New York City (Brooklyn): Llama Inn (January 2020)



My spouse and I visited the Llama Inn for brunch on a Saturday afternoon in mid-January 2020. The Llama Inn is open daily for dinner and for brunch on weekends. Guests can book a table using the online RESY reservation system. When making a reservation, you can select the type of seating that you desire; in our case, we asked to be seated at the chef’s counter. 

The Llama Inn opened in November 2015 in a seemingly triangular-shaped building on a road adjacent to/below the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway) in Williamsburg. Patrons can sit at the chef’s counter facing the open kitchen, at a multi-sided bar that occupies the center of the dining room, at stand-alone tables (some of which share a banquette), at a few booths, or at a small counter that lines an exterior wall of floor-to-ceiling glass. Rooftop al fresco dining is available in warmer weather. Décor includes South American-inspired artwork and textiles and lots of plants which seem to thrive in the bright windowed atmosphere. 

The Llama Inn serves Peruvian-Mexican food. We shared the ceviche to start; it was different than other ceviche we have eaten because the restaurant did not serve it with any chips or other items on which to pile the ceviche; instead, they delivered two large spoons and we used them to eat the yummy dish right from the bowl. Next, we ordered two sandwiches: the pork shoulder and the fried chicken. Both were tasty although extremely spicy. When we opened the sandwiches to peek inside, we saw that both were layered with fiery peppers, which were too spicy for our liking. Each sandwich came with a choice of chips or a side salad. (Although we ordered one chips and one salad, both were delivered with chips. The mistake was quickly rectified; however, we were dismayed to see that the kitchen simply dumped the incorrect chips back into the main container in the kitchen in order to reuse them rather than throwing them away.) We shared the key lime pie for dessert, which was topped with toasted meringue (which tasted more marshmallow-y than egg white-ish.) Although we sampled the non-alcoholic Llama Side cocktail (made with roasted pineapple, passionfruit, ginger, and lime), the Llama Inn also has a full liquor license so that you can enjoy beer, wine, and cocktails. 

We liked our brunch at the Llama Inn; the food, service, and atmosphere were enjoyable.

















No comments: