Brasserie Magritte

Lovely brunch. Food was great and so was the service.

Love, love, love this little gem on the Upper East Side Amazing atmosphere, amazing food & the best service Muscles are divine

Was going to give this place 3 stars but…
Moved to the UES a few months ago and I’ve really been struggling to find brunch that’s matched my old favs back in the LES.
The service was great but I was just underwhelmed by this restaurant. Felt like the food was just mediocre. My omelette was good but the French toast was bad, much to thick and not prepared well.
Then I saw that this restaurant responded to another critical review in a rude and unprofessional manner. Unwillingness to accept feedback and hostility aren’t things I value in small businesses I frequent.

Decided to try out a new brunch place today, and my wife picked Magritte. I agreed without checking out the menu (big mistake). Their brunch menu is pretty small, and has mostly standard dishes. Brunch entrees include fruit, a croissant, and a drink. Nothing was especially good or memorable, service was great though.
I ordered the Belgian French toast and cannot determine how it differed from regular French toast. My wife ordered an omelette and our friend got the croque Madame. Nobody was blown away by their meal, but I was definitely the most disappointed. The French toast was basically bread with a side of syrup and chocolate sauce. The bread was covered in butter and slightly cooked, but was absolutely not French toast. Was not worth the price. Wouldn’t go back even if the food were free.
All things considered, this would have been a 2 star review because our service was wonderful. Our waiter was very attentive, friendly, and personable. My water glass was never empty. The only reason it’s not is because of the owner/manager’s horrendous responses to other reviews. Check them out, you’ll never want to eat here again — I know I never will.

Tried the south style mussels and a couple of different beers
Tip: Accepts reservations!
Loved this place! I was really teetering between giving it a 4 or 5, simply because the wait staff is so lovely– they deserve the 5! However, I’m a real mussel lover and the mussels I had were a bit small for my liking. With that said, the flavor was tasty (well seasoned broth), and they were cooked very well. They gave a couple of crusts of toasty bread on the side– but some bread for dipping would have been a real «game changer.» The restaurant has a nice ambiance for dinner. The lights are dimmed and they have cozy booths. In addition, there is a huge beer menu and I loved the beers I tried. I was overwhelmed by the selection and the waiter made great suggestions. As I said, the wait staff is just great. So friendly, helpful, and attentive. They really made the experience. Will definitely be back!

Wanted to love this place. The service was warm and prompt. The waitress was wonderful. I messed up and reserved a day early… but a day later we were accommodated graciously (mind you, we were there at 6:30).
We were offered tastes of all the beers and wines we were considering, and we were given loads of time for hors d’ouevres and aperitifs. We liked the cheese and charcuterie appetizer, but felt that more fruit and bread or toasts would have complemented it. The Moules Classiques were OK… could — really should — be thinner and crisper, and BREAD, not three little crisps would have been so nice for mopping up the sauce. One of us had the chicken breast. Again, OK, good, but we needed to ask for more sauce…
In short, great, warm, and efficient service and a lovely atmosphere in the booths near the bar – but the food was just OK… not great.

Gotta update my review based on our wonderful experience last night. My boyfriend and his parents came with me to have a few drinks at the bar, and we loved our bartender Sean! The drinks were decently priced, large selection of beer, not too crowded, and Sean even gave us a few shots of gin as we left. I still maintain that the brunch menu and setvice are mediocre, but the drinks and mussels menu and experience are on point!

YOU MUST TRY THIS PLACE!
Where do I start? First, the food is delicious. We’ve had the crepes, mussels, Belgium waffle, eggs Benedict and omelette. Each person gets one free beverage at brunch and Mondays and Tuesdays are $ 25 all you can eat mussels. Amazing.
Service: My fiancée and I came here several times, as a couple and with a group. Service is beyond friendly. Very laid back waitresses that we had. One was Irish and the other was a Kiwie :) Both were very sweet and attentive.
Now, let’s talk about Sean, the owner. This man is the BEST. He is passionate about his beers, generous, funny and a great addition to this neighborhood. We came here the day after we got engaged for brunch. He treated us like family. We ended up spending much of the afternoon hanging out at the bar after our meal, telling stories and drinking delicious beers. Sean is a gem and so is Brasserie Magritte.

A great date spot with upbeat jazz playing, warm service staff, amazing beer selection and hearty food offerings. The art was a little strange though. That aside, I had a lovely time, though I wasn’t on a date.
I loved the richness of the onion soup, which was unexpectedly spicy. Also enjoyable was the pâté with onion jam. It wasn’t crowded on a Thursday evening and we didn’t need reservations.

My fiancée and I wanted a more intimate bar experience than offered at nearby sports bars and pubs. We were pleasantly surprised to find such a unique and whimsically romantic atmosphere at Brasserie Magritte. We especially enjoyed the music selection on that Tuesday evening which was varied and perfectly interspersed with jazz, classical, tango, and French inspired contemporary selections. Our servers, Collin and Greta, our servers were gracious, attentive and personable –rare qualities in the overworked servers of NYC. My fiancée and I were hard pressed to decide on our dinner selections seemed enticing. We settled on delicious steamed mussels drenched in a garlic, butter and white wine sauce, accompanied by crispy frittes, «french» French fries. The cocktail menu was to die for! –Creative an inspiring. I can’t wait to return again!

Great place for brunch. Very friendly staff. Ambiance is classy and relax. I had ordered the Belgian sausage with apple compote on top of mashed potato and bacon and a side salad. It was not only an interesting paring but was very good. The sausages were big and not fatty. I’d definitely come back!

Removed my Unilocal photo of their comments towards customers.
I’m adding in a little extra to keep it short.

Great beer selection, we had the mussels for brunch, which were huge and just OK the broth was too creamy. Overall I would come back for the beer.

One of those places I’m going to keep coming back for years and years.
The waitstaff are charming, friendly without being intrusive, and help to make the place into a real destination rather than just an area where you put food in your mouth.
The beers are unbelievably varied and good – and the servers have enthusiastic recommendations no matter what your tastes are.
The food is cooked to a nicety, and the sides are amazingly good as well. The proportions are perfect. If you get the fries, get the house-​made mayonnaise to complete the experience.
Even the air in there smells great, a heady mixture of beer and butter and mussels and garlic.
The ambience is genteel bohemian, the sound level perfect for conversation, subtle jazz underlying rather than blasting out. And the videos of idealized Belgian towns and countryside complete the aspect of surreal brilliance.

This place has a great Belgium beer selection and their double cooked porkchop with the wasabi mashed potatoes was so good! The food took a little while to get there but it was worth the wait!

One of the best places on UES for brunch, very authentic and the food is so so good.
I was passing by this place so many times and always wanted to come in, so one Sunday morning when me and my fiancée were thinking of a nice brunch place and I was craving for something new there it came to my mind. And God That wasn’t a wrong choice.
The décor, service and the food, everything is just amazing. Their mussels are always so fresh, and the complimentary bloody marry/​mimosa + fresh croissants for brunch are great.
Love this place and definitely coming back.

I really wanted to like this place, but alas, was not to be.
The good: Very quaint/​nice ambiance. Good vibe to the place, the gentleman serving us (not sure if he was just a server, but seemed more like a manager or owner) was very likable, enthusiastic about the food, warm personality. The hostess seemed quite nice too, saw her making conversation with an elderly woman who was at the bar by herself. Overall good feel to the place. I wasn’t drinking that night, but the beer list looked really great.
The food: started with the cheese plate. Was decent. The croquettes were very flavorful and the cheese selection wasn’t bad. Comes with prosciutto, walnuts, apple and pear too. Wish they added something like honey or marmalade for the cheese, but overall not a bad start.
I think the wait between this and the entrees was around 25 minutes, which is probably the longest I’ve waited in a quite awhile, even at jam packed restaurants. I’d suggest they work on the timing of firing the mains. At one point our server stopped by and said it would be out soon, which was not the case. I finally grabbed someone else walking by later on and asked if it’d be out soon and he went back and brought the food out.
Mussels in white wine — Overcooked as a number of the mussels were quite dry. Additionally they didn’t clean them that great as a number of them were unfortunately gritty. The wine sauce itself was nice. Garlicky with several layers of flavor. Date gave the dish an average rating of «not bad, but not good.» Fries were decent too, but not notable.
I had the double cut pork chop. I haven’t ordered this in eons as if I’m going with meat I’ll order a steak, but I’ve been on a little bit of a pork kick lately. Looked great. Was eh though. Pork had a nice sear on it, but was quite dry. I ordered it medium. When the server prompted me about how I wanted it he actually said well done which kind of took me aback. Probably should have gone medium rare as I normally do. Can’t imagine how dry it would have been if I had it well done: o
Pork chop could have used a little bit more seasoning as well. The sauce under it was really good, but the pork on it’s own, considering how thick it was, needed more flavor to cover the portion. Anyways, it was a big letdown. The mashed potatoes on the other hand were really good.
Anyways, I’d consider stopping in here to have a beer at the bar along with some croquettes, but not a place I’d consider coming back to for dinner particularly at this price range ($ 75 pre tip for mediocre meal of 2 entrees and larger shared app).

I would like to start by saying the only way a place can be perfect in my book is if they do everything right, from décor, ambiance, and customer service to the food and beverage selection.
I had about 10 mins before my friend arrived so I went to the restroom. It was tiny, but the great part was it was spotless. Very clean and the décor was adorable.
Then we ordered drinks. I myself ordered a bottle of white wine. The waiter took the time to chill the bottle and make a recommendation of beer for my friend. He loved it and my wine was at perfect temperature.
Then the food arrived, I chose the Stoemp (Belgian mashed potatoes and carrots) and Brussels sprouts in a balsamic reduction. I am a vegetarian so this was the best option for me. The taste was amazing and came exactly how I ordered (light balsamic reduction). My friend ordered the Ra Ra Soep (tomato soup and beer with cheese fondue). He said it was great as well.
The last thing was I ordered dessert. There were a few great options on the menu but I chose what the server recommended, a chocolate dessert with Oreos and chocolate moose. I don’t know the name but you can ask for that description.
Overall, we loved this place. Great service, great décor, amazing ambiance, and lastly delicious food options!!!

It’s a nice little nook that’s easily missed from the outside. Once inside, it’s very welcoming with booths in a charming atmosphere.
We ordered quite a few things from their menu and my gripe would be that the menu is very limited. The mussels were good and the burger cooked well. The rest we could’ve probably done without. Not terrible by any means. Didn’t quite make it where we hoped it would. The beer menu has a nice selection which we opted out of since it was still too early in the day. I’m not sure if it would be a place I would go out of the way for, especially for a meal, but it seems to be a nice cozy spot to stop in for a beer or two if you’re close.

Amazing food including rabbit, great bears, perfect service … What else ?? The place to be, the restaurant to go !!!

Okay, this place is super fun. There is a fun vibe here, the beer is fantastic, and the food is delicious!
I was visiting New York over Halloween weekend and the friend I was staying with suggested coming here. There was a group of five of us and we all thought it sounded great.
It was! Woohoo!
To be honest, I don’t remember the names of any of the beers I had. I only remember that the sour ale I had was my favorite. And that their own pale ale wasn’t. For dinner, I had the rabbit, which was on the «Belgian Classics» page. It was delicious. The Madeira sauce was very rich and the mashed potatoes actually tasted sort of carrot-​y. Not sure what that was all about but I wasn’t complaining!
One of the girls had the Assiete Degustation Magritte, which is basically a meat, cheese, and hor d’oeuvres. Including cheese croquettes that were uhhhhh-​mazing!
The bartenders and owners are super friendly. Hell, even the regulars are super friendly! I had a great time here and would totally come back the next time I’m in NY!