Zinfandel Food & Wine Bistro — Restaurant in Grad Split

Great dishes but highly offensive and harassing seating policy ————————

FOOD 5 stars SERVICE 5 stars HOSTESS 0 stars MANAGERS “SEATING POLICY” 0 stars

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After trying various restaurants upon thorough research on local food blogs and personal recommendations, we finally found our favorite restaurant in Croatia.

We had mussels, grilled vegetables/salad, duck breast, filet mignon and lemon tarte. All of them are highly recommended.

Mussels had a great twist due to the figs that were skillfully integrated into a well rounded dish. Salad was literally the best and freshest we had. Simple but delicious. Filet mignon was spot on with a well balanced cauliflower complement and great plating. Duck was another highlight. Winner of the night was the lemon tarte. Best dessert we had in months.

Service and sommelier were excellent and super charming. Each dish was well explained. Wine recommendations were great. Kudos!

Taittinger and Moet are sold at 750 Kuna per bottle. Great deal!

Unfortunately we could not fully enjoy our night at Zinfandel. What could have been a perfect 5 star experience turned out to be one of the most offensive and negative encounters with restaurant staff we ever had.

We made a reservation for 3 days in advance and arrived 30 mins prior to our reservation. There was a table for 2 directly at the entrance, prime spot, next to the alley, best spot to enjoy Zinfandel’s live music. We asked the hostess managing the reservations if we could have this table as it was not taken. She said this was not possible and that the table was reserved.

We were wondering what the reservation policy was given that we held a reservation too (confirmed 3 days in advance). Instead we were seated inside the restaurant in a dark corner.

30 mins later another couple got that table and we learnt it was a walk-in that did not hold a reservation at all. Obviously the young host was cherry picking who to place on that prime table. She obviously lied to us. We felt super offended and not being welcome or not good enough in her eyes.

Our waitresses noticed and tried their best to troubleshoot (thank you). The negative energy caused by the hostess who did not show a single smile during the entire night wouldn’t go away.

Our recommendation to the restaurant’s manager would be to carefully analyze the returns of Zinfandel’s seating policy. In our view, giving paying guests a negative feeling is the worst that could happen in a restaurant. We were not the only ones noticing this harassing policy. We would also recommend to let go of the hostess who simply...

I came for my 22nd birthday with my friends, and we were excited the entire day. We even wrote in the guest notes that it was a very important evening for me, but honestly, I’m beyond disappointed. When we arrived, we stood there waiting to be seated while the staff looked right at us and did absolutely nothing. They clearly saw us but didn’t bother to welcome or seat us, so we awkwardly seated ourselves. From the start, they couldn’t have looked less interested.

When someone finally came over, it was just to take our order, no acknowledgment of my reservation details, no effort to make the night special, nothing. I even mentioned my name and the note I had left, but it was like they didn’t care at all.

Our starters (the plankton risotto) arrived, and the food was AMAZING. But after we finished, we sat there waiting and waiting for someone to clear the plates. They clearly noticed we were done and still ignored us. Meanwhile, our waiter was on the phone, laughing with a colleague over some video while we were sitting there with empty plates.

As we waited for our mains, one of the waitresses was literally eating something with her hands right in front of us, it was honestly off-putting and completely unprofessional. When the mains finally came, again, the food was delicious. We ordered the octopus and it was cooked to perfection. The waiter asked how everything was, but that was the extent of any interaction.

For a Michelin-starred restaurant, this level of service is shocking. I expected something special, something memorable, but instead I left feeling upset and unappreciated. It’s such a shame, because the food deserves better than the careless, indifferent service that completely ruined what should have been a wonderful birthday...

DON’T GO AFTER 5PM!!! My fiancé and I were SO disappointed today after it started amazing. First server (male,glasses, very wine knowledgeable- wish we’d gotten his name) was super attentive, recommended a great wine for each of us and the ceviche. Answered main courses Questions, friendly and everything was tasting amazing. Must’ve gone on his break at 5 cause we later saw him out front but the other 4 servers in there proceeded to ignore us for the next FORTY MINUTES?!? Even tho we were literally the only table after a family got one drink each and left and had to get their 6yr old to bug them for a bill. We had to place our plates at the ends of table and get their attention to clear plates. Wine glasses were empty for over 10mins which upset me cause I was hoping to try the 2nd wine the first server recommended. Had to flag them down to order dinner and we totally abandoned our plan to order the award winning cheesecake the first server recommended bc the 4 servers just stood at the bar talking to each other. No. Other. Tables. I’m a server in Canada and that was disgusting treatment. We felt like such an inconvenience when Croatian hospitality has been so wonderful otherwise. I guess 1st world problems but just go somewhere else. Save yourself the frustration unless you go before 5pm. Hope the owner/manager sees this and coaches them on half decent service cause the...