Lindsay L.
Yelp
The wine may be may be ok here, but the vibes are not. And don't get me wrong, my first thoughts were that the view is stunning (see my pic).
We took the 209 bus all around today, and slate was on our list but last As we got off the bus, we watched a few very drunk folks stagger around while leaving slate to get on the on-off bus, but tbh this wine tasting spot had been on our list for a few trips and we never made it, so we paid no mind. We got here a little before 6, and thought we would be treated normally. As a disclaimer, I'm pretty sober since I'm on antibiotics, and especially in comparison to the folks I was on a bus with that got served. We arrived around 6 pm....I'm posting this directly after our visit, and it's now 7 or so.
First, they asked if we wanted to sit at the bar or a table, which we could have done either. I asked for a lounge area instead. Which was very empty. Keep in mind, on google this place closes at 7 pm. After telling us that the one we saw was reserved, we got sat at some lounge chaises.
Fast forward, we order charcuterie and a wine tasting per person. We are low appetite folks, so we didn't need a $16 per person charcuterie board (which was their charge, and coming from dallas maybe the most absurd charge I have ever seen in Texas) so we asked if we could do it for two versus our full party of four.
While this happened, my friend touched a painting on the wall.
An unidentified employee approached her. Didn't introduce himself and aggressively told her to get away from it, this is an oil painting, and implied she was so low class for even thinking about touching it. It was a half naked woman reaching for something in the distance. She fired back a bit to him saying that she didn't realize it was such a valuable piece, she just looked up and saw a hooha basically.
He gives us a look of scorn. Walks away with an attitude. We look at each other....We are at a wine bar in Fredericksburg. What does he think this is, a Van Gogh?!
Anyway, we said, we had at the end of the day said: "oh sorry, we are just being silly! It's a wine weekend." Well...within 10 minutes, the same manager walks over and says that our party can't be served. It's weird, we were fine before that and no one had any issues with us ordering. The same guy who was upset that we touched the painting, was the same person who walked over and said they could not serve us.
I've been wine drunk and an asshole in Fredericksburg, and deserved a shut down. Tonight was not that night. I recall that since we walked in, the wait staff was not happy, even though their hours go until 7. All of a sudden, they had an issue when we walked in and made a comment about the painting we were seated by.
I also saw several women that had been over served in the bathroom area, and leaving the place, could hardly walk. It's hard to believe that from the the time that we walked in, then waited to order ten minutes later, we were suddenly so drunk we could not be served. Despite looking at several folks at the bar that actually needed to be called an uber home
I walked out and wrote this review within minutes, because this was a terrible experience. You can judge for yourself by reading this, if any of my party or I are "over served" or just normal Wine goers.
If you have an issue with people touching the art, add a sign. Or better yet, don't put it adjacent to a bar lounge couch area.
If you're take the hop on, hop off bus, do yourself a favor at Slate - stay ON and skip it. The vibes are not the good intentioned Fredericksburg that you're looking for.