Avant Garden

“Five stars isn’t enough for our experience at Avant Garden.✨ From the moment we walked in, the team made us feel so welcomed and cared for. Every dish was thoughtfully explained, beautifully presented, and genuinely felt like a fine dining experience from start to finish. The food was absolutely delicious. Truly some of the best vegan food we’ve ever had. Every course felt creative, elevated, and packed with flavor in a way that completely exceeded expectations. If you’re looking for incredible vegan food in New York City, Avant Garden deserves a spot at the very top of your list. We already can’t wait to go back. Highly, highly recommend.”

“The staff here is so attentive and helpful! They are very nice and give great suggestions. The food is amazing! I had a mocktail called the beach drink and it was delicious. We ordered the artichoke toast, the risotto, the cauliflower and the gem salad. Each dish was so good but I especially loved the lava cake! The inside is also very beautiful like being one forest!”

“I had high expectations, but the food was a hit or miss. The Brussel sprouts and toast were wonderful. However, with the “paella”, we had issues (i put it in quotes because it was reimagined paella, not the real deal). There was a big piece of squash that was more or less uncooked and inedible. Also I’m not sure what the purpose of the piece of mushroom was either. I’m no Michelin star connoisseur, but putting a big piece of unseasoned mushroom doesn’t seem like it enhances the dish. Finally, the lava cake was a flop. The entire joy of eating a lava cake is the hot molten core surrounded by a moist gooey cake. We got neither. The cake was cold and plasticy. The “lava” wasn’t flowing. The additional things like banana, additional sauce, ice cream didn’t really do much to enhance the dish. Frankly Domino’s lava cake is better. I would not go there again.”

“presentations were great but it wasn’t enough to convince me that maybe my tastebuds were novice. flavors and textures were just okay. first time I’ve had to send a dish back- the pepper was undercooked and difficult to cut. By the time you get a piece, the filling was mixed into the huge amount of sauce you were hoping to not eat as soup. I found a lot of the dishes were difficult to eat without getting messy. dang, looking back even the dessert was underwhelming and flour-y to an easy chocolate lover despite us remaining positive! I am possibly spoiled coming from Chicago’s vegan landscape lol. I didn’t take photos of all the dishes, i realized I wasn’t coming back:/ We all know what it’s like to not agree with a dish that’s not for you, and to also go crazy over something that has never tasted so excellent. But we noticed a trend with every dish, a bit flavorless and always off with ratios of sauce or dryness. If you find yourself not exactly going crazy for anything here, me too.”

“I came for an event, ramps & morels, and the food was excellent. But the service was just so so so bad from hosts, runners, bussers, and servers. Nobody manicures the tables. Didn't seem like there was any management anywhere. But what's really needed is a training session for staff. "Backhanding" is one thing, but the waitstaff here literally put their armpits and elbows in our faces, they would have even hit us if we hadn't actively moved. Plus they would stand there holding large platters over our heads until we volunteered to lift up empty plates (which they should have previously removed; completely abandoning multiple steps of service) and we had to hold them in the air until someone came by to take them away from us: we had to flag waitstaff down! We were actually really low maintenance, we weren't drinking alcohol, we took care of our own water refills, we didn't bother them with any allergies or aversions or substitutions, we didn't ask for any sort of birthday candles or anything, yet they still somehow found a way to do as little as possible. Nobody spent any time or attention ever even thinking about guest comfort. They got our courses out of order multiple times, they tried to bring us the third course three different times, and the table next to us never even got their third course but they were brought the second course multiple times and they were brought the fourth course multiple times. It was a constant headache, and I felt embarrassed choosing this place. Worst of all, it's no cancellations or refunds, so we bought tickets to another event in the future, and we have no choice but to endure everything all over again.”