, maybe a bit less than 4. I’d say to stick with lunch/​brunch though.

Karloff is one of those places that you always pass by, but never notice. I’ve actually had it on my to-​do list for years but couldn’t even picture what it looked like.
Luckily, I was able to finally make my way here for dinner on a Saturday night. It wasn’t full, but it was still lively inside. A lot of the other patrons were definitely Russian or Eastern European, which is a good sign.
For a starter, I shared the vareniki platter, which was a sample of all three types — cabbage, beef/​pork, and potato. It’s a little up there at $ 24, but you get a ton. If every person gets an entrée, it could easily be an appetizer for 3 – 4. If I had to complain about something, it’s that they were all on the same plate jumbled together and not organized, so it was a surprise figuring out what was what. I had like 4 cabbage ones and just 1 meat dumpling. Oh well, they were good anyway.
For a main, I had the lake trout, which came over cauliflower and kasha risotto. The cauliflower was delicious. Never had kasha before, but it looked like quinoa, and tasted like quinoa with less flavor. But the fish was seared nicely.
They also have some interesting cocktails, mostly made with vodka (duh). I went with the Fall Fashioned, m which was a rye cocktail with pears and walnut syrup. It was entirely too sweet, but it was pretty strong. They also have one of my favorite beers from my teenage years, Baltika #9.

Came here today for brunch and I wasn’t quite as wowed as some of the other reviewers here. We ordered the potato and meat varenikis (dumplings) and the latke and egg breakfasts. The latkes were very good, but the eggs were dry. And the varenikis were just OK– I’ve had better at other Russian restaurants.
I know Karloff does dinner very well, so I’ll be back and hope to update this review with one more star– stay tuned…

I would actually give this place 3 ½ stars if I could. The food was interesting, definitely different than what we usually have. I got vegan kale and collard green soup. It was garnished with dill and it was a perfect choice for the 4 degree weather! I also had the whitefish sandwhich on rye. It came with a side salad and yummy pickles. Fiancé had a fish burger and we both had a honey whiskey toddy. It was perfect lunch grub –not too heavy and not too light. If you’re really hungry though, you might want to order something a little more substantial. The toddies were a bit on the sweet side because of all the honey, plus the lemon made it a little tart too.
The décor is cool, it makes you forget you’re in Brooklyn and makes you feel like you’re at a ski lodge in Russia (not that I;ve ever been to one of those, but you get the idea!). The service was a little slow. They don’t tell you that it’s cash or Amex only until you get the tab and there’s a little stamp at the bottom saying so.
I would go back here, but I would want to try some other spots in the area first.

This was my first time dining at Karloff. My boyfriend and I ended up going here on Christmas Day. Yes they were open!
The menu looked super appealing for a cold day so we walked right in. The staff was super friendly.
Even though the place was packed, we got seated right away.
I ordered the Russian Cola along with the famous Potato Latkes and borscht. My boyfriend ordered the latkes with eggs and a side of bacon along with the pork dumplings.
Everything was Divine! The Latkes came along with the traditional sour cream and this amazing homemade apple sauce. I could eat the apple sauce on its own!
We ended our lunch with sharing the Cheese Blintz. Delish!
Thank you Karloff for being open on Christmas and that we got to enjoy such delicious food.

Perfect meal would remind me of home if I were from Eastern Europe. I had chicken soup with something like kreplach floating in it. Reminded me of great homemade matzoh ball soup base. Fantastic pirogies, borscht, and chicken liver sandwich with salad. Small portions make this place affordable for trying lots of things. Recommended highly. Olga will make sure you have all you need. My vegetarian fiancée loved the vegan borscht. We were visiting NYC for 5 days and this was our favorite meal among many fabulous dining experiences.

Best burgers I have ever tried!!!
thank you

(3.5 stars)
I’m going to be honest. When a friend said «Let’s meet for Russian food,» I wasn’t thrilled. I was expecting something very, very heavy — maybe borscht, and maybe meatballs. Nothing at Karloff screams Russian — in fact, much of the menu consists of sandwiches and salads, which made me think that it might serve them well to call this «neo-​Russian» or «modern Russian,» or «Russian inflected,» because I suspect part of why their restaurant is not as full as I would expect is because others have the same image of Russian cuisine.
As for the food, definitely start with the latkes ($ 8). They are the star of the show, and they come in an order of two. We ordered the basic potato latkes which are like a slice of heaven, served with sour cream, apple sauce, and a pile of caramelized onions. The sandwiches are very reasonably priced, and tasty enough (the veggie sandwich with goat cheese in particular is good — the burger wasn’t memorable, but was certainly tasty) and the salads are particularly fresh. And points for incredibly friendly, attentive-​but-​not-​intrusive service. Additional points for what must be one of the most reasonably priced menus on Court Street.
The one comical thing that happened at Karloff — apparently they have a small screen at the back of the restaurant and they were projecting what seemed to be Fellini movies (oddly, with Spanish subtitles). Halfway through the meal, the diners all looked up to see an amply-​breasted woman taking her top off and sticking her breasts in a man’s mouth. This odd scene lasted at least a minute or two, and seemed like awkward dining room viewing material.
Cash & Amex only.

It might be categorized as ‘Modern Russian’ cuisine, but as far as I can tell, the only thing about Karloff that seems modern is the prices.* Otherwise, the beef stroganoff and chicken soup with meat varenikis seems exactly like what someone’s babushka would’ve made centuries ago. In the best way.
This is hearty food that could sustain you through a bleak, seemingly endless Russian (or Brooklyn, this year) winter. It is perfect for cold nights when you’d rather throw on a huge sable** hat and swill vodka than leave your apartment.
Luckily, Karloff delivers.
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*Admittedly a bit too high, but the portions are large enough to share.
**More likely, nutria.