Choosing a brunch restaurant in SoHo is the easy part. Working out what to order once you’re sitting down — when the menu runs tapas, brunch dishes, a paella, and a set feast all at once — is where most tables stall for fifteen minutes. The structure isn’t obvious from the page, and it isn’t the structure an American brunch menu usually has.
This is an ordering guide for Boqueria at 171 Spring Street: how the brunch menu is built, what to get for the table, and the one thing to tell your server the moment you sit down.
Key takeaways
- Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 4pm at this brunch restaurant in SoHo. A long window, and the later end is quieter.
- Two ways to order: the set Brunch Feast, or à la carte. The Feast is usually the better call for a group.
- Tapas come first, for the table. They’re not appetisers — they’re the shared layer underneath everything else.
- Brunch dishes are individual. This is the one part of the meal where people order for themselves.
- Order the Brunch Paella early if you want it — it’s the one thing at this brunch restaurant in SoHo that’s cooked to order and takes real time.
- Where: 171 Spring Street, between Thompson and West Broadway, open since 2008.
How a Spanish Brunch Restaurant in SoHo Is Actually Structured
Three layers, and understanding them removes most of the confusion.
Tapas — shared plates for the middle of the table. Pan con tomate, tortilla española, bacon-wrapped dates, meatballs. These are the same tapas served at dinner, and they’re meant to be ordered for everyone rather than per person.
Brunch dishes — the individual plates. Egg dishes, steak and eggs, avocado toast, the Boqueria B.E.C. This is where each person orders their own.
Paella — the centrepiece, if the table wants one. Ordered for the table, cooked to order.
An American brunch menu is almost entirely the middle layer. A Spanish one isn’t, and a table that orders only brunch dishes has skipped the part that makes it a Spanish brunch restaurant in SoHo rather than a diner with better coffee.
Two Ways to Order at a Brunch Restaurant in SoHo
| Approach | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Brunch Feast | A set format: tapas for the table, brunch dishes per person, and churros to finish | Groups of three or more, first visits, anyone who doesn’t want to negotiate a menu |
| À la carte | Order tapas and brunch dishes individually | Two people, light eaters, or a table that knows exactly what it wants |
| Add the Brunch Paella | Ordered for the table alongside either approach | Any table of four or more, and worth it on a first visit |
| Unlimited drinks package | Sangría and brunch cocktails for a set window | Celebrations, longer tables, groups settling in |
The Feast is the one most tables should take. It’s structured the way the meal is meant to go — shared first, individual second, sweet at the end — and it removes the fifteen-minute negotiation that otherwise opens every group brunch.
À la carte makes sense for two people, or for a table that’s been before and wants to go straight to the three things they liked.
Start With Tapas for the Table
Order two or three. Spread them across textures rather than picking two fried things — this is the layer that makes a Spanish brunch restaurant in SoHo different from the place down the block.
Pan con tomate. Toasted bread rubbed with tomato, garlic, and olive oil. Four ingredients, nowhere to hide, and the plate everyone reaches for first. If you order one tapa, make it this.
Tortilla española. The traditional Spanish frittata — eggs, confit potatoes, onions, with garlic allioli. This is the single most important dish on a Spanish brunch table, because it’s an egg dish that belongs to the shared layer rather than the individual one. It’s also gluten-free, which makes it the reliable choice when someone at the table needs one.
Bacon-wrapped dates, stuffed with almonds and Valdeón blue cheese. Sweet, salty, and sharp in one bite. The dish that converts people who thought they didn’t like blue cheese.
Beef and pork meatballs, in tomato sauce with sheep’s milk cheese and chives. The substantial option, and the one that works if your table is genuinely hungry rather than grazing.
The instinct at brunch is to skip straight to eggs. Resist it — the tapas layer is what distinguishes this from every other brunch restaurant in SoHo, and it arrives faster than the cooked dishes anyway.
Then the brunch dishes
This is where people order individually, and it’s the part of a brunch restaurant in SoHo menu that looks most familiar.
Boqueria B.E.C. Two mini scrambled egg sandwiches with smoked bacon, Jamón Serrano, Mahón cheese, salsa verde, and garlic allioli, served with housemade potato chips. It’s the dish that best explains the whole menu — a recognisable format rebuilt with Spanish components.
Huevos Horneados. Two eggs baked in tomato sauce with chorizo, roasted piquillo peppers, and cheese, with salsa verde and grilled bread. The most complete single dish on the brunch side, and the one to order if you only want one thing.
Two Eggs Any Style, with smoked bacon or chorizo, patatas bravas, toast, and salsa verde. The straightforward option, done properly.
Steak and Eggs. Seared skirt steak, crispy potatoes, a sunny-side-up egg, and mojo verde. The hungriest order on the menu.
Avocado Toast, for the table member who was always going to order avocado toast.
Torrija — Spanish-style sweet toast — if you’d rather finish on something sweet than start on something savoury.
One dish each is right. These are full plates, not tapas, and a table that orders two each alongside the shared tapas will not finish.
The Brunch Paella
Worth its own section, because it’s the thing most people don’t expect to find on a brunch menu and the thing most worth ordering.
Paella is cooked to order in a wide shallow pan, and the quality turns on the rice. The Consejo Regulador of the Denominación de Origen Arroz de Valencia, established in 1998 to protect rice grown in the Albufera Natural Park, recognises three varieties — senia, bomba and albufera — all valued for absorbing flavour while holding their texture rather than collapsing into the liquid. That property is what allows the base to caramelise into socarrat, the crisp toasted layer scraped up from the bottom of the pan.
The practical instruction: order it when you sit down, not after the tapas have cleared. It takes as long as it takes, and a table waiting on a paella at 1pm with an empty table in front of them is a table that ordered it too late.
Drinks
Sangría, made in-house in several versions rather than poured from a jug — the drinks list is one more place a Spanish brunch restaurant in SoHo diverges from the standard weekend menu. Hugo, Rosada — rosé wine with tequila and grapefruit — Tinta and Blanca all run on the list.
There’s also an unlimited package for a set window, which is the sensible call for a group settling in and a poor one for a table that’s heading somewhere at 1.
The shishito margarita is the cocktail worth trying if you’d rather not drink wine, and coffee is coffee — this is a Spanish restaurant, so ask for a cortado.
Building a Brunch Restaurant in SoHo Table, by Group Size
| Your table | What to order | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Two people | À la carte — two tapas, one brunch dish each | Skip the paella unless you’re staying past an hour |
| Three or four | Brunch Feast, plus a paella for the table | The Feast’s structure does the work for you |
| Five or six | Brunch Feast, paella, and one extra tapa | Order the paella first thing |
| Six or more | Brunch Feast plus unlimited drinks, or ask about the chef’s menu | At this size, a set format beats individual ordering every time |
| Family with kids | Tortilla española and pan con tomate for the table, eggs for the adults | Tortilla is the dish kids reliably eat |
| Someone gluten-free at the table | Tortilla española is marked gluten-free | Mention it when ordering so the kitchen can advise on the rest |
| Celebration | Feast, paella, unlimited sangría | Mention the occasion when you book |
The row people get wrong is the two-person one. A pair ordering the full Feast plus a paella will have a very good time for forty minutes and then stop eating.
What to Skip at a Brunch Restaurant in SoHo
Three small things that separate a good brunch table from a slightly deflating one.
Don’t order two brunch dishes each. They’re full plates. A table that orders tapas, a paella, and two dishes per person will leave most of it, and the leftovers travel badly.
Don’t skip the tapas to save room. It’s the instinct, and it’s backwards — the tapas arrive faster than the cooked dishes, they’re what fills the first fifteen minutes, and they’re the part of the menu you can’t get at a standard brunch.
Don’t take the unlimited drinks package if you’re leaving in an hour. It runs for a set window and it rewards a table that’s settling in. If you’re eating and going, order by the glass or the pitcher.
One more, less obvious: don’t let everyone order the same thing. Four people ordering the Huevos Horneados is a wasted table. The dishes differ enough that spreading the order out means everyone gets to try more than one.
If you’re bringing people who’ve never done this
Two sentences before the menus land will save fifteen minutes.
Tell them the tapas are shared and the brunch dishes are individual. Tell them plates arrive as they’re ready rather than all together. That’s it — those two facts cover almost every question a first-timer has, and a table that knows them orders confidently instead of hedging.
It also helps to nominate someone to order the tapas for the table rather than passing the decision round. Shared plates ordered by committee take three times as long and usually end up less interesting.
Timing and Booking a Brunch Restaurant in SoHo
Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 4pm, a longer window than most restaurants in the neighbourhood offer and the main practical advantage of choosing this brunch restaurant in SoHo over a place with a three-hour service.
11am to midday is the quietest stretch and the easiest to walk into.
Midday to 2pm is the peak. Book it.
2pm to 4pm is the underrated slot — the room calms, the kitchen has more room, and the format suits a late, slow table better than a rushed early one anyway.
If you’re shopping SoHo first and eating after, the later window is the one to aim for. If you’re eating first, go early and take the quiet.
Where you are
Boqueria SoHo is at 171 Spring Street, between Thompson Street and West Broadway, and it’s been there since 2008 — long enough to be a neighbourhood fixture rather than a new arrival.
The C and E stop at Spring Street, and the N and R stop at Prince. There’s a parking garage on West Broadway south of Broome if you’re driving, though in SoHo on a Saturday that’s optimistic.
If the shared-plate format is new to your group, our Flatiron guide walks through how tapas service actually works — the pacing, the ordering rounds, and why plates arrive separately.
Book Your Brunch Restaurant in SoHo Table on Spring Street
For a brunch restaurant in SoHo that runs on the Spanish format rather than the standard weekend one, Boqueria SoHo is at 171 Spring Street, serving brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm, alongside lunch, happy hour, and dinner through the week.
Reservations are recommended for the midday window. For six or more, ask about the chef’s tasting menu when you book — and whenever you come, order the paella as soon as you sit down.
Frequently asked questions
What should I order at a brunch restaurant in SoHo like Boqueria? Two or three tapas for the table — pan con tomate and tortilla española at minimum — then one brunch dish per person, plus a paella for the table if there are four or more of you. For groups, the set Brunch Feast handles that structure for you.
When is brunch served at Boqueria SoHo? Brunch at this brunch restaurant in SoHo runs Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 4pm. The 11am to midday stretch is quietest, midday to 2pm is the peak, and the 2pm to 4pm window is the easiest for a slow, unhurried table.
What’s the difference between the Brunch Feast and ordering à la carte? The Feast is a set format — tapas for the table, a brunch dish per person, and churros to finish — which matches how the meal is meant to be eaten and removes the group ordering negotiation. À la carte suits two people or a table that already knows what it wants.
Is there a vegetarian option at brunch? Yes. Tortilla española, pan con tomate, avocado toast and vegetable tapas all work, and the tortilla is also marked gluten-free. Mention dietary needs when you order so the kitchen can point you to the full range.
How long does the Brunch Paella take? It’s cooked to order in a wide shallow pan, so allow forty minutes or more. Tell the server as soon as you sit down rather than after the tapas have cleared.
Do I need a reservation for a brunch restaurant in SoHo? For the midday to 2pm window at weekends, yes. The earliest and latest parts of the service are more walk-in friendly, and the late window is generally the most relaxed.
Where is Boqueria in SoHo? 171 Spring Street, between Thompson Street and West Broadway, New York, NY 10012. The C and E trains stop at Spring Street and the N and R at Prince.