Black Pearl - another restaurant identity crisis?

dope on the slope

Has anyone else experienced Black Pearl on Union yet?

My wife and I ate there a couple of weeks ago and were very disappointed. The menu seemed to be an odd pastiche of cuban, pub food, asian and odd remixes of recent fads (duck tacos as opposed to duck spring rolls).

The quality of the ingredients seemed to be high, but the preparation seemed amateurish. The decor was oddly unsettling, the service indifferent, the prices too high for what you got, and the wine list seemed to have been created without any thought to how they would pair with the menu items.

Like someone commented on the Cocoa Bar thread, this place doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.

Was this just opening week jitters or is this place doomed?

Or perhaps me and the missus are philistines, and this is a case of casting Black Pearl before swine.

Whaddya think?

all-night chemist

Subject: Identity: Unlimited Mimosas

I don't know about TBP as a dinner option, but on the weekends the brunch tastes great and the mimosas keep coming. My girlfriend an I go there all the time.

Inicidentally, I think Cocoa Bar's identity is cocoa and wi-fi.

chippenziedeutch

what really disappoints me about TBP is that it's not Pirate Cuisine, which you would expect from a place called The Black Pearl. And isn't the Slope due for a Pirate restaraunt anyway? Is it so much to ask to be waited on by the Sea Captain from the Simpsons?!?!

"Yarrrr, I be takin' ye orrderrrs, if ye please"

"Brooklyn Lagerr? A fine brew that be, me matey!!"

stacey

chippenziedeutch wrote: what really disappoints me about TBP is that it's not Pirate Cuisine, which you would expect from a place called The Black Pearl. And isn't the Slope due for a Pirate restaraunt anyway? Is it so much to ask to be waited on by the Sea Captain from the Simpsons?!?!

"Yarrrr, I be takin' ye orrderrrs, if ye please"

"Brooklyn Lagerr? A fine brew that be, me matey!!"

LOL. I used to work at a restaurant on Atlantic and Clinton called Tripoli which had a boat built right inside of it. Im not sure if the boat is still there but I think the restaurant is.

dope on the slope

chippenziedeutch wrote: what really disappoints me about TBP is that it's not Pirate Cuisine, which you would expect from a place called The Black Pearl. And isn't the Slope due for a Pirate restaraunt anyway? Is it so much to ask to be waited on by the Sea Captain from the Simpsons?!?!

"Yarrrr, I be takin' ye orrderrrs, if ye please"

"Brooklyn Lagerr? A fine brew that be, me matey!!"

Shiver me timbers! Ye might just be onto sumthin mate.

But what would pirate cuisine be exactly? Hard tack and limes? Rum for sure. Maybe some stale cheese and dried salt pork. Mmmmm.

If Johnny Depp shows up, my wife will be back regardless of the food quality.

dope on the slope

stacey wrote: LOL. I used to work at a restaurant on Atlantic and Clinton called Tripoli which had a boat built right inside of it. Im not sure if the boat is still there but I think the restaurant is.

That reminds me of the "Pirates House" restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. My parents took me and my brother there when I was around 10 (1975).

It was a historic landmark where sailors were allegedly shanghaid and spirited via underground tunnels to boats waiting on the Savannah river.

The bar was in the shape of a boat deck and there was a projected seascape on the surrounding walls that would change from day to sunset to night etc. Occasionally it would "rain" into a moat that surrounded the bar. There was an actual anthropological dig in progress, and we could see human skeletons poking out of the cellar soil from our table overlooking the pit.

If the Black Pearl adopts that sort of theme, I'll be a regular.

pitu

chippenziedeutch wrote: what really disappoints me about TBP is that it's not Pirate Cuisine, which you would expect from a place called The Black Pearl. And isn't the Slope due for a Pirate restaraunt anyway? Is it so much to ask to be waited on by the Sea Captain from the Simpsons?!?!

"Yarrrr, I be takin' ye orrderrrs, if ye please"

"Brooklyn Lagerr? A fine brew that be, me matey!!"

and to think I was disappointed that it wasn't Black Pearl from the East Village....
obviously, aiming too low. Where's me Johnny Depp?

[arrrr.]

anonymous

Subject: Black Pearl is No Pearl....

I posted this on some other forum tonight, after a disappointing dinner at Black Pearl this evening....

I tried eating there tonight. Very nice room, and good service, but the food frankly bit. It seems to be trying to spin off Blue Ribbon (which is way over-rated these days, anyway), with a pizza oven twist.

The baked ribs appetizer was smothered with some super-sweet goo, and the ribs had previously been baked to the dry and stringy point. The fried calamari was a huge portion, but a smaller portion of better quality not drenched in the frying oil would have been more welcome. The seafood "SOS" was just so-so, a fried combination of very large shrimp, a scallop, and a couple of oysters with a not-great dipping sauce. Both it and the fried calamari also had a pronounced undercurrent of baking soda, not a good sign.

My trio of ravioli arrived on, honestly, an 18" long canoe-sized (plastic!) plate, the server said "you could swim away on this!), I guess to give ample room to separate the 3 sauces, but it was just silly. The ravioli were good but the sauces didn't justify the $20 price for 12 small squares. But I was lucky. My boyfriend's risotti with duck and porcini was scary looking and oddly flavored with star-anise. My aunt's "veggie spaghetti" was fresh flavored but ill-conceived.

We didn't try any of the deserts, but I did point out to the waiter that the listed "pannacotta with raspberrie coolie[sic]" was more than just a typo and he might want to bring it to the owner's attention....

It's really a shame that this nice room has icky fare...........

anonymous

Subject: Re: Black Pearl - another restaurant identity crisis?

[quote=Dope on the Slope]Has anyone else experienced Black Pearl on Union yet?

my girlfriend and i couldn't put our collective fingers on it either. at least until the guy next to us sat down with his date... and by date, i mean clearly hooker.

and as they pressed the 6 dollar waters on us and we picked at our awful high-concept white salad, it hit us: this is the perfect place to take a hooker you met on craigslist.

anonymous

Subject: black pearl park slope brooklyn

Black Pearl is awfull. The service terrible the owner/owners rude. We got some old gray haired man who was one of the "Owners" he was rude even though the place was half empty who would not give us a booth. There were 4 of us and one booth was taken by a party of 2. He ignored our request for a booth and sat us at a crowded small table. We told him please give us a bigger table or a booth. He muttered something not very nice under his breath and gave us a booth. At this point we should of left but we thought just give them a try. Over an hour to get our main course. Our starters came out cold and missing key ingredients. The main course was a dry piece of burned died out sea bass in a plate of cheap olive oil. Wine was warm and it took ages before we got an ice bucket for the wine. Pasta overcooked and tateless. We tried the shrimp which where rubber balls. All and All this place is a no go. Food awful, service even worse you know this place is not going to be around very long with owners like that. Oh and do not eat the Sunday Brunch Egg Bennedict the sause was not heated and the "Owner" refused to heat it up for us instead he screamed at one of our party and threw the sauce down on the table and walked off. Call us idiots not to walk out and just leave the bill but we are nicer than that. My friend got sick from eating there cold raw egg sauce. Thre a so many lovely nice places to eat in Park Slope give Black Pearl is not one of them. I bet they close after a year or so. note to owners stay in the video renting business!!!

pitu

Subject: Re: black pearl park slope brooklyn

foodie wrote: note to owners stay in the video renting business!!!

:shock:

are they really the same people that have the video store on Seventh Ave just around the corner, or did the restaurant just have a sign at the video store?