The Taste Bud loves a Resy. We do not, as a rule, enjoy uncertainty when it comes to our meals (or anything, really). We love a plan. So it would take a pretty special restaurant to get me to line up at 4 pm on a Saturday in hopes of securing a spot for date night — and The Snail is that special restaurant.
Located right on the edge of McCarren Park in Greenpoint, which is, in my humble opinion, one of the most charming areas of the city, The Snail opened a few months ago to some fanfare. Helmed by Austin Baker, a Hogsalt alum, it was an instant magnet for those of us who love anything that shares DNA with 4 Charles, Monkey Bar, La Renommée, etc. And of course, they serve a double cheeseburger.
The Snail’s menu is crowd pleasing and will surely appeal to most palates. French and American bistro fare is the focus here; there’s escargot, tartare, the aforementioned cheeseburger, some pastas, and larger entrees like steak frites and branzino. Having waited in the cold for half an hour for the privilege of 5 pm bar seats (a genuinely lovely setup), we were excited to try all the dishes that spoke to us most.
It would be wrong to visit a restaurant called The Snail and not eat snails, so we started with the escargot. Classically prepared with garlic parsley butter and served with a very good fresh baguette that dutifully soaked up all the excess delicious butter, they could not have been better, and I’m struggling to remember enjoying escargot this much anywhere outside France. (I know, I know. I’m putting a quarter in the obnoxiousness jar.)
The escargot set a formidable standard, and happily, the rest of the meal measured up. The lamb tartare was a must-order because of who I am as a person. Served with crispy flatbread, the generous portion of finely diced lamb was enhanced by olives, fried capers, and marcona almonds for a bit of flavor and crunch, and was lightly dressed (not overpowered by mayo). It was just as enjoyable as a great beef tartare, and more memorable because it was lamb.
If my fiancé’s favorite food is pizza, his second favorite is any kind of squash pasta, and The Snail’s koginut agnolotti was more or less the exemplar of the genre. Even I, as someone who does not typically love squash pasta, could appreciate that this dish excelled. The sage, brown butter, and walnuts it was paired with are a tried and true combination of accoutrements for squash pasta, and the nuttiness played well with the sweet and savory flavors of the delicate handmade pasta filled with creamy koginut squash.
That left the cheeseburger. Very similar to the 4 Charles masterpiece, minus the spectacle of the fried egg and thick cut bacon (which, in my opinion, is a bit gratuitous and simply distracts from the excellent burger), it totally scratched the burger itch. The thin, lacy smashburgers were draped in American cheese and topped with pickles and dijonnaise spiked with diced red onion: simple, satisfying, and indulgent in the best way. Baker clearly knew that the general Hogsalt burger model was a recipe for success, and didn’t stray too far from it, to his credit. The fries (which one must order separately) were great, featuring that sweet spot of crispy exterior and mashed-potato interior, and paired with a perfectly balanced garlic aioli. Add a dirty martini, and you have an ideal meal in my book.
We ended the meal with sticky toffee pudding. The dense date cake, doused in caramel and topped with vanilla ice cream, was an appropriate end to a truly delicious meal. A good sticky toffee pudding is one of those dishes that, when it’s good, it’s really good; unfortunately, my fiancé and I have been burned before — and recently — by disappointing iterations of this dish in New York, and it was refreshing that this one lived up to our hopes. Definitely save room for dessert if you can; like everything we enjoyed, it was simple and delectable. Yet as someone who chooses savory food over dessert nine times out of ten, I can’t say I loved it quite as much as all of the other dishes.
This was a meal that actually batted 100. The Snail stands out as one of my favorite 2025 dining experiences so far, not because it is so innovative or different, but because it effortlessly and excellently executes one of my favorite types of cuisines with charming ambiance and friendly service to boot. Bistros in New York may be a dime a dozen, but this one is top tier.
If this experience is any indication, it seems I’d be well advised to leave the comfortable world of Resy for a walk-in risk more often. In the case of The Snail, it was more than worth it.
TL;DR: What We Ate
Loved: escargot, lamb tartare, cheeseburger, fries, squash agnolotti
Liked: sticky toffee date cake
Should have skipped: nothing
Pricing: appetizers $12-$23, plates $19-$45