| rev:text
| - So for those of us working our way through a bad economy, of course dinning out has become a little bit less of a priority in the budget. I pulled a great coupon for this restaurant from Living Social. Not far from my
home and if "wine" is in the name of the place, I'm sure to give it a try.
So, here goes....
Nice area of North Scottsdale, this restaurant is in a strip mall that maintains a "higher" level of tenant than most strip malls. Of course you've got the feeling you are in North Scottsdale, but this place works hard to have that "neighborhood feel."
As you enter into the inner sanctum, you are greeted immediately by the hostess. I LIKE that! Good start. The place is hoppin' and it's a Friday night in the worst heat of the summer, so they obviously they maintain a good and faithful clientele. Beautifully appointed ambiance. Their decorator did a great job. Tables give ample room and chairs are comfortable. The place is small and tight but you don't feel squished because of the size of your table and chairs. We were seated against a wall and didn't have that "pushed to the side feeling."
Our waitress Brandy is on the ball and is to our table immediately with explanations of the nights specials and wine specials. Sharp and attentive young woman. This place has a huge wine storage that is displayed through glass as a main feature wall in the restaurant. So, one draws the assumption from the name and from the display that they know wine and are serious about it. Interestingly, the wine menu, though massive has no explanation of the wines they offer accept that the wines are broken into very general categories. Light White, Mild body, Medium White, Medium body, etc. Mildest to Boldest. No other explanation.
Let me just say on this point, although I am no sommelier, I do know enough to know that a wine from France, Italy, California and Oregon are going to have vastly different flavors than just a general category; i.e., it's a "bold red." When I asked the waitress about explanations for labels I had never tried or heard of and suggested further explanation in their "wine Bible" she became a little defensive and explained how the list worked. In other words, she really didn't know wine, but could tell me that the most expensive items on the list were the "favored items." Hmmm.... a wine motivated establishment that doesn't train their staff in wine? Onward to the meal.
We ordered a Caesar salad pre-meal. Almost no flavor of the dressing, LOTS of white pepper that left a sting in the mouth.
The special was a skewer of Jumbo Shrimp (grilled with veggies) an 8 oz filet accompanied by veggies and buttermilk mashed potato's.
The shrimp was fine. Nothing to write home about, but good presentation. The steak was served onto up a huge amount of sweet demi-glaze ( this was not stated in the explanation of the meal) so you got a lot of sauce that didn't exactly have much flavor. The meat, was very tender and cooked perfectly, but had no flavor. The veggies on the side were great! The best part of the meal was the mashed potatoes.
It's not that this place is bad, it's just for the price point, you can do much better with your hard earned money.
The service of the staff was excellent which that alone would make me go back and try it one more time.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)