General Greene - Fort Greene

Today's expedition was to the General Greene, located at 229 DeKalb, in the heart of a restaurant row of sorts in Fort Greene. The place itself is small but light, bright, and airy with wooden tables and whitewashed walls giving you the feeling you are in a barn or in the country. There's some outdoor seating as well as a small store in the back selling various organic and local treats, which was a nice surprise. Initially, you feel very relaxed....yet for me, that initial feeling soon faded. Here's why:

First the food. I had the Pressed Egg & Gruyere mustard aioli sandwich. It was literally a piece of egg with a little bit of cheese and mustard. Justin put it best when asked to describe the egg ‘ they did whatever they do in McDonalds to make an egg sandwich’. It came on a dark, hearty, multi-grain (perhaps pumpernickel) bread that completely overpowered and overwhelmed the egg and cheese. It was a sandwich of bread, bread, and more bread but not even good bread but hard and overly crummy bread. It supposedly came with a small side salad but in reality, it was a few pieces of lettuce doused in some sort of vinaigrette. Not enjoyable at all. I rather eat McDonalds and I’d save money too.

Justin got a ranchero and pinto bean skillet with Monterey jack, lime sour cream, and cilantro. The eggs were overcooked and smothered in the various sauces. To me, it looked and tasted like a bad child experiment where you just throw tons of stuff into a skillet, bake it, and hope it tastes good.

It was also fairly overpriced with Justin's entree costing $14 and my terrible egg sandwich costing $8 - neither of which came with anything additional. The coffee was $3 though the wait staff did come around often and offer to refill the coffee.

Next the service. We walked in and were immediately offered a table by the door, literally in the doorway. When we declined to take the table, the hostess was sort of shocked. I typically take any table but I really didn't feel like sitting in a doorway with constant traffic coming in and out. We got a table by the window, which was fine before a table of adults, and kids took the longish table next to us. Three 7-10 year old boys at brunch = complete and utter insanity. The boys were constantly fighting, moving seats, and leaving the restaurant. A fun dining atmosphere - note the sarcasm. The adults were very apologetic which I appreciated it but it was a rough dining experience to say the least.

So the General Greene’s brunch is not one that I'd recommend, as there are plenty of good brunch places in this area. Save your money and don't dine with the general.