The Vanderbilt
“Neither of us will touch corn-fed beef, so she opted out and ordered the smoked trout crepe with melted leeks and a sunnyside-up egg.”
“The spiced doughnuts with candied cherries and pistachio ice cream are to die for!”
“I absolutely love the exposed brick throughout the dining room.”
The Vanderbilt
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Decor and atmosphere is very nice, with a few tweaks to the menu the food would be fantastic. For starters we ordered the conch fritters. These would have been stellar had they been made with a lighter fritter batter. The ones we were served used walnut flour and had a cake-like heavy texture and the conch meat was lost in them. They were also over cooked by the time we got them. My partner and I love conch but we could not finish them we were very disappointed.
Our mains of Summer salad with steak and half fried chicken were ok. The chicken portion was very gernerous. Although the chicken was brined it still needed some seasoning as the meat was bland. The cornbread served with it was excellent! Very moist with jalapeños. Our steak salad was served over arugula and was dressed very sparsely with goat cheese–I counted 3 tiny courgette blossoms in the salad.
Service overall was adequate.
The Vanderbilt is my jam. The playlist was perfect. Really its 4 stars just for the playlist alone. Anyway, the staff was very friendly and I really appreciated that. Any issues were resolved and they worked to make sure we were happy. We hated our meals and they offered to replace them and gave us complimentary drinks to make it right. Can't beat that! The duck wings were pretty great. Also really enjoyed the brussel sprouts. Bread was kind of boring and of course we ended up hating the shrimp tacos – I don't know what happened there, but the decor, playlist, cocktails and most of all the service were all good enough to make me return.
Although I've popped in for a drink once before, yesterday really revealed how enjoyable an experience here can be. My friend and I sat at the bar. The purpose of my visit was to use my 2 for 1 cocktail coupon. Leah, the stellar bartender, made us the Lord of the Fizz which was her personal concoction. I was skeptical at first because I'm not usually a fan of fizzy or drinks with nuts but this was a pleasant surprise. It was a really smooth drink!!!! All of the cocktails here are very creative and they can change so if you're looking for actual cocktails and not well liquor with a mixer, here is your place! I also had the Hairy Eyeball IPA which was a winner. As I type this, I'm tempted to pay them another visit today.
All in all, I love this place. I had beignets and booze and the bartender was amazing!!! Make your way here and have Leah mix you up something nice.
Horrible horrible service. The worst I have experienced in Brooklyn by far. Our waiter was new (I am assuming) and forgot most of what we ordered, didn't bring back drink orders, never checked on us after the initial greeting, and set a tray of drinks in front of my fiance to hand out himself. I honestly think the guy had never been trained and had never waited on tables before. I can respect the fact that he was trying a new gig but he was clearly not ready for tables for a busy brunch on a Saturday. Also, no one in the place thought to help this guy out (who had many tables). We literally had to pull the manager over to put our order in.
After 1.5 hours our food finally came. The only redeeming thing was that the food was pretty good. The manager saw us eyeing our bill before paying and came by to say she wanted to take care of one round of drinks for us because of the long wait for EVERYTHING. Which was nice except she took $10 off (not even equivalent to one drink). Confused as hell and ready to just leave, we paid and took off.
The food is decent but the experience was so unpleasant we will not be back. Too many other choices in Brooklyn to have to pay for service like this.
The Vanderbilt is the kind of place you want to give a high rating too but just can't. The decor and atmosphere are great, along with the neighborhood itself. However, the food falls short with the prices that you pay. The appetizers and cocktails are definitely the bright spot of the menu. Therefore, this place is just a bar with above-average bar bites.
Would I try it again? Maybe not. Would coming here the day before 4th of July have an impact in the kitchen? Possibly.
Probably won't return.
There's a reason every restaurant within three blocks is packed on a Friday night and this place is basically empty. The wait staff ignores you and has little interest in making sure you're happy.
The food is decent but nothing spectacular and it's hardly a great value. There are far better options nearby, even if you have to wait a bit for a table.
That awkward moment when you really enjoy everything about an establishment and you forget to take enough pictures to post on Yelp. That happened but I am still feel it is my duty to share my wonderful experience with you Yelpers.
It was a Saturday and my friend had this awesome 2 for 1 coupon book for BK and The Vanderbilt was nearby. We sat at the bar we were greeted by the lovely spirit Leah. We inquired about the limitations of the drink menu in terms of the coupon. She insisted that we try her drink of the day which I was unsure of because:
1. I knew nothing about it
2. It said it had almonds in it. Not a fan of nuts
My gut feel said "Trust Leah, Trust Leah". My friend and I said "Let's go for it". The drink was smooth and full of flavor and exceeded my expectations by much. Leah provided us with fun and light-hearted convo during our time there. She has the perfect personality for bar-tending and made our time there memorable and half way through our time there we knew we would be back soon.
While there we also ordered the beignets to snack on and Leah even put me onto a new cider while.
Thank you Vanderbilt and thank you Leah for an awesome Saturday experience. I will be back to dine for dinner!
Just came back from honestly the oddest experience here.
My sister and her BF had a GuiltCity for this place that came with a bottle of prosecco. If it hadn't been for that this whole excursion would have been a serious waste. The staff didn't even know they had a guilt city and didn't know what it was or what was included.
Two tables next to us just LEFT because they hadn't gotten their food and it hasn't even been put in yet. It took us over an hour to get our food and when it came out it was one plate at a time with at least ten minutes in between so that by the time I got my food my sister and her boyfriend had already finished theirs.
The sides are SO small. The side of bacon is just one piece of bacon cut in half. My sisters got the crab cake. The biscuit was burnt and the eggs were RAW.
The staff was completely unapologetic about the wait time or the incompetence. I ordered a French toast, which I then saw ran to every table except mine because the waiters couldn't figure out who it belonged to and then they just threw it out.
The strangest part was how the chefs were working in an open kitchen and we're just screaming at each other and at the waitstaff!! It was like a Hell's Kitchen situation. I will NOT be going back. The food was not good and the service terrible! They bussed us out so quickly yet we waited forever to get our food!! Also did not get, nor as I offered, the coffe/tea that came with my meal.
Such a disappointment for a Sunday brunch. AVOID THIS PLACE.