Vagabond — Restaurant in Milwaukee

I hadn’t been to this place since it first opened since I moved out of state 9ish years ago. Boy has it gone down the gutter. You can tell the GM is running a weird, COGS-focused dictatorship around there. While we waited for our table we ordered a pitcher of spicy margarita and asked for a splash of pineapple - “bartender” was like “ummm sure..?…very reluctant for some reason. So my wife and I are like ok, maybe just a bad day. It happens.

Drinks come out and it was quite literally the worst margarita we’ve ever had (we’re in our 30s. Could barely even finish it. Out of towners BEWARE that these bartenders don’t appear to be REAL, experienced bartenders who know how to make cocktails, they’re your typical Milwaukee dive bar bartenders who make mixed drinks, not cocktails. Both she and the other bartender had serious attitudes but again, ok maybe bad day.

We finally get seated and WOW was the server incredibly rude, sarcastic, and short. The group of 6 i was with all made comments on it as she walked away. It was awkward and weird. She took our orders which took forever to come out. I get my drink which is some sort of Razz margarita and it tasted terrible. I let my friends have a sip and they all agree and suggest I send it back for a new one. I reluctantly do, and the server seems visibly upset/worried about it and says “I need to talk to my manager to see if I can take it off” 😳😳😳 at that point I handed the drink over to her and said “tell him the customer isn’t satisfied with his cocktail, it wasn’t made correctly, it needs to be taken off my tab, and id like something else. Thank you”. She literally rolls her eyes, snatches the drink, and storms off to talk to the manager which appeared to be quite the negotiation from a distance 😆. This place appears to be hurting and it shows. That said, our tacos were indeed solid.

Message to the owner: don’t focus on COGS at the expense of the guest. If a guest can’t ask for a splash of pineapple or return an unsatisfactory drink without putting uour staff in distress, then the writing is on the wall. Revisit the service checklist/script imposed on your staff. And always, ALWAYS put the...

On my way home from work in November 18, 2019 stopped in and had the enchilada special plate on the recommendation of the bartender. He was awesome! I wish I remembered his name. I also ordered a blended margarita. I left the place very satisfied with a tab of less than $20 which included a generous tip. I returned a couple of weeks later on a Tuesday for the $2 Taco Tuesday special. I wanted to make an order to eat there and then an order to go. The bartender (young lady) was very rude in saying I had to eat something there or I wouldn't be able to receive the $2 special tacos. I was taken back by her attitude. She seemed more interested in another employee that worked there than serving her customers. The tacos were good and I was eventually provided with a "togo" container to take the remaining 3 tacos home to my spouse. I referred Vagabond to a co-worker who thought he would give it a try. He arrived on a Tuesday at 9:45 pm and they had already stopped selling food due to a slow night. I returned on December 10 with my spouse. We each ordered 4 tacos a margarita and a beer. The server seemed untrained. Did not describe the specials until asked. She brought our drinks. The Margarita was good, the beer was not cold. The server left a tall bottle of water and 2 glasses which I could see were not clean from about 10 feet away. When she returned, I asked for 2 clean glasses and she brought them. She then disappeared. We saw her on and off ducking down and eating behind what looked like a server station. When she was apparently finished she looked me straight in the eye, said nothing and disappeared again. About 10 minutes later she was walking by and I flagged her down and asked for the check. Not impressed, will not return. The place looks very cool and was designed by Flux designs. The food is good. The place is not clean and the service has gone down hill in the 2 months I have tried doing...

Vagabond offers a cool atmosphere to enjoy street food style tacos and drinks.

My short review: their tacos fell short for me. I tried 3 and a bite of what my friends ordered and none of them were good enough that would make me want to return for the food. However I would return for the atmosphere and drinks.

Full review below

First things first: the tacos here are experimental therefore they stray pretty far away from your typical Mexican tacos so if that is what you’re looking for then I would skip this place. They never promise authenticity here so I’m not trying to discredit them; I’m just giving any readers a heads up.

Going in with that mindset some of their menu items looked really promising, but I don’t think the execution was great. The Korean beef was probably the weakest of the three I tried. Even with the bright flavors of the slaw it wasn’t enough to balance out the strong flavors of the ponzu on the beef. It just felt kinda one dimensional to me and had no complexity of flavors that I would have expected from a Korean beef taco. I think with some adjustments it could be great, but as it is it fell short of the mark. The consommé that came with the Quesabirria was way too salty and the Flamin Hot Cheeto was just okay. There was so much on the taco that everything kinda blends together and no ingredients really stand out.

The margaritas weren’t bad. Maybe it was the flavors we chose but one pitcher was too strong but the other was well made.

The atmosphere was pretty fun. It was a slower day when we visited but I could see how fun this place could be on a busy day with more people. They have a DJ booth so keep that...