Vandal

Was here for a birthday celebration recently.
This is a very hip restaurant. As you enter and be confused as to why is there a flower shop, you’ll be at a fork. Left, you’ll find yourself at the bar, right, you’ll see the huge amazing dining area. As I said, this is a very hip establishment. You’ll be surrounded by beautiful people, loud conversations, and good music. The art all around is truly incredible. You need to walk around to truly appreciate the work. Vandal is very spacious, from the front you would not expect it at all! But the layout is made in a way that at some point you would walk around to see the art. Example of this would be placing the bathrooms at the back so no matter where you’re eating, you’ll have to see the art on the way back.
The cocktails are spot on strong, great choices leaning on the more expensive side, but not outrageous. The food was pretty good. A lot of the dishes we had were hits, just a few misses. Everything does lean towards more expensive, but let’s be honest, you’re really paying for the amazing atmosphere. It’s definitely a spot I would repeat for sure.

The food is average, but you’re not really coming here for the food, you’re coming here for the scene. I’ve had the (listed from best to worst) pretzel steak tartare, grilled avocado, sea bass tacos, wild mushroom pizza, jicama tostada and cacio e pepe arancini.
It’s a nice place to stay a while, drink and enjoy the atmosphere, but don’t come here for the food.

Eating At the Vandal was so loud, hip, and trendy that I wasn’t sure if I was having dinner, or clubbing. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to sip my cocktail, or accidentally spill it on a stranger’s dress. You’re reminded of this repeatedly as you carry shouting conversations with your friends, are surrounded by people who are dressed much better than you, and again when you get your ridiculous bill.
Vandal tries SO hard, right down the waiters’ description of food. It was the first time I’ve ever heard a waiter’s recommendation start with, «This steak is the most popular steak on Instagram right now.» YEAH DUDE, BUT HOW DOES IT TASTE?! Nothing bothers me as much as when people try to exploit Asian flavors and then charge an obscene price for a bite. The banh mi sliders, Hong Kong egg waffle, bao buns, and sticky rice dumplings were all extremely mediocre. The only highlights being the heaven burgers and the wild mushroom pizza. The rest? Dishes that are really trying to be something, but falling quite short. The cocktails are decent – if not incredibly strong. Unfortunately for me, Vandal was all talk, and not enough bite.

Celebrated my birthday here about 2 months ago.
Service: Really, really hard to reserve a table-​but this place is popular and for good reason. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table despite having a reservation (a very late reservation at that). We stood in the lobby with about 100 of our closest, well dressed super hip friends: eye roll: While we were there, we spotted a roach crawling out of the bricks in the lobby, gross… but, this is NYC. We told the hostess about it, who told the manager (very attractive manager with a great beard) and we got a round of drinks and shots for free. Service was impeccable.
Atmosphere: Super swank, lots of beautiful people, amazing artwork, good music selection. We were seated, tucked away in a little corner… it was awesome.
Food/​Drinks: Some hits and misses, but the hits were super hits. The wild mushroom pizza: HOMER DROOL: So good! Sea bass tacos were good as well as was the skirt steak.
I’m checking out their brunch this Sunday, even after Roachgate… I don’t believe it was a matter of cleanliness… just location. All in all, great time.

This is a cool joint. It does not look like much from the street, but it is large inside. There are several different seating areas inside. The décor is eclectic to say the least. There is also a lot of cool artwork through out.
We came in for brunch. I started with the New York Hot Pretzel Steak Tartare. The pretzel comes topped with American Kobe beef tartare, smoked aioli and mustard. Few places offer tartare, so I am always excited when I get to enjoy it. Their unique spin on it made it even better. It was not the best tartare I have ever experienced, but I enjoyed it none the less.
Next up was the Footlong NYC Street Dog. It is a Meat Hook Butcher Shop dog topped with bacon jam and cheese sauce. What more could one ask for? This was very good. The flavors were on point. I enjoyed every bite.
I did not order, but I was able to taste a few other items at the table. The Prime Skirt Steak Fried Rice was tasty. I would certainly order it for myself in the future. The Crispy Bao Buns were also pretty good.
This is a cool place with interesting menus and décor. The food is not overly expensive and the service is good.

Vandal is the latest hip, social spot. Their walls are covered in art, both street and chic, they have random but beautiful paintings scattered around the restaurant and even have an expresso cart dead smack in the center of the restaurant. If you’re looking to check out their downstairs lounge you will need to get passed two, huge bouncers and a posh looking hostess who will check you out from head to toe before granting you access. If you tell them you are there for a dinner reservation later in the night, they usually let you in. The lounge itself is actually worth the trouble, the dj set is pretty cool and the atmosphere is fun. Vandal definitely shocks the senses, the drinks are on point, but I cannot speak for the diverse, street food they tout. I will probably be back soon to check out the food.

Last week my boy and I were at Vandal, a new trendy hot spot where you pay $ 16 for a rum and coke with house liquor. Our server was a beautiful Eastern European woman that looked like she just stepped off the runway.
To say we got treated bad would be an understatement. We were seated at counter and they asked ME to hold a credit card before our drinks… like we were going to run out. I asked the guys on my left and right if they were required to give card. They both said no.
It was clear as day what it was. There was a passive aggressive back and forth between the waitress and I because I kept calling her on BS even though she smiled and was pleasant while she gave us bad service.
Here was the dilemma. She treated us bad because she felt that WE don’t tip. I was tempted not to give her a tip, but then I would be affirming her belief. If I did tip her, I’m a sucka for rewarding someone who clearly didn’t want to serve «my kind».
Of course you know Mel MADE me give her a tip.
Oh yeah, our party tried to go into lounge area at 8pm and they required US to give a credit card and commit to $ 1500 bottle spend. As I attempted to negotiate entry for US, I watched the velvet ropes part about a dozen times letting different groups that didn’t look like US in without credit cards.
It was a dear friends birthday so I didn’t walk out, make a scene or get upset. But I am aware and will never return.
The décor is phenomenal and the food is tasty but very small portioned. Very sexy scene if that’s what you are looking for.

I like Chris Santo!
He us my favorite judge on Chopped. He doesn’t fit the mold as «Celebratey» chef. He is «CCC» /​cool, calm and collected.
So, being from L.A. and having a chance to finally try his food was exciting. I was not at all surprised when I did try his food at Vandal last night. It was very much like him: CCC. There was nothing super fantasy about what we had. It was just smart food with intricate (not complex) flavors that worked.
My party of six ordered so many things and all were good. My favs were an eggplant dish and the cheeseburger sliders, that just hit it.
The bar makes some very creative drinks and the physical space is beautiful. The staff is once again much like «The Boss» CCC. My only gripe with Vandal was it was loud.
Seeing this has now become a common complaint of mine, it must stop being the establishments fault and become my bugaboo. But with that, dinner for me has always been a gathering time to talk and exchange views and eat. Last night I certainly ate!
From the hordes of people this bohemoth place can attract, my problem with it being too loud is a small concern to this very popular restaurant /​club.

When you first arrive at Vandal, you may think you’re in the wrong place. That’s what I thought when I walked into a quaint flower shop. But no! It was just a cute entrance to the restaurant. It gave it a prohibition era feel. The restaurant itself is sort of dark with a large creepy pink plastic bunny (?) at the entrance. My group sat on the patio which is a great place to enjoy the nice summer weather.
My group was very large (roughly 14 ppl, I think) and we were eating at Vandal for a bachelorette party dinner. We ordered a great variety of items from the menu. I sampled the bahn mi slider, the paella, fish tacos, kimchi patties and more. The food was all excellent but they are not kidding when they call something a «small» plate. If you want to actually leave full, you need to be prepared to spend a lot of money. It was fun to try all of the varieties of food, though.
The service was a little rough. One girl in our group didn’t get the plate she ordered until most of us were done eating. A lot of girls in the group were very disappointed in the service. My meals came out right away but my love for the service was dampened by the way my friends were being served/​treated by the wait staff.
Because my sister and boyfriend live in this area, it is likely I will be back to NYC and I doubt that I will be super quick to return but it was a fun place to try once.

YES. What an amazing night we had here… This place is very NYC let me tell you… You walk through a cute little flower shop to get to the real goodness which is this huge dining area and other bar area to left. This place is damn spacious especially for NYC … It’s pretty massive actually… They have a downstairs sleek Lounge area that started out quiet but ended up getting really TURNT.
This place has such a sexy fun feel to it with the dim lighting and amazing vandalism! No really, unique art work that’s on point all over, it’s pretty perfect…
We ordered a ton of shit… Ny pretzel with steak tartare, octopus, crispy bao buns, Chilean sea bass tacos, and sticky rice balls. Now this was amongst 4 people and we were forcing it down. Best way to come to these places is to try a bunch of stuff with your party so you know you liked!
I was in love with the ny pretzel w steak T and the Chilean sea bass tacos. Everything else was fair but still enjoyed everything, so did the others…
We knew we were going to head downstairs since it was one of my boys birthday so we figured let’s get a bottle and soak up the swank… Major issue with the girl standing at the top of the steps in a wu tang tank top. WHAT A SNOT. Calm the hell down do you own the place? I doubt it, door girl. She was SO rude and wouldn’t even look at us when we were speaking to her and she didn’t answer any of our questions. she didn’t even want to give us the bottle menu… Like really. We have no problem spending money, just give me the menu! Ugh! I wasn’t about to let her ruin our night so we ignored her stupid ass and went down anyway but the owner should know what a true ass she was… You have a gorgeous place you don’t need a bad rep with snot rags…
ANYWAY… The lounge was friggin awesome, super dark and wide open space… We danced our little asses off after pounding down a bottle of I don’t even remember :) happy MDW!
One does not need to go downstairs to enjoy this place. Dinner is fine. I would highly advise reservations!

Came here after we were at Uncle Boon’s and they had a DoH inspection so we couldnt get any food.
Food
–tartar excellent
–fish tacos EXCELLENT
–brisket with bao OK
–chicken and hongkong waffles OK
–Eggplant FREAKING AMAZING. Almost like a candied has brown. Or general tso’s but with eggplant. Seriously.
Ambiance was pretty cool, art décor was excellent. Crowd was a mix mostly older (mid/​late 20s +), probably pricing out the super young crowd.
Service: excellent. Our server was excellent. He didn’t lie that the eggplant was the best eggplant he’s had
Overall
Would I come back? yes, probably try other things, and order the eggplant and fish tacos again. Prices were reasonable on the pricier side.
Seriously. The eggplant. Get it.

Hands down my FAVORITE & MOST IMPRESSIVE restaurant /​lounge I’ve visited on the East Coast.
Artsy meets sexy meets street chic meets DAMN GOOD FOOD!
Visited NYC for my bday Friday the 13^th and it was the smell of flowers which invited me, the pink bunny that caught my attention and artistry with attention to detail that lured me in.
Pros: cocktail list, food was stellar and great for sharing to try a variety of items, dj spinning great music, dim lighting set the mood, the artistic touch and murals, customer experience was great and bartender knew how to concoct a fine drink!
Cons: Not really a con but you’d need to walk the entire spot to appreciate the art. Glad the bathroom is in the back, gave me a reason to walk.

Came here for brunch and it was amazing! There are so many unique dishes so come well equipped to eat! This place is huge! So good for large parties. I recommend ordering different dishes and sharing.
Coffee pancakes: highly recommend even if you don’t like coffee flavor stuff
French toast with red bean: sounds interesting right? Pretty good but pancakes first!
Chicken katsu on Hong Kong waffle: I’ve been seeing this all over social media and really wanted to try it. The chicken was crunchy with good flavors. The waffle was just okay as it was too doughy.

The ambiance is amazing– from the floors, to the amazing graphic paint on the walls, and the huge hot pink bunny near the entrance! Of course I snapped a pic with the bunny. Getting a reservation is almost impossible to get on the weekends unless you don’t mind going at 11:00pm. Surprisingly, even at that time the restaurant is packed. As we waited for our table to be ready, I noticed that everyone is dressed to impressed. So leave your sweats at home. The music here is pretty loud so be prepared to shout. The drinks were good and the food was ok but I will say that the pricing is on the high side.
So here is when my experience went downhill. I sat there waiting for one of my small plates and it never came. My friend ordered the same thing I did (blackened shrimp arepas) and I noticed they brought hers out but not mine. When the waitress finally came back around I told her that my dish never came out. She looks at me and says Oh this was yours too while pointing to my friends empty plate. What?! So she had plated my dish with my friends dish and failed to tell me that. So my friend ate them all thinking it was just hers. QUESTION: 1. Why would my dish be combined with someone else’s and 2. if it was– fine BUT how about you tell us that?! I was super annoyed and she kinda just shrugged her shoulders and walked away. Being that there wasn’t many meatless options I liked and missed out on this dish I never got, I only ended up eating corn and fries.

Much like all its brother and sister restaurants, Vandal is impossibly cool in décor and vibe. Covered in graffiti, you’ll enter through an unmarked door in back of a flower shop. I treated my niece to dinner on a night with a red carpet out front, showcasing a Sports Illustrated event (AKA you’ll want to dress trendy, as it’s a scene and you’ll BE seen).
We went nuts and shared 6 plates between the two of us, and it was SO MUCH food! Our choices were the Cacio e Pepe Arancini, New York Hot Pretzel Steak Tartare, Sticky Rice Dumplings, Blackened Shrimp Arepas, Crispy Bao Buns, and Chicken Katsu with Hong Kong Egg Waffles. The Arepas are a must order if you can handle a little Cajun heat. They are bursting with flavor and our favorite bite! The sticky rice dumplings were also the more delicious of the two ball-​shaped dishes, with more flavor development and chili sauce as an added kick. The Bao Buns were good if you’re into sweet, and I was a big fan of the steak tartare+pretzel combo.
Just a tip, the waffle of the chicken and waffles has a heavy lime flavor that caught us off guard and we weren’t fans. Our waiter was awesome though and took the dish right back! Everything else was great, including dessert. My drink, the Lost and Found, could have been better. But I’d love to return and try some others! This place will likely impress anyone you bring.

Expensive yes !!
BUT considering the ambiance, food quality, service and location… location isn’t the best as in views and stuff but its great because everything else you might want to do afterwards is pretty much in walking distance like bars, café’s, bakeries etc…
I can’t put in to words how beautiful it is inside, from the front you’re like «Where the FK is the restaurant?» But you enter through what looks to be just a florist and you walk through to the back and open the big black door and BOOM enter in to paradise. Definitely a hidden gem !
We had a reservation for 5:15pm and we arrived at 5:18 and were seated immediately and for that to happen on a saturday we were shocked. But as we were leaving a couple of hours later we realized it was alot busier, also because there’s a club downstairs that opens later in the evening so most people had later reservations so they can eat first then head downstairs to booze and dance off everything they just ate.
Décor– Gorgeous absolutely beautiful
Food — delicious, be prepared to share the tapas because even the smalls are big enough to share.
Parking– i got lucky almost right outside the door but hey that’s just my luck lol, but if you look around you’ll find a spot.
Prices — $$$$ but so worth it, i promise .
Service — great, professional but with a very friendly touch.
Come enjoy yourselves, you can thank me later :-)

I love Beauty & Essex. I haven’t been to Stanton Social in years, but enjoyed this place back in the day. When I heard that a new restaurant was added to the group, I was very excited to see what this place would bring to the food/​nightlife scene in the LES. I’m constantly in search of places that provide both nightlife and quality food.
Food: We had the Tuna Crudo, Banh Mi’Eatball Sliders, Johnny Cakes, Crispy Bao Buns, and Brussel Sprouts. The Johnny Cakes were the clear WINNER! They were amazing! I would go back just for this. Everything else was ok. The Crudo didn’t appear to be really fresh. The Crispy Bao Buns were dry and the Brussel Sprouts had an overly salt/​vinegar after taste.
Atmosphere: The décor was amazing. I loved the music. I was dancing in my seat most of the night. It was packed on Thursday night around 10:30 pm, lively and great people watching as well.
Service: The service was spotting at times, but not a distraction.
Overall, we had a great time. The food is better at Beauty & Essex, but the drinks and atmosphere was what I’ve come to expect from this restaurant group. I will probably go back for the Johnny Cakes, drinks, and music. This is great place for big groups or girls night out.

Came to Vandal since i LOVE Chris Santos’ restaurants and have been hearing a lot about it. Had to get an early reservation since they are booked SOILD for over a month…
The space is HUGE and well decorated with a lot of street art, it felt very trendy and you were not sitting anywhere near the tables next to you which I enjoyed.
The service was also great, our waiter was on top of things and the food came out SO FAST. Drinks were very interesting go for the spicy tequila ones.
Food in order of what I enjoyed the most:
— BAO Buns — wowwww loved these
— ceviche — came in small buckets and was SO Flavorful
— Meatballs — loved these, flavors on point def recommend
— beef tartare on a pretzel — loved this and the salt on the pretzel went well together
— Taquitos were also pretty tasty
— octopus — didnt love that it was cut up super small, but flavors were all there
— Shwarma salad — I could have passed on this as it was nothing special
Sides:
MUST GET THE EGGPLANT !! Omg the eggplant was so crispy and delicious in some sort of sesame dressing.
Also, the street corn was also worth mentioning, very delicious I would recommend
Dessert:
— GET THE SMORES pie — was SO DELICIOUS. He loves his smores desserts and this one is up to par with his other restaurants, loved it.
— Donuts were okay — not that sweet we decided we would pass next time
I didnt love Vandal as much as Chris Santos’ other restaurants (food wise) but I would come back to check out the bar downstairs and get a few small bites.

* This Review is for the Bar and Drinks, not Food *
As many of you already know, Vandal, opened to much acclaim as the owner is Tao Group, of the highly successful Tao chain of restaurants/​clubs.
They took over the old Finale Club location and have turned it into a beautiful space. I personally think the Tao Downtown location is still their best and most beautiful spot, but that’s just my opinion.
We went mainly for drinks and were impressed with the ambiance and cocktail list. We took a look at the menu and saw many of the dishes pass by us as we were by the bar/​kitchen area, but to be honest, the food didn’t look that impressive. I can’t say it’s not, as we didn’t have any, but visually didn’t look great.
The menu is comprised of ‘street food’ options from all over the world, so that sounds interesting, but not sure if I wanna have all the different types at once, lol. Will have to come back to try it to give it a full review.
But as far as just coming to the bar and having drinks, it’s a beautiful bar, with a decent crowd, and decent drinks, albeit on the pricier side — $ 78 (including tip) for 4 drinks, so, almost $ 20/​drink. But you have to expect that in Downtown Manhattan and cause they’re basically trying to be the high-​end Tao-​type place of the Lower East Side.
Overall, we had a nice, albeit short time there, and will probably come back for food. But even just for drinks, I recommend it… just know that there’s a price for it!

This spot definitely lives up to the hype and I get why it’s hard to get a reservation. The décor, food, service, and music are all on point. We came on a drizzly Sunday night and the place was packed.
When you walk in prepared to be wowed and get your cameras ready. You walk into a garden/​flower like shop. You can actually buy their unique designs. Once you open the door you are transported into a hip Asian hip hop oasis. The lounge/​bar area has a video selfie area. It’s dark lit and has cool chandeliers made out of alcohol canteens. There’s a huge freaking purple bunny, I mean huge right by the hostess stand. Ask them to take you to the garden lounge because it’s simply amazing. I recommend you get a table there.
For food, order everything. Literally if you can do it. The food is presented tapas style and our table ordered about 80% of the small and medium dishes. Shawarma salad, shrimp arenps, pretzel tar tar, oysters, tomato pesto pizza, mushroom pizza, chicken mole taquitos, and fish tacos we got them all. Everything was bomb. There wasn’t one dish we didn’t like. For Desert we opted tapas style again and ordered a slew of options. My fav was the green tea donuts and the black and white crêpe.
Music was popping, service was great. Our sever was super sweet and attentive. We had a couple birthdays to celebrate and she made sure to have candles in all our deserts and brought us each a cupcake as well.
Love this place and definitely recommend coming for a celebration. Well worth it.