Maison Premiere is usually described as a late-night bar, and at one in the morning on a Saturday that description is exact. What gets left out is that the same room opens at ten in the morning at the weekend, and that the ten a.m. version of it is arguably the better one.
The same marble counter, sixteen hours apart. Almost nobody sees both.
The full week
Monday to Thursday, 12pm to 1am. Friday, 12pm to 2am. Saturday, 10am to 2am. Sunday, 10am to 1am. Weekend brunch runs 10am to 3.30pm, and the full menu is available until 10.30pm.
Read that carefully and two things stand out. The weekday open is noon, which is earlier than most bars of this type manage. And the weekend open is ten in the morning — genuinely early for a room built around oysters, absinthe and dim light.
The address is 298 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The phone is 347-889-5710.
Two rooms in one
At 10am on a Saturday the bar is quiet, the light coming through is real daylight, and you can sit at the marble counter without negotiating for it. Oysters at that hour are a completely different proposition from oysters at midnight — colder, sharper, and eaten by people who are starting their day rather than ending it.
By 11pm the same room is at capacity, the noise is significant, and the appeal is the theatre of it. Both versions are legitimate. What is not legitimate is arriving at 11pm expecting the first one, which is the mistake most people make on a first visit.
If you have only one visit in you, take the early one. The bar is easier, the oysters are the point rather than the backdrop, and the walk through Williamsburg afterwards is better in daylight.
About the happy hour
This bar built its reputation partly on a dollar-oyster happy hour, and a lot of writing about it still leads with that. As of mid-2026, reporting indicates the oyster happy hour is not currently on offer.
The historic version ran 4–7pm on weekdays and 11am–1pm at weekends, and it is possible it returns. But do not plan an evening around it on the strength of an old article — confirm with the bar directly before you go, because arriving expecting dollar oysters and finding full price is a meaningfully different bill.
The rest of the proposition is unchanged. This is an oyster bar and absinthe café in the New Orleans tradition, and the cocktails are the reason to be there whether or not the shellfish is discounted.
How to order
Start with a half dozen and ask what came in. An oyster bar that takes itself seriously will have a list that changes, and the useful question is not 'what is good' but 'what is new this week'.
The absinthe is not a novelty here. It is served properly, with the drip, and it is the drink the room was designed around. If you have only had it as a party trick, this is the place to have it made correctly instead.
Eat before it gets loud. The full menu runs to 10.30pm, which sounds generous until you are trying to order a plate of food at 10.15pm in a room that is three deep at the bar.
Williamsburg around it
Bedford Avenue is the spine of this part of Brooklyn and the section around the bar is dense with places to go before or after. The Bedford Avenue L stop is a couple of minutes away, which makes this one of the easier late-night rooms in the city to leave.
On a weekend morning the better move is to walk west afterwards. Domino Park sits on the East River with an unobstructed view back at Manhattan, it is free, and it is a short walk from the bar — which makes the ten o'clock oysters into the first half of a genuinely good morning rather than an isolated meal.
North Williamsburg is also walkable to Greenpoint if you want to keep going, and the whole route stays interesting on foot.
Reading an oyster list without guessing
Oyster lists are usually organised by origin and almost never explain what that means, which leaves most people picking by name. The single distinction that actually predicts what lands in front of you is east coast versus west coast.
East coast oysters — Wellfleet, Blue Point, the Canadian Maritimes — are generally brinier, firmer and cleaner-finishing. West coast oysters tend to be sweeter, softer and more melon-like, with a rounder shell. Neither is better; they are opposite ends of a spectrum, and knowing which end you prefer collapses a twenty-item list into a manageable choice.
Order half of each on a first visit and pay attention to which shells you go back to. It is the fastest self-education available, and it costs the same as ordering a dozen of one thing you already know.
Take them plain before you touch the mignonette. Acid is there to lift a mild oyster, and using it by default means you never taste the ones that did not need it.
Practical notes
Maison Premiere, 298 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Phone 347-889-5710. Monday–Thursday 12pm–1am; Friday 12pm–2am; Saturday 10am–2am; Sunday 10am–1am. Weekend brunch 10am–3.30pm; full menu until 10.30pm. Oyster bar and absinthe café in the New Orleans style. The historic $1 oyster happy hour (weekdays 4–7pm, weekends 11am–1pm) is reported as not currently running — confirm directly before relying on it. Quietest at the weekend open; busiest after 10pm. Bedford Avenue L is a short walk, as is Domino Park. Hours and offers change — check before you go.
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Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
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Ask Karpo first
Want to know whether the oyster happy hour is running tonight and how full the bar is right now? Ask Karpo for Maison Premiere's current hours and offers, the live wait at the counter, and a short Williamsburg walk to Domino Park afterwards.
