Avant Garden

MEH
this place really needs to improve their ventilation, you can feel the smell of food and then continue to smell it in your hair and clothes for days after the meal. I am not a vegetarian or vegan but I enjoy a high in plants based diet. Avant garden is good, not great. I had a etna rosso that was tasty, the hummus and eggplant toast and the gnocchi. The gnocchi was delicious and hearty, otherwise it was not memorable.

Our reservation was for 9PM. It’s 9:30. Still waiting for our table, which wasn’t remotely ready when we arrived and were told «a couple of minutes.» This would be fine – IF WE DID NOT HAVE A RESERVATION. Just plain bad service. As I am writing this the restaurant has yet to do anything to help the people who are waiting for a table they reserved a half hour ago.

Updated review. I’ve been several times. Won’t be going back I’m afraid. The food used to be five stars and ambiance three because of the horrible ventilation (read: watering eyes). The ventilation is still a major problem.
The food, unfortunately, has gotten worse each time we’ve gone since the original chef was recruited to France. The toasts are still good because they didn’t change.
They changed the cauliflower dish and it’s not nearly as good, and the mushroom dish was completely bland last time and that’s tough to do with mushrooms. It was phenomenal earlier on. The bouillabaisse is terrible. Take it off. They should go back to the old menu that the original chef put together or this place will have trouble. Oh yeah, our entrees were served almost cold the last time we went.
Man, how far this place has fallen… and so fast.

Food was good. Best meal ever? No. Most expensive meal I’ve consumed? Probably. Wait staff were overall lovely. But, this restaurant over books. We had a 7:00pm reservation and about 8:15pm they asked if we wanted dessert. We had nearly all of a second $ 60 bottle of wine left and decided we would get one more savory dish instead of dessert. (We were sold on going somewhere else for dessert.) But, before we could even order that savory dish, our server said she was embarrassed but she had another party coming in in 10 minutes and needed our table and that she would comp us one toast appetizer. We were thereafter terribly uncomfortable and our conversation covered important issues like «should we be upset about this?», but being the agreeable people we are, we guzzled our wine and got out of our table about 10 to 15 minutes later. The server said she appreciated us being cool. None of us are jerks. One of my dining companions is the co-​owner of one of the longest standing vegan-​owned and operated businesses in NYC — we understand that it’s hard to run a small business, that customers are demanding. BUT, Avant Garden doesn’t have to book so many reservations at once. We had our reservation booked for more than three weeks. I would only expect to be rushed out if we had taken a last minute cancelation and the restaurant informed us we would have limited time at our table. I wish Avant Garden lots of luck. The food is good. Not great. But good. I don’t expect to be back. Too pricey for the rate of turnover they expect.

This place is small and new but the food is low. I am vegetarian and cook quite well half of the time I didn’t know what I was tasting but it was outstanding. What an experience.

I’ll preface this review by saying that I am neither vegetarian or vegan. The food itself was generally pretty good. We enjoyed the beet salad, carrot toast, and farro risotto the most. The gnocchi was a miss. The wine selection was good and paired well with the food.
The negatives: the overly pushy waiter, the space is poorly designed (bar chairs should not be as large. you will constantly get knocked by people walking past you), a lot of the cooking is done on induction burners that are not under hoods so it gets VERY, VERY smoky.
Would I come back? Possibly for the food but the atmosphere is too cramped and smoky to make it a truly enjoyable dining experience, especially given how expensive it is. $ 17 for tiny appetizers.

The good: the food was mind blowingly delicious! I had the sunchoke toast and the bouillabaisse — OMG so good so tasty! I ordered well. I really want to go back and order the same thing again.
Room for improvement: The service. The waiter never approached us except to pour water. Never came back to take a drink or food order. We were seated at the kitchen bar and were able to place our order through the very amiable chef working on the other side of the kitchen bar. Despite lack of wait staff attention, I’m still giving 5 stars because I loved the food so much, the bouillabaisse was spicy and served with the most delicious saffron toast.

DECOR:
Ambiance was intimate, décor kept simple. Chairs near the window were a bit stubborn for the space and not so easy to move around.
MENU:
Balanced, and intriguing with combinations I haven’t seen on any other menus before.
SERVICE:
Cordial, on point, knowledgeable about the dish. A bit more can be taken to know more about where each component comes from. I asked a waiter where the bread from the toast comes from and he never came back.
FOOD:
Not bad overall but there’s definitely standouts and those which do not fully reflect the potential it shows on the menu/​the price tag (in accordance with Thomas B).
Sunchoke-​Olive-​Quince-​Pistachio toast (Appetizer) Not easy to incorporate olives into a dish and have to say that these olives overpowered it. I was really looking forward to sunchokes being the highlight but not so much in this case. I would have loved to see sunchokes presented in both cooked and raw forms and maybe introduce something a bit more tart (than quince) like kumquats.
Maitake mushrooms-​Parsnips-​Brocolli Rabe-​Cippolini Onions-​Apples: get this only if you’re a shrooms fan; otherwise, it may be a little overpowering. Though I appreciated the way it was cooked and presented (with pureed parsnips, cippolini onions) have to say the apples and radicchio did not add to the dish.
*Chestnut Farro Risotto-​Kale-​Delicata Squash-​Salsify-​Pomegranate* (Entrée) was the standout rich and velvety, just as how risotto should be. The squash gave it rounded out the overall dish with structure and substance and pomegranate seeds gave it a kick.
Looking forward to seeing the menu and restaurant evolve and can’t wait to come back to check out the rest of the menu!

Wow, what a let down! Another reason to not trust Unilocal.I shouldn’t have believed all the hype this place is getting. Yes, NYC desperately needs more healthy, vegan restaurants but this place is far from healthy food. Basically, every dish contains bread or pasta. Tons of gluten!
I was so disappointed with the menu! Two dishes were the best; the tomato toast and the cauliflower. The décor is strange, bulky chairs that don’t belong in such a small space. They have a horrible door with a table right in front where you sit and freeze while everyone walks in and doesn’t shut the door behind them. They didn’t finish renovating this space properly and you can really see it. I was extremely uncomfortable and will therefore never return. What’s with the credit card required to make a reservation?!

The food was generally good and relatively unique. But I’m not sure it was quite worth the price tag versus other similarly tasty vegan establishments.
The ambiance and service were pleasant.
Random note: Not sure I’m sold on the rice pudding dessert, as it tasted uncomfortably akin to fruit loops.

Get the carrot toast. it’s a thousand flavors and textures in one bite, and it definitely does not taste vegan. The beet tartare was a letdown given how much hype I heard. I wish they either marinated the beets with more flavor or add more seasoning to the dish. I much prefer a beet salad with walnut, goat cheese and balsamic glaze. The farro risotto is really awesome. It is unbelievably rich and creamy and the best way to eat it is to get a sage leaf in every bite. King oyster mushroom is cooked very well. I wouldn’t go as far as saying the mushroom tastes like meat, but the different ways of cooking different mushrooms really highlight the ingredient and make the dish balanced and interesting.
Service is awesome and the chefs are fun to talk to.

KenScale: 8.5÷10
Talk about the bad timing! I’ve looking to check out Avant Garden, a new vegan restaurant from restaurateur Ravi DeRossi and helmed by chef Andrew D’Ambrosi, for a while. I really loved what chef D’Ambrosi has done at the seafood/​cocktail place Bergin Hill in Brooklyn, and was really looking forward to what he was doing with the vegetables this time. Just a week before my visit, however, I found out that chef D’Ambrosi was leaving the restaurant to pursue a new project in France. The restaurant has still been serving the same food put together by him, but I was obviously bummed at first when I heard of the news and debated whether I should wait until the next chef stepped in. Ultimately, I decided to move forward and try the restaurant anyways, and am really glad I did because most of the dishes were fantastic.
The menu consists mostly of small dishes in three different sections: toasts, cold and hot. I was a huge fan of the tasty carrot harrisa toast that came with apple, whipped tofu and tarragon. I could probably eat this every day for breakfast or lunch, with fresh vegetables that were working beautifully together. Beet tartare with mango and avocado in the cold section was another winner, with fresh beets that worked in harmony with the avocado underneath. It’s in the hot section where the kitchen was doing a marvelous job, however. Farro risotto with butternut squash and baked apple was probably one of the best risotto dishes I’ve had in the city, with elegant and aromatic flavor and impeccable texture of the farro. I didn’t even know what kind of trick the kitchen pulled off, but the king oyster and maitake mushroom tasted almost like flawless grilled meat, with smoked macadamia and crispy leeks to support the mushrooms. The restaurant was serving only one dessert but I wasn’t complaining; bamboo rice pudding and calamansi lime sorbet was delightful, and showed that vegetable-​flavored dessert can absolutely work!
Getting a reservation wasn’t difficult, but the restaurant is relatively tiny, so booking in advance is highly recommended. I really loved the intimate, cozy atmosphere of the dining space with dim lights and minimalist setting, and suggest sitting at the counter to see the chefs in action. The restaurant has a full bar, and I found that a glass or two of red goes well with these vegetable dishes. I’m really glad I visited Avant Garden despite the recent shuffle of the chef; I heard that chef Alex Aparicio from Dovetail (another restaurant well-​known for its vegetable-​focused cuisine) will be stepping in, and will definitely make a return trip to see how much the kitchen evolves over time.

The food is just amazing! The interiour uncomplicated and the cooks really friendly. I’d like to take one star off for the girl at the door who made a hugr argument just because the other waiter made an effort to move around spots to be able to seat us. Complaining in front of the guests about not being respected is really not right attitude. During the whole evening she couldn’t get over it and we felt that for some absurd reason she’s even mad at us.
But because of the amszing food, still 5 stars.

I recently enjoyed dinner here with a friend. The ambiance is lovely, a bit romantic (intimate seating, soft lighting, etc), but also good for friends. The service is very friendly, the food is tasty and beautifully served, but be prepared to shell out some cash since the portions are very small and not very filling. You would probably need at least 2 entrees and a side or 1 entrée and a few sides per person to be full.

Holy Butternut Squash Risotto!
One of the best dishes I’ve ever had. It was slightly sweet from the roasted apples and salty from the Butternut Squash and sage… plus a bit of a crunch with the crisped bites of farro. Really. I split this with a friend and regretted it because I really wanted the entire thing to myself. NEXT TIME!
We sat the kitchen bar, made friends with the two chefs gracefully making the food in front of us. They were extremely friendly and gave us the perfect recommendations for dishes to get.
Also got the tomato jam toast and the mushroom ceviche type dish. Recommend both. Recommend everything. I will definately be back.

This place was fantastic. Little scared to post a review because I know within a month it will be impossible to get s reservations here but I must do what is right and that is applaud the special meal I had tonight.
Every aspect of the experience from the waiter to the chefs bringing the food to the delicious and beautifully plated dishes to the ambience were very on point, all of it.
As a new vegan, I was so pleased with the depth of taste. Yummmm I want more.
I will certainly be back very soon.

Warm, cozy restaurant, where you forget you eat «veggies» but a carefully crafted association of flavors and colors.
Two negatives: «light» service (only one waiter?) and limited dessert options.

This is a restaurant! Besides that it’s vegetarian, this is a wonderful place to dine. Warm, cozy atmosphere with beautifully set tables. Seating choices allow you to see everything, including the completely open kitchen, outside onto e. 7^st and the entire restaurant. One downside, nowhere to wait while the reservation before you clears out. This is going to be tricky as soon as it gets cold.
Attentive service will help. Minimal service staff managed the room very well and gave good wine recommendations.
The food… Again the servers will inform you of how the small plates work and how they come out of the kitchen. Order what they suggest for a satisfying meal. Some highlights were the eggplant toast, butternut farro, the king oyster mushroom is a must. The rich, smoky and deep flavors would lead you to believe you were eating a smoked meat product (which I never do.). Each dish was complex, beautiful to look at and delicious. There was only 1 dessert on the menu, a lime, mango and coconut rice pudding. Have it! You really want to eat a huge bowl of it. Unfortunately it doesn’t come like that. Would certainly go back.

The service was amazing and the food was even better! The tomato jam toast is a great way to start the meal and then the hot dishes warmed me up on this cold fall day.
All dishes come out as they are ready, so this is nice for a slow dinner.

My husband and I came here upon reading the NY Times review and it was spot on. The setting was romantic and beautifully decorated and I found it quite impressive how many seats they were able to get in the space without it feeling cramped. At 7pm on a Fri night it was quiet but by 8pm only a few seats were empty. At no point did I feel it got noisy, it was always very comfortable. Our waiter was very friendly and thoroughly answered our questions as well as made suggestions. At the moment they’re not taking reservations but I can tell you I’d gladly wait if I had to.
From the eggplant toast, to the mushroom salad, to the entrée — each food was bursting with new flavors and it made us so happy. For as many years as we’ve been vegan it still amazes me how flavorful a dish can be without any animal products. Sometimes I thought a dish reminded me of France, or Italy, or a tinge of Spain… but regardless, it was authentic. We’d barely gotten past our first plate + the complimentary olives, and we were trying to figure out when we could come back!
AG has quickly been added to our favorite vegan restaurants and we would bring anyone here (vegans and carnivores), it’s impossible to not love something.