The Vanguard — Restaurant in Sydney

I've been going to The Vanguard on and off for 17 plus years now. Back when it was The Vanguard, when it changed it's name and now as The Vanguard again. Went last night to see Mel Parsons who I'll definitely see again as she was great.

I've generally always had two issues with The Vanguard. The first being start times. You'd go there and it would often be 9:30PM or later for the main act hit the stage. You may think this is a good way to try and milk extra drinks out of people but it's not. People will stop coming. There's a reason why the 9:30 slots at the cinema are empty. People want to do their thing and then either go home or do another thing elsewhere. Late starts for bands is not good business. Try me. I say this as it certainly has impacted my willingness to go to repeat offenders such as The Vanguard, which has generally been the worst offender. The good news is that this was NOT an issue last night. Mel hit the stage at 8:30 which I think is appropriate.

The second issue is the temperature. No joke, when I first went 17 years ago it was bloody freezing cold in there and it was freezing in there last night also. For reasons I can't quite explain, it seems I generally go to the Vanguard in winter or autumn, so the fact that it's always frigging cold is another determining factor if I book tickets. I won't go to see bands I "might" be interested in because of these factors. They've got to be artists I'm super keen on seeing as it's not worth dealing with these two issues.

Looking around the Vanguard last night everyone had jackets on inside, and multiple people had beanies. Staff were asked about the temperature but were advised there was nothing they can do. You may think you're saving money but not addressing the temperature control issues but I assure that's not the case. Not only do I second guess whether I want to attend, I know for a fact that many of the people last night won't revisit. You're putting off your own audience with every show.

I love live music. I love that the Inner West is such a hive for it. I love that venues such as the Vanguard or Camelot Lounge cater to artists of a broader range of taste, but you're not doing yourself any favours. Please, pretty please with a beanie on top, address...

Good music, culinary disaster. As of November 2024, the renovated Vanguard in Newtown is a compact, well-designed venue for dinner-and-show events. The major problem is the food, which was inadequate in quantity and embarrassing in quality. Included in the ticket price of $75/head, the meal consisted of about four mussels each, presented in salty water you could not drink even if you had been given a spoon, then spaghetti with butter-cheese sauce and a spoonful of wilted spinach. The menu said "caesar salad", but we had to ask for that, and we got about 6 cos lettuce leaves with dressing per capita, no bacon, croutons, shaved cheese, etc. The online example menu lead us to expect a decent meal, and probably amounts to false advertising. The drinks were OK, but many Newtown bars provide better-made cocktails for the same price. The musicians were excellent. The sound quality and mix were average for pub-style venues---you needed to know the song to follow the lyrics despite the singer almost...

Nice venue, very aesthetically pleasing! But a disappointing lack of straws/drink mixing (non alcoholic idk what the alcohol mixing is like). We ordered 2 lemon lime and bitters and they came strawless and unmixed!! We asked for a straw so that we could mix them, but alas the guy said that no straws were available! Not even for ready money! How are we supposed mix our drinks? We were forced to swill our drinks fruitlessly (in metaphor only - there was a nice wedge of lime), in a vain attempt to avoid drinking three quarters of a glass of straight lemonade and then one shot of pure full strength undiluted lime cordial! We hope in future you will consider either mixing our lemons, limes and bitters for us, or at least having an appropriate selection of straws for us...