Apartment 138

Has anyone tried the food/drinks at Apartment 138 on Smith Street?

[missmodular]

Went for brunch there a while back, and I can only echo most of what everyone else has said: Unremarkable food, very very slow service. The guy tending bar was very nice & friendly, but that's about it.

[slopeguy]

I am going to chime in....even though the thread is two years old....

THe wait for the food was very long, the service was horrible, and so was the food. Stuffed chicken with spinach was drier than the Sahara Desert, my wifes ribs were good but the sides were less than appealing. The waitress seemed off in another world when we were left with empty glasses for over 20 minutes. The only positives were the decor and perhaps the variety of items on the menu.

[vatl619]

i think the service is still quite slow, but i have been consistently impressed with the quality of the food recently. ive been for dinner a few times in the past few months and have enjoyed everything i've tried immensely. i am not enamored with the inside decor, but i love love the umbrella covered garden and the candlelight out there.... i may not be as quick to jump at the chance to go though once the seasons change and the garden is no longer an option.

the menu really does have a lot of variety. try the salmon and the seafood paella, as well as the whole wheat pasta, and yes i enjoy that steak salad as well. their pressed sandwiches are good too.
a solid neighborhood standby if you live close, and if you are not in a rush.

[TBird]

been twice now. food is ok, it's a good place to go when everything else is closed and you want some sliders, but it's definately no destination restaurant. service this last time(saturday night) was frustrating.

[fishermb]

I went here with my roomate for the first time last night, as we've been living in the neighborhood for about a year and are trying to cross a few places off our list that we hadn't been to yet. The good: I really like the atmosphere. The bad: My grilled vegetable sandwich was awful, I couldn't even finish it, the tilapia slider was covered in tarter sauce (I couldn't even see the fish), and the apple tart was dry. To have a sandwich an desert, you'd figure you'd be out of there in 45 minutes tops...more like an hour and 45 minutes. Seriously. I've never had such bad service before, and even if the food was good, there's no way I'd go back. There seemed to be a few servers walking around, and the place was at most 1/2 full. Very disappointed.

[MissPeacock]

Overall, Apt. 138 isn't a foodie paradise, its a decent neighborhood place to get a drink at the bar or have something simple. The grilled vegetable sandwich used to be one of my favorite things on the menu and I went about recently and it was terrible. I'm going to give it another try soon in the hopes this usually tasty and reliable sandwich will be good again.

I like the bartenders, but the servers a lot to be desired so I usually try to eat at the bar. Once my husband requested a coke and was served a tall glass of a dark liquid with ice that looked like coke...he took one sip and spit it out -- they mistakenly gave him a tall glass of expresso martini. He told them, they took it back and apologized but they thought it was just hysterical. We could see them all laughing and joking about it at the bar, as though there was a wall up preventing us from seeing them being so unprofessional. This didn't bother me enough to never go back, but I'm usually on my guard with the servers and am sure to have a lot of patience...

I'm surprised by all the positive reviews - I've had several meals there and they've all been very bland and unevenly cooked...

What's funny is that this place really used to be my friend's apartment! It's true--she lived in that ground-floor space for several years, until the owner decided to make it a commercial space instead. So I've been to parties there...and also now for lunch as a paying guest. Seems nice enough, if kind of american-contemporary generic. Had a good steak salad though.

We wandered in early on a Friday evening that my wife met me at the subway (Bergen St.) for an early dinner. We have been back about 6 times since. The atmosphere is nice, the food pretty good, with a list of specials every night, and the prices are reasonable. The service is friendly, albeit sometimes a little slow (only a little).

We end up for dinner there nearly once a week (live around the corner) and really like it. Very much turned into our local, dont feel like cooking / dont feel like anything elaborate, dinner / drinks spot. The burgers are good, the steaks (when they have on special, i.e. ny strip) have been surprisingly good, like the guacamole as well. They have wonderful martini cocktails, esp chocolate martini and espresso martini. They are STRONG though.

Never had any trouble with the service there that I can think of. Can get very busy on the weekends.

Second the awesome chocolate martinis. And yes, they're very strong!

I really liked the crab cake. Sat at the bar. Nice weeknight vibe.

We went about 6 weeks ago for dinner on a Friday. Food is cheap and decent. The place was full and not too slow. Skip dessert - they were all really weak. The wierdest thing though was the game room downstairs. It seemed like a fun idea but the vibe was really strange (read hostile) and we left without playing any pool.

I went for brunch a few months back. The food was fine and fairly cheap, but it took FOREVER. There were maybe three other tables that were occupied while we were there (it was around 3 pm) and it took about 45 minutes to get an omelet and french toast.