The Vault — Restaurant in Bakersfield

To start, the atmosphere is quite pleasant. There is chatter in the air from the other guests. But, not imposingly so. The strong theme of the bank that used to be in this building is very present with a vintage twist. You feel as though you are circa 1940 to 1950.

Looking around, you may find the names of several notorious criminals or otherwise lawless individuals on the backs of chairs, the walls, even in the restrooms wallpapering.

The attention to detail for the theme that they were trying to achieve for this restaurant is very thoughtful, and intense. The vinyl decals (famous criminal names) on the chairs is a little lackluster, as many of them are beginning to peel off. Rather than removing them however, I would recommend the management to somehow find a way to make them more permanent with a laminate or a stronger vinyl.

Our menus were presented as case files with the names of notorious gang member, outlaw or otherwise lawless individual on the protruding tab. Examples would be, Billy the kid, machine gun Kelly, and Bonnie and Clyde. Again, the attention to detail did not go past my notice .

It was a busy night. That being said, our server returned to the table several times, and never once offered to refill our waters. We literally waited for our ice to melt to drink it. It had the opportunity to do so in between visits from our server. She, was sweet and very apologetic for her absence however.

The manager, although seemingly very strict, seemed very engaged in helping his servers and still making time to say hi to guests that he recognized. Although, I will note that he did not visit our table. His presence was a relaxed, If not attentive to his employees, nature.

The bathrooms were very clean and sterile. Nothing extraordinary about them. Not, a huge accommodation for the capacity of guests however. For the upscale attempt at presentation, there were very few amenities for refreshing oneself .

The food despite the prices being moderately pricey, was a solid 6.5 or gracious 7 out of 10. I had the New York steak with risotto. I elected a soup over a salad. However, either choice would not have mattered as it never came.

When I tried to have it removed from my ticket, the waitress nervously explained that it was part of my dinner. She offered to give me the soup to go. I asked if they could just discount the price of the soup from my ticket. She said that she would have to ask the management. We sat for another 15 minutes for that.

In conclusion, I must fairly note that this is a very new restaurant only opening recently. There is lots of room to grow, and I attribute many of my noted discomforts to the confusion of growing pains.

Our waitress apologized profusely when bringing us our ticket. For that, and that only, I left a modest tip. I look forward to trying this restaurant again in the future for a...

Fun atmosphere and good food-I would come here again for the food. It was well prepared and pleasantly presented. The live music was a little loud for the space which made conversation difficult. Our main complaint was with the service. Our server was great-she knew the menu and all the options, and was super helpful in getting the order placed. The wait time to get seated and served was not unreasonable. She brought the plates for the other couple we were with, and then we expected our meals-mine came but not my husband’s-she said it would be just a minute. Thinking she would be right back with his, we all waited for her to return so that we could eat together. As the wait extended, my husband encouraged us to eat our food while it was still hot.

The food was delicious, we all shared bites of our food with my husband as his food has still not arrived. The three of us with meals were almost finished with our meals before the server noticed that his had not been delivered and came back to the table to tell us that his had been burned and needed to be remade. She apologized repeatedly-and made it sound like it would be there right away. His meal still didn’t arrive until the rest of the table was asking for takeaway boxes. He ended up asking for it to be packaged “to go”. He is a patient person and did not make a fuss about the situation. But we all were surprised that no offer was made to make it “right” or comp the meal-or at least a free dessert. The concern for his experience at their restaurant seemed very low.

PS— the meal he ordered was a flatbread pizza. It was delicious even later when it was cold. It would have better if it was freshly made and hot at...

I walked in, wasn't greeted. Given my choice between high, booth or table, by Samantha. I chose booth. Once there, I realized she did not want to be there. I soon understood why. She told me she's was going to go grab me some bread. I'm still waiting.. lol. (Never received it) When she returned with waters for my table (I was dining alone) she had waters for another table that walked in after me, as well. She left, took their order, brought them bread, then returned to me and asked if I was ready to order. I was, being that it was already 18 minutes in. I gave my order, Ribye Medium, salad, beef wellington appetizer, and a Pepsi Zero. The steak was thin and tasted like Sirloin. She was nowhere to be found after bringing my food. When she finally returned. She told me she was leaving so her coworker, Winter would be taking over. I then asked for salt, which she grabbed from a table that had just left, rather than grabbing one from the clean area, I asked about my steak, she just said, "its a Ribye" (which it was not) 26 minutes later Winter walked over, after multiple employees walked passed me a few times including Winter, as my empty glass sat at the end of my table hoping for a refill., once she introduced herself... 26 minutes later, she brought me a refill. She Didn't didn't return till it was time for the check 9 minutes later. Mind you. It was not packed at all. There were maybe 4 families. So there was really no reason why my experience was so bad. I did tip Winter well, because she was kind and apologized after I explained my experience. I will not...