Cafe Mars

In the area we’ve moved into, there are a ton of Brooklyn restaurants to try out. The area definitely has a different feel to the food. Cafe Mars is an experimental, whimsical Italian restaurant. Somehow they also scored a Michelin Bib. They are definitely trying to push the boundaries of what “Italian” means, and when you walk in, you will see it with your eyes. We walked in on a Friday evening without reservations at around 6:30 PM.

Ambiance & Service

When you walk in, there is a lot of art-deco color palettes to the place. It reminds me of the 1930s to some degree, with a lot of whimsy, sharp edges, and vibrant colors all over. We were seated in the back, where it felt a little less whimsy, but it still had its own character.

The service was great. They listened to what we desired and made some reasonable suggestions. I noticed the pacing of the food started to become slower as we head towards the entree portions.

Food

The Mozzarella Time?! ($16) came with a ball of mozzarella that was divided into 4 sections. The mozzarella had a nice bounce, and it was dense. The seasoning was light, and apparently it was made in-house.

The complimentary House Kombucha was served in really eclectic glasses.

The Italian Limonata ($7 - left) was just a fizzy lemon type of soda. It was good.

The glass of Trebbiano+ “In Origine 400” ($18 - right) came from La Felce, Liguria, Italy 2022. This skin contact orange/white wine has an interesting funk to it, but overall I felt that it was just OK.

The Muffaletta Dim Sum ($15) came with an olive salad dip. What was interesting about the sesame glutinous balls was that they were stuffed with cured Italian meats. They said that these balls were made in-house, and I thought the bounciness and texture tasted pretty authentic. Now when it comes to the design of the dish, it surprisingly works. You get this spongy texture from the mochi complemented by the saltiness of the olives.

The Ravioli alla Reuben ($28) came with corned beef, swiss, pink sauce, and mustards. This tasted exactly what I thought, which was a reuben flavored pasta. The interior of the pasta was stuffed with corned beef, and the dish overall turned out to be an interesting blend of flavors.

The Bigoli alla Nerano ($28) came with Jonah crab, green & yellow zucchini, and pepitas. The bigoli pasta was cooked perfectly, and there was a bit of a kick to this sauce. The crab meat was sparse though, but whatever meat you did find, it was quite sweet and flavorful.

The Jumbo Shrimp Fra Diavolo ($38) came with utica greens, lardo, and hash brown. The jumbo shrimp with their heads were all edible. The flavors were quite good, but the seasoning was heavy on the saltier side. The round hash browns were very crispy and delicious. The potato strings were very thinly sliced, and it was crispy all throughout. The one unforgivable part of this dish was the utica greens. These had some very off-putting flavors to it, that just did not taste good at all. It was some type of seasoning that just didn’t go at all with the greens. It was very sweet, peculiar, and very salty. The hash brown was seasoned ok, the shrimp was on the salty side, and the greens was just way too salty.

The Gelato al Puffo ($15) came with tutti frutti, berries, marshmallow hat, and pine. Fortunately, this dessert was actually not too sweet and pretty delicious. If you’re a fan of meringue, I’d definitely get this. The blue colored ice cream reminded me of bubble gum flavors, and it was good. This is the type of whimsy I can get excited about.

Overall Impression

Cafe Mars fell short for me despite that some dishes were inventive, experimental, and quite good. Others just completely fell flat for me, and it left a not-so-great impression. If you’re in the Gowanus area and feel risky, give this restaurant a try and don’t get some of the stuff we got unless you want to take that risk that they improved it.

Yelp & Google Jabs

Revisions

1. Aug 7, 2026 - Initial revision.