When I first read about Sugarcane Raw Bar, it sounded like some douchey Miami transplant. Afterall, there was one location in Miami and another in Vegas so I assumed it was some big party/club restaurant. I guess this is what I get for judging a book by its cover because I had a shockingly great time there with Allison before heading to a show at St. Ann's. It's perfectly located right on Water Street in DUMBO with great water front views. I should caveat that I was only there for happy hour so I can't speak to what it's like for an actual sit down meal or after hours.
Happy hour is at the bar area only and it's from 4-7pm but be warned you should get there as early as possible. Allison and I got there around 5:30pm on a Friday thinking it was still early but it was jam packed at the bar (the actual restaurant was empty). We managed to squeeze ourselves into a corner spot which ended up being fine but if you're looking for a nice open spot on the couches, go early. The happy hour cocktail menu is extremely extensive and incredibly reasonably priced - the drinks range from a strawberry balsamic cocktail to caiprinha to 3 different prosecco cocktails and all for $7. Plus they have wine and beer for $5-7 too. Very dangerous. As for the food, they have a decent seafood line up of oysters and sushi as well as grilled chicken, goat cheese croquettes, brussels sprouts, and edamame. Nothing on the food menu was more than $6-7. You can easily make a filling meal from the menu. If you order these dishes on the regular dinner menu, they are easily twice the price.
Allison and I ordered almost everything on the menu since we had a lot of time to kill and I had 3 different cocktails. You'd think that for this price the sushi would be meh but it was shockingly fresh and good. The oysters were also shucked well - unfortunately I can't remember if they were East Coast or West Coast ones but I remember thinking to myself that it was not bad. If I had to pick something that was eh, it would be the grilled chicken. It was basically a grilled chicken skewer with some glaze on it but if you need something with a bit more protein, it's not a bad nibble. The cocktails were fun and refreshing, if not a bit on the sweeter side.
The biggest downside is that it's so crowded that the service is a bit hard to flag down. I feel for them given how many people they have to deal with and they were apologetic about some of the mis-steps (i.e. we didn't get one of our dishes and the bartender was super nice about chasing them down). If I worked in DUMBO, am going to a show in the area or just wanted to take a field trip to DUMBO during happy hour, I would happily return here in a heartbeat. Total bill: $57/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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