Flight Wine & Food

Been here a few times and customer service is great and their wines are great.

I attended an event here, held in the backroom, about investing in private companies' debt. Props to them for choosing this venue. Despite my reservations that it was in a plaza right next to my Ortho-K eye center, it turned out to be quite lively. When I first entered, there was an event going on in the front as well with a buffet spread of appetizers, which started my stomach grumbling.

When I sat down, I was greeted immediately and offered a choice of wines. I nibbled on the calamari appetizer, which was too soggy, and the salumi platter. Everything on that meat and cheese plate tasted fresh, from the tiny pickles to the pate. While I loved everything, I do think $16 is overpriced and I would definitely not pay for that.

For the entrees, my guest and I shared the seafood paella and the lamb chops. We were going to try the duck, but they were out for the day. The seafood paella was the most commonly ordered dish at the event and for good reason. It came with ample seafood and chicken; the rice was cooked perfectly and it had just the right amount of wine to make it super savory.

The lamb chops also exceeded my expectations and was the star dish of the night. I asked for it to be medium rare and it actually came out that way. It was fried on the outside and the meat  had just the right amount of gamey-ness to remind you that it is lamb, but not to the point where the average palate would find it offensive. It came with a divine red wine vinegar sauce, a side of crisp green beans, and fried potatoes. I normally don't like potato chunks but these were so beautifully crispy that I couldn't stop eating them.

For dessert, they brought out a sampler of tiramisu, apple pie, gelato, and a Italian chocolate cake. The tiramisu was very traditional and packed a punch from the rum. The apple pie had these sweet pink apples encased in a very buttery double-crust.  The only thing I didn't care for was the heavy chocolate cake with a very sweet ganache, although I liked the almond toffee crunch it had at the bottom.

The wines we drank were nice, but not remarkable except for the 2009 white wine from Downhill Cellars. The service was impeccable - from replenishing the fresh, crusty bread to leaving no wine glass empty. Even though the meal was paid for by the company hosting, I would definitely dine here again solely because of the entrees, not the wine bar experience. I ended up ordering their Seafood Linguini to-go the next day and it came chock full of seafood with the pasta being perfectly al dente.

Well... I don't really know what I was expecting.

Abstractly speaking, the food was okay, the wines were okay, the interior was okay...

But for $60+ my boyfriend and I could have definitely gone elsewhere and had a better time. We both got a flight of wines, a salad each, and the meat and cheese plate... The service was pretty slow (for some reason the waiter could NOT carry two bottles of wine at a time, so our flights were re-filled very slowly).

I do not think that the cheese plate was worth $16. I could have re-produced it for the same amount using Whole Foods meats and cheeses and would have had enough to feed a party. The salads were in NO WAY worth $8-9 dollars each, either.

I suppose the flights were fairly priced, but only for a few more dollars you can go to the Vintage Wine Bar at Santana Row and get 5 glasses rather than 3.

Then the waiter just poured the wine. He told us the name and showed us the bottle, but he didn't offer to tell us about where it came from, how it's different, why I should be excited to try it.

I wouldn't recommend this place to my friends and I won't be going back any time soon. I understand why the local suits go here, I just don't need to be one of them.