Verboten

Sucks. Shitty layout. Shitty manager. Shitty everything. No wonder it’s closing. I feel bad for artists that get sucked into playing here and don’t have an audience to play for.

Venue is great aside from one of the the most rude bartenders I’ve ever encountered. Most people that work for tips aren’t rude. One girl at the bar near coat check couldn’t be bothered and actually rolled her eyes when I ordered a beer. The bartenders in the other room however actually had manners and thanked me after I ordered instead of swiping my tip away without eye contact

If I could give minus stars I would and not just because the club is filled with the worse bottom feeders around, and the sound system sucks, and they charge ridiculous prices (YET don’t pay their DJs and staff) but I have a friend who use to work there, and wasn’t paid for several weeks. She would tell me so many stories of the nastiness that would go on in that office that after I went once, I decided to never go again. She decided her peace of mind was more important than any money so she left. So it’s funny that there is now so many articles about this club that has brought just a TINY bit of light to what actually happens there. I have friends who are DJs and they said no matter how desperate they were would NEVER work for the owner Jen Schiffer or any project she was involved in. Here are the articles, judge for yourself, yet know one thing, it’s not even half of the nasty reality that people have to go through dealing with Jen Schiffer and her useless hubby and boytoys. Lastly: You should know Jen Schiffer also requires all her staff to create dummy social media accounts, and have their friends write good reviews about their club, on all sites they can. So take any good reviews with a grain of salt. My friend use to have to write good reviews about the club while not getting paid. How’s that for a crappy work environment?!

This is VERY disturbing about the latest accusations of racism and sexual harassment with this location. 2016?
The married owner of a trendy Brooklyn nightclub pressured workers into threesomes, boasted about sleeping with more customers than her husband and freaked out when too many black patrons attended a party, a new suit charges.
Williamsburg hotspot Verboten is rife with shameless sexual harassment spearheaded by the out-​of-​control co-​owner, Jen Schiffer, 16 current and former workers allege in documents filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Schiffer, 40, presides over a hedonistic atmosphere at the N. 11^th St. megaclub in which she «discusses her sex life — including her favorite sexual positions and sexual encounters with her husband, John Perez, and other women,» papers charge.
The raunchy suit comes amid an ongoing dispute with some ex-​employees claiming they haven’t been paid, as well as investors. One worker, Dylan Schwartz — described as Schiffer’s boyfriend in papers — also allegedly unleashed a barrage of vile propositions to colleagues.
«Are you having a bad day? You should let me f— you,» Schwartz, 24, allegedly said to a female employee.
Steven Suchowieski, 32, who worked the door at the club, told the Daily News on Tuesday he alerted Schiffer to Schwartz’s lewd comments.
«She said ‘I know, I know, I’m trying my best to keep a lid on that,’» Suchowieski said. «Instead, she then targeted those employees, those girls. She basically was jealous of them.»
Schwartz, who is not named as a defendant in the suit seeking class action status, could not be reached. Schiffer denied they’d had an affair.
The club, which opened in 2014 after the owners had run years of parties in event spaces around the city, describes itself as a «pro-​woman company» promoting a healthy nightlife scene.
Its opening was hailed as a sign of the city’s booming club culture. Patrons hitting the dance floor must pay a cover starting at $ 20.
But the suit also charges that Schiffer became furious when an employee, Darrin Morda, booked a party attended by black patrons.
«What are all these black people doing here? You cannot book a black-​people party!» she allegedly said.
Morda told The News that Schiffer yelled at him in front of customers.
«(She said) she had promised the police there wouldn’t be black people at this club, and I put the entire club in jeopardy by doing it,» Morda recalled.
Schiffer and Schwartz also withheld wages for months on end, according to the papers.
Schiffer called the allegations «ridiculous» and «outlandish.»
“This is disgusting. This is not true,” she said. «I’m a woman trying to run a nightclub with her husband. This personal abuse and attack is disgusting.»
She added that she didn’t have any «history of racism.»
«In return for being dedicated employees, our clients were mistreated, sexually harassed and not even paid for vast stretches of time,» the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Michael Willemin and David Gottlieb, of Wigdor LLP, said in a statement.
–New York Daily News article, March 12, 2016

3÷16÷2016 NY Daily News… the suit also charges that the owner became furious when an employee, booked a party attended by black patrons.
«What are all these black people doing here? You cannot book a black-​people party!» she allegedly said
I will never patronize Verboten again. …

I am not into the club scene, so I have nothing to base this off of.
It was a tight space. I was here for an event back in the fall and it was put on great. The sound system in the place was awesome. The band that night was some cheesy brooklyn based girl goth electronic band, incredibly satanic which was creepy, but can look past it.
The bar had a ton of great selection. Bathrooms were clean. Nice part of brooklyn with a view outside of the city while everyone smokes cigarettes.
I won’t be back, but hope you have fun!

Great music venue in Williamsburg — usually have a great rotation of DJs and everyone is up for a dance. A lot of fun to be had here on a night out in Williamsburg! Sometimes, the crowd can be douchey and sometimes the bartenders can be a bit rude/​short, so that’s the only reason for the one star off. Check out The Get Down when it is here!

Things that are terrible about Verboten:
— Is there a secret tunnel between here and Meatpacking?
— $ 40 cover to rub elbows with human STDs.
— Received a hand stamp after forking over 2 20s? May as well rescind the offer and save the ink, because the c-​word patrolling the entrance is not going to let you back in if you step outside their unmarked exit door. «None of the clubs around here offer re-​entry» is apparently considered common knowledge at this point. Questionably legal… Bye bye $ 40, I hardly knew ye.
If you are masochistic enough to still give Verboten a try, at least come back and give me a thumbs up after.

The venue itself is small but well laid out. The music was good and the cover was reasonable for Williamsburg. Unfortunately one of the bartenders misplaced my card, and the night went downhill from there. This normally would not have been a huge issue, but the way the staff treated me was quite shocking. They were rude, accusatory, and essentially treated me like a delinquent, repeatedly stating I was drunk and out of my mind for even suggesting that they may be at fault. I Literally had consumed one drink at that point. I was basically kicked out of the club at that point. The police came, but of course they didn’t do anything.

Really, really, really cool place. Came on a worknight for a Jamie XX afterparty so I was somewhat withholding my energy, but the place was JUMPING. He didn’t even go on until probably 11 pm, but when he did it was unreal. Had to get a red bull vodka to even stay awake that night but I would have loved to try their other drinks, even though the prices are a lil crazy. The whole VIP section was empty so we just walked into it and settled down on some couches… no one kicked us out so we hung out in that area for the whole show. I’ll want to come back here for sure.

One of my favorite clubs in NYC! They always host great acts, and have a very cool space with a disco ball and vizualizers on ¾ of the walls which creates a cool experience. I came here last night for deep house yoga and it was incredible! Our instructor Will was awesome. The pace of the yoga was faster than what I normally practice, but this helped me push myself (which will improve my flexibility). Somehow the music and visualizers fit perfectly with the flow of the yoga session. I was having so much fun the 75 minute session flew by! Also, they had the best mats (LuluLemon brand) …I find that having a nice mat always helps for a better yoga experience. And the staff here is so nice! Although it is 45 minutes away from my apartment, I am willing to make the trip back here for deep house yoga!

Let me preface all this by saying I’ve never given a one star rating on Unilocal (I have; however, reviewed several restaurants positively); however, I’d had 3 – 4 drinks prior to the events described below.
I’d decided to attend the show headlined by Elijah Woods at this venue on 1-​8-​2015, with my girlfriend and one other (male) friend, and paid $ 80 to do so. After arriving, my girlfriend, friend, and I enjoyed the ambiance and committed to buying a piece of local art. In addition, each of us had 3 redbull vodka’s at the bar. At this point, we sat down with 2 girls we didn’t know — whom my girlfriend ordered drinks for. Shortly after splitting those drinks with one of them, my girlfriend began to lose all cognitive function and behave in a manner I’d never seen over our ~year long relationship.
After I got concerned (as did the employees of the venue), I helped 3 employees in directing her to a bathroom. Following several attempts to calm her down, during which which she hit her head quite hard (which was funny for reasons not clear to me), I detailed her hearing impairment & her documented anxiety (as well as the likely result that she might be disoriented). explained this was out of character, I was implicitly accused of lying to cover up my girlfriends drug abuse at multiple points. After detailing any and all substances my girlfriend has taken in the last month (only alcohol in last 5 days), it was again implied that I was lying.
After several minutes of this sort of thing, I was told that my girlfriend was ‘fine’ but just ‘too drunk’. After several increasingly antagonistic comments regarding my girlfriend, I began to get irritated. At this point, I was told to leave by a bouncer because ‘I had my own shit I needed to work out’ (verbatim quote). After leaving the room for 5 minutes, I came back, asked my girlfriend to stand up and get in a cab, took her home and completely missed Elijah Woods (the main reason I spent over $ 300 on cover/​drinks). It’s 3:30 AM at this point (2 hours after we left Verboten), and my girlfriend has been crying, seizing, and insisting it’s her fault ‘because the bouncers told her she was immature’. I’ve been watching her, called a friend who’s a resident at a local hospital, and been listening to her cry.
Some of you guys may assume that my girlfriend and I (as well as the 2 of my friends who also had their night ruined) are entitled and irritating people.
Regardless of your presumptions, I’d like you to consider whether you’d like to pay for the privilege of be treated the way I and my girlfriend were treated tonight. If the answer is no, I’d suggest you not pay for a ticket to an event at the Verboten.

I created this account pretty much because of the terrible experience I am still fuming about. Back in June 2015, I stood in line at this venue (I had never heard of) to see Deadmau5. Online, it said tickets were $ 30 and were to be purchased at the door. After inviting a friend and standing in line for over an hour, we were told the tickets were actually $ 100. Umm what. How did that jump in price just happen? My friend, who was going to school, gracefully bowed out and took a taxi home, as she did not want to pay that. Me, being sort of a die hard fan, stuck with it, fully aware I would exact my revenge on Unilocal.
Newsflash Verboten: you want to charge $ 100? Totally fine. But Let. People. Know. In. Advance. instead of surprising them at the door via your idiot bouncers/​staff! Clearly you have no faith in your DJ’s: Deadmau5 would’ve sold out the place, even if tix were $ 200! Morons.

Soooooo glad I came here!!! The music was soooo DEEP! Right next door to Output, it’s hard to choose which one to go to now! Both really great venues! Verboten is a lot smaller but they have a great visual layout. Small but intimate!

I have been here a bunch of times now and have to say that each time has been a unique experience. My last visit was Wednesday of last week, for Vice’s new documentary and after party as well as this new bdsm style party group from Berlin’s debut party in the U.S. let’s just say one moment, it was all a regular dance floor and the next, I was watching women strip and be tied up and hoisted into the air and stuff. Dope, strange, cool, wonderful for dancing, and always an interesting time. I should also add that the visuals here, are off the hook, with lighting, projection art, and a disco ball setup to coincide with the lights!

Over-​privileged assholes. Not enough space to dance comfortably, over-​priced all round, and a snooty vibe that isn’t typical of the BK feel. Major downgrade from Vegas and the like.

Buckle your seatbelt for this emotional roller coaster. Verboten for the first time on Friday night, the music was epic, I was «dancing like no one was watching». The entire staff team, from coat-​checking to bartenders to bouncers were just all so helpful and nice, they made a first-​timer feel like a regular. The crowd was also awesome, most people were friendly and were there for a good time. Well, the night ended with an unexpected twist, I LOST MY PHONE. Between the moving crowd and my blurry vision, I gave up and went home. The guy working at coat checking was patient, handed me a bottle of water and a card with contact info for the club. I woke up this morning with animal crackers all over my face, and the first thing I did was to check «find my iPhone». Just thought I should give up and say bye to my lost iPhone forever, Guess the location? VERBOTEN! I called up their team ASAP, turned out they have my phone (miracle)!! Even better, they were open at noon since they do brunch as well! I put some shoes on, running all the way from Soho to Williamsburg, feeling almost naked without my phone. the anxiety and excitement was almost the same as going on a first date. Struggled to find Verboten without google map (purely muscle memory). The moment was emotional, I had an entire speech rehearsed in my head but I couldn’t get a word out. I hugged everyone, especially Mr. George, who helped reunite Alina and her sidekick.
The experience gave me hope for humanity. When you live in a big city like NYC, it is easy to become cold and jaded. So I appreciated all the help from Verboten, and every one on the team who facilitated the preservation of hundreds of selfies.
THANK YOU and yes I will be back!

A more intimate space but positively beautiful. There is a wonderful light show and plentiful seating. Staff is quite friendly and will take care of you if you take care of them. If you have the opportunity to go here and try their food I would highly recommend it, it’s delicious!
Love the spacious bathrooms over the ones I’m used to in Output, Pacha, etc.
Staff are friendly and accommodating.
Completely in love with the Verboten branded lighters, I want to buy a case.

cam here for a group dinner for a special occasion. the food itself was very good however service ruined the whole night. our night was suppose to start around 8, but we weren’t seated until 9pm. food came out but there were large delays between the rounds. at the end of the night, they first told us that the only way to split up the bill onto different checks was to have everyone pay the same amount (some people ordered drinks and some didn’t). after we agreed to pay for the drinks separately on credit card, they then told us that we could only pay in cash because we couldn’t pay different totals with credit cards.
the whole issue of figuring out a simple payment ruined the whole night for me. definitely won’t be coming back

This review is solely for the Deep House Yoga class at Verboten.
I typically don’t attend nighttime yoga classes, because I like to go straight home from work. However, I made an exception last week to attend the Deep House Yoga class at Verboten. I absolutely love deep house, and it seemed like it would be the perfect fit with yoga. And the music during the class was fantastic, as were the visuals playing on the video walls. I would have given the class five stars for the music! However, everything else in this class was terrible.
When you simply advertise a class as «yoga» without specifying a type of yoga, obviously people are going to expect either a blend of styles or a vinyasa class. I was personally expecting a vinyasa flow — at least some downward dogs! Nope, none of that. The class was Kundalini, and if they had bothered to clarify that, I wouldn’t have wasted my time with the class. It felt like mat pilates. That’s not what I was looking for — I wanted to further my yoga practice. It wasn’t a workout at all, we didn’t do any of the yoga poses you’d expect, and I was bored/​frustrated the entire time. I can’t believe I made an exception in my usual schedule to go to this class.
After doing a bunch of simple stretches, pilates moves, and tiring shoulder workouts (supposed to «warm up» our shoulders… for what?), we had to spend ten minutes dancing. I get it, it’s a club, so they want to focus on the music. But the dancing was silly & also not a workout at all. An actual vinyasa yoga class would have been the PERFECT way to take advantage of the great music… timing the moves with the sounds, connecting the music to our breath.
The class was clearly advertised as 7−8P on ClassPass. Well, it finished at 8:30. I found this really unacceptable. Maybe the instructor lives next to Verboten or something, but I live an hour away. An extra half hour of class without notice is NOT something I wanted. There aren’t any clocks in Verboten, so maybe the instructor could have signaled that it was 8P, so that anyone who wanted to leave then could head out. People have busy schedules. You can’t go over the time that much. It’s really rude.
I will never be back to this class, and I would advise anyone who practices yoga to stay far away too. If you just want a silly time goofing off with friends, maybe it’s for you. But even then, the person doing the check-​ins was really rude & unwelcoming, so I’d say just stick to attending Verboten for shows.
(I just wanted to add that most of the reviews of this class on other websites mention «sweating in Warrior II» or «some downward dog» or «working through pigeon, tree, and bridge pose» — this is all wildly inaccurate for the class I took. We did none of this whatsoever.)

I came here for the rub, which is a reason to dance to hip hop tracks remixed by 4 DJs.
I was impressed with myself being back in a huge club room dancing around with a bunch of strange. And I mean strange. I think I saw 3 or 4 different PDA displays that made my head scratch and probably my eyes bleed a little bit. There were a lot of men there standing, staring. Someone was videotaping for their instagram or whatever. I was just happy to be back in a club after a waaaay too long hiatus.
They try to make this place seem like high end but when you get a nasty huge black stamp on your arm that barely comes out without 12+ handwashes and a good two showers and the drinks are watery but cost you the price of a meal each time you feel like you got ripped off. There was a restroom attendant and a collection of fun restroom things that make you have to tip that person for giving you a paper towel. I never understood that shit. I mean I’m already giving you 5 times the mark up of the alcohol you are not sufficiently drowning me in and now I gotta pay a dollar for a paper towel piece??? Ok I did take a tootsie roll, but stillll.
Anyway that is why I can’t give this place more stars.
The music and the space are awesome for shaking your booty. If that’s all you care about, bring a flask and dance away.

Awesome venue– great set up
The music and sound system in the main room was phenomenal!!! However it was wayyyyy to packed. There needs to be more space period. I go to dance and enjoy my time. The crowd was at least friendly and I’m sure it was more packed because it was just after electric zoo. Possibly more table or places to sit if you don’t have a table would be nice. More air conditioning or fans on the dance floor for sure!
The bathrooms are pretty well kept which is super important to me and the design overall is modern and new of course.
I’d go back but table only !

Off the beaten path near Kent street. Nondescript entrance. $ 15 cover before midnight for The Rub ($ 20 afterwards). And quite honestly, a bit of a sausage fest. But hey, still had a good time.
If you want the best bang for your buck, get one of the drink specials (beer and a shot). Otherwise, your tab can definitely run up here. What sucks is that there are two connected bars, but you have to open a tab with both separately. It’s also one of those places where they swipe your card and give it back to you, so it’s easy to open multiple tabs. But when it came time to close, a different bartender basically told me my original bartender already left and closed me out. I wonder how much she tipped herself…
Anyway, sound system is good. I don’t want to make this a review of The Rub (since I’ve already done that here
). So I won’t blame Verboten for the hoardes of dudes zeroing in on every single girl on the dance floor, or the fact that the party was pretty dead by 2:30.
But as a venue, I thought Verboten was fun. The second room is more casual and you can sit down at a booth and actually have a conversation (until they close the door and have a DJ in that room too). Fun fun fun.

I just got back from this spot. The music was good, I enjoyed lisa frank, carol ferraz were my favorite dj, there was an asian female dj who was also very good. I went for the brunch party today, I had a sparkling wine drink which was delicious and I also had eggs benedict. I enjoyed my time here, I would return, very laid back and perfect for a sunday outing. The music was very mellow which is fine until I started getting bored, and service was a little slow because it took alittle long to get our meals, drinks or the waitresses attention but thats okay because when we did get it, it was worth it.
Pancakes were the best pancakes I ever had in my life! #TRUTH

Sick lights for a killer DJ set.
Beware though, this place gets packed. And when it does… it gets packed with the worst kind of bros-​slash-​hipsters-​slash-​douchebags looking to fist pump and unabashedly piss people off. Gross.

Output is still a better venue than Verboten.
Yes they are both owned by the same people but here are a list of reasons why I feel that Verboten (the younger of the two) falls short:
— The drinks are horrible and expensive. $ 16 for a vodka and soda?! In Brooklyn?! FUGHETTABOUT IT! !!
— The cover is unbelievably expensive. $ 25 for a DJ that I don’t even know? And that’s just the female cover price. I can’t even imagine how much more guys pay at this venue.
— The party does not start until 1:30AM. So please do yourself a favor and don’t come here until one.
— The bouncers are unbelievably strict. They have two bouncers that check your identification. Underage people who plan on going here beware. They will NOT let you in unless you have valid forms of ID.
— This place is half the size of Output and without a rooftop. #FirstWorldProblems much?
There are some positive things about this venue. The crowd is diverse and is here for only one reason, and one reason only. Its to DANCE.

Disclaimer: Before you read my review, realize that I have only been to Brooklyn a handful of times. As such, my comments won’t be all-​encompassing, and will rather only reflect the few experiences I’ve had.
All that said, Verboten is basically Brooklyn in club form. It embodies everything that makes Brooklyn… Brooklyn.
Is within Williamsburg? Check.
Located in an area where illicit activities could be happening down the street and no one would bat an eye? Check.
Cool, underground club scene with artists that you’ve never heard of yet the line still wraps around the corner? Check.
Ridiculous $ 20 cover to see said unheard of artists? Check.
More flannel shirts, skinny jeans, oversized glasses, Converses and bucket hats than you will ever see? Check.
Giant dance floors, multiple DJ rooms, great sound system, banging music and a crowd that’s here purely for the dancing, sights and sounds? Check, check and check.
Clearly, I only care about one of the aforementioned qualities, but it’s enough to bump this place between average-​above average.

Good, solid fun. Prices were a bit much ($ 9 for a beer — though a tall-​boy beer; $ 5 for water), but the tickets for the event were competitive with other places around.
Music in the main room is noticeably better than the side room. It’s like a totally different club in the main room, where you can be engulfed in sound and lights. The side room, on the other hand, places the DJ right at people-​level, so you can practically peer into the DJ «booth.» The only other features in here are projected-​screens and an awkward bathroom line, which is always there but extends into the dance floor. I didn’t love that.
Barely any security; no pat down.
I’d give this place a 3.5, but I am boosting up to 4 because of the music acts and DJs they can bring in!