Pam M.
Yelp
I've let a few days pass since we were there; so this is not a knee-jerk reaction.
First of all this is three different places: the winery, the restaurant (Pour House) and the music venue. We had tickets to an 8 p.m. show, so I had made reservations through Open Table for 5 p.m. in the dining room.
i have already laid into them over on Open table (more about that in a minute) so I feel a little drained. I have already told this story to more than a few people, but I want to get this out there.
When we first walked in the hostess was speaking to others who had just arrived, telling them there were no more tastings for the day. Weird, because as someone further down on this page related, although they came late, someone there was happy to serve them a tasting. We were not offered that. So we walk in, hostess is busy with others. A nice waiter (Alan) comes over to us and starts to speak and the busy hostess GRABS MY ARM and says "I'll be with you in a minute!" The waiter looked embarrassed and I was pissed. We waited for her to finish, then she asked if we had a reservation. I said yes, through Open Table. She made a pretense of looking for the reservation, then just said, "Where do you want to sit?"
Now, two problems: She apparently told Open Table we had not shown up (I got a scolding email from them) and the entire "dining room" has a weird feel. I could see right away I had made a mistake booking here. With all the cool restaurants in New Hope, we picked here because we had tix to the show. Now, remember: unlike other restaurants with venues, you DO NOT get a discount if you have show tix. But the dining area is just plain weird. "No ambiance" would be an understatement; It feels like an unfinished warehouse.
But we were seated.
Now, anything I say had nothing to do with Alan, our sever. He really needs to leave here and go somewhere else where his skills would be appreciated. He was very good.
In summary: the menu is weird. Four entrees, a few sandwiches, some salads. All ridiculously overpriced for what you get, and nothing for me the vegetarian -- except the salads. When I saw that entrees were in the $20 range, and not wanting to make this a $100 evening, I opted for a salad which, at $15, I assumed would be substantial. It was not. And nothing comes with an entree or a salad -- no bread or butter for the table.
We ordered a humuus app that was beautifully plated -- but came with exactly ONE TORTILLA CHIP stuck in each of the three mounds of humuus. That was it. no pita chips, no toast -- nothing except those four chips to eat the humuus. Nothing came with my salad; my husband's salmon was a piece of salmon, some rice, and some chopped tomatoes.
So, my point: Not good. Don't know about the wines from the winery because we were not offered the option of a tasting flight. I ordered a club soda and lime and got a glass of tonic water.
But watching the traffic out on 202 -- did we make the right decision to just camp there instead of eating in town then fighting the traffic back for the show? Probably. New Hope is a traffic and parking nightmare in warmer weather. Add the bad dining experience to the weirdness we encountered behind the restaurant at the music venue (another story), and it made for an expensive and unpleasant evening.