Veranda

I only have been here once but will def go back. I enjoyed the food, drinks, hooka and the music was pretty good too. I went during the week so I cant really base my rating on a saturday night, but considering, it was a good time.
I say outside for drinks and food. Nice atmosphere and trendy. It’s a place I would take my friends for a night in the city.

You know those douchey Unilocalers who bitch and moan about everything and just end up sounding whiny? Well, I’m going to try to avoid that scenario, while hopefully demonstrating the all encompassing suckiness of this place.
Mistake #1 (on my part): going out in NYC on New Years Eve. Alas, I did it.
And I did it by going here to the tune of $ 150 — which was the upgraded price for table service. And free drinks from 9 pm — 2 am, and a champagne toast (per the website).
We arrived around 9 (after a ridiculous goose chase to pick up the tickets — which I’ll spare you the details of – though can I just ask, WHY on God’s green earth, would ANY NYC cab driver head toward Times Square on New Year’s Eve? Then proceed to be confused when it’s blocked off for traffic? REALLY? Reeeally?)…after checking in with the doorman, we’re told «you have to pay a $ 20 tip for your waitress.» Um, okay. We hand him a $ 20. «That’s $ 20 PER person.» Ummmm… ooooookay. Just so I’m clear, we’re tipping for service we haven’t received yet? Excellent. Okay, then. We pay the $ 40, and are seated at the smallest table ever. After which we’re told to shove over to make room for more people. Picture us — teetering on the edge of a bench, behind a table big enough to possibly fit a medium sized plate. Good times.
Forging on, and still intent on having a good night, we wait for our waitress to take our order. After about 10 minutes, we flag down a woman who appears to work there (which, later I realized might have been a woman they simply hired to prance around and excite the male partygoers… or maybe she was hired to convince us – through a constant stream of body flailing and fake giggles — that this party was actually worth admission)?
The waitress finally arrives, and tells us we have to order our drinks at the bar. «Well, see, we paid extra so we wouldn’t have to do that.» After much back and forth, she finally tells us she never received her $ 20 tips, so she wasn’t going to take our orders. WHAT?! OOOOOkay. Now I’m just getting annoyed. Instead of figuring out the issue, she walks away, and leaves me to go back outside and deal with the clueless doormen who took aforementioned tip. After another 10 minutes or so, they finally decide to care and talk to the waitress (and apparently hand over the covetted money), at which point she begrudgingly serves us.
End of drama? Oh no— we order a hookah, which was subsequently knocked over by a drunk 12 year old (or 23 year old, close enough). Promised another hookah, and more drinks we wait. And wait. ANNNNNNND wait.
What?! The waitress never came back?! Surprise surprise. The place was packed BEYOND capacity, service was non-​existent, and the music was pretty awful. I’m sorry, but NYE is not an excuse for any of the above.

Didn’t even get to go in so I can’t offer more stars than what I just gave. Actually, I wish I can only offer one end point of the star. Oh! Want to know why??? Let’s see. I booked a reservation for 10 on Monday (1/7)for this Saturday (¹⁄₁₂) for a friend’s birthday.
Booked…great.
On Saturday, we show up to Veranda and IT IS CLOSED for a few weeks!!! Oh no… thank YOU Veranda for not having the decency to call me to tell me you will be closing. So we had to inconveniently go find another place for my friend’s bday. Really bad management skills if you ask me. So once you do open back up, I’d do something about that.

I’ve been to this place a couple times and I really like it because the hookah is great and it is pretty spacious. I can’t really comment on the crowd because both times I was here, I was with a friend who knew a group with a table so we basically hung out in one area. Thus, I also don’t have an idea about how pricey the drinks are (or aren’t are for that matter). Regardless though, good music and plenty of room to dance.
Some nice eye candy for the ladies, and the hookah is smoothe :)

Went on a Friday night… music was awesome in this place. crowd…ummmm not so much! It was a bit too «ratchet» for my taste and the smell of weed was overwhelmingly strong and was giving me a headache… we left once it got packed. I would go again to check out other days and see if it is the same kinda crowd.

My husband and I took my best friend to Veranda to celebrate the night before her bday and although the crowd was sparse we had so much fun.
It was a Tuesday night when we went and I’m not sure if it’s the same every week but there was Latino music playing and the guests were all dancing. The DJ was great.
We had some shots (the bartender was very accommodating with special requests) and we got watermelon hookah.
I went once before on a saturday night and the floor was absolutely packed like a sardine can but I still liked it then as well.

So, I went in on a Friday night (12÷22÷12) for a birthday party. We got in with no hassle, but I suspect this was because we had bottle service prearranged. After a slight wait we were escorted to a our table by a gentleman (if you can call him that) who seemed to have forgotten his manners. After being seated for ~20 minutes he approached our party as though we were sitting at a table that we didn’t reserve and abruptly (and rudely) ordered us to get up [Unnecessary Rudeness — 1 Star Penalty…]. Apparently, we were seated at/​near a table usually occupied by one of their promoters. Thankfully, a member of our party knew the promoter and the matter was quickly resolved, with both parties sharing two tables.
My thoughts following that infraction were easily drowned out by the sounds of their DJ. I regret that I forgot to get his name, but the man had the building rocking! Excellent beats… He definitely saved the game with Pop/​Top 40 as expected, but imagine my surprise when I heard a few tracks of old school Reggae/​Dancehall as well! The dancing never stopped (despite the homogeneous nature of the crowd). Incidentally, their Zulu Drummer & Stage Dancers were a nice touch. I’d definitely hit this spot up again just for the music…
Know before you go:
1) Veranda stipulates 1 bottle per 4 people. Our party was 6 people and therefore required the minimum purchase of (2) bottles BUT we received a 3^rd bottle gratis. That ended up being too much alcohol for six of us but if we were 8 – 12 strong, I’m sure we would’ve been good with it.
2) Retrieval of my coat, from coat check, at around 04:00 was a ridiculous ordeal. It took nearly 40 minutes. I know people will say that’s a problem wherever you go, but in this case, it didn’t make any sense at all. Veranda is Not. That. Big. Security formed two lines leading to one window and the attendant inside had help from two other people that I could see yet, the lines didn’t move. It just looked like absolute chaos back there. [Delay of Coat Retrieval — 1 Star Penalty…] My suggestion: keep your coat with you if you’re doing VIP/​Bottle service.

I wish there was an option to give this place NO stars or even negative stars. I made reservations last night for dinner at 7pm. I even got a call an hour before to confirm my reservations. I told the hostess, we’re on our way. I get there and the place is packed with rowdy Santas, which is fine by me. The hostess then walks us into the room next door to seat us.
We walk in and the place looks like it was hit by a tornado! It was a hot mess, with fixtures falling off, all sorts of junk around the floor. 5 – 6 people cleaning up the room. There’s no table to sit and eat. Only couches that seemed like a dog chewed on it and tiny lounge tables that are meant to hold drinks and bottles only. I look at the waitress and say, where are we suppose to eat here? The place was so dingy and dirty looking!
In walks the manager who informs us, there is a private party taking place here in about 45mins, so we can only stay for about half an hour to eat dinner! He’s like let me see if I can switch you over to the other room. The other room which is packed with drunk Santas and you can barely hear your own heartbeat. Then he states, he’s sorry but he will not be able to seat us at this time.
He was NOT courteous or apologetic at all… extremely rude and major attitude as if we were bothering him. No sincere apologies for our major inconvenience. Now this restaurant is in a busy West Village area, and it took us about 45mins to find parking and now we’re being told we cant even eat here. Why didnt the hostess tell me this when she called to confirm the reservations not even an hour ago?! I was raged beyond belief!!! The manager didnt seem to give a damn and couldnt wait for us to get outta there fast enough. That is so unprofessional and not how proper establishment conducts business.
He gave his business card and told us to call next time to get a comped meal. How do I even know that business card is legit or will seriously give me a comped meal? Like Im suppose to believe and take faith in this person after this unreliable experience. Unbelievable!
I will definitely be putting the word out there to avoid this place like the plague. They dont care for my business, then I will make damn sure that nobody cares about their business. Especially in this economy where people are more careful to spend their monies and this is how they treat customers. BIG MISTAKE!!!

My reasoning for 4 (four) stars is this: I’ve been twice– one time, I had like, the best time ever.
The second time, my friends and I stayed for less than an hour.
Your night is ALWAYS dependent on the crowd you roll with– no matter where you end up, so with that in mind, Veranda is a great, hip spot for a good crowd.
Bring your friends, put on some dancing shoes, go to Veranda and smoke some hookah. This place has a great vibe, young, sexy, eager, hip, and… hookahs. Some people don’t like the two-​room split, but i didnt mind it at all. Take it for what it is– it divides the SPACE. Each room is different. The music is so good, you won’t be able to stop dancing. I had to get pulled out of here. Literally.
I’m definitely going back again, in fact I can’t wait to go back again. You can’t be the location and the whole idea of Veranda– dance club + hookah bar? win/​win my friend.

The two rooms are very seperated/​sectioned off. There isn’t really much of a unified dance floor.
Some strange fusion of a hookah bar, lounge and club.
I don’t smoke hookah. I dont fit in with the crowd. But it can be a good time when you go with a group of fun friends.
Fairly good ventilation so surprisingly the hookah didn’t not bother me.
I MUST come back to try the BAKLAVA CHEESECAKE! Sounds divine!

Possibly among the most phenomenal nights out this summer, though they do say its who you’re with and we had a pretty grand crew. Yes we did. Shared a couple two three hookahs, The DJ played our favorite songs, and we OWNED the dance floor.
Was hard not to stare at the 20something of us tearing it up but we were actually just loving the moment, not a care in the world. Two rooms, not all that big. Loungy yet clubby, hard to say.

I often go here for salsa dancing on Tuesday nights and it’s been interesting to see how the restaurant has changed over the last year and a half. The dance floor isn’t huge but it’s a good crowd and the sofas are large and comfortable.
I must mention, however, that the bathroom situation last time I went was totally disgusting and unacceptable. One bathroom had a backed-​up toilet with water (and what may not have been water) all over the floor. The other bathroom had a decent toilet but the sink was totally out of order. If you wanted to wash your hands, you had to use the sink in s@%!-smelling bathroom and risk stepping in unidentifiable liquid in your dance shoes. Gross. Please get it together, Veranda!

Disclaimer: I didn’t want to go to Veranda. I never wanted to go to Veranda. I could tell just by the sausage-​casing dresses, bleached hair, gold chains, and untucked button-​down shirts on the people waiting in line outside that this place represented pretty much everything which I find aesthetically offensive in this world. But a girlfriend of mine wanted to get a particular boy and this particular boy wanted to go to Veranda. So like a good friend… I went.
It was exactly what I expexted. Awful loud music. Awful pushy people. Awful acrid hookah smell. Awful strobe lights. Awful drinks. Awful prices. Awful awful awful. I choked down one horrible $ 10 vodka soda and got the hell out. No friendship is worth a night at Veranda.
I’m all for live and let live and I know this place has a demographic to serve. I just don’t fit that demographic and leave you with my final opinion of Veranda:
Never again.

I met a few friends here on a Friday night. I turned the corner and was horrified by the line but super curious to see what the hype was all about. I was told to wear heels so I did and regretted it later. I ended up with blisters and saw ladies inside that were wearing sneakers (wtf?!).
I managed to shortcut my way to the front and didn’t have to pay, which was great. Holler at a grad student! I enter to find a shoulder-​to-​shoulder crowd.
.thing. Ah well. I try to enjoy myself where I was. If anything, it was pure entertainment versus pure pleasure.
One thing I will say is that the two single bathrooms are near the DJ booth. The line was not long either. Shocker.
One more thing… if you order a bottle of liquor, you get it delivered to you with sparklers. Oh, you fancy, huh?! Oh, well, no, that’s just me watching people getting their bottled liquor being delivered to them with sparklers.

This place gets a lot of negative reviews from people who have had bad one-​off experiences, but we had a BLAST here last weekend. Here’s why:
— Instead of waiting in a line wrapping around the block, we just marched to the front of the line and asked the bouncer if we could get in. Total wait time: less than 1 minute
— We had been drinking long before we arrived, so the $ 16 drinks weren’t a crutch
— The music was bumpinnn (mostly top 40s, but whatever), we danced nonstop for 4 hours
— Hookah is always a plus, even when it isn’t one that we ordered and the guy at the table next to us who ordered it is too drunk to notice that I’ve got his hose
Was it crowded? Yes. Did most of the crowd look like the extras in a cheesy rap video? Definitely. Is this where NY’s finest come to see and be seen? HELL to the NO. But if you come with a good group and are not on the prowl for hot biddies, this is a great place to get your dance on!

Let’s describe this situation: crowded bar (like many in nyc), girls and guys waiting for a while. You naturally notice the order of people who have gotten to the bar around the same time as you and/​or are waiting before you.
As in the natural order of waiting to be served my friends and I waited. Cue in obnoxious guy who pushes his way to the bar tells the bartender that he «has to go and needs to close his tab.» My friends and I are still waiting, now like 10 – 15 minutes. The bartender looks at this guy, gets his order and let’s him go. I ever so politely protest to the rude customer and then he offers to buy me a drink. At which point I was annoyed and decisively told him no because I needed drinks for all of my friends too that he had decided to push his way in front of.
The bartender finishes with the rude guy and then goes to help people who had gotten there after my friends and I.
Therefore: bad Unilocal review because of awful service was a clear task.
Veranda please learn that there are lots of other bars in NYC, especially in the West Village that can handle properly treating their customers.
I will not be back and will actively tell my friends not to go because of the rude service.

I loooved their lamb burger, and the spinach orzo that came with it was cheesy and tasty. The chocolate molten cake was delicious.
The service was very welcoming and professional. It was my friend’s birthday, and as soon as they realized, they surprised us with a huge bright candle of the dessert. Very sweet…
:-)
I have been here after they close up and transform the place into a club. Cute, cool music, normal people.
I will surely go back.

Please — DO NOT go to this place! They were fined $ 200,000 for stealing tips from employees and paying them less than minimum wage… And when they complained, the owners fired them.
Spread the word!

Dinner:
Surpassed my expectations. Everything was tasty and no let downs! Veranda is probably my favorite hookah bar /​club in the city, or at least top 2 with Le Souk, so the first time i ate here i wasn’t too excited about dinner, but rather the partying afterwards. To my surprise the food was awesome. Go with the cold calimari salad, so good! Mezze sampler was money (loved the hummus and eggplant spread but olive tapenade was so so), falafel was melt in your mouth yummm and very shareable. Arugula /​goat cheese salad was so so. Tequila Go To was actually our go to drink, spot on.
Lounge:
Veranda has never disappointed me. Granted, it can be damn hard to get in on a Saturday night, but service and quality are always clutch. What prompted me to write this review was our hookah experience this past weekend. We went for the lavish hookah with the pineapple on top, def a splurge at $ 40 a pop, BUT I have never experienced such amazing sheesha in my life! It smoked amazingly smooth and flavorful for about an hour, even with constant use, and never needed coal to be changed. This is pretty unheard of, we were shocked. Great crowd, music and drinks. I love Veranda!

Being here for the opening was like being at the hosptial for the birth of a child, but then fast forwarding to the terrible twos within months. I have been back maybe twice in two years and it’s like Hugh Hefner, it’s gross and just won’t die but it’s probably still raking in the money based on a business model of trashy girls and dirty guys.
It could’ve been a contender. My first review was like investing in the Krispy Kreme IPO right before the low-​carb diet fad… I was way off.