Carbone's Secret Sister Restaurant In NYC Is The Ultimate Pregame Dining Spot

Of the many amazing food destinations around the world, New York City stands out for its diversity, storied culinary history, and its sheer number of highly exclusive celebrity hot spots. One such establishment is Carbone, a chic red-sauce Italian joint that's known just as much for its high-class clientele as it is for its iconic chicken parmesan. Though these days it might not be universally considered one of the best Italian restaurants in New York City — that is a pretty high bar — the restaurant's famous reputation helped turn parent company Major Food Group into a top hospitality brand.

For diners hoping to recreate the Carbone experience somewhere a little off the beaten path, Major Food Group designed Crown Club, a private arena club at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. It's not exactly an official Carbone location, but it does feature much of the same menu, including the famed spicy rigatoni and aforementioned chicken parm. According to the club's website, the menu features familiar "MFG hits" along with additional "perfectly executed classics."

What makes Crown Club most exciting, however, has arguably less to do with the food and more to do with its exclusive atmosphere. Some of New York's best restaurants are hidden in unexpected locations such as Subway stations, and as a secret gem concealed within the home of the Brooklyn Nets, Crown Club is no exception. Dining there is the ultimate way to kick off a night of sports or music at the arena in an enviable style.

First and foremost, to dine at Crown Club, you're going to need tickets to an event at the Barclays Center. The club is only available to ticket holders for certain concerts, performances, and sporting events, and prospective diners must provide proof of their ticket when requesting a reservation. Crucially, the Crown Club does not accept reservations for games of Barclays' home teams — the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty. 

If you meet these qualifications, you can fill out a reservation request form on the Barclays Center website, and someone from Crown Club's concierge team will contact you. That's certainly more hoops to jump through for a reservation than we're used to in the era of Resy and OpenTable, but for some diners, that adds to the allure. According to the website, Crown Club currently offers a $125 pre-fixe menu featuring a select few signature dishes. 

Once you arrive, prepare to be stunned by the restaurant's glamorous interior, which was designed by renowned artist Kevin Fulk. In a statement provided to Robb Report, Fulk called Crown Club "one of the most beautiful spaces in the city." He said, "The fact that it's inside an arena adds to the mysterious sense of being invited to a private grand residence for an unforgettable evening."