Division St. to N. 9th St., Kent Ave. to Brooklyn-Queens Expwy.
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This venue is closed.
"We don't like new," says Williamsburg restaurateur Mark Firth. No kidding. Three years ago, he and partner Andrew Tarlow restored a 1927 Brooklyn diner (now Diner), preserving its quaintly dilapidated ambience while applying a veneer of hipness and-most important-assembling a talented kitchen. They can now be found, at Bonita, Firth and Tarlow's new cantina, four blocks away. In their trademark preservationist style, they've kept the former Latino lunch counter's sign trumpeting comidas criollas, the row of stools opposite the open kitchen, and a few nods to the old menu, like plantains. But cheese-dusted corn on the cob, fish tacos, and chiles rellenos, not to mention soft light flickering off multicolored tiles, set an entirely different tone. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld
We visited the Williamsburg location with five other people. The hearty chile relleno and tacos were good, though an order of guacamole was forgotten. When it was time to pay the bill, we were told they don't do separate checks, so we figured out the bill with three cards and one person paying with cash. The waiter said he could only use two cards. When the manager came by, he said, "I'm sorry, we can take three cards"--what we were trying to do in the first place. After we left, we were chased down the street by the waiter--the person paying with cash forgot to put it down--something that wouldn't have happened had they separated the checks. We apologized and paid--we hadn't been trying to run out on the check. The waiter then apologized, admitting that he doesn't like to run more than a few cards. So diners beware--Bonita has no credit card policy--it's based on what the servers or managers deem convenient. The food is good, but not worth the hassle.
Really hit or miss. Food is sometimes great sometimes horrible. The chicken is disgusting. Tastes almost like its boiled (not grilled) with lots of gristle. It almost seems like, depending who's working, the same dishes I order are made differently every time. I am not opposed to shelling out money for something tasty. But the food quality has certainly gone downhill here in general. This place used to be very good. I used to be excited to eat here. Not anymore.