Crafted

As a former employee of The Shaved Duck, Van Gohz was always my go to afterwork spot to chill and enjoy some wine in a more relaxed, non smoking environment with chill lighting and good conversation with the locals. The upgraded décor, pressed cocktail offerings, wine selection and ambiance are very complimentary to their awesome new menu! My fiancé and I are very much looking forward to utilizing the Mardi Gras shuttle, and relaxing outdoors during patio season! This is the type of place that represents the neighborhood exceptionally well because that’s where everyone in the neighborhood spends a few nights a week. I’m forty, and it’s nice to have fun without being surrounded by 21 year olds. I highly recommend the food, and Kristin and Allison are professional, efficient and courteous.

Meh is right. I was never a fan of Van Goghz, so when I heard Bar Rescue was infiltrating I was super excited, as this place sits directly between my house and my boyfriend’s. It was fun to watch the action on my drive home from work the week they were filming, so of course we went in about a week after they reopened as Crafted. It was a Friday evening and there were several occupied tables, but it wasn’t packed. The first thing that caught my attention was a large Ikea rug that was not attached to the floor in any way and kept tripping people. Seemed like a poorly thought out idea and would be a nightmare if a customer fell. They said it was on it’s way out the door as soon as the followup episode filmed, but you’d think a show that designs bars would know better. The rest of the décor was not particularly impressive either. They repainted, but the tables and chairs are your basic boring Restaurant Depot variety and despite the red walls the place still felt kind of cold. The candles on the wall behind the bar were cool, but judging from those alone through the window driving by I expected inviting booths or something, not the same old high tops. They still have the darts room off the the side which I don’t get.
Anyway, on to the menu… my very first thoughts upon scanning were «that’s it?» and «who the F decided to plug the «CRAFTED.» logo in every time the word is used. It’s poor design and it’s annoying. The pressed cocktails are cool in theory, but when my tiny (and adorable) french press arrived and I eagerly pressed down, nothing happened. There weren’t enough blueberries on the bottom to actually allow for any pressing to occur. WTF. If pressed cocktails are your new shtick, they best press. So essentially I had a lemon drop with vodka soaked blueberries.
We decided to try a couple of small plates to start and see if we felt like staying, so we ordered the toasted ravioli and potato skins. The raviolis are actually wontons (think crab rangoon but with sausage inside) and I wasn’t very impressed. The potato skins were fine, but nothing to write home about and seemed a little out of place with the rest of the very small menu.
The thing that really drove this into 2 stars for me was our waitress. It started when I (stupidly) asked how it was to film the show. I assumed she would have a canned, quick response. Nope. She regaled us with the entire saga and didn’t stop despite our food coming out. So I started eating. She still didn’t stop. By the time she finally walked away we were basically done eating and were ready to move on down the street to Purple Martin and put this whole CRAFTED. business behind us. So we asked for the check and then we waited. And waited. And waited. I can only assume she was telling someone else her very dramatic story about being on reality tv because we checked the time stamp on the bill and 20 min had gone by and we hadn’t laid eyes on her. We were finally able to flag down another server (who was in training) to give our card to.
Needless to say we won’t be adding this place to our list of regular spots. I had high hopes for this neighborhood spot, but I think it’s just Van Goghz 2.0, sadly.

Bartender was friendly. Had Pressed Blueberry Smash cocktail, then switched to Dale’s Pale Ale. We had the premium cheese platter with sausage. It was good. Enjoyed the cocktail and beer. Great atmosphere.

I’ve been frequenting this establishment for over a year. Friendly staff, amazing food, delicious drinks. Fun place to see familiar people, and meet new. The renovations have great ambiance… updated menu and new drinks are awesome. Everything is fresh… the tots are amazing… and I love the different fry sauces.

Wasn’t thrilled with this place. The menu was SUPER boring. I usually have the problem of not being able to decide what to pick because I always want everything on a menu, but nothing stood out to me on this menu. I ordered the veggie burger and it was just «meh». The tater tots were really good though. Our waiter was SUPER nice but seemed like he didn’t really know what he was doing. The place was also unnaturally quiet for a Friday night. We didn’t even notice that the place had filled up because you could hear a pin drop in there. It just wasn’t our scene. We won’t be back.

The menu is boring and the food was only mediocre. Every one of the larger plates is some sort of burger (beef, chicken patty, turkey patty, veggie burger) with nothing too creative for a place called «Crafted». The pressed drinks were good but would be good not pressed too so in my mind a bit of a novelty. The staff was friendly and the décor was improved but ultimately interesting and fun food will bring people back and I didn’t see it.

The tater tots were so awesome. Cute cozy corner restaurant. Ordered the ravioli — I would say they were more like sausage wontons — fried. The drinks were cute, you can definitely taste the pressed ingredients. Come out and support this local business!

As someone who visited here while it was Van Goghz, I was excited to see the new space. I really like the new décor, it’s a more modern feel while being warm and inviting. If you are someone who likes sitting at the bar vs. a table, this is one of the more comfortable bars. Bartender was very friendly and engaging. I tried a pressed cocktail, which I found to be very innovative. I was fascinated by the action of the press. Now, while I didn’t get the additional burst of flavor from pressing the basil and grapfruit, it was still pretty cool. I ordered the stuffed peppers appetizer… OMG! When I tell you my mouth was on fire after the first bite, I almost didn’t make it. The cheese and sausage stuffed in the pepper is great, but the pepper itself is super hot, so buyer beware. I would prefer to give a 3.5 rating, but I’ll round up to 4 stars because I would definitely return again.

A name, menu change and refurb didn’t really help this bar. The french press cocktail concept is interesting, if gimmicky, and the $ 8.25 specialty drink I ordered (of a few listed) was tasty but may as well have just been juice with no alcohol. The soul of Van Gohz is gone, and I’m okay with that, but please replace it with something as compelling.

Formerly Van Goghz Martini Bar, «Crafted» is a completely renovated neighborhood bar and restaurant in the Fox Park neighborhood near Grand and Shenandoah. Renovated by the TV show — Bar Rescue, they are serving a full bar menu that includes a few signature and pressed cocktails, as well as a small food menu. I sampled two of the pressed cocktails and the corn dog bites and the sausage/​walnut ravioli. The cocktails were fresh and tasty. They take a while to make and the ingredients are fresh so $ 8.25 for these is fair. I know the neighborhood is used to extreme drink deals from the old Van Goghz, but they were losing their ass before and that can’t continue. The elevated toasted Ravs are a small portion, but very tasty (especially their signature sausage). The ample portion of bite-​size corn dogs were good, as well. They just reopened and I am excited for the neighborhood. Cry babies can moan that it is no longer the Van Goghz that they are used to, but this is a small, comfortable neighborhood bar that needs to fine tune service issues, but it is viable and it smells much better than it used to ;-)