Where to Eat near Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

Three-story crab shack with harbor views, mini-golf and cornhole — loud, and the best bet with children

Order: Crab, obviously, and a table on an upper deck for the view. Nobody comes here for a quiet dinner.

Pro tip: The games downstairs are what buy you an hour of peace the night before boarding. Opens at noon daily.

Key lime pie from fresh-squeezed juice, on the waterfront beside Valentino Pier

Order: A Swingle — a frozen chocolate-dipped mini pie on a stick. Then walk it off on the pier.

Pro tip: Their own site warns that hours vary with the weather and that the posted times are a minimum, not a promise. Treat it as a bonus rather than a plan.

Maine-style lobster rolls a few blocks from the pier, and a Red Hook fixture rather than a tourist trap

Order: The lobster roll — Maine-style cold with mayo, or Connecticut-style warm with butter. Pick a side and commit.

Pro tip: Opens at noon, seven days, with last seating half an hour before close. Their site carries a seasonal note about outdoor dining that has not been updated, so do not count on a table outside.

Bakery and proper espresso on Van Brunt — the one Red Hook room that is open on a boarding morning

Order: A brownie and a coffee, sitting down, before the terminal queue.

Pro tip: This is the pick if you are boarding today. It opens at 8 am seven days a week, which almost nothing else in Red Hook does — the neighborhood's best-known rooms mostly start at noon or 5 pm.

Texas-style pit barbecue on Van Brunt Street — the reason a lot of people come to Red Hook at all

Order: Oak-smoked brisket and the beef rib, ordered cafeteria-style at the counter. Go early in the day if a particular cut matters to you — they sell out.

Pro tip: Queueing is the norm rather than the exception. It does not open until noon, so this is a night-before dinner, not a boarding-morning stop.

Twenty-plus years of Italian-American cooking on Court Street, with a back garden

Order: The cavatelli with sausage and browned sage butter. Ask for the garden if the weather is good.

Pro tip: The safest reservation in Carroll Gardens, open seven days from 11am — which also makes it one of the few nearby rooms that works for a late lunch before an afternoon boarding.

Sandwich shop and grocery — the place to build a takeaway lunch to carry aboard

Order: A breakfast sandwich in the morning, or one of the heroes later. Buy two and eat the second one in the boarding queue.

Pro tip: Use the Court Street shop. Their Red Hook hero shop on Sullivan Street reads "temporarily closed" on its own contact page even though the locations index still lists it.

A dry-aged burger widely rated among the best in New York, from the Hometown owner

Order: The dry-aged burger. It is the entire reason the room is full.

Pro tip: Reservations are hard. Their sibling room, Tavern Next Door at 327 Van Brunt, shares the same kitchen and the same burger with an easier door — worth trying if the Tavern is booked out.

Roman-style wood-fired pizza in a warehouse by Valentino Pier, with harbor views from outside

Order: A wood-fired Roman pie, eaten outside if the weather allows — the Statue of Liberty is right there.

Pro tip: Closed Monday and Tuesday, and it does not open until 5 pm on the days it does. Pair it with sunset at Valentino Pier, two minutes away.

A 19th-century longshoremen's bar with live bluegrass most nights — the most atmospheric room in Red Hook

Order: A drink. There is no kitchen, so eat first and come here after.

Pro tip: Check their events calendar before you walk over — the music is the point, and it is not on every night.

Thin-crust pizza ranked among the best in the country — cash only, BYOB, no reservations

Order: A pie and a calzone, shared. There is not much else on the menu, which is the point.

Pro tip: Read this before you build an evening around it: there are no reservations, the waitlist opens at 4 pm, and the wait runs for hours. It is a wonderful night out and a poor fit before an early boarding. Closed Tuesdays.

Family-run Italian salumeria since 1973 — fresh mozzarella, imported salumi, sandwiches to order

Order: Fresh mozzarella and a made-to-order sandwich. It is a shop, not a restaurant — there is nowhere to sit.

Pro tip: Closed Mondays, and their own site carries a separate summer note about being closed Sundays too — call ahead if it is either day.