Von — Restaurant in New York

What a strange place. I won't be coming back.

So we were told we had to order food & couldn't just have an after dinner drink (fine, I understand this is now a NY law - I didn't realize it when we first walked in since I no longer live in NY, the manager had to explain it to me, & did he - in quite a condescending tone). That aside, to air on the side of fairness: it's not factored into my rating...

We ordered 3 drinks (2 spicy margaritas & a glass of wine), the Sophia pizza & guacamole & the bill came out to ~$65. The guacamole was 1 tablespoon - literally, 1 tablespoon - placed in a small mason jar to appear larger. It was served with chips - that tasted stale - & a small mason jar equivalent of pico de gallo. The pico had a nice kick & was tasty, in all fairness. The guac & stale chips - even though it was only $5, were a total waste of time.

The Sophia pizza, to our surprise, was lovely - served with arugula on top & drizzled with a bit of balsamic glaze (not made fresh - I think he mentioned it's sourced from a Brooklyn restaurant - but passable). Is it worth $15? Nope.

Also, they had no plates. Zero plates to eat on. If you have to serve food with drinks, I feel like investing in some cutlery & plates (even disposable) is necessary. We used a lot of napkins - which just seemed silly.

And to conclude, the service leaves much to be desired. I really really feel for small businesses, it's a tough time, & I'm game to support how/when I can. But I'd check some of the arrogance & assumption, & replace it with a bit more kindness &...

I had my Yelpie celebration after party at Von Bar. Yeah, you read that right. Yelpie winner. I bet you didn't know whose review you were reading right now huh. This my 2nd Yelpie in 2 years. Back to back like I'm Jordan 96-97.

Anyways, Von Bar was the perfect place to host the after party. They were so helpful and communicative, and said we could just have people downstairs without having to rent it out as long as guests didn't show up too late. They let us bring a whole ass cake and lit the sparklers on it that ended up setting off the fire alarm. It was lit.

I know you're probably sitting there wondering what my acceptance speech was so I'm putting the transcript below:

"I know we're in a subjective business, but the truth is, I'm really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don't usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I'm as inspired by Hunter S Thompson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Virginia Woolf as I am by Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan and I want to be up there... Game 6. I'm deeply grateful. This doesn't signify that, but it's a little more fuel. it's a little more ammo to keep going. Thank you so much."

IG...

I was here for the Listen Bar pop up event. Von seemed cool enough of a place to grab a drink but there we're no signs or help directing people to the Listen Bar event. Many of looking like lost lambs but eventually ventured further back and found a second room with the entrance to the basement. Cool that Von hosted the Listen Bar event as nonalcoholic bars try to find a footing.

The Listen Bar event started late. I ended up getting stuck in a corner by the bar because the event was so well attended. It was packed! The downstairs bar was a nice space, even if I only got to experience one corner of it. The NA Actual Sunshine cocktail and the Pilot Kombucha was tasty.

Will attend future Listen Bar events if they do more pop ups or get a...