Livermore, CA - Wente Vineyards - 2006 (MOVED)

TYPE OF FOOD: Californian

RATING (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Food: ***
Service: *****
Ambience: ****
Value: **

OVERALL: ***

Wente Website


GENERAL

I practically saw the cuisine at this restaurant "grew up" in the last 15 years - from traditional continental to nouveau Californian. Given its offbeat yet beautiful location (well, relative to rest of East Bay and TriValley), Wente is a pretty good place to enjoy some nice but not outstanding dishes and sip a glass of their proprietary reserve wine.

FOOD

The cuisine here has gone ALL THE WAY Californian - It's like a hybrid Mexican-French-Italian-American. Good ingredients for sure, and the creativity sometime (not all the time) enhances the taste and surprise factor. The appetizers were tasty - they sound like old dishes, but they all incorporated some nouveau twist. Like the aragula in ceviche - I wonder what the Mexicans would think.

The entrees were somewhat disappointing. They were nicely garnished and, again, ingredients were superb, but the pork chop that the waiter HIGHLY recommended was highly disappointing. I tried the seafood and rice stew and it was downright strange - I still can't figure out what made it taste funny.... Maybe it was the almonds.

SERVICE

I was extremely impressed with the service - as impressed as going to a 5-star hotel's signature restaurant. The waiters were courteous, friendly and efficient. They work under very tough conditions (having some rather energetic children at the table) but they performed without a glitch. When a SECOND (that's right, sigh) glass flute was broken by a kid, our waiter STILL cleaned up the shattered glass with absolutely no sign of going mad (I would have). They are even knowledgeable, equipped with understanding of the wine and food they were serving.

AMBIENCE

If this restaurant was located in Napa Valley, I would have given it 5 stars. It's really that good. It's very well situated a valley surrounded by grapevines, and the room we were in had wall-to-wall windows, ie very nice view of the winery setting and nearby hills. Decoration theme is a mix of typical Californian (sunny and bright) with elements of traditional bar and grill scene. The whole interior was designed to be comfortable and welcoming, a particularly pleasant place for lunch or summer dinner.

VALUE

This is not the most expensive winery restaurant you can find - in fact most of the Napa Valley winery restaurants will set you back more severely. Nevertheless, one would expect less of a "location premium" given that it's really in the middle of nowhere. Granted that top-quality ingredients are used, most dishes are simply too pricey. If I want to spend $60 for an appetizer and entree alone and sit in a winery, I'd go to Domaine Chandon!

BOTTOMLINE

When I lived in the East Bay 13 years ago, I frequented Wente because there's really not a whole lot of appealing alternatives around. It's still overall a decent restaurant - but it's probably not worth the gas money if you live in SF or even San Jose. I would still be back here for sentimental value - I just won't order the pork chop again.

LAST WORD

They know they are too pricey - so they have sunset and Wed night specials. Never tried them - send me a comment if you have.