D'Vine Bistro & Wine Bar

I have been going to D'Vine for years. Its hard to find a good wine bar in Mesa! This place is totally my vibe: awesome selection of wines (that you can buy up front to take home or enjoy while eating dinner), great food - with an ever changing chef's menu, the Bruschettas are amazing, the chocolate cake is to die for, they do live music some of the time, cozy - you can chill on a couch or on the patio by the fire... and they always have new art on the wall for sale by local artists - cool!

I highly recommend D'Vine for a fun date night.

I made the trek out from Central PHX (30 miles one way!) for a friend's going away party for work last night.  So right off the bat, just based on location alone, this is a place that I most likely wouldn't return to, even if I had had a 5-star experience.

Which...I didn't.

First the good parts:  it's located in a new plaza that's just south of the Power Rd exit on the north loop of the 202.  Parking was adequate.  The inside looked spacious, and there was a guitar player set up inside.  The patio was also large, and it had a curtain which blocked out the afternoon sun on the west side.  The menu looked great with typical bistro fare, plus the kitchen had several specials going on that evening.  I'm not a wine drinker, but they have wine tasting events (one had just ended earlier that evening).

Now for the not-so-good...but first a small disclaimer.  For some reason, this place was jam-packed on this particular Monday, so I can understand that some of the negative issues were beyond the restaurant's control.  I ordered their hand-made pasta with grilled chicken and basil pesto and there weren't any problems with my order.  It was good, but a little on the small side for what it cost.  But other diners at my table wanted to order dishes with beef filet, and they were sold out.  There was also a second item that they were out of, but I can't recall what it was.  One of our group had the misfortune of trying to order both of those things, and had to settle for her third choice.  Irritating, but sort of an "oh-well-what-can-you-do" issue.

The terrible part which was inexcusable was our waiter's subsequent attitude towards this same member of our group (Tim was the name printed on my receipt).  After the second item she wanted wasn't available, she told him in an irritated voice that she'd need some more time to look over the menu (again).  After that, he basically ignored her until the rest of us were half way through our dinners.  I finally had to tell him that she was ready to order the next time he swung by the table, because at that point it was obvious that he wouldn't be asking.  Then he tells her that chicken costs extra on the "Chicken Caesar" salad.  When she pointed out that the menu said otherwise, he offered no apology.  I also couldn't help but notice that he never refilled her water glass (even when he stopped to refill all the rest of ours), and even delivered her bill in a flippant manner -- just very deliberately "plunked" it in front of her, so that it made a noise on the tabletop.  There's absolutely no excuse for this kind of attitude, especially when it should have been clear that she was annoyed at the restaurant being out of stuff, not at him personally.  In Tim's defense, he did treat the rest of us reasonably well and it WAS very busy there which, I'm sure, made him more flustered than he normally would have been on a typical day.  But as a waiter, you have to learn to take the high road when it comes to dealing with customers that have rubbed you the wrong way.  Hopefully this is something he will learn from this experience.

So overall, my experience was just barely better than a "Meh...", and I can't think of a likely scenario where I'd be visiting them again.  If I wanted to go to a wine bar, I live within walking distance of Postino's.  If our group dines out again, I can pretty much GUARANTEE that D'Vine is going to be vetoed by at least one of us.  And if I happened to be in that neighborhood, there are lots of other restaurants to try.  Sorry, D'Vine...all in all you're OK, but I'm not a fan.

Went for a work lunch and was impressed.  The ambiance is relaxing and simple.  The menu has some fun items.  My glass of D'Vine Pinot Grigio was tasty.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their food and everything looked yummy with the exception of the cheese plate.  It seemed meager and boring...  I ordered the bruschetta plate.  2 caprese ones, 2 brie and almond ones and 2 chipotle/avocado.  Delicious and the perfect amount of food for a lunch.  My favorite of the three flavors was the caprese.  I highly recommend.