Bar Susanne just opened at Domino Park in Williamsburg. Martinis, agave cocktails, North Fork oysters, and a waterfront view. Here’s what to expect.
There’s a moment when a neighborhood stops being a place people move to and starts being a place people go to. Domino Park in Williamsburg crossed that line a while ago. And now, with the opening of Bar Susanne along its waterfront, it has a cocktail bar worthy of the view. This isn’t just another new bar in Brooklyn. It’s the work of a James Beard-nominated designer who named the place after a female artist and mentor, a mixologist with serious Lower Manhattan pedigree, and a kitchen sourcing from Long Island’s North Fork.
New cocktail bars Brooklyn sees every season, but this one lands differently.
Who’s Behind Bar Susanne and Why It Matters
Matthew Maddy is the kind of designer whose projects you’ve been in without knowing his name. His past work includes Lillia, the beloved Italian restaurant in Williamsburg, and Public Records in Gowanus. Both are spaces that feel considered rather than decorated, where the room amplifies the food and drink rather than competing with it. Bar Susanne follows the same logic, an airy, coastal space designed to feel like the water outside is part of the experience.
The name honors a female artist who mentored Maddy early in his career. That backstory matters because it sets the tone of the place: personal, intentional, built on relationships rather than trend forecasting.
Maddy opens Bar Susanne adjacent to Cafe Susanne, his all-day community cafe that arrived at Domino Park last November. Think of it as an ecosystem. Coffee and pastries by day, cocktails and raw bar by night, the water always in view.
The Cocktail Program: Martinis, Agave, and Serious Intent
The drinks are in the hands of Milos Zica, a name that carries real weight in New York cocktail circles. His resume includes Employees Only, one of the most influential cocktail bars in the country’s recent history, and Fandi Mata, the Albanian restaurant in Carroll Gardens that earned attention as much for its bar program as its food. Zica is not a gimmick guy. He builds programs around clarity and precision.
At Bar Susanne, that means martinis that taste like they’ve been thought about very carefully and agave-forward cocktails that respect the spirit rather than bury it in modifiers. Expect clean, cold, and bracing. The kind of drink that makes you sit up slightly straighter.
If you’ve been suffering through muddy, over-sweetened cocktails at places that prioritize the Instagram moment over the actual sip, Bar Susanne is the intervention you didn’t know you needed.
The Food: Long Island’s North Fork on Your Plate
The kitchen keeps it seafood-forward, which makes sense for a bar sitting on the East River. But the sourcing is what separates Bar Susanne from a generic raw bar. Maddy’s team has built relationships with purveyors from Long Island’s North Fork and other New York waterways, meaning the oysters on your plate have a specific geography, a specific salinity, a specific story.
[FLAVOR] Picture a tray of cold oysters, each one from a different North Fork bed, set next to a clean, bone-dry martini with a single Castelvetrano olive. The brine in the glass and the brine on the shell doing a quiet, satisfying conversation with each other.
The North Fork has been producing some of the East Coast’s most interesting shellfish for decades. For a deeper dive into what makes the region’s waters so productive, the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s marine program at seagrant.sunysb.edu is the most thorough resource available.
And yes, sitting by the water eating oysters while the sun sets over Manhattan is exactly as good as it sounds. Some things live up to the premise.
Bar Susanne joins a Domino Park corridor that’s become one of Brooklyn’s most thoughtfully developed dining and drinking destinations. The new cocktail bars Brooklyn keeps producing are often style over substance. This one is both.
MINI FAQ: Bar Susanne in Brooklyn
Q: Where is Bar Susanne in Brooklyn?
A: Bar Susanne is located at 6 River St, Brooklyn, NY 11249, along Domino Park in Williamsburg. It sits next to Cafe Susanne, the team’s all-day cafe that opened in November 2025.
Q: What kind of cocktails does Bar Susanne serve?
A: The cocktail program is led by Milos Zica, formerly of Employees Only and Fandi Mata. Expect a martini-focused program alongside an extensive agave portfolio. The approach is precise and spirit-forward rather than sweet or heavily modified.
Q: Does Bar Susanne serve food?
A: Yes. The food program is seafood-focused, with sourcing from Long Island’s North Fork and other New York waterways. It functions as a raw bar with a cocktail program rather than a full restaurant.
Spirit-forward, not Heavy
Bar Susanne is open now along Domino Park. Go on a clear evening when the light on the river is doing what it does in spring, and order the martini first. Then ask Zica’s bar team what they’re excited about. That’s always the right move at a bar this good.
