Republica Restaurant & Rooftop

"With its colorful lights and loud music, Republica is sort of like a club, except you can sit at a table and eat a whole fried snapper. Try this three-story Dominican rooftop restaurant in Inwood if you want to have a lively birthday with people dancing to thumping bachata under purple strobe lights. While dishes like the tres golpes plate with slabs of fried cheese and saffron-lime salmon are decent, the food’s main purpose is to give you enough sustenance to keep pouring drinks. " - bryan kim, neha talreja, kenny yang

"The second floor of Republica, a three-story Dominican restaurant on Dykman, is windowless with purple strobe lights and thumping bachata. As you can imagine, brunch upstairs on the colorful covered rooftop is also a party. For $45 each, you can get two hours of bottomless mimosas or sangria and two brunch entrees per person. While the food is decent, it definitely has a bigger purpose—and that purpose is to give you enough sustenance to keep pouring drinks. You’re going to see a lot of birthdays, but you'll see just as many people dancing in their seats celebrating Saturday." - Neha Talreja, Bryan Kim, Carina Finn Koeppicus, Hannah Albertine

"The second floor of Republica, a three-story Dominican restaurant on Dykman, is windowless with purple strobe lights and thumping bachata. It looks like a club, except you can order mofongo and seafood paella. As you can imagine, dinner upstairs on the colorful covered rooftop is also a party. While the food is decent, it definitely has a bigger purpose—and that purpose is to give you enough sustenance to keep doing more shots. Try the thick, salty chimi, or start with a tres golpes plate with awesome slabs of fried cheese then move on to the saffron-lime salmon before heading back to the dance floor. Maximize the fun by coming with a group. If you don’t, you might feel like you’re missing out on the party." - Bryan Kim, Matt Tervooren, Neha Talreja

"With its colorful lights and loud music, Republica is sort of like a club, except you can sit at a table and eat a whole fried snapper. Try this Dominican rooftop restaurant in Inwood the next time you want have a lively birthday with reasonably good food and an early-enough bedtime. This place also works well for a birthday brunch. Whenever you stop by, you'll probably see people dancing." - team infatuation

"The second floor of Republica, a three-story Dominican restaurant on Dykman, is windowless with purple strobe lights and thumping bachata. It looks like a club, except you can order mofongo and seafood paella. As you can imagine, brunch upstairs on the colorful covered rooftop is also a party, aided and abetted by the option of bottomless mimosas or sangria. Yeah, all the tables tend to be taken, and it’s Rooftop Restaurant Loud, but the waitstaff does a pretty good job of keeping things from becoming too chaotic. For $45 each, you can get two hours of drinks and two brunch entrees per person (which are relatively small portions, so you’ll probably want both). While the food is decent, it definitely has a bigger purpose—and that purpose is to give you enough sustenance to keep pouring mimosas. Try the thick, salty chimi, or start with a tres golpes plate with awesome slabs of fried cheese then move on to the saffron-lime salmon. You’re going to see a lot of birthdays, but you'll see just as many people dancing in their seats celebrating Saturday. Maximize the fun by coming with a group. If you don’t, you might feel like you’re missing out on the party." - Neha Talreja