This is a decent bar/restaurant in downtown White Plains. The place is classy and despite its fairly large size, it's very easy to navigate. The Brazen Fox reminds one more of a large pub than a typical bar in Westchester, and that's a good thing.
The booths and tables are situated around the bar area, which is large, spacious and packed with televisions that play various sporting events at all times. When I was there, the games of choice were baseball and tennis. Really, Brazen Fox? Tennis? And smack in the middle of the World Cup, too. Shame on you.
I went here for lunch during the middle of the week, so I imagine that the Brazen Fox sports a different atmosphere on a Friday or Saturday night. The place was fairly quiet when I was there, but that didn't bother me at all. It really does have a nice, classy atmosphere, from the arrangement of the seating to the ornate iron lamps to the polished wooden bar. I especially loved the vintage photographs that lined the walls, although for some reason they put the awesome photo of Muhammad Ali and the touching portrait of Marilyn Monroe posing on a NYC subway platform near the coat check and bathroom areas in the back of the restaurant, respectively. Why? Nobody knows.
Since I'm reviewing the Brazen Fox solely on the basis of the lunch that I had there, I might as well come right out and say that I was very surprised by the quality of the food. I ordered a garden burger from the lunch menu - at $10, fairly reasonable - and it was . . . well, it was probably the worst veggie burger I've ever had in my life. It wasn't undercooked or totally disgusting; rather, it was just a plain old bad burger. I'm not quite sure how to describe what was wrong with it except to say that they seemed to try to combine too many flavors into one burger. The chef seemed to have thrown a lot of vegetables together and called it a day - or a garden burger - but it really wasn't successful at all, and ketchup did nothing to improve it.
Fortunately, I'd ordered a side salad so I was able to enjoy something about my meal. One dining companion had ordered the french fries - regular, not sweet potato - as a compliment to her meal and said they were quite good, although another companion had a complaint about the pina colada she'd ordered. Apparently it was way too sweet. Maybe the bar staff and the kitchen staff were a bit off that day.
I will say that the waiter service here is very good. Our waitress shuffled between our party, several tables of guys in suits and a birthday extravaganza on the upper level with aplomb. The Brazen Fox also has outdoor seating in both the front and the back of the restaurant, and when we moved to the back patio, the waiter there was more than accommodating in restructuring most of the tables so that the rest of our party, who showed up later, could comfortably join us. The staff is professional, and they also serve up a nice cup of coffee with real, thick cream, not half-and-half. I know, I know: who goes to a bar/restaurant to drink coffee? But if you have a hankering for a cup of coffee, Brazen Fox will come through with flying colors.
All in all, this place isn't bad. The food isn't anything to write home about, but I doubt that's why most people go to the Brazen Fox. I'd visit again because it was a terrific place to hang out with a large group of people on a nice afternoon. read more