Aurora - Williamsburg

My husband and I went for Brunch. This was our second try with this restaurant. more

I go here about once a month with my husband and have never been disappointed. The food and atmosphere are both amazing. It is absolutely delicious and the ambiance is romantic and cozy. They only accept cash, which is a small drawback. They do have an ATM in the back, but I'd suggest getting cash from your bank before you come to avoid the ATM fee. Pros: great food, great ambiance Cons: Cash only more

Went to Aurora saturday night for a party of 4 we asked to be seated inside but were told we had to wait a while to get a table so they seat us in their magical garden. Their so call garden is a plastic tent and it gets literally frozen every 5 minutes then the heater is on and it gets terribly hot the whole thing it is obviously no made for winter... so now the food is ok not as good as it used to be but again you have to eat in 3 minutes or else food will be so cold that you can't eat it. Pros: Ambiance is good Cons: Garden is not equipped for a New York winter... more

We just really liked our overall experience at Aurora in Brooklyn. Really nice decor, great atmosphere and fantastic food! We liked everything. Every single dish was elegantly delicious. Try their olives appetizer, I don't know where they get them, they are so fresh and tasty! Also octopus and baccala were excellent. As far as main course, I liked chef's special duck in a red sauce and butternut squash gnocchi. I had a piece from each of my friend's plate and let me tell you... there was absolutely nothing that I didn't like. Oh, forgot to mention their little pizza with pears and gorgonzola cheese. I highly recommend this place for people that want to eat upscale and elegant food at affordable pricing. Pros: Excellent food, cool atmosphere, good wine & drink selection Cons: Don't accept credit cards more

I know food, and Aurora has missed the mark. Why get so fancy when you can't even cook the basics? No salt and pepper on the table and guess what, none in the food either. I don't care if they don't use salt, just use something that gives taste. Ratings out of 10: Food overall = 4 Focaccia = 9; Regular bread = 5 Cod fritters = 5 - missed terribly on the bland sauce! Meat plate app = 5 - Give me 5 minutes and I'll beat the crap out of this lackluster meat plate Butternut squash dumplings = 6 - great texture, missed again on the sauce, BLAND taste Chestnut pasta with wild boar ragu = 3 - didn't get a lower rating because it was edible. Again, got fancy with the boar but lacked any kind of taste. Filled me up and I felt robbed Pasta w/ mushrooms = 2 - This dish outraged me. My Stepdad described it as ""light."" Yes, it was light, and even lighter on taste Tiramisu = 3 - I order this desert EVERY time it's on the menu. It is my ""go to"" desert at Italian. Sloppy texture, too creamy, missed on taste, not enough alcohol or coffee, served in a square glass (WHAT?! why so fancy pants?). All in all, a total disaster. Panna Cotta = 4 - slight improvement from the Tira but still a miss. Good texture but again, it's about the taste! Service = 4 I used to work as a waiter, so I know it's difficult to be in a good mood all the time but it was early in the night and our waitress was cold. She didn?t come when I waived to her, she didn't answer my question about beer that I asked her twice. She didn't even know the 7 beers they carry and which ones were dark. She got relieved at the end of the meal for whatever reason and that waitress totally whiffed on my Stepdad's desert. When I asked for salt, I got big-chunk sea salt. FAIL! The food came super fast, which boosts their rating. Atmosphere = 7.5 They are so close to a 10 but they don't even know it! How do you miss fine details like this is beyond me, it almost makes me angry. Why are the tables so small? The lighting scheme needs serious work. Only got to peek at the garden but it looked nice. Why are you not accepting credit cards?! Cheating on your taxes? Boneheads! Overall, it gets a 5/10 average between the 3 categories. But I erred to the side of 2 stars because they butchered their deserts and 2 of their 7 beers were 750 ml and nothing on tap. Extensive wine list but whatever! Every decent restaurant has some wine to choose from. Ultimately we come to eat... and Aurora, get your act together y'all. Pros: Decor, focaccia Cons: Food, service, lighting, tables... what else is there? more

First of all its supposed to be located by the waterfront. Not the case. Its actually up the block in a deserted area where the garden is shielded by what looks from the outside like an abandoned parking lot. We were taken to the garden on a warm day and what is suppose to be an outdoor garden is covered by a plastic tent, no ventilation no open doors...the tables are dimly lit with candles covered by small paper bags! How Frugal. Most importantly, we passed on the bottled water and were served warm tap water--no ice! We tried the octopus --three small tender pieces on a very large plate and the scallops--5 very thin slivers of scallops covered in garnishes. For the main course, the seared salmon was served in a plate of green water and empty mussels the salmon was slightly undercooked on one side. No sides served with main course. The short rib, was a piece of tender albeit blubbery steak served with polenta sauce that tasted more like grits. A side of potato or asparagus was an additional $5.00. The margarita, too strong on the tequila and very bitter not quite what I remember a margarita to be!!!! Overall, the most enjoyable part of the meal had to be the bread basket. Too much focus on presentation and too pricy, very small portions and who the heck ever heard of organic Italian??? This is not keeping up with tradition...would NOT recommend at all. We had to go back to Manhattan and have dinner there the same night. Pros: Healthy grub Cons: Pricy, prententious, very unconventional cuisine more

Well, if you have a date, this is totally the place to be. Book a table in the winter garden. And make sure you share a couple of antipasti! Pros: Try the burratta more

One of my brunch/ lunch favorites in Williamsburg. A gorgeous patio, great service, and yummy food (I like the wild boar ragu and their salads). Pros: gorgeous patio, general ambiance, spacious - never feels overcrowded, little to no wait usually, easy parking Cons: limited menu selection more

i loved everything about this place except for the 3 or 4 bones i almost swallowed from my fish special...oh well, i forgive them. Pros: stellar service, amazing mozzarella pizzette Cons: bones! more

went to aurora last night (thursday), 2 of us, and had a beautiful relaxed night. we wanted to taste the new menu and we had a couple of appetizers, a pasta and 2 entrees and everything was just as expected - really well prepared and well served. Cons: not really.. more

Aurora has good food, but if the server forgets you exist, the food will never come. Pros: Good Food, Good Drinks Cons: Terrible Service, Mean Hostess, Crappy Manager more

Ambiance, fantastic service, and of course...amazing food. The Ravioli special was 'off the charts... more

Ambiance, fantastic service, and of course...amazing food. The Ravioli special was 'off the charts delicious' and I cannot wait to return. more

When my then-boyfriend asked me to marry him after taking me to Aurora, we decided then and there that we wanted to have our wedding reception there. The service was amazing, the wine was delish and the food was superb. We left very happy. We loved that there was a park at the end of the street (we were going to have our ceremony there but we couldn't get the permit due to ""construction"" so we got married at a park in Greenpoint instead, which worked out very well)...three days after the wedding and we're still hearing about how fabulous the restaurant / food / wine / service / ambiance was. The menu was incredible. They were accommodating to all of our vegan friends and the waitstaff moved like ninjas...virtually invisible and incredibly attentive and professional. Carmel (the manager) was wonderful through the planning process and she answered all of my questions as they came up. They even decorated the restaurant exactly how we wanted (we provided materials two days before and I didn't have to worry about a thing). We were treated extremely well and if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks to Aurora, our wedding was absolutely perfect. Pros: Fabulous service, delicious, authentic, seasonally relevant food more

Intimate & rustic atmosphere. The food was fresh and delicious!It is amazing - great service, fabulous food, wonderful wine! The ambiance is also relaxing.I found my new favorite restaurant.The staff was so attentive (and adorable)and helpful that it was a dining pleasure. The food was so amazing - we tried so many dishes to get a great tasting - fava beans salad ,duck reccomende m/r, homemade pasta , the most fresh mozzarella I've ever experienced - everything was just perfect. I literally can't wait to go back to Italy and this restaurant. The sound levels were just right that we were able to have intimate conversations all evening. The temperature inside the restaurant was perfect and the windows were all wide open to let in the great breeze that the city had tonight. Everything was spot on! Pros: Service,good food,wine list,beautiful garden. Cons: none. more

We went at AURORA reastaurant on thursday night.We went there to celabrate my 29th girlfriend's birthday. Pros: Excellent value, great service,good food. Cons: None that I can think of! more

I went here on Sunday with 7 friends for my birthday as I'd been here twice before and loved the food. Despite the fact that we were a large-ish group that ordered champagne immediately upon sitting down we had the WORST service I have ever encountered. In the past the service has never been exceptional but it was never so bad as to overshadow the rest of the experience. Before the champagne had even been halfway drunk, our waiter was harrassing us about buying more alcohol and continued to do so even after we assured him we would let him know when we wanted more drinks. He took our appetizer orders and waited 20 minutes before he returned to take our dinner orders and then blamed us later for the delay; he brought half of the cocktails we ordered and left us alone without the rest, later returning to explain that they had a shortage of martini glasses and then (much) later giving us our martinis in cabernet glasses... one of them being undrinkably ""dry""; and he was completely MIA for about an hour after we had our entrees. They didn't seem understaffed at all... there were plenty of glassy eyed waiters clustered together talking, or meandering around avoiding eye contact. It was really frustrating and we agreed that the 20% gratuity included on our sizeable bill was not an appropriate exchange. This is NOT something I or any of my friends do often (most of us have worked in food service) but we requested that the manager comp our drinks and he obliged. The WORST part of the meal followed when the waiter had the nerve to come to our table and argue with us about the comped drinks. I was trying so hard to be polite I actually started to explain to him why we were upset before one of my friends cut me off and asked the waiter to leave. The waitstaff was so absurdly rude and hostile, we left Aurora feeling uncomfortable. I've always recommended this restaurant on the merit of the menu and the wine list, but I'll now be warning people off in view of the service :( Pros: Reliable menu & wine lists, pleasant outdoor seating Cons: The startlingly incompetent staff more

Great food and ambience. Came with a friend and was seated right away. Hope the restaurant is able to maintain its charm as Williamsburg continues to (over)build on the waterfront. more

Ok, so i'm not one for writing reviews online for restaurants, but this place was really bad both times i have gone there. The first time, my wife and I ordered the rib eye for 2 and there was a bloody meat cloth underneath our steak- no joke. They acted like it was a chore to deal with the situation, and were not very nice about the whole thing. We decided to be fair and go back to give it a second chance. The front of house was not very nice yet again and we ended up waiting an hour and a halff to sit down. We watched the staff argue, and the manager argue with other patrons while we all waited for them to figure out how to run the front of a restaurant. It was actually a little sad to watch them struggle so much. The manager knew what was going on with us and just ignored us completely. Anyway, the only thing keeping this place afloat has to be the chef, who's food was really great the second time around. I also noticed the chef getting angry frustrated the manager at one point as well. Pros: The Chef Cons: Everything Else more

The food at Aurora is amazing. The physical atmosphere as well. My friends and I would eat here 3 times a week, but lately, there have been so many kids/strollers/obnoxious parents that we have been looking elsewhere. It's not an inexpensive restaurant, and if I want to go to a kiddie restaurant, I'll go to Chucky Cheese. Pros: amazing food, cool physical ambiance Cons: too many strollers and obnoxious parents lately....... more