The Early Word on Reynards at the Wythe Hotel

Restaurateur Andrew Tarlow and chef Sean Rembold, the men behind Diner and Marlow & Sons, recently opened Reynards inside the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The restaurant features a wood-fired oven and grill, and serves market-driven American fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Early diners seem mostly pleased with their experiences inside the tile, wood, and exposed brick dining room. So far, they're not bothered by the long wait times in the new space. Here's a rundown of what people are saying about the wait, the space, the drinks, and the food at Reynards:

The Positive News: An exited Yelper writes about her Sunday brunch experience: "I tried one of the galettes: essentially a buckwheat crepe folded around house-made ricotta, asparagus, and an egg alongside a fresh, strong cup of coffee. I thought my dish was very good; well-sized, though I could see if you were rather hungry it might seem disproportionately expensive for a-la-carte meals. I was fine with this though; the space has a sort of old glamor akin to Hotel Delmano. I'm not going to eat or drink there every day, but sometimes you need a little bit of class in your life." [Yelp]

The Pleased News: An Eater commenter remarks: "Had lunch there on Friday (friends and family). The place is pretty awesome. The food is good and what you'd expect (no real deviation from the other restaurants) in quality and depth (i.e., limited). Good wines, drinks (the Old Pal, a rye drink - wasn't that great though) and beers. The staff is excited and happy to be there." [Eater Comments]

The Unimpressed News: One early diner is disappointed by the cocktails and suggests wine instead: "I don't mind paying $15 for cocktails like you get at Hotel Delmano or Walter Foods, but Reynards is simply not on the same level and anyone who thinks so ought to have their head examined. They did have some nice wine though, I had two glasses with my dinner after the cocktail failure." And in a round up of criticism of the cuisine, the Yelper writes that "the trout was far too buttery and salty," and "the duck breast was thick sliced, which is pretty much unforgivable." Also: "...my girlfriend had the burger. As she said, she doesn't eat burgers enough to waste it on a bad one. She asked if we could just go to Five Leaves afterwards... she wasn't joking." [Yelp]

The Killer News: A blogger writes about her dining experience: "The menu leans towards 'whole animal' and 'woodfired,'; the arctic char and duck we tried were both stellar, if pretty straightforward. The menu will change monthly, though if you're there at some point soon, try the roasted squid, sausage and cauliflower appetizer. It's killer. The caramel and pine nut tart also makes the A+ dessert list purely for the crust alone. The wine list is better than the cocktail list; and of course — it's all still a work in progress." [Youngnapark]

The What to Eat News: A tip from a Foursquare user: "When you arrive, try sticky buns, duck confit, grass-fed burgers, plus classic 'tails like Harvey Wallbangers, and brews including Brooklyn's Radius. Menus change daily and center around local produce." [Foursquare]

More Duck News: A pleased diner on the cuisine: "I felt the menu was well-edited and was true to its sister restaurants (meat-focused and simply presented)...We each ordered different meat (trout, duck, pork, burger) and some appetizers; I tried everyone's dish and loved them all, and really enjoyed my duck. Great balance of duck/fat/skin; crispy outside and super-moist inside, really nicely executed over the wood fire." The drawbacks: "...the overcrowded bar area and an awkward bathroom setup." [Yelp]

The Raw News: A Yelper who gives a single star complains: "It took over 30 minutes before anything came out. The restaurant was not crowded. I ordered a sticky bun. It came out cold and almost broke my tooth. I ordered a burger. The center was still raw. Not in the nice Peter Luger medium rare kind of raw. It came out raw in the kind of way that the center still had a good portion of RAW ground beef." [Yelp]

The Specials News: According to Foursquare tipsters, specials are where it's at: "Don't let the smallish menu scare you away...they've got a great list of specials each day! Don't decide what to order until you hear them." Another post reads: "If the pulled pork sandwich is a special, get it!" [Foursquare]
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post noted that Rembold and Tarlow worked together on Roman's. Rembold has never been involved in that restaurant.
· All Coverage of Reynards [~ENY~]