Out On The Town: FINI Patio Bar
On the Brooklyn Waterfront with Pizza, Parm, Piccata, Stuffed Peppers, and a Pretty Spectacular View
Welcome to Out On the Town, a regular LAST CALL Paid Subscriber exclusive where I break down a recent visit to a particular bar or restaurant—whether an old favorite, a new spot, or a first-time visit to a “new to me” joint.
Out On the Town: FINI Patio Bar
In late June, just before the fortuitous timing of the Fourth of July fireworks display returning to the East River for the first time since 2013, FINI Pizza and FINI Patio Bar opened their doors at a strategic corner location (former home to Estuary, which closed in 2024) on the Brooklyn Waterfront that presents a panoramic view of passing ships and ferries navigating the East River, the gleaming skyline of Lower Manhattan, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Sean Feeney, co-founder of the hospitality company Grovehouse (Lilia, Misi, MISIPASTA, FINI Pizza, FINI Patio Bar) and a Board member of the Food Education Fund and the FDNY Foundation, opened the first FINI Pizza on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg in 2022. The slice shop was inspired by old-school neighborhood pizzerias but with a modern aesthetic and a mission statement to “honor the past, embrace the present, and invest in the future of our community.”
The signature crisp Kelly green-and-white FINI colorway has announced the arrival of FINI Pizza outposts in Amagansett, Barclay’s Center Plaza, and now Brooklyn Heights. While I’m happy to have a FINI Pizza a quick walk from my apartment, I’m extra excited about FINI Patio Bar next door, which offers a full bar and an expansive tavern-like space and outdoor patio serving whole pies along with starters and entrees inspired by Brooklyn red-sauce restaurant culture. Another nod to Brooklyn is the oversized neon green crown, likely a nod to the iconic portrait of Biggie Smalls’ iconic crown photo as The King of New York, hung askew on the front window of FINI Patio Bar.
I’ve walked past FINI Patio Bar countless times since it opened on my daily constitutional along the Brooklyn Waterfront, but I finally booked a table for a recent Wednesday dinner with my associates Conor Johns, Head Bartender at Red Hook Tavern, and Patrick Miller, founder of Brooklyn’s own Faccia Brutto Spirits. We were warmly greeted by Sean Feeney himself, who even shared an after-dinner preview of Concrete Shoals, an intimate clubhouse-like bar on the end of a dock jutting into the Brooklyn Bridge Marina. But before that on-the-water sunset view, our table was filled with plates and platters of fried calamari, sausage-stuffed peppers, chicken wings, pizza, fish piccata, and an Italian ice tasting flight.