Bondi Road / Sunburnt Cow

I am reviewing both because in the past two weekends I have spent two afternoons here drinking bloody mary’s to my heart’s content. They both have pretty much the same menu with the exception of two additional dishes that are only available at Bondi Road: fish & chips and oyster shooters. Besides that the rest of the the menu is pretty standard brunch fare with a couple types of poached egg & hollandaise dishes, an omelet, a burger, etc. They used to have many more brunch options a few years ago, but I guess they trimmed it down a bit recently. I ordered the omelet at The Sunburnt Cow and the fish & chips at Bondi Road. The omelet of the day was the same both weekends between the two restaurants (asparagus, tomatoes, and cheese) so I am not certain if it ever really changes. The fish and chips were okay. The fish was a little on the greasy side and the fries/chips weren’t quite crispy enough.

All in all the food is pretty lackluster. But the real reason to go here isn’t to eat, its to drink… And they are very generous with their drinks. They have unlimited drinks for as long as you want during brunch with an entree of your choice for about $18-21 (depends on the entree). The drink choices are bloody mary’s, mimosa’s, foster’s beer, screwdrivers, and greyhounds. I could use a bit more horseradish in the bloody mary, but I think most normal people would enjoy it as it is. The mimosa’s were pretty good. They were made with a combo of sparkling wine and sake which gave it a nice roundness and made it that much easier to drink mass quantities of.

From the moment you sit down they take your drink order. Then throughout the rest of your meal as soon as you finish a drink they bring you a new one. We would be mid-conversation and a new set of drinks would just plop down on the table. After you finish your food they are in a bit of a rush to get you out of your table to serve the next set of people, but you are welcome to unlimited drinks at the bar. Needless to say, I am a bit forgiving about the slightly greasy fish and soft french fries when enjoying unlimited bloody mary’s.

The hostess at Bondi Road was a bit annoying though. When we walked up there the entire place was open, but since they converted their 4 person booths into 6 person tables by adding a table on the end they wouldn’t seat the 4 of us there and made us wait over 30 minutes instead. If we had 2 more people we probably would have been seated immediately, which is pretty lame. Also, they said they had a reservation for the other 4-top that was open even though my friend had called a couple weeks earlier to try to make a reservation and they said they couldn’t.

In terms of seating, Bondi Road is a bit nicer because more of the restaurant gets daylight, but the bar area is also the walkway for the waiters so its a bit hard to hang out by the bar and have a few drinks after you pay your bill. Sunburnt Cow on the other hand, has plenty of bar room that doesn’t have waiters with food walking back and forth, but its a pretty dark and dingy atmosphere. So they both have pluses and minuses, but Sunburnt Cow is a much shorter walk from my apartment so proximity wins out.

Would I go back? Hell yeah!
Would I expect amazing food or service? No way!
Will I walk out feeling drunk and happy about life? Definitely!

Sunburnt Cow
137 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
(212) 529-0005

Bondi Road
153 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 253-5311