Viand Cafe

After a day of wedding planning things to do, my daughter and I stumbled upon Viand for a relaxing pause. It wasn't a busy time for them, so we weren't rushed at all. The staff was nice as can be. Nice environment for a diner and clean too. Had a great chocolate ice cream soda (I specified chocolate ice cream, chocolate soda) and the waitress made it perfectly, just the way I like it. My daughter had a delicious egg cream. And we shared a huge, real NY bagel...even at this time, late afternoon, it was fresh, toasted just right & served with plenty of cream cheese. Pleasant experience. Would definitely go back!

Stopped at Viand for a light dinner; ordered matzo ball soup, country Greek salad and a slice of carrot cake. The broth in the soup tasted like Campbell's. The feta cheese in the salad was tasteless -- I actually added salt, it was so bland! The carrot cake was also very bland. The waitress was friendly but didn't even bother to bring me a clean fork with my dessert. Not a great experience. I know this place has its fans and I might try it again if I'm in the neighborhood, but this meal was one big "meh".

I love Viand. The food and service are consistently great, and the atmosphere is exactly what I want from an UWS diner. I have never been disappointed by a meal and I eat here pretty much once a week. That said, it's a diner! If you want a quality italian meal, go to a restaurant. If you want great sandwiches, omelets, greek salads, burgers, etc, then Viand is an excellent choice. There are certain rules to diner eating -- just because it's on the menu does NOT mean you should order it. That's true for diners everywhere, no matter how high the quality. If you insist on ordering the shrimp scampi or broiled swordfish, well, you're on your own.

if I'm paying $17. for eggplant parmigiana from a diner, at least this one, I need my head examined. But, I thought I would trust them. I got a plate full of sticky spaghetti with very little dehydrated tomatoe sauce and 3 slices of eggplant which I couldn't taste because of the fried breading, which I requested light-to-none. I called to complain to the manager, who thoroughly didn't get it and offerred me 20% off my next meal. HELLO! And, I had to explain to him why a customer want to feel valued and validated when asing for a dish to be improved, especially at a price even the better Italian restuarants don't charge. I was seriously nauseated from the slop. And, to boot, my "moist and chewy" chocolate cake for dessert was dry. The delivery took twice the amoung of time they specified - no biggie - except they expected me to return the dish and wait for another one if I wasn't satisfied. I spent good time answering the manager's questions, but it was a waste o time, and I think he was more interested in frustrating and torturing his customers than pleasing them. Never again. My meal came to thirty dollars with soda and tip. In this economy, they'd better deliver!

I can't find a bad word to say about this place. The service is prompt and friendly - and at no point have we felt rushed to eat up and get out-, the food is lovely, I consider the portion sizes to be generous: I have never been able to finish a meal in there but maybe it's because I'm English and used to smaller portions. The mozzerella sticks are some of the best I've ever tasted and the orange soda is addictively tasty. The only flaw I found was the night they ran out of orange soda! And all of it excellent value for money. A brilliant place to eat in the UWS.

I think we were waiting for a table when the below poster was being rushed... New Year's Day on the UWS is not a day you get to linger at your table! We love Viand Cafe, the food is great, service is even better. Our 3 year old loves to come here for breakfast every weekend the neighborhood wouldn't be the same without it!

selection was great, food was tasty (omelettes and pancakes) and plentiful, waitress was great, atmosphere was great, BUT, they served us quickly and then hinted we should leave after30 minutes. At 35 minutes, the owner stopped by to hint further. At 40 minutes, the busboy refused to bring more coffee and said we had to leave. While we understand the need to rotate tables while it's busy, if we can't even sit to enjoy a conversation for an hour, we might as well go to mcdonalds. Wouldn't go back for that reason alone.