This is our favorite spot for girl's night out. The ambience is nice, it's not too loud, and the food is good. The wines are distinctive, and the baked brie is super delicious, too.
It's definitely a nice place to sit and chat and have a glass of wine with friends. The décor is warm and it's not too loud inside.
We've tried most things on the menu by now, and it's all fantastic... if not just a little limited. I know they just reopened, so maybe they've expanded their menu. They could definitely use a few more choices.
I'm not a writer, I'm an eater. This is my first review as a Yelp! member. So let's get started with my first review. The place is called Twisted Vine just east on the 56. I'm so I lucky it's only 10 minutes away. 21 Tapas on the menu! That's some kind of variety. So I would recommend starting there. They knew I was coming and had a couple of bottles open and decanted before I got there. Very nice of them, I had no idea! Then the food start's rolling out. Grilled calamari, Brusselss sprouts,chorizo and polenta. I'm eating and thinking, I'm starting to enjoy this. Meanwhile there's this singer setting up by the bar. I guess there's entertainment too! She was very good. More great food starts coming out, now it's stuff that's not even on the menu, huh!. The Chef comes out to our table and explains the new dishes, Sergio heads back to the kitchen, it's getting busy anyway. 8 Tapas, one main course, Two bottles of great wine, one desert (Carrot Cake) paired with a excellent glass of Spanish sherry. = three new customers, who can't wait to do it again! Thanks Carlos GM and staff see you all soon!
Review Source:A great find! Â New menu, chef and management from what I understand. Â Food is good enough (or better ) to rival any in the city, or please any foodie on my contact list. Â The tapas/main dishes are delicious and I'd go back again in a heartbeat! Â
Taquitos (I think they might have been called sweet pea roll ups) were a lovely start to our journey.  Beautiful little crispy roll ups of fresh peas foiled with the crunchy corn exterior and fresh cheese and avocado sauce to garnish.  Paprika rubbed calamari was another favorite.  4 individual meaty tubes were paired with a small stack of roasted potatoes and drizzle of olive oil - This was textbook Portuguese.  (seriously reminded me of authentic Portuguese piri-piri.) Grilled chorizo served with peppers and onions  was spicy and cooked just right.  Served over polenta, it's a heartier small plate.  My meat entree-Churrasco flank steak was perfectly seared medium rare with a drizzle of gorgeous chimichurri sause that was neither too garlicky or salty.  By this time I wished I were still hungry, as I would try so much more on the menu. Â
All in all, a lovely experience! Â Most of the items on the menu were pretty healthy (very important to me). Â Our server was knowledgable and personable - steered us in the right direction every time. Â (great smile too!) Â The manager/sommelier paid just the right amount of attention to us and the other diners, was very helpful with our wine choices and new a boat load about each of the wines on the list. Â You are definitely in good hands with Chef Sergio and his team of cooks. Â
(Chef had cooked in NYC before coming to SD)
Twisted VIne does a wicked happy hour - (Mon and Tues are 1/2 off a second bottle of wine) and has great acoustic guitar music Th, Fri, Sat. Â On our visit, Â the young singer sounded like "Jewel", and made the night even more pleasant... Â Thanks Twisted Vine! Â I wish you and your staff many great years of service! Â You will definitely see me back!
Went on a Monday evening around 6:30. We sat at the fairly small bar and were served by Sergio, an exceedingly nice bartender/server. The place is nice inside but looks an extremely generic wine bar. The location is hit and miss: there are lots of suburbanite customers in close reach, but that Albertson's strip mall has hosted millions of failures. It must be tough going.
We had some very nice food. The house bread was warm and toasty. I asked Sergio if we could have a side of the allioli to dip our bread in and he accommodated immediately.
- Avocado stuffed with crab and shrimp. Excellent. Recommended by Sergio and very tasty.
- Polenta and chorizo. Excellent. Polenta had the look of being undercooked but was really quite nice. Little spicy smoked chorizos had a nice char on them and were explosions of porky fatty flavor.
-Churrasca Entree. Above average. Little crispy potato cubes were tremendous. Steak was tender and delicious but topped with an offputting garlic sauce thing. The avocado on the side was nice. The hilariously unripe tomato slices on the side were not.
I don't hand out very many five-star reviews. Sergio pulled off a nearly perfect dining experience, and the food was better than most restaurant meals I have.
We vowed never to come back here after our disastrous visit from last year (horrible service and mishandling of our credit card charges).
But when I heard they had reopened under new management, I thought it was worth another try, especially if it supported a local wine bar. And I heard that Via Capri, just a few doors down, bought this place. How interesting - seems like you'd be adding to your competition and/or taking business away from your staple business.
So another friend and I decided to try out their Happy Hour one Friday early evening. There are now two bar areas and the bar seats are incredibly comfortable.
Wines are $4 during HH. We ordered (all items are listed at HH prices)
Shrimp and Bacon flat bread $7.00:
- not good. The flat bread crust reminded me of soggy saltine crackers for some reason . And the FB tasted quite bland.
Spanish Albondigas $7.00:
- they give you two beef meatballs and it's cool that there's a hard boiled egg stuffed in middle. But the meatballs didn't come out hot and the beef tasted dry.
So that was my HH adventure at Twisted. Didn't really see a need to go back but saw a Groupon deal recently. So original friend who I came here w/ last year (and swore off the place) decided to try it out for dinner.
Here's what I think you should know. For their wines, you can opt for a 3oz OR 6oz pour. We did not know this. Case in point:
My PhD friend (very smart gal) ordered this (read my blog post if you want to hear unedited version of this story):
Daou, Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, California '11
She thought the price of the glass of wine was $11.00 b/c she saw '11 at the end of that wine description. Not sure if you study this in your PhD program yo - but '11 means the YEAR 2011 you idiot. And if you look to the right of that description (on the wine list), it's $7.00 for a 3 oz pour and $14 for a 6 oz pour. Â So we only found this out AFTER we got the check. I would normally not pay $14 for a 6oz pour of wine b/c I think that's a bit steep.
We ordered only tapas for dinner that night:
Meat/Cheese Board : Choose 3 for $12.00; Choose 6 for $18.00
- we chose the 6 for $18.00. A very generous portion comes out but we felt the quality of the meats/cheeses could have been better. They also throw in some smoked almonds and green/black olives onto the board - so that was nice.
"Twisted" stuffed Avocado $9.00
- AWESOME! I saw a review where they said this dish was too expensive at $9.00. And it was indeed a small portion for $9.00. It's only half of an avocado and it's depressing seeing it come out b/c it's so small. BUT - I love these nice 'BUTS' - this dish was delicious. The vinaigrette was creamy and oh-so-good. And the rock shrimp and the dungeness crab tasted so beautiful in this dish.
I can't say there is ONE component in this dish that I didn't like (except for the portion and price tag but hey - Miss SmartPants blogger - you *just* complained about the quality of the meat/cheeses and NOW you're complaining about a great quality product that's charged a bit more - STFU already...
- Scallops and Lentils $8.00
Not bad. 3 medium scallops served over lentils. BUT - my goodness - the lentils were incredible. And I dislike lentils. Â I'm not sure how you make lentils but they totally soaked up the flavors of the garlic/onion/BACON!/tomatoes. The reminded me of super flavorful soft beans.
They also serve complimentary home made bread with a small side of their tapenade. The tapenade had vinegar, olives (I think), garlic, olive oil - and it was *MAGIC*. And I hate olives. But the tapenade was vinegary, tart, savory - we couldn't get enough of it.
So the total monetary damage that night? $97.20 (after tax). For FOUR glasses of wine and TWO appetizers and ONE cheese/meat board. Yikes. I saved $20 from the Groupon deal and I still tip based on the full amount.
But jeez louieese, that was expensive. I won't come back to try their wines as they're just too pricey. But I would love to come back and try some more of their food though. So we'll see. Sometimes I see a coupon for them in the mailer so if I get another one, I think I'd come back.
C.Valley and PQ really needs a place like this so I'm hoping they succeed (again). Regardless, our experience this time around was FAR better than our visit last year so I was grateful for that. But it's worth a visit just to give them a second chance and support the  neighborhood.
<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fayesfork.com%2F2013%2F06%2F06%2Ftwisted-vine-bistro-wine-bar-san-diego-carmel-valleypq-ca%2F&s=c1f90b465ed27d4d302eb4ad043d35b9846705c8420eefaaba6a9cd9ff69b635" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.fayesfork.com…</a>  for more pics and detailed review
Beautiful inside, nice ambiance and music. We went on opening night and again on a Tuesday, when tapas are half price. The food is delicious- we've tried albondigas, cheese flatbread, short rib flatbread, fried cheese,scallops & lentils, calamari, berry salad~ it was all very fresh and tasty. Our only complaint was the service, which was spotty at best. Not sure why our waiter seemed so overwhelmed. He gave an enthusiastic run-through of the menu, but had trouble engaging with us again. We had to ask a second server for the bread we'd requested and it took a long time to get our drinks. I tried more than once to get his or someone else's attention, but they seemed to be gazing just over my head. Another waiter tried to bring us bags of food to go, while the lady at the table next to us kept saying "That's ours!" I had to go up to the bar area to ask our waiter to bring the check. Another table near us had an issue with their check, same waiter, and were trying very nicely to get it resolved. Everyone has an off night and I'm just going to chalk it up to that. I am including the negative aspects in hopes management will make sure to strive for great service every day and if one of their waiters is struggling, to step up and assist. I really want this place to succeed since we're in the neighborhood.
Review Source:I was very excited to try the new Twisted Vine. Â The new menu, look, has changed the vibe of this place. Â I sat at the bar and enjoyed the service. Â The bartender was real nice and just a cool guy. Â The happy hour menu is outstanding. Â They got beer, wine, and a great selection of food. Â I tried the short rib BBQ flat bread pizza and loved it! Â The wine menu is a little weak at this point on choices. Â I do have to say the wines they offer are good. Â I hope to see the wine list grow as they grow.
Overall big fan of the Twisted Vine and plan on returning.
Under new ownership, the menu changed a bit, quite an extensive list of "small plates" to nibble on, appeared a little pricey for the serving size, but delicious.
The bar area has been expanded to seat more people, a nice upgrade. Â Main entrees we ordered were decent, I had chicken and my husband had the steak. Â Good food, but price point a little high for what you get.
The service was great and the rib eye entree that was recommended was really delicious. It was a very very generous portion that my husband and I had trouble finishing. The crab bisque soup of the day was also very good. The chef also came out to get our comments which was nice. The stuffed avocado tapa and the lentils and scallops tapa was just ok in my opinion. Â Not really worth the price tag and nothing to write home about.
Review Source:
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