VZD's

[John Knight]

Was in there a couple of weeks ago for lunch and it was only about half full and it was crazy loud.

I've really grown to dislike places with such bad acoustics, and there are a bunch of them.

Yeah, I can understand that. There were only two other people in there besides us so it was actually pretty quiet.

[thunderbird]

Did this place change ownership last week? I have been going here at least 4x a month for 8 years and tonight was incredibly off. VZDs has never been great but it's the most normal place in my vicinity and we just like it for some reason. We missed going last week at all but went tonight and it was terrible. The menu changed, the entire staff seemed to turn over and for some reason they are now selling hats??? The whole place had an odd vibe, lots of gold chains and club music playing. Took 2 hours to get through dinner and there were only 5 or less tables.

[7NCSOONER]

Yes. It has changed hands recently. The folks who revived the place had had enough of the restaurant business.

[BLJR]

Man this scares me. I am not a regular, but this place is always fun when we have been there. Hope they get it turned around.

[TheirTheir]

Eric Smith just re-opened Pachinko Parlor in the new The Parlor (lol) so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

[thunderbird]

Man this scares me. I am not a regular, but this place is always fun when we have been there. Hope they get it turned around.

I'm with you, it's been our go to at least once a week for years - I don't see it working out well but I could be wrong.
They went in like accountants and removed worst selling items and cheapened the ingredients on a least a few things that we noticed.

Let us know if you go back and have a different experience than we did.

[Pete]

They just posted this on social media:

It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share this information with you, but it looks like our chapter at 4200 N. Western is unfortunately coming to a close. Ownership of the building we call home has changed as of the beginning of 2023, and while we’ve explored every option to try to remain tenants, our new landlords will be exploring other options for our current space. As every restaurant and bar has experienced over the last 4 years, this has by far been the most difficult time to exist, but we are thankful beyond measure to those that have continued to support us and support local entertainers that have poured their souls out performing on our iconic stage. Fortunately, we have come to terms with the current landlords to allow us to extend our lease through the end of the summer, so that you can have some time to come by, eat, drink, listen to our wonderful local musicians, and enjoy what remains of the last iteration of VZD’s as we know it…as our last weekend of business will occur Friday 9/1 and Saturday 9/2 with hometown favorites Wakeland graciously giving us a proper send off with two back to back shows. This will also give our wonderful staff, to which we are so grateful, an opportunity to figure out their next steps. Please come by and see us this summer and use this time to celebrate and remember the wonderful times we’ve had at VZD’s. We will be announcing a handful of special shows and engagements to coincide with this, and we certainly hope to see your smiling faces. Everything that has a beginning also has an end. Having said that, we are also working on potential next steps, and if there are any further developments, you’ll all be the first to know. To those that have continued to believe in us and support us, you know who you are, we love you and we thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.

[Pete]

I spoke with the new owner of the building where VZD's is a tenant.

He said he owns the name and trademarks for VZD's and plans to run it under a new operator.

Said the current owners stopped serving lunch 2 years ago and that they often only open a few nights a week. He wants to bring it back with full hours of operation and hopes there won't be much downtime between groups.

I know VZD's has had at least 3 different owners over the years and it was briefly closed in 2014 for unpaid taxes.

[PhiAlpha]

I spoke with the new owner of the building where VZD's is a tenant.

He said he owns the name and trademarks for VZD's and plans to run it under a new operator.

Said the current owners stopped serving lunch 2 years ago and that they often only open a few nights a week. He wants to bring it back with full hours of operation and hopes there won't be much downtime between groups.

I know VZD's has had at least 3 different owners over the years and it was briefly closed in 2014 for unpaid taxes.

I was annoyed at first but that seems like a pretty understandable reason for not wanting to renew their lease. It's a cool restaurant/venue hope they can get another operator in there who can make it work.

[ManAboutTown]

I know the former owner and he told me some interesting stories about the place. When the current operators first opened, they had Adam Aguilar (who was part of the operating group in some capacity) perform and it was packed. We sat in a high-top table in the back and Bob told me stories about buying it way back in the '70s or '80s. He used to own Will Rogers Theater as well and apparently bought those properties when they were fairly reasonably priced. He made a killing on them over the years.

[soonerguru]

One reason VZDs was so great back then was because we had precious little else to do. There were very few quality live music places. Now, we have a plethora of great places to see live music. Friday I saw Skating Polly at Factory Obscura for the first time. Wow, another great spot.

The most recent ownership clearly didn't get it at all, but I'm not convinced that even great owners can restore what the place once was and meant to this city.

[SoonerDustin]

One reason VZDs was so great back then was because we had precious little else to do. There were very few quality live music places. Now, we have a plethora of great places to see live music. Friday I saw Skating Polly at Factory Obscura for the first time. Wow, another great spot.

The most recent ownership clearly didn't get it at all, but I'm not convinced that even great owners can restore what the place once was and meant to this city.

didn’t get what? Having a great place for local artists to play? When was the last time you were there? I’ve seen Austin Winkler (lead singer of Hinder) twice, Mark Letierri twice, Aranda, and Raul Malo (lead singer of the Mavericks) all in the last 5 months. Again, they aren’t leaving because they don’t get it, they are leaving because they can’t come to terms with new ownership. Despite what said above by the new owners, the current owners of VZDs came out with a statement on their Instagram story a couple days ago stating that they bought the rights to the name VZDs and when they leave VZDs will cease to exist there.
Honestly, I hear they are bringing in some great acts to go all out through summers end! Keep an eye out and enjoy the music.

[SoonerDustin]

I spoke with the new owner of the building where VZD's is a tenant.

He said he owns the name and trademarks for VZD's and plans to run it under a new operator.

Said the current owners stopped serving lunch 2 years ago and that they often only open a few nights a week. He wants to bring it back with full hours of operation and hopes there won't be much downtime between groups.

I know VZD's has had at least 3 different owners over the years and it was briefly closed in 2014 for unpaid taxes.

They open Every day at 4PM. They have Karaoke on Tuesdays, Jazz night on Thursdays and acts playing all weekend long. Not sure where they get that they are only open a few days a week.

[Pete]

They open Every day at 4PM. They have Karaoke on Tuesdays, Jazz night on Thursdays and acts playing all weekend long. Not sure where they get that they are only open a few days a week.

The building owner told me there have been recent weeks where they weren't open Tuesday and Wednesday.

[barrettd]

The building owner told me there have been recent weeks where they weren't open Tuesday and Wednesday.

They do send out frequent updates via Instagram (I think) indicating closures for private parties or catering. They come regularly enough that I figured it was part of their schedule to be closed some days of the week.

But I'm not a frequent visitor, so I have no idea. Just a casual observer.

[Sydonesia]

They open Every day at 4PM. They have Karaoke on Tuesdays, Jazz night on Thursdays and acts playing all weekend long. Not sure where they get that they are only open a few days a week.

Look on their Facebook page. There are a LOT of "closed for maintenance/private event/catering" or "no food service today" posts. There was one week in March the kitchen was open for a total of 15 hours.

[SoonerDustin]

Private events just means they are closed to the public. Someone paid enough to rent the whole place out. If there is no food service they allow you to bring in your own food. It basically a family run business so if the cook is gone for a day or they have an outside catering then obviously it means there’s no cook. I think there is a narrative that is being created that it’s closed a lot or they are not doing any business, which is not the case all. Case in point the last month they have had a Karaoke competition going on every Tuesday, so to say that in recent weeks they were closed on that day is just not true at all.

[Mesta Parker]

As long as the current tenants are making their lease payments on time, the number of days VZD’s is open should be irrelevant to the building owner. Sounds to me like “days open” is an excuse to raise the rent for a future tenant.

[Libbymin]

As long as the current tenants are making their lease payments on time, the number of days VZD’s is open should be irrelevant to the building owner. Sounds to me like “days open” is an excuse to raise the rent for a future tenant.

Some leases have a Continuous Operation clause in them requiring them to continuously operate its business during the lease term. You see it more in shopping center leases as the idea is that if a store closes, then other neighboring tenants in the center may lose out on potential customers. That said, I don't know if VZD's necessarily had such a clause in their lease.

[Pete]

The building owner also owns the other tenant in this building, Sage Wellness.

I'm sure it doesn't help their business if the restaurant is closed so much.

[PhiAlpha]

As long as the current tenants are making their lease payments on time, the number of days VZD’s is open should be irrelevant to the building owner. Sounds to me like “days open” is an excuse to raise the rent for a future tenant.

It's irrelevant unless it matters to building owner/owners or is negatively affecting them. You own the building, you get to choose what matters.

[GaryOKC6]

I have a group of 25 to 30 people who I bring together every other Wednesday at VZD. They were opening 3:30 for us. We are going to miss that place.

[CitySooner]

As long as the current tenants are making their lease payments on time, the number of days VZD’s is open should be irrelevant to the building owner. Sounds to me like “days open” is an excuse to raise the rent for a future tenant.

Yeah, I disagree. Most retail centric landlords want their buildings to be buzzing with activity. Obviously cash flow is priority #1, but it’s not the only priority.

[Pete]

VZD has been closed for a while now with no sign of the landlord reopening.

Sent him a note without a response.

[OkieBerto]

Rumors of a place called the Raven have emerged for this location?