Mark R.
Yelp
I'll title this review "all's well that ends well"! To say the least, our dinner group of six had an interesting and memorable time at the Vineyard. We were greeted at the door and escorted to our table. Since it was Monday evening we almost had the place to ourselves.
While a good French dinner was a high expectation we also intended to raise a glass to a birthday girl in our group. After our last couple arrived, our server, Todd introduced himself and inquired about drinks. We spent quite a bit of time checking out the extensive wine list. We settled on a 2022 montepulciano from Riverland Australia.
A very nice wine with an absolutely frightening label. We also couldn't resist trying a cocktail called the honey trap. It was fairly heavy on anise flavor. An interesting drink, but would not order it again.
As an accompaniment to our wine, we order the cheeseboard. It featured about three or four different cheeses, bread, and pickles. It was a decent sharable, but average as cheeseboards go.
For our appetizers, we tried two apple salads, a mixed green one with fried goat cheese, two orders of French onion soup and a watermelon gazpacho! I didn't sample the soup, but it was well received, as were our salads.
I did these the gazpacho. It was tasty but a a little bland, and I would not have added fresh tomatoes as a garnish. For our entrées we had three orders of Coq au rosé, a Steak Frites, one seafood paella, and one ratatouille with fries on the side. My paella was better than what I had in Barcelona. The rice in the middle was set off by quite a few mussels around the perimeter. I've never made paella, but maybe some additional seafood like a few shrimp would've been welcomed.
The coq au Rosé looked inviting (it was my oversight that I did not ask my wife for a taste, though I did experience it in another way!... See below, ) and it got a thumbs up, as did the steak frites and the ratatouille.
We recommend the Hampton Street Vineyard for its extensive wine selection, interesting dishes (Farm to table French with some familiar dishes, such as French onion soup and coq au vin, but with enough flexibility to offer some
other cuisines.). You won't get the warmest welcome you've ever experienced, or the best service, but its a cozy, beneath the street dining spot, well worth checking out.
Note: we had one little incident which explains the title to this review. As the bus boy was clearing off the entrée dishes, and walking behind me, he apparently tipped his tray and gave me and my friend to my left a bath of coq au rosé broth. My shirt took the brunt of it all. Many apologies from the staff and managing partner followed, an assurance that any dry cleaning bills would be covered, and two complementary deserts, "for our trouble" they explained. So far so good.
However, when I happened to look at the bill later that night, we were charged for the comped deserts! But, as the title indicates, it all turned out well. Once I told the manager via email about the bill, he promptly credit our account.