The Vault Under Church Street, Faux and Prevz in Tribeca

Diners hold up their phone flashlights to read the menu. That detail comes from The Infatuation's review of Faux, the new Tribeca restaurant at 277 Church Street. The room is loud and very much a scene. The crowd, the review said, mixed Fashion Week guests with longtime Tribeca locals. And when dinner is over, there is a vaulted bar below called Prevz, where the night keeps going.

Faux opened on Thursday, September 3. It is the first restaurant from George McNally, son of Keith McNally, the restaurateur behind Balthazar and Pastis. That lineage is the headline, and the room does not run from it. But the more interesting story for anyone who stays out late is what happens underground.

A Room Meant to Feel Old

Faux sits between Franklin and White streets, in the space that used to hold Shigure Sake Bar. According to Tribeca Citizen's early look inside, the downstairs bar sits in the old B Flat space. McNally wanted the finished room to look as if it had never not been there, the site reported.

The design team comes straight from the family business. Ian McPheely, Keith McNally's longtime designer, and architect Richard Lewis worked on the room. Tribeca Citizen reports that much of the furniture was handed down from George McNally's father's restaurants. So the chairs have a history before anyone sits in them. The vaulted ceilings in the lower room were kept. The dining room above was made bigger.

The chairs have a history before anyone sits in them.

McNally did not arrive here from nowhere. Tribeca Citizen reports he has put in the past four years at Balthazar. His first job, at 16, was washing dishes at Elephant & Castle in London. It is an old style of apprenticeship, and it shows in how closely the room follows the brasserie playbook.

What Is on the Plate

The kitchen belongs to chef Kristina Ramos. She met McNally when she consulted on the Washington, D.C., opening of Pastis in 2024, according to Tribeca Citizen, and she has worked at Minetta Tavern in D.C., Eater reports. The menu is described as coastal French. Eater points to broiled oysters and steak frites. DiningOut adds a Niçoise salad, a burger, and a raw bar with a seafood program.

The Infatuation was honest about the cooking. Its reviewer found the scene "deliciously messy" and the food "just fine." Tables run late. Steaks can come out past the temperature you asked for. But the reviewer also wrote that for a sloppy, three-martini sort of evening, Faux "goes above and beyond." That is a fair description of what a lot of people want from a Tuesday night in Tribeca. Nobody comes here to study the sauce.

The upstairs is open seven days a week. Reservations are on OpenTable, and walk-ins are welcome.

Down to Prevz

Prevz is the part of Faux built for the back half of the night. It runs Tuesday through Saturday and opens at 7 p.m., according to The Infatuation. Eater reports that the downstairs bar serves late-night food and has a bouncer at the door. DiningOut pitches it as the spot under the restaurant for the late hours.

The idea is not new. New York has always loved a restaurant with a room underneath it, a place where the dinner crowd can slip away from the tables without actually leaving. What stands out is the speed of the hype. Within days of opening, DiningOut was already ranking Faux among the most talked about spots south of Canal Street.

Nobody comes here to study the sauce.

Some of that buzz is the name. Some of it is the room. And some of it is simply timing. Faux opened in early September, just as Fashion Week brought a crowd looking for a new place to be seen, and The Infatuation found that crowd in the room. The bouncer downstairs suggests the team already knows how that goes.

There is a family echo here worth noting. Tribeca Citizen points out that Keith McNally's first restaurant was The Odeon, which he founded with his brother and his then-wife Lynn Wagenknecht in 1980. The Odeon is still owned by Wagenknecht. Faux is not The Odeon. But it is playing in the same neighborhood, at the same hour, with furniture that came from the family's other rooms.

For anyone who likes their dinner to turn into something else, the rhythm is easy. Eat upstairs. Order the martini you did not plan on. Take the stairs down when the plates are cleared. We have written about why the city's best tables start late. Faux is making the case for tables that end late instead.

Faux is at 277 Church Street, between Franklin and White streets, in Tribeca. Prevz, the bar downstairs, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 p.m.