Ailin J.
Yelp
This review is for the BBQ area at Pier 5. Having a public BBQ area by the waterfront is a great idea, it is how people behave here that really upsets me.
The rules of the BBQ area says first come, first served. How it should be interpreted is that people showing up first with the whole party AND the food should be served first, not some guy taking up a whole table and two or three grills for two hours waiting for his family or friends to come, wasting the resources while other people coming fully prepared have to be turned away. On the day we were there trying to find a grill, only about half of the grills were being used, the other half were marked with some charcoal or a roll of foil indicating the grills are taken in the foreseeable future.
Just like making a reservation at a restaurant, people are expected to show up with their whole party, or else they will not be seated. Somehow this common sense doesn't work at Pier 5, which has pretty much ruined this place for me. I'll be making suggestions to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy in hope for attaching some strings to the "first come, first served" rule. Until then, I probably won't be coming to Pier 5 for the BBQ again.