My Favorite Rooftop Spot Proves NYC Dining Doesn't Need To Be Overpriced To Be Worthy Of Instagram

New York City has a rooftop hospitality problem. Can this be more narrowly categorized as a so-called Champagne problem? Yes, and it's sometimes part and parcel with actual Champagne (or at least prosecco). To be fair, most rooftop bars do deliver on their own stated category: They are situated on rooftops, or close enough, with all the metropolitan views to match. But their quality tends to decline from there, even as prices spike. I have had some of the worst small bites and the most poorly conceived cocktails of my life in some of these lovely, cloud-kissing spaces, where the libations are around $30. The vanishingly few venues that pair ascending tableaus with actually good menus are also accordingly expensive. Relatively affordable rooftop spots like Alma in Brooklyn are even more rare, which is what makes them so precious.

I have been visiting Alma as an off-duty food critic, writer, and editor for many years. Like any restaurant, it's had a lot of iterations in that time, even from one weekend to the next. I've sipped terrific margaritas at tables surrounded by overstimulated adult birthday girls, navigated cheddar-cloaked chilaquiles substantial enough to slake the following day's hangover alongside screaming toddlers, and had probable tourists invade my personal space to snap a skyline photo more times than you'd likely believe. Because the one thing that hasn't changed, including on those special weekend days when my husband and I nab a table before the brunch crowds begin to bumble in, is Alma's unobstructed Manhattanscape glittering on the other side of the East River.

Alma's rooftop is a low-rise affair a couple of flights up in Brooklyn's Columbia Waterfront District, right on the margin of better known Cobble Hill. It's also a stone's skip from the titular shore. And, because it's separated from the architectural marvels that combine to make New York City an everyday breathtaker by the gritty, but crucially flat, Brooklyn Marine Terminal, you can see clear from Alma's window seats to One World Trade, among other famed addresses. It's a unique perspective for your transparently planned candids, and one that you'd likely pay a lot more for elsewhere, versus Alma's margaritas, cervezas, and classic Clamato micheladas, which all hover from around $8 to $15. Worse margaritas at an embarrassingly clichéd competitor about a mile away are $25. Alma's plates are similarly below market rate.

I've been getting in just fine in recent months, but I've also seen the place prohibitively packed even on totally unpredictable occasions, so make a reservation to be safe. You can reserve a spot on the rooftop through Resy, but there isn't an option to choose a specific table or section. Instead, when you arrive, ask for a table on the rooftop's north side if the restaurant doesn't seem too busy to field the request. Thanks to the wide open dining room and cleverly arranged mirrors, most seats provide a lovely skyline peek. But being right up against the aesthetic attraction is ideal, plus you won't have to lean into my guac to get something for the grid.