Avant Garden
“Stand out dishes were the Tomato Jam Toast and the Pasta but truly everything we had was wonderful.”
“For mains we got the maitake mushrooms which was perfectly seasoned and even non veggie lovers would like.”
“The ambiance is delightfully cozy, the team is sweet as can be, and the food is absolutely delicious.”
Avant Garden
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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A hidden gem for vegans, vegetarians, or healthy people in general!
The restaurant is very small and intimate. Not a great place for big groups. It's very cute though!
The restaurant says they serve family style. They bring things out as they are ready. If your not ordering family style, this a pro/con because you can't exactly eat all your entrees at the same time as those around you which is pretty awkward.
We ordered the sunchoke toast, eggplant toast, carrot toast, kale pazella and baked sweet potato for appetizers. The toasts were delish! Crisp crust yet fluffy bread topped with tons of flavorful veggies. They do toast well. The other two appetizers were just as good. The kale pazella (spelling) is pretty much a salad, but a good one. The sweet potato comes with a delectable sauce, it makes the dish!
For entrees we ordered risottos and the gnocchi. The risotto was good, but I wasn't impressed. After a few bites it was kind of just like eating mush. This was my first risotto ever though so I could be bias! I was still a little hungry afterwards.
The gnocchi presentation was really unique. It was good, but not definitely your classic gnocchi!
Overall a good meal. Wouldn't recommend going if you are looking for a heavy meal!
4 stars just because the entrees didn't wow me.
What a breath of fresh air! A vegan restaurant without any soy protein in sight, purely focusing on plant-based foods and making them absolutely delicious.
For 2, we shared 2 toasts, 1 cold dish, and 2 hot dishes. The carrot toast and fennel hummus toast were both very tasty, great flavor and texture combinations. The salt baked sweet potato was like a hearty potato salad, quite a substantial dish and so pretty to look at! The Maitake Mushrooms was my favorite – it's easy to love these mushrooms. Great sear, meaty interior, with a few bits and pieces of other vegetables to pair bites with. The basmati rice is a good option if you're looking for something more filling. It's similar to a risotto, and again the presentation was gorgeous.
Make a reservation (since it's so easy to) because the space is pretty small, and request a seat at the bar so you can watch all the cooking in action. Service could've been more attentive, but everyone was nice including the chefs. Perfect if you want a lighter meal especially for spring/summer, and of course perfect excuse to grab ice cream afterwards (could not resist Big Gay Ice Cream across the street).
My friend and I had a "Roomie Date" here the other night – my friend is vegan and I am a fan of delicious food, so this was the perfect spot for us to try. EVERYTHING we had was fabulous and service was fantastic!
We went with our server's recommendation and ordered four dishes to share – one toast (sunchoke, pistachio, olive, quince), one cold dish (salt baked sweet potato, watercress, jalapeño, jicama, meyer lemon), and two entrees (maitake mushroom and cauliflower). We also went for the gold and split a bottle of wine – the Spanish Rosé!
Everything was absolutely delicious – some familiar flavors mixed in unique ways that force you to discern what it is you've just put in your mouth. These are the meals I enjoy most. Let's face it – our weeks are full of familiar, comfortable go-to meals and flavors. There's nothing like a meal that takes you on a bit of an adventure. This is Avant Garden.
Regarding portion size – my friend and I were both comfortably stuffed by the end of our meal. And we are two ladies who can EAT! With that being said, definitely plan on ordering dishes to share.
Our total bill came out to just under $117 – a steal, if you ask me, for such great food, an amazing atmosphere, and quality service.
Highly recommend!
An all-around exquisite experience!
I took my parents and brother to Avant Garden tonight. My parents are elderly omnivore New Yorker snobby foodies – if you ask how their meal is they'll answer honestly with no filters and they will ask to switch tables if they're under a loud speaker or draught, etc. So it was a huge relief that they LOVED the meal tonight and not only had no complaints but were thoroughly impressed with each dish. My mom kept commenting on how nice the ambience was. Although the space is intimate and there is some stool seating, the tables actually have big comfy chairs. Volume of music was low and pleasant, temperature perfect – no complaints from the pickiest people!
Service was impeccable – friendly and fast. We were advised to share dishes and order two or more per person. We ordered all three hot main dishes that were available tonight, and five appetizers. Portions are not big so for each dish to be split by four people, it was really like having a tasting menu – you must savor a few bites of each dish. All eight dishes were entirely unique – like nothing I've had anywhere else and no repetition within the menu! I don't know if I can even comment on standouts because everything was so good. The ingredients themselves – for example the avocado and strawberries, got lots of oohs and ahhs – just for being unusually ripe and tasty.
The hot cauliflower dish was definitely the best cauliflower dish I've had anywhere. We were all trying to figure out how they got the cauliflower so perfectly tender without being at all limp.
We also had the crimini mushroom toast (it's great but just FYI the onion marmalade comes through stronger than the mushroom flavor), fennel hummus toast, beet salad, avocado and asparagus, baby gem lettuce, maitake mushrooms, and basmati rice. The sourdough that the toasts come on is especially good. Really everyone was just impressed throughout the meal. It was also nice that they cut the toasts into four pieces for us so it was easy to share.
The space is intimate and charming. A long tree branch hangs across the bar with lights decorating it. I would highly recommend coming here on a romantic date.
Unfortunately they weren't serving dessert tonight and supposedly they usually have just one dessert option. Too bad, I'm sure we would have loved whatever they came up with. The waitress recommended going to Van Leeuwen a few blocks away (they have vegan and non-vegan ice cream) which we did.
The 8 dishes for four people was probably a healthy amount of food, but for people like my family who tend to eat fast til we're uncomfortably full, it felt a little light – after 20 minutes when the food reached our stomachs it turned out to be enough and I couldn't finish my vegan ice cream next door. Still, one more dish would probably have been just right.
The total bill for the four of us for those 8 dishes and a bottle of wine was around $240 including tip and tax which I think is a great deal for the high caliber and uniqueness of this food and service and atmosphere, especially in New York City.
Had one toast, two colds, two hots. Friends loved the Gnocchi/Butternut Squash the best, I liked the Chestnut Farro – both were phenomenal. Great texture, nothing too salty, much flavor. Smoked Eggplant toast was good, as well as the Salt Baked Sweet Potato but the hot dishes were on another level. Smaller plates (reasonable size), family style, but definitely got my money's worth. For my tastes, it's the best non-Kajitsu vegan dining experience – which is in a different price range anyway. I highly recommend it – will come again.
Small space, cozy, yellow lighting. Music could've been better but that's a minor thing (guessing it's to match the Polynesian theme). Menu's relatively small but it's about quality over quantity here. Seating was close to other guests but it never got too loud or uncomfortable. Changed my reservation twice within getting there but the hostess was extremely friendly in helping me out – which ultimately pushed this to a five star restaurant in my book.
Waiter took the time to explain the dishes to us. Also makes a difference.
How to define a good restaurant: food and service. This place has it all. It's a fine vegan restaurant. It's tiny with bar seats and wooden rustic tables putting together. Make reservations is necessary, and it has very strict policy. We order three of the toasts and all of them are good. It's only one piece with sauces and veggies on top. It's pricey for $12, but it tastes so good. I had the cauliflower as my entree. Few pieces of cauliflower may not look like worth $18. But the plating is so artful and the sauce (curry like) mix well with all the other ingredients. My friend's mushroom tastes good too. The menu is probably seasonal and changing all the time. There's only one dessert available, caramel walnut chocolate cake.
The whole place smells so great because of the open kitchen. There's only one waitress, but she keeps checking with us all the time. It's a nice place for vegans or non vegans who want to try something different. Even though the portion is not big, all of us feel so full and satisfying after all.
Love the vibe of an open kitchen and we were in the mood for a vegetable feast, so Avant Garden was a bookmarked option that seemed to fit the bill. I'm not strictly vegan and have no problem eating vegan food, I just often find my favorite vegan dishes to be at non-vegan restaurants. I guess my preference still stands after eating here, although it wasn't bad by any means. We grabbed a toast dish, two salads and a bigger plate of cauliflower served over lukewarm curry. I guess my angst is mainly based in the fact that dishes are tiny, pricey and kinda trying too hard. Our $12 toast (twelve dollars!) that came with sunchokes, hazelnuts (or pistachio?) and preserved quince had good favor combinations, but that's a lot of money for toast. The kale caesar had maybe three fronds and was pretty average in my book. The beet salad was ok but reminded me of our impending annual Passover meal and the cauliflower was pretty good but didn't wow. I actually enjoyed my meal here, I'm just not sure it matched the money spent on a few small plates and would probably still prefer vegan dishes at non-strictly vegan establishments.
Quaint and quirky. Those are the two words that come to mind when I reflect on my meal at Avant Garden. Even if that wasn't the case, when do two adjectives that begin with the letter "Q" aptly describe the same thing? Given that "Avant Garden" is a pun in it of itself, I figured a bit of word play was fitting for my lede. Read on.
Came here on a Saturday night at 8pm with a friend who, despite loving/sometimes indulging in dairy, is lactose intolerant. So a vegan spot is always a safe bet. Avant Garden had been on my radar since it opened – I'm a sucker for clean, healthy food, and I'm also a sucker for this particular neighborhood. East 7th and Avenue A? Talk about prime location.
In any case, the place was bustling – if a space this tiny can be "bustling". Given its size, your only real option is to make a reservation here. There are maybe 25 seats in the whole place, half of those being at a communal table. Another nuts-and-bolts point I'll make is that when you *do* make a reservation, **read the fine print** (it's all the same size, but you get it). If you don't cancel more than 24 hours before your reservation, you'll be charged $25 PER SEAT. I get that there aren't many seats here, but I think that's pretty harsh. Don't let that deter you from coming here, though.
Avant Garden is perfect for a chill night out – either a date or a catch up session with a good friend. It's intimate without being romantic, and the decor is absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful natural elements – wood, granite, vines that frame the bar area – for lack of a better phrase, "Avant Garden".
First things first: they've got a lovely selection of wines here but NO LIQUOR. If you want a cocktail with dinner, go elsewhere. The wine is also pretty expensive. I had a very nice glass of red wine which I enjoyed very much, but $16 for a not-so-generous pour didn't sit so well with me. I do acknowledge that these wines are all organic/biodynamic/what have you, but still. Wasn't gonna order a second glass.
If you can (we lucked out here and I'm not sure how one would control this), try to sit at the bar. The chefs are all working right in front of you and will totally engage in dialogue about whatever they're making. Because it's such a small space, the whole "breaking the fourth wall" (theater-speak) aspect is there, and a really lovely one at that. That said, I can't say I enjoyed our waitress too much. She was *very* pushy. She was quirky/cute/nice/etc., but at a certain point she remarked "okay I'm just going to decide for you", as we had not yet reached a point of deliberation. I'm sure her intentions were good – she might've just been doing this a colloquial way, but it didn't come across as such.
Given the prices here, we only ordered three plates. I regret that, because I think I would have liked this place quite a bit more had we tried more of the menu. It was still solid though. One note before I dive in: plates come out one at a time, and are meant for sharing. They lay that out very directly in the beginning. Obviously they can't *force* you to do anything, but you can't order as you go and they advertise as sharing only. Me being me, that is a-okay.
TOAST: Fennel hummus, Castelvetrano olive, orange, walnut: A++
Wow, this was pure heaven. If we weren't trying to save money, we would've absolutely gotten the rest of the toasts offered here. Unbelievable flavor. This is as upscale as hummus toast gets. Gives avo toast a run for its money. Savory, rich, nutty and totally satisfying. Serious serious wow.
COLD: Salt-baked sweet potato, escarole, jicama, jalapeno, Meyer lemon: B+
This was good but not great. I prefer sweet potatoes when served hot, but that's just me. That said, the flavor combination here was curious and inventive. While many sweet potato dishes can be on the heavy side, this one was quite light. Everything bathed in some lovely green broth/sauce/dressing/no idea, which tied all of the ingredients together well. The preparation – and this seems typical of Avant Garden – was aesthetically lovely. Simple, clean and colorful.
HOT: Maitake mushrooms, parsnip, broccoli rabe, cipollini onions, apple: A-/A
I gotta say, $22 bucks for such a light "entree" is steep. But this dish – in line with the rest of the menu – was creative, beautiful and tasty. Considering my Instagram likes on my photo of this place, its clear that this plate was a looker, if nothing else (I also hashtagged the word "vegan", so that may have something to do with it…vegans, despite their food preferences, are quite voracious). The ingredients here went perfectly with each other. Mushrooms are a food group in my book, so having those as the star for once was a treat. It's special when I can see how each component of a dish has a clear, meaningful place in the overall flavor/texture profile when at a glance it could seem incohesive. Eating this dish, you'll appreciate nature. And isn't that the goal, in the end?