VS Restaurant - Carribbean on Camden St - Anyone know of it?

oceanclub

There's a daily deal on for a restaurant called VS (Vs?) on Camden St, which does "carribbean tapas". Sounds interesting, but I can't find a single mention of them online (the very short ambigious name doesn't help). Anyone have any experience of it?

P.

red_scarlett34

Hi there,

I decided to try that Daily Deal as well and am heading to the restaurant with my voucher this Thurs!
I'll let you know how it goes for future reference if you didn't sign up for the deal!

red_scarlett34

P.S. Managed to find their website: http://vsvenues.com/
It's under construction though, they seemingly want to keep a low profile!!!!

the beer revolu

Menu looks good.
Simple and pretty cheap.

red_scarlett34

I know! I can't wait to try it out on Thursday.
Will let ye know how I get on!

tfak85

Hi guys,

I bought this city deal and we went a couple of weeks ago.
I've eaten a fair amount of Carribbean fare in my time and was so excited at the oportunity or having some in Dublin! I can tell you that is not what we were served at the restaurant.

The staff were extremely nice and showed us the city deal menu, alongside the regular menu.
The starter was salad or leek and potato soup (had the soup, was peppery and pretty ok).
The main was "jerk chicken" or fried plantain with coconut rice, we both had the chicken, it was just a chicken leg that had been in the oven, no BBQ and certainly no jerk flavour, it was completely plain. The rice was dry and had no coconut flavour whatsoever.
I had the plantain on the side and it was nice, though I felt a little underdone, my OH had the "tomato stews", just heated tinned toms tbh.
The dessert was fancy melon and ice cream with sugar gold... Watermelon, a scoop of ice cream and a bit of melted sugar on the side.

I was so disappointed with this meal, I don't think I've ever felt so sad having been out for dinner.. It is unlikely that we will return to this place again, I'll stick to my own, homemade attempts at jerk flavour, rice and pea and fried dumplings!

I would be interested to hear how anyone else got on.... Perhaps mine was an isolated incident.

red_scarlett34

Wow, sorry to hear that your experience was so bad tfak!
It certainly lowers my expectations of Thursday's dinner and probably changes a few things as regards what I was going to order!
Will let you know how it goes - perhaps things have improved...

hayzar

Agree with you totaly, had the same experince on Saturday, have had rice n peas so many times and the best part is the chicken,,and thats when I do it myself.

red_scarlett34

I went there last Thursday and was satisfied with the experience overall. I think that I had lower expectations because of the posts on here and was pleasantly surprised.
The soup was as described here - simply leek and potato with a load of pepper thrown in to make it somewhat spicy. But nice all the same.
My friend had the chicken and I had the bananas. The chicken was quite spicy, not at all plain like it's been described here. The bananas were less than amazing but still nice. What was a bit disappointing was the rest of the meal - salad, rice and coleslaw - the rice was supposed to be coconut rice but the flavour was a bit too subtle, and it was a bit dry.
The dessert was basic to say the least, but still enjoyable - we both had the pineapple and ice cream.
On top of that we really enjoyed the glass of wine each that was also included in the offer. To be honest, I remember the price of this offer and it was €17 for a meal for two including wine. That's an absolute bargain for a 3-course meal and drink for two, even if it is basic. I'm not sure if I'd return to sample other dishes but won't be writing it off just yet.
The atmosphere in the place was nice as well, quite full and with latino music. Apparently later on in the evening people get up and dance near the bar.

Tkmaxie

I'm hoping to go on Sat night, trouble is I can't get through on the phone so I sent an email. How did you guys manage to book a table?

On another note I think I may avoid all City Deal type sites from now on. Esp after the Chefs Garden Direct deal went 200% haywire I reckon that at the end of the day you get what you pay for. I'm beginning to think paying full price results in a more pleasant experience.

red_scarlett34

I booked over the phone, rang at around 6 or 7pm to book dinner for 2 or 3 nights after that.
Every food deal I've snapped up so far has been great .. Vs left a little to be desired but still very good value for what you get.

emeraldstar

red_scarlett34 wrote: »

P.S. Managed to find their website: http://vsvenues.com/
It's under construction though, they seemingly want to keep a low profile!!!!

Have to say, there's nothing in any way enticing about that menu.

The Hill Billy

I agree. If it was a "Vs Café" menu it would be OK, but as a menu for "Vs Restaurant" it is a bit lacking in variety & imagination.

tfak85

Sorry for dragging up an old thread...
Walked by this place today and it's turned into a steak house now, they must not have been too successful under the guise of a Caribbean place, if anyone goes and finds it to be good do tell!

shanesmyth

I went to Vs last night and found the whole night to be the most unpleasant dining experience of my life. The place has changed its name to Frankie and Johnnys steak house. Our booking was for 9pm we arrived on time to be met in the hallway/entrance by a woman who appeared to be under a lot of pressure. She didn't say hello. She asked if we were someone else we gave the name our booking was under, she said she would see what she could do then went off into the restaurant. We then waited outside in the rain as we were told the bar and restaurant was full and that too many bookings had been taken for the night. 15 minutes later still no sign of the woman so another lady at the doorway said there was a table coming available soon and that the other lady was crazy... (her words not mine)

It gets worse, just as we were walking in an unhappy looking group that were leaving said don't bother waiting. We really thought about leaving but as it was the last day of the voucher deal and we had the reservation we were unsure if livingsocial would refund our money. So we persevered. After another 20 minutes standing at a crowded bar with other displeased looking customers we were seated. 20 minutes later a very basic salad and cold soup arrived as starters. I asked to have the soup reheated it was returned slightly warmer but still not hot. The main course was very basic as described above by other posters.

During our main course more and more people were arriving into the bar area which we were seated beside. A group of people were getting very annoyed at the length of time they were kept waiting. They had been there quite a time and asked for their money back. The staff were being short and rude to them and told them their money had to be gotten back from livingsocial and they had to pay for the drinks they had while waiting. Of course the restaurant had no laser card facilites... Some people in the group were being rude back to the staff and one person spilt a drink on the bar in protest. Insults and threats of call the police were flying. Everyone in the restaurant was aware of what was going on. I was annoyed and rightly or wrongly said to the staff member talking to the group that I was very unhappy with the service and the waiting time and said the group should be given their money back as I felt the restaurant was treating people like ****.

An older man then told me not to talk like that and that it had nothing to do with me. I said I was entitled to complain he said he was the manager and told me to sit down. He then started to give out to me asking me why I hadn't booked sooner than the last day of the deal. I told him that I had made a booking a couple of weeks earlier but that someone had rang me from the restaurant and left a message saying the booking was cancelled. He demanded to hear the voicemail. I asked him what difference it made and why would I make something like this up? Either way my new reservation was for last night so it was irrelevant. He kept demanding to hear the voicemail. I asked him if he remembered the restaurant having to cancel bookings for any reason on a friday night a few weeks ago. He then calmed down and admitted this was the case. I calmly said the whole night for us was not satisfactory. He asked us how much the voucher was and that we had gotten a good deal and we had nothing to complain about. He asked why everyone had left their vouchers till the last day to use and that was the reason it was so busy. I asked why he didn't manage the bookings better and just extend the deadline. He really believed this wasn't an option I think and again resorted to defending the price of the deal and asked what more did we expect. At this stage I had enough he was totally rude, defensive and obviously was not going to hear or allow any complaint.

Definetely never going there again and will advise people off it. I wonder if the reason they are changing the name is to run another deal and try to make a quick buck?
Sorry for long post really needed to get this off my chest though.

Dobedo

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Shanesmyth.

We also had a booking for Thursday night, having tried book for the week before and was told there was nothing available.

Our booking was for 8.30pm. We walked up and down Camden street looking for the place and tried calling the restaurant, three times, to find out where they were but got no answer, we eventually found the 'steak house' and were told by the lady at the door that they were fully booked and even though we had a booking it didn't matter. She asked could we come back in 30 minutes. So we went off for a drink and arrived back at 9.15pm, where there was 6 or maybe 8 people outside the door now waiting.

After reading your post I'm so glad we decided not to bother waiting.

We called yesterday to rebook and went there last night, the place wasn't that busy, obviously because the 'city deal' was officially finished. But the food was mediocre and the chicken cold. I wasn't expecting much anyway. I would recommend anyone avoid this place.
Their website, which is not finished does give you the idea that it could be an interesting place. Its the opposite; bland food, no atmosphere and terrible management.