Cecconi's
Now that I have a new camera to play with, we’ve been trying to make an effort to travel around the city to practice taking pictures and learning more about the camera. At some point, I’ll start another website sharing and expressing what I got. For now, we were hungry in the Dumbo area, and the bathroom lines to wash your hands were long in the public restroom area within the Timeout Market section. My partner was really irked, so we decided to just walk into Cecconi’s to see if we can be seated. The outdoor section had a wait of upwards of 50 minutes, but the indoor seating was all ready to go. We were seated immediately at 4:30 PM on a Saturday late afternoon without issues.
Ambiance & Service
This food hall area is quite nice, and the restaurant has a very clean look towards the east river. You can see the carousel, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the World Trade Center. There’s plenty of fresh air and sights that come in. The noise level was not uncomfortably loud.
The service was extremely fast, though you can tell that they were expecting a lot of tourists because of how they were chatting and treating all the tables. Generally, I found the service to be similar to any chain restaurant place. Note that when you pay the bill, they bring the credit card reader which seemed to have some calculations that seem off post tip. Definitely take the time to read thoroughly and don’t feel pressured to press a button.
Food
The glass of “Orange Wine” ($20) came from Villa Corniole, Trentino 2021. Visually, this appears slightly copper. It smells of a lot of tree fruits. Taste wise, it has a very subtle creaminess to it with a slight acidity on the finish. It would probably be decent along with seafood because of the minerality.
The Chicken Paillard ($36) came with arugula salad and aged balsamic. The boneless chicken was flattened and then grilled very thoroughly such that there was very little juice left. The other garnishes were very standard and typical for this dish.
The Brick Chicken ($49) came with sauteed spinach. The brick chicken also came out very dry. The dark meat portions were actually decent since the skin was crispy and there was some jus left from the chicken. Otherwise, the breast and other parts were not very good to eat since it was like eating cardboard. The sauteed spinach surprisingly was cooked very thoroughly such that some leaves came out crispy.
Overall Impression
This experience reminded me of our dinner at Serafina, where the menu not only looked basic and was expensive, but the food was cooked paltry and abysmally for NYC standards. If you’re looking to eat something at Dumbo and don’t care much about what you eat because you want to enjoy a view, then this place might be decent. However if you care about food, I would most definitely pass this place for something else.
Yelp & Google Jabs
My friend, who is now a Brooklynite, lives in Dumbo and wanted me to have a quintessential Dumbo experience.
I’m not sure if this Berkeley Elitist was baited, but if this was considered the “Dumbo experience”, I’d be telling that friend that they can do better.
We ordered pizza, meatballs, side of avocado, burrata, octopus, and ahi tuna tartare. Everything was delicious! I’m not sure why this place doesn’t have close to a 5-star rating, but I can assure anyone with a family considering a visit that stopping here while you’re near the water is a great decision!
I looked at this Elitist’s other reviews, and they did not have a track record of decent taste. Again, if the view is far more important than the food, this place can be an option. But if you’re looking for anything remotely decent, there are a lot of other places you can visit instead.
Revisions
- Sep 13, 2025 - Initial revision.