Truffle Pig Winery — Attraction in Temecula

Avensole Winery is a beautiful space. The grounds are wonderfully manicured, the views of the vineyards picturesque, and overall the feeling you get when outdoors is one of opulent peace and quiet. However. I was here for a bachelorette party on Saturday and there were a number of elements for which I was less than impressed. The private room near the chilled tanks of wine, while impressive, is very loud due to the echoing from the multiple tables/parties going on in the "private" space. It was nice to be inside, but it was very difficult to hear the waiter, especially with his wearing a mask (which is great--I think it's fantastic they support staff in wearing masks for their safety). Then there was the food. I'm not a big drinker, but the bride loves wine, so of course I'm there to do what she loves! It's her celebration! Plus, no problem, I thought. I'd have one drink and then focus on food. I had the sunrise sangria, sharing a pitcher with several others in the party. It was tasty, though I wished there had been an option for a sangria sampler/tasting with the three different kinds in small quantities.

Then the food. We ordered the hummus sampler and the cheese plate. Both were highly lacking in presentation. Did I say highly? I meant utterly. They were served in plastic to-go containers with plastic utensils. Putting aside the environmental issues, how in the world do you expect a group of eight to cut hunks from hard cheeses in what is essentially a small plastic bowl, with plastic knives?? For $25?? Give me some romance here while you take my money! Put this on a cheese board for heaven's sake and give me an actual metal knife so I'm not feeling like I'm hacking through ice using a stick, with my arm fully extended, chasing the fragments of cheese around the container as they shear off and immerse themselves in the oozing jam. I'm young and lift weights four times a week and cutting these cheeses with inadequate tools was an incredible feat of strength even for me.

And then the restaurant food. Oh boy. It says on the menu that everything is lovingly made by the Avensole kitchens from scratch daily. Are you sure? Maybe it would be better if I was drunk for the experience but the food was again overpriced and disappointing. My salmon was delicious, perfectly cooked--and miniscule in portion size. It was supported by charred asparagus that closely resembled in texture the black plastic "cheese knife" I'd used at the winery. The couscous was bland, but what couscous isn't. Essentially the best part, the most expensive bit, the salmon itself, was absolutely overpriced. I get that I'm paying for preparation, surroundings, waitstaff, etc., but that's just a bit too far. To top it off, the desserts were beyond disappointing. The lava cake was cold and dry. The crumble appeared to have been microwaved back from the dead prior to arrival. If those were made from scratch on premises, they were made many hours ago, and then kept in a holding pen until it was time for their moment in the sun. It made sense, when I paid and reflected on the food, why when I'd asked the server about her recommendations between two items she had hesitated for a brief moment and seemed the tiniest bit reserved in her recommendations. I'd hesitate too if I had to endorse anything here to a customer. All in all, the experience was one I would not repeat. I don't mind shelling out hundreds of dollars for a wonderful meal. I have done so in multiple countries. This is not that. I hope excessive quantities of wine are fuelling other positive reviews of the food but if you have any of your faculties in use or have been anywhere other than Applebee's or other chain restaurants in your lifetime, my thoughts and prayers are with you. As is my recommendation to go elsewhere...

A complete disappointment, as we celebrated my birthday. We have been here a few times for dinner. And while our past experiences have been good, the food has always been way overpriced. But we came back because the food has been reliably good in our view, and not a ton of choices for wineries that serve dinner. The wine is ok, not great, not bad. But yesterday, the service was really really lousy. Maybe the first bad vibe - we walked in, the hostess did not say hello or welcome, rather was looking at her computer screen. She finally looked up, without a small, and sat us down. That should have been a warning there. We were given menus, ok so far. Then a couple of minutes later, table next to us with a couple gets seated. After waiting what seemed forever, we were about to get up and leave due to time for our server to come take our order. We should have but did not. He finally came..to the other table first. He proceeded to talk with that table for what seemed like 10 minutes - maybe he knew them. So, we FINALLY get our order taken - simple - (2) flat breads, and a order of fries for an appetizer, plus (2) glasses of wine. We waited, and waited and finally got our wine - $12 and $14 each for a glass. Not a bottle, a glass. Simply overpriced. Fine. Server again comes around to chat with table next to us. We know the meals take a long time to make, even our simple ones. It's getting cold, they do have the flame style heaters going. Another table near us says they are cold....so server takes the heater near us, and moves it over to them, without asking us, if we mind - so now, we have no heater! Huh? Food finally comes, not from server, but a kitchen staff, so not like the server is too busy to attend to us, as the food is brought out by kitchen. We get our flat bread, but where is the appetizer fries? We ask her, she says sorry and will go get them. She never came back. The inattentive server finally checks on us later, we mention the fries issue, he asks he if we want them, we say no at this point, as we are almost finished with our dinner. He continues to talk again at length to table next to us. We never had our water filled until ready for bill. There was no effort by server to make things good. How about comping a glass of wine, some discount on something for the poor service and messed up order? We finally left, gave the review card to the assistant manager, told her about the issues. While her facial expression said sorry for the experience, not words, we walked away from her feeling she could care less as well. A shame. I hate leaving negative reviews, but, when a experience is so bad, I feel the need to warn both the business and potential customers. For the servers terrible "i could care less about you guys" attitude, and the attitude of the manager, and overall experience and lack of any reduction of the bill or small gesture of doing something to make us feel you give a damn, we will not be back, and felt the need to leave this negative review. Sorry Avensole, but you are not the only game in town. Yes, we live...

Discovered Avensole Winery about 6 weeks ago and have visited twice. Its a beautiful location with scenic views of the vineyards. We have yet to try their wine tasting so both experiences have been at the restaurant. They have created a nice ambiance in both look and feel with a combination indoor/outdoor set-up; the patio being covered by a solid roof with open sides. Misters and sun shades are provided and used as needed.

The majority of the staff, including the host/hostess, are very attentive and polite. Overall, both visits have been enjoyable; once with good friends and the second with family. While limited, they have a nice selection of red & white wines along with a few draft microbrews. Libations are an option for those who prefer a cocktail, while offering a good choice of specialty drinks. It's evident they have an outstanding chef and kitchen staff as we found the quality of food and variety to be excellent.

The only reason we didn't give them a 5-star rating is there are a couple of customer service "gaps" they need to address. 1) In both visits, we experienced gaps in service where we couldn't get a waiter to come to the table for an extended period of time (more than 10-minutes). In our second visit, this resulted in an entree not being delivered for the 6th member of our party after the other five had been served and were nearly half done eating. 2) The second issue has to do with one of their bartenders lacking basic customer service skills. I'll address our second visit to give an example. I ordered a cocktail called "cool wave" to start my evening. A refreshing combination of Rye, Brandy, Simple Syrup, Sweet & Sour and Rasberry. Its served in a martini glass with no ice or garnishes. It was so delicious that 3 others changed their drink to this as well. I order a second but this time it came back in a whiskey tumbler, with crushed ice and an orange garnish. Upon tasting, it was obviously not the same drink. Very tart to the point you could not taste any Rye or Brandy (I felt it was a whiskey sour with too much sour). The waitress apologized, told me to keep the drink and went back for the correct order. The waitress then came back , said the bartender insisted it was a "cool wave" and wanted my drink back. The waitress then returned with the same drink but poured into a Martini glass with no ice but the same orange garnish. I then asked others (who were drinking the same) to taste it. All agreed it wasn't the same drink. Needless to say, the bartender never acquiesced. The waitress apologized, didn't charge, and I switched to a red wine.

All said, this is still an outstanding choice for lunch or dinner with family or friends and we will continue to return. Its still fairly new so we hope they will continue to review their customer service protocol and consider improvements...