Chrysalis Vineyards at The Ag District — Attraction in Brambleton

Unfortunately the worst experience I've ever had at a winery. The wine was not great and the hot food we ordered was verging on cold, but what really soured the experience irreparably was the service. Every person we interacted with was either dismissive or outright rude. Our order was incorrect twice, then took 20+ minutes to correct even still. And this was just one of the bad experiences - We also had an issue with another order- after checking and double checking that an item was gluten-free, when we got it, it was covered in flour! Then after bringing the item back and asking to see the ingredient list, both the cashier and who I assumed to be a manager or owner were really dismissive, first tried to blame us for not checking (we did check, multiple times) and eventually just outright rude. When we explained that if an item is coming into full physical contact with gluten - such as sitting on a counter coated in flour - that is not gluten-free, so it's not safe to say it is to customers who are intolerant, she said "if this is about a refund, just say that". A full refund should have been a given, but we did not at any point ask for one- addressing the issue was about making sure this didn't happen to someone else and potentially make them sick. I've worked in food service and give people the benefit of the doubt - we all have bad days and deal with difficult customers - but this just seemed to be the general vibe of this place to not care about customer service or experience, and importantly, food safety. It's a large and commercialized place, so perhaps they can afford not to do so. I've seen some reviews about the service being bad here and wish I would have heeded them. I recommend going over to Green Hill or 50 West - the service is great, the employees are kind and knowledgable, and the wines are better quality and worth the price. Bad service is one thing but you just can't be laissez-faire about...

I just received this email from the owner.

Folks,

Some of you may not be aware that the Boards of Supervisors and mayors of the heavily populated Northern Virginia Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, the City of Alexandria AND the Loudoun County Board petitioned Governor Northam to exclude their jurisdictions from opening this weekend for Phase One. That means that we must remain closed (at least for now). This is not right.

It’s our opinion here at The Ag District, which is shared with many business leaders, medical professionals, County officials and fellow citizens of Loudoun County that applying this restriction to Farm Wineries and other rural/agricultural businesses is simply an inappropriate “one-size-fits-all” approach. What might be appropriate for a small restaurant in a strip mall is certainly not applicable for 412-acre farm. We can seat hundreds of people and keep them safe and away from fellow visitors. We have the procedures in place, with adequate seating and space.

We’ve gotten together to stage a rally/demonstration to let our Loudoun County Officials know that their decision to keep us shut down is hurting us immensely, and is not something that should apply to the agricultural and rural businesses in Loudoun County.

If you agree with us, come add your voice to ours. Here’s the info on when, where and how:

Staging a rally during this crisis is stupid. Don't expose yourself to COVID by supporting this business. After looking at the Twitter feed from the organizer of this rally, Jon Tigges, he clearly has a political agenda. I just hope there won't be the usual prepubescent show of force with lot's...

I hate to leave a poor review, but I would be remiss if I didn’t relay the experience with one staff member that resulted in our group cutting our trip to this winery short. While the winery is in a beautiful, quaint location of Middleburg and had good wine offerings, our group of 20 (which pre-signed the large group waiver) felt unwelcome by a particular staff member, an elderly woman who we believe is named Laurie.

Immediately upon our group entering the tasting room, Laurie stayed close by and surveilled us as we looked at the menu and ordered our drinks/food. She came up to me and stated that we couldn’t stand in the tasting room, and that we had to go upstairs (which had no AC) or go outside (when there was a heat advisory) after ordering so people could hear the live music. Now, I would understand this remark if we were being rowdy, but our group was respectful of the musician performing and were only chatting as we perused the menu. Additionally, a number of us were still sampling wines—and the staff assisting with the samplings and food orders were friendly and accommodating—so we felt we were being unreasonably rushed to clear the area by her. We couldn’t help but feel this treatment was racially motivated, as we were one of the only minority groups present. It is unfortunate that our experience was soured by this one staff member, and we hope appropriate action is taken to ensure other guests are not treated in the...