GOOD Napa Valley Restaurant with Best Corkage Policies

[F.Daner]

Another recommendation for Torq. Really good food and overall a very good restaurant. We had a great dinner with some local friends last time. I think we had 4 or 5 bottles though our friends were regulars. I’d check out the menu and give them a call. We’ll be going back for sure.

Cook in St Helena charged us $20 in 2019 and I don’t think they even charged us on the second bottle. The food was fabulous.
We had a great meal at Torc in downtown Napa on that trip as well. Their’s is $25 although we didn’t use it.

[Steve_Crawford]

Let me tell you a story about Farmstead … and why I would NEVER go back. About 8 years ago, my wife and I ate there with a winemaker, his wife, and three others who owned a wine label made by this wine maker - the proprietor himself is also somewhat famous in his own right. Not going to give names but the winemaker is well-regarded on this forum.

We were a table of seven outside. I noted that there was this really nice sounding pork rib dinner on the menu. Then the waitress told us the specials which included the ribs, an arugula salad and a desert for the price of the ribs. I told her I don’t eat arugula and could I substitute the salad for another kind- after all the salad and ribs are not served together? She said she’d check with the chef. She came back a few minutes later and said the chef said no substitutions. So I ordered the ribs ala carte off the menu, and different salad. And when they Brought out my ribs, the chef for whatever reason = because he wanted to prove a point - put my ribs on a bed of arugula which I cannot eat. So, not only did I not get the special, but I got ribs I really should not have eaten.

Given my company I bit my tongue and did not complain or say anything. But, I will NEVER go back. Would you?

i highly doubt the person who plated your food, likely a line cook making between 13-18 an hour, had a personal beef (pun intended) with your distaste for arugula and was just plating the food as instructed in a cookie cutter way. this sounds like bad service on a given night, not spite. farmstead when busy was probably doing 270-400 covers a night for dinner service.
would i go back? there’s lots of great restaurants in the valley. if you go to a smaller joint like Cook for example, you would be less likely to experience something like this.

[Ed_Steinway]

We have been to Cole’s twice and enjoyed both visits there. Good food and there were a few non-steak selections. It is ideal is you are staying downtown since it is within walking distance. Ristorante Allegria is a nice Italian restaurant downtown. Corkage was $20 when we were there but I am not sure what the limit is.

Ed

[Adam_Frisch]

We had a great meal at Torc in downtown Napa on that trip as well. Their’s is $25 although we didn’t use it.

Another vote. Just had lunch yesterday at Torc and would highly recommend. Great food and attentive service. One of us brought some wine, but since we also bought a bottle, I think it might have been forfeited, but I didn’t pay so not sure.

[Bruce_Rudman]

i highly doubt the person who plated your food, likely a line cook making between 13-18 an hour, had a personal beef (pun intended) with your distaste for arugula and was just plating the food as instructed in a cookie cutter way. this sounds like bad service on a given night, not spite. farmstead when busy was probably doing 270-400 covers a night for dinner service.
would i go back? there’s lots of great restaurants in the valley. if you go to a smaller joint like Cook for example, you would be less likely to experience something like this.

Steve, you could be right. But I have never in my life had ribs served on a bed of arugula. Even a steak has been on potatos, spinach, or a sauce, but I’ve never seen on arugula. And after I told the server I did not eat it she should have noted it and not served it if that was just an innocent action. With the group I was with I did not want to make a scene so I just accepted it. But as you said there are lots of other restaurants in the area.

I’ve made my birthday dinner decision but this thread has given me other choices for another night. I thank you all.

[Ben_M_a_n_d_l_e_r]

Since you said you’ll be in Sonoma as well, and since you’re staying five nights, let me also recommend the Glen Ellen Star. It’s probably my favorite restaurant in the county. The food is superb and inventive, and the non-meat items are just as good as the meat ones. Corkage is $25. On Wednesdays they also have a set menu with free corkage.

[Steve_Crawford]

i highly doubt the person who plated your food, likely a line cook making between 13-18 an hour, had a personal beef (pun intended) with your distaste for arugula and was just plating the food as instructed in a cookie cutter way. this sounds like bad service on a given night, not spite. farmstead when busy was probably doing 270-400 covers a night for dinner service.
would i go back? there’s lots of great restaurants in the valley. if you go to a smaller joint like Cook for example, you would be less likely to experience something like this.

Steve, you could be right. But I have never in my life had ribs served on a bed of arugula. Even a steak has been on potatos, spinach, or a sauce, but I’ve never seen on arugula. And after I told the server I did not eat it she should have noted it and not served it if that was just an innocent action. With the group I was with I did not want to make a scene so I just accepted it. But as you said there are lots of other restaurants in the area.

I’ve made my birthday dinner decision but this thread has given me other choices for another night. I thank you all.

i hear you, shitty service when paying a lot of $ sucks and making a scene hardly ever resolves much unfortunately. good company, food and wine usually counts for a lot, so hopefully you’ll have that on your birthday.

[Arv_R]

i highly doubt the person who plated your food, likely a line cook making between 13-18 an hour, had a personal beef (pun intended) with your distaste for arugula and was just plating the food as instructed in a cookie cutter way. this sounds like bad service on a given night, not spite. farmstead when busy was probably doing 270-400 covers a night for dinner service.
would i go back? there’s lots of great restaurants in the valley. if you go to a smaller joint like Cook for example, you would be less likely to experience something like this.

Steve, you could be right. But I have never in my life had ribs served on a bed of arugula. Even a steak has been on potatos, spinach, or a sauce, but I’ve never seen on arugula. And after I told the server I did not eat it she should have noted it and not served it if that was just an innocent action. With the group I was with I did not want to make a scene so I just accepted it. But as you said there are lots of other restaurants in the area.

I’ve made my birthday dinner decision but this thread has given me other choices for another night. I thank you all.

Google 1 star reviews and a phone call to the manager the next day to mention this… That sounds deliberate to me.

And I’ve never heard of ribs being served on arugula either. If they need the pretext of vegetables with a platter of fat & bone, add a sprig of parsley.