The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery

Great intro to an amazing music venue which serves excellent food and quality brews. We visited Vanguard last night for a blues show featuring local talent Jason Cale and the amazing Selwyn Birchwood out of Florida. The stage setup provides a great closeup view of the bands and tho the historic brick structure bounces the sound a bit, it also adds a raw element to the music. I liked it... a lot! Room to dance or get up close as you wish. Food was surprisingly topnotch with the jambalaya and Bulgogi beef bowl rated 5stars for quality ingredients and nuanced flavors. Way above average for a micro brewery. And the beers were excellent, but that part we knew coming in from the Vanguard's active role in local events and award winning offerings. Def worth the trip from VB. Get you summadat!

Our service couldn't have been better. Our server was so helpful and seemed like she truly loved her job. She made small talk and made some great suggestions. Inside is massive. I love the old building turned into something new vibe, and while it seems weird to mention, the bathroom was big and really impressive! I got the soup special of the day, which was buffalo chicken and SO good. It was like a wing in soup form. I also got the pretzel with cheese and while it was good....it was absolutely covered in salt. I had to spend a good amount of time desalting it to make it even close to edible. It once again was tasty after I did that, but I shouldn't have had to. The server was super sweet when I mentioned it, and said she would tell the kitchen. I was only in the area visiting, but I'll make sure I mention it to anyone I know will be in that area.

I went for "The Prince Project" (summer, 2024) and paid extra for the VIP section, only to leave after 2-3 hours of no Prince project. The seating was not great (we were in the first come, first seat balcony/VIP area), and the only good thing about it was we had our own walk up bar. I'm not sure what was going on that night, but I couldn't get ahold of anyone about my tickets before or during, as I was wanting to know if we would ever see the Prince project for the $100 I spent. There was never a response, and I was highly disappointed. We got there around 6 and left around 8:30/9.I've been to the vanguard before, but this experience negated any good things about it, as it seemed chaotic & unorganized.Very disappointing & unorganized, and I'll be hesitant to pay for anything here again with the lack of communication.I will say we did end up ordering food and at behind the bar, which was a fun experience (even though not $100 worth and never seeing anything Prince related). That's the 2 stars- bar staff was nice & the food was good.

This is my second time visiting this establishment. My husband and daughter enjoy some of their beer and spirits. Maybe we chose the wrong day to try their menu. We waited a long time for our food which I can understand because they were pretty packed. However, what isn't acceptable is waiting so long for your food and for it to be cold. It wasn't even warm! It was straight out cold. It wasn't just one thing, everything we ordered came out cold. Based on the amount of time it took to get our meal, I think our food just sat before it came out. To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement. We will come back, but only for drinks but definitely NOT for food.

6 years later and finally came back to try the food! The food was pretty tasty. We had the Pickle Chips, Chicken Spinach Mushroom Alfredo flatbread, and the Short Rib grilled cheese, and the Vanguard burger. I ordered a fish n chips to go (and my ol man really liked it). The server was very friendly and pretty spot on. There was a band that was playing which was a nice surprise. Will be back sooner than later to try their brunch menu!

Horrible came for music found a table 2 waitresses I stopped asked FOR SERVICE!!! CLEARLY DONT WANT OUR MONEY been over a hour still nothing I should not have to track down a 3rd server after the show and our hungry belly's and dry mouths we won't be back I'm not begging them for customer service! First time here as well

Great place to see live music. The service, food, and spirits were all fantastic. Don't sleep on this spot! If ever I find myself back in Virginia I will DEFINITELY be back.

Back in October, a buddy, my boyfriend, and I decided to try The Vanguard for brunch before homecoming. We picked this location since it was still close to campus but we expected it to be less crowded since it was also gameday. We were, indeed, correct.It wasn't very crowded while we were there. The venue is huge! Before they acquired it and transformed it into a restaurant, it was an abandoned military bunker. Bottomless mimosas and fried pickles were our first course. Both were fantastic, and I think I had three rounds of mimosas. Our waitress was quite kind and helpful, and she made several visits to check on us. I had a Vegi omelette, which was average and could have used more flavor. My friend had fried chicken bites with fries and my partner went with the grilled chicken sandwich with fries; both were happy.I'd love to return on a night when they have live acts because I'm sure the place gets busy later on such occasions.

Service was friendly but slow. Beers were good. Table of eight. Two were served and finished 15 minutes before four more got their food. The remaining two got their food about 10 minutes later. Fries and fish were cold and coleslaw was hot. Flavor was good. Might have been really good if it had arrived prior to spending so much time under the warmer. Very cool setting. Parking is terrible. Might be a good non event location or during off hours, but based on my experience, I would not return or recommend.

0 stars if I could. After 2.5 hours for food, we cancelled. Everyone left in our party. drinks were served in shooter glasses for a whoppin' $10 AFTER paying $25 to get in for this "show". Manager offered to comp food which we never got. This place is a joke. I said after last bad experience I'd never come back but we had a birthday girl that really wanted to come here. Absolutely terrible experience and I can't imagine why anyone would come here.