ici

I was very disappointed in my meal here. We went on a rainy Thursday night, and should have known something was up since the dining room was completely empty at 9pm. I had an unmemorable cocktail, made from a syrupy mix. We went for the prix fix, which i believe was $35/45 per person. WAY TO MUCH for what we got. I had the garlic soup to start which was server cold. It was just ok and the cheese crouton on top was freezing and had obviously been fired hours before. My main was in an unappetizing pile, hiding a ball of deep fried potato strings. The creme brulee was also old and tasted like the inside of the fridge. The staff was lovely though and very attentive. Its a shame because iCi is in a great location and space. Hopefully the kitchen will get it the f together. Pros: nice dining room, good location Cons: food, drinks, price more

My boyfriend and I ate at ici tonight, I was so excited I had to write a review and found only awful things. Unlike previous podters, our service was excellent, with apt descriptions of the wines (all organic and natural, so iwas unfamiliar with the selection). The $25 prix fix was a great deal, I got the sauted squid, short ribs, and poached pear. All delicious. I will certainly go back. Where else can you get 3 courses for$25? more

I live in the neighborhood and had been to this restaurant for brunch before, which was okay. I definitely do not recommend the Valentine's Day fixed menu, however. We made a reservation and were seated over an hour late--after several couples who had arrived later than we did (and who appeared to have an ""in"" with the owner), portions were tiny (and we aren't big eaters), our squid appetizers were served overcooked and cold, and our entrees were lukewarm. It seemed like they really weren't prepared to handle the holiday volume and the meal was WAY overpriced for what it was. We will not be going there again. Pros: nice ambience, lovely back patio in the warmer seasons Cons: poor service, not great food more

The food at Ici is fair enough, nothing too great and perhaps overpriced ($12 for eggs) for what they serve. The service on the other hand, a complete other story. We strolled in around 3pm on a Saturday to find a completely empty restaurant and a pretty annoyed hostess/waitress who obviously wasn't thrilled to see us. The service was slow and with the lack of patrons, you would assume otherwise. They didn't check on us ONCE and they only filled our water ONCE and it was one of the hottest days in New York City. The shirred eggs are great, sure, but don't go out of your way to have them...baked eggs aren't hard to find these days. more

This is my first restaurant review, but my experience at Ici was so distasteful, I felt it my civilian duty to warn others. We went to Ici for mother's day--my mother had been excited about going for a while. When we got there, they seated us in the heated tent in the back garden--which was incredibly uncomfortable because the heater was set to extra high. I had to use my menu as a fan, which worked out ok, because it took forever for the waitress to take our order. The meal started out on a bad foot because the waitress did not know what ""scotch"" was, and the menu did not have the dish my mother had been looking forward to for weeks. In fact, the menu was so unexciting that we had trouble finding something that each of us wanted to eat. After one hour, the waitress brought our appetizers (also 20 minutes after all other parties in the hot tent were served, regardless of how long after us they were seated). The appetizers left much to be desired, the egg and anchovy mousse looked like processed spam with some wilted lettuce. It did not taste much better. The waitress failed to clean up our increasingly unappetizing looking starters for thirty minutes, at which point, we decided we did not want to wait for our main course. We promptly asked for the check--with the waitress providing no apology for the poor service. Even though we didn't stay for dinner, our bill was over $100. I think it was $100 worth spent for not having to eat a main course at Ici. more

We went there last Sunday for Brunch with a party of 8 and had a really good time. Great waitress, fresh and tasty food, could not asked for a better Brunch in Brooklyn! Keep it up! Pros: professional service, organic food Cons: wait for brunch more

fantastic food.. it was advertised as french but it was the bigged portion of french food i've ever had.... more

fantastic food.. it was advertised as french but it was the bigged portion of french food i've ever had. The short ribs were nice and fatty just th... more

This is one of those places that you leave wondering how it can possibly stay in business. Four of us went for Sunday brunch. We were first in line ahead of three other parties. After seating all of the parties, the waitress gave the other parties menus. After 10 minutes, we asked for menus. The waitress said they didn't have any since they were all in use by other people. She then brought us one menu to share. The waitress was smoking hot, but I am pretty sure she did not speak English and may have had a Mr. F bracelet. One of us explained to her that she was lactose intolerant - and when I say explained, I mean that it was clear the waitress was unable to understand our order, so my friend said ""I cannot eat butter. I cannot eat cheese. I cannot eat milk. I do not want any of those things in my eggs."" The waitress responded ""oh, butter on the side?"" I, being hungover, was desperate for a cup of coffee. However, the coffee did not arrive until after our food arrived. When a second, extremely unfriendly waitress (with glasses and short hair) delivered our food I said ""excuse me, we ordered some coffee as well"" to which she responded ""ok, awesome."" The coffee did eventually come, and when it did it was only enough to fill one and a half tiny cups. The flounder po'boy I ordered was extremely cold - it makes it seem like the fish was most definately prepared well in advance and left for when some sap like myself decided to order it. When the cheese egg incident occurred, my friend very politely sent the eggs back and asked for a menu so she could just order something that couldn't conceiveably be screwed up. The waitress brought the menu, and then never came back to see if my friend wanted something else, so she never ate. When the bill came, the eggs of course were on it. Overall, the service was abysmal, the food was cold and just ok. On a positive note, the waitress was hot. Pros: Attractive Waitress Cons: Service, food, and value more

iCi has the most beautiful garden, you would never know as you can't see it from the street, but it's so peaceful, quiet and, best of all, the food is delicious too! I went there for an early drink with a friend, and we ended up staying all night and having lots of food & vino, it was great. Will definitely go back. The staff was super friendly too. Pros: beautiful garden, scrumptious food, great service, great wine list Cons: too far away from my house! more

i'd been to ici for sunday brunch and food and service were just so-so (too spicy sausage, too sour kale, blah service). but i came back for lunch recently and had a great meal- i had my pick of the tables in the pretty outdoor garden. i ordered the grassfed beef sandwich, at the recommendation of the server, who said it is new on the menu. overall it was an excellent choice, although i wish there was lime or something spicy in the sauce to give it a little kick. it came with very fresh and delicate salad greens (not yellowing or wilting like side salads sometimes served at other places). i commented on them and apparently they are grown in brooklyn! they were out of the wine i wanted to order but the server was able to suggest another. i'm not usually a white wine drinker but it was hot out and the chardonnay she brought was refreshing. i didn't even know until reading the rest of the reviews that their wines are organic. that just makes it even better. Pros: outdoor garden!!!!, fresh food, friendly and knowledgeable server, didn't feel rushed at all Cons: spicing/flavoring on the food can be off, so-so service during brunch. more

I need a new dentist so I joined citysearch. Needless to say that's a boring task, so I decided to look up restaurants that I love and hate and see what people are saying about them. This simple task of procrastination has proved useful, I must defend ici! I'm shocked to see the last couple of scathing reviews. Ici is my favroite restaurant. I grew up in a family where food was the most important thing. Food is love in my family. So finding a restaurant that I truly adore is no small feat. I've brought my entire family there, including my little niece who ate everything in sight. Well, that said I suppose I should continue my search for a new dentist....... Pros: food, organic wine, service, garden more

The first time my husband and I went was on a Sunday for a brunch and we assumed our bad service, wait take that back, our horrible service, was due to the fact that it was ""Sunday brunch"". But today my friend came into my neighborhood and we dedided to try it again..... The food is very tasty. We sat in the back patio, very nice. But then we waited 10 minutes just for a menu. We were told that they had a large table and that it might be slowo, ok. We weren't really in a hurry at all but we were hungry and had things to do. The so called large table appeared to be winding down but apparently that didnt matter. We ordered from what we were told later was the owner, not the waitress (it was her first day) and our order never made it to the kitchen. We at least got our wine but still no food for another half an hour or so. We had to ask the waitress a couple of times what was up with our food and again got the ""large table"" excuse but by this time they were gone. We ordered another glass of wine and waited another 20 minutes, we were done with our meal by the time they came. I live nearly acroos the street and tell everyone about my experiences there and do not reccomend it at all. We forgot something there and they had it but were very rude when I came to get it. They at least gave us our first glasses of wine for free but it is so over priced to begin with and to wait that long, our second glass should have been free as well. I will never go there again and I will tell anyone not to go there. To top it off we watched people show up as we were leaving getting good service, more bread and very quick. They should really be concerned about the people who live close by, we can and do make a difference on their business. more

My friend's and I went this past Sunday and I strongly reccommend that DeKalb restaurant lovers AVOID this place if you are a service lover. The food is over priced and the quality of servie is sub par. My friends and I waited 30 minutes for cold eggs with and a sandwich. Might I add that had I not noticed that there were nuts in the food (which was not noted on the menu) I could have died! Who owns this place???!!!\r \r My waitress was curt and had an extremely unpleasant demeanour. She looks a troll with red hair. She barely acknowledged us when we sat down after the manager took forever to seat us. The manaher was very unprofessional to say the least. She talked down to us, and took forever to serve our food that we watched sit in the window for a half hour at least! Ugh! It was utter chaos in there and the waitresses had such bad energy. What an awful experience. The food is definitely NOT worth a visit. \r Beware. I would suggest anything else on the block. It's better. Pros: backyard Cons: SERVICE more

It is only because of this restaurant that I bothered to set up a citysearch account so I could write a review of it.\r I love this place because not only is the food consistently flawless, they subscribe to the belief, as written on the bottom of their menu, that ""eating is a political act."" This is because you can choose to eat meat that has been raised humanely, or meat that has been raised in a factory farm; you can choose to eat locally-grown produce, or produce that has been shipped by Dole from some pesticide-ridden third world plantation that pays its workers a nickel an hour. And needless to say, Ici goes out of its way to find local family farms that treat their animals humanely, and to find local family farms from which to buy their produce.\r When I last ate at Ici, I noticed that the three types of fish on their menu were listed as poor eco choices on a card produced by Environmental Defence that I carry in my wallet. I gave it to the waitress, and asked her to give it to the chef. (My friends chastised me for doing this before we ate, rather than after, joking about what the chef might do to our food out of irritation.) But far from being irritated, the hostess (who I think is the wife of the chef) came over to our table to thank us for the info, and explain that they go to great lengths to research what types of fish are the most sustainable, and that she and her husband had chosen the fish listed on the menu precisely because she'd read that they WERE good eco choices. Unfortunately there is a lot of conflicting info out there. So she was grateful for the info, and incredibly gracious.\r Oh - and did I mention? The food is out of this world. Pros: food, service, ambience more

My wife and I went to ici last friday before our show at BAM and we had a great time. We thought we would only have one main dish, so we only allowed 45 minutes for our meal, but the menu was so appealing that we decided to have both appetizers and main courses. The waitress was really helpful and kindly made sure that the food was coming as quickly as possible. They even ordered a car for us, so we made it on time for the show. ici was such a delightful discovery, that we would have loved to have desserts too, so the manager suggested we come back after the show. They booked a table for us at 10pm, and we enjoyed some fantastic desserts and teas. The food was really excellent, the service was fantastic, they really go the extra mile to please customers. We very often go to BAM and this is by far the best pre/post show eating option within walking distance of BAM, and we will definitely return and recommend this place to friends. Pros: Attentive service, great food, good location more

Being a regular customer of ici, I feel that I need to react to the previous review. I have been going there at least twice a month since ici opened about 3 years ago. It's really unfair, ici is very well priced considering the ingredients they use: they are all organic and they use local farms and markets. In regards to the wine list, they have the most exciting selection of natural wines, and after 3 years, I am yet to get bored of trying new wines, and I know not to go there if I fancy a Gin & Tonic, they offer much more memorable stuff.\r Again, the food menu changes with the seasons, I went there last week, and they had a whole lot of new recipes, like a seasonal snow pea fricasee (sp?) made using the crunchiest, freshest peas, that was really lovely. I have planned to go again on Friday night to try out more of the dishes. And they have opened their garden, so I will be spending even more time there!\r Message to ici: do not change a thing, we love the place just the way it is!!!! Pros: amazing food, friendly service, great value, beautiful garden more

We went there for dinner this week.... and never again. Its quite irritating eating in restaurant that doesn't have a full liqour license but its wine list is small. We had to wait quite a while for our apps, only to be told that they run out of one of the things. Portions were extremely small. It seems that the menu hasn't even changed since they opened..... the items they call staple, I call terrible... We barely touched our main dishes (waitress didn't even asks us if we liked them), paid the expensive tab (for 3 pp over $150) and got out. It was a totally unmemorable dining experience; and I don't recommend Ici. Pros: organic (or so they say) ingredients Cons: boring menu, small portions, unattentive service, bland flavours more

My friend who lives near ici in Fort Greene organized a dinner for 5 of us during the Brooklyn Restaurant week. I don't often go to Brooklyn, and my friend did not say much about her choice of venue, so I did not really know what to expect, but ici was amazing! They had a $20 menu that included fantastic all organic dishes, that was a real bargain. I went back to check the place out during a normal time, and again, it did not disappoint. The restaurant week $20 menu was obviously no longer available, but the value of the food & wine remained fantastic, far superior to most restaurants in the City. The quality of the food is amazing, they only use local producers and farms, and everything is organic. The manager explained how by not using any pesticides and sulfates, it really allows the wine to develop its full flavour, all in respect for the environment. I have since been buying natural wine (from Astor wine, they have a great selection). I have a lot of respect for places like ici that are not only there to make profit, but also support a valid cause (respect of the environment etc) and go the extra mile to provide beautiful food and wine. Also, it's nice to be away from the Manhattan madness and be able to just walk in during the week without a reservation. Pros: Very high standards of food & service in a casual environment, natural food & wine, knowledgable staff, amazing value more

We went to Ici this week with a few friends. We were the only customers in the restaurant at 9:20pm. (that should be a sign already) Waitress told us that the owners are in France, so business is a bit slower. Service was friendly but not professional. We had to wait for waitress to finish her dinner in order to take our order. She was still chewing her food while walked towards our table. We had found the wine list extremely small (only 2 reds and 2 whites by the glass) and most of their reds are from Loire. The dinner menu has only one meat dish, which made it extremely difficult for my friend who has seafood allergies. I am surpised by the great reviews of this restaurant. There are much better deals in Fort Greene at better prices. Pros: you can get a table right away Cons: small wine list, not interesting dinner menu, dry bread, no full bar! more