The best restaurants in Fort Greene

What looks like an unassuming storefront from outside on Dekalb Avenue has actually assumed the top spot on Fort Greene’s dining scene since opening in 2009. The Italian-influenced restaurant is an ideal any occasion destination, as hospitable for drinks at the bar as it is on date night. It’s also open for lunch to transform your ho-hum work-from-home to work-from-Rom[an’s]. 

This Mediterranean restaurant burst onto the scene in 2017 with “a twist” on some familiar favorites. The neighborhood staple presently serves babaganoush with ginger aioli and za-atar, hummus varieties, sautéed chicken liver short rib and chicken shawarma. 

Sun-splashed through big picture windows up front, Walter’s is the kind of casual-cool place frequented by the attractive cast in a pretty good movie you saw on a plane once. It’s light, bright, lovely and approachable with menu items like duck rillettes, kale Caesars, moules frites and chicken two ways, plus a sexy secret in the back . . .

. . . at Karasu! Pass through the cheery restaurant and slip into the sleek, speakeasy-style space beyond to enter Karasu. The stylish Japanese restaurant and cocktail bar has Fort Greene’s finest drinks plus its own menu with bites like tuna tataki, karaage, tonkatsu and a ribeye for two. 

Rusticly-chic inside, verdant Colonia Verde has a treehouse feel out in its garden where Fort Green flora grows. Its Latin American menus include pão de queijo, a quartet of tacos, local steelhead trout and a cast iron-blackened pork chop. 

Dino’s a Northern Italian charmer with an elegantly simple interior and peaceful back garden. Stop by for crostini and cocktails, or linger longer over pork Milanese, chicken Parm, skirt steak and plenty of pasta with wine by the glass or bottle. 

Though tins of fish pop all over town today, the trend was fledgling with Rhodora first opened in 2019 and people were still asking why they were ordering supermarket sardines for a few times the price. Now that it’s the norm, the cozy wine bar, which also aspires to be waste-free, serves not only sprats on toast, but also snacks like marinated olives, mixed nuts, cheese and charcuterie.