Craft & Vine — Restaurant in Augusta

While I was excited to come try this establishment upon walking in, it was dark and had a tiki torch as decor. I guess they have different themes at times. I was a bit confused. The music was loud and quite confusing. I guess they were trying to go with the theme, but I felt as if I was at an amusement park 🫣 the music was all over the place. It was a bit too much.

Now let’s get to the service. Upon being greeted by our waitress, we were served water. She then comes back and asks what we would like to drink. I was fine with the water, but my daughter wanted a sweet tea. We ordered our food, a couple of plates came in and my daughters drink had yet to arrive. We then had to ask out waitress about the drink and she stated “ it is probably waiting over there” and surprise surprise, it was. She waited over 15 minutes for her beverage.

The food, let’s get to this food 🫣😩🫢 We started with the Wood Fired Pretzel Bites Pimento Cheese Fondue. When I think of fondue, I think of the pot or something that is helping melt the cheese. Not the case here. It’s a nice tiny dish with the cheese. Don’t get me wrong, this was my favorite dish (not my daughters) however, disappointed in the description. Next came the spicy Nduja Flatbread Calabrian Honey Mozzarella, while I did not enjoy it my daughters really loved it. Next came the Mushroom Pizza I was super excited for this because I love mushrooms! When I tell you this was the most flavorless pizza I have ever had, it’s an understatement. I did not even taste the garlic. The only thing that made this more enjoyable was the scraps of the pimiento cheese fondue I had left. Next came the Stuffed Mushrooms Feta. Cream Cheese, Parmesan, Spinach, Scallions and it supposedly had crab. These by far have to be the most season less stuffed mushrooms I’ve had in my life! I couldn’t taste anything, not even the crab. The only flavor we tasted was lemon which is not even one of the ingredients 😩 Now we ordered the Pepperoni Pizza we waited over 30 minutes for my daughters pizza to come in. Where I was sitting I was facing the kitchen, I was able to see that they served pizzas 2 at a time so I do not know why my daughters pizza took so long to come after our 1st pizza came in. As you can tell from the review of the food above, most of the food have been flavorless, so this pizza was no different 🥲 Overall, we were very disappointed and ready to run out of the door. We wasted $80 in food we did not enjoy at all and the environment did not make it worth the money either. Come at your own risk is all I...

I don't have any pictures to post. I totally forgot about it. For starters, the hostess was polite and quickly sat me down. I chose a table. If you're short and don't mind climbing up and down from the high chairs, you're good. I didn't like the high chairs, but the table was very clean. The atmosphere was very chill, and it is an excellent spot for couples. Its kinda lowly in some places. I was meeting my friend there for her birthday. My waiter, Michael M., was super polite and very informative about the drink menu. I chose the non-alcoholic beverage of the How High drink and a Sidecar, which was alcoholic. The How High had a bitter taste like a very limey drink that was light pink with a small lime wedge in it. I liked it for the bitterness and the cute flute glass that it was served in. Now, the Sidecar was just pure nasty. My friend described it as a strong champagne. For me, it had way too alcohol in it. The Sidecar does come with sugar on the rim. My friend got the Blackbird drink and she liked it. It's a cute pink drink with a large square ice in the center. There's cream in it. I didn't care for it. I tried the Honeysuckle drink and I liked it. The sweet after taste had me hooked. It does taste like a Honeysuckle flower but with alcohol.

Now, for the price of the food, I was disappointed. I enjoyed my appetizer. I had the Nduja Flatebread which was spicy and had a nice brick oven taste. The toppings made it taste like a spicy pizza. My friend got the fried oysters, which she said had been cook very well. Now here comes my true disappointment. I ordered the Bavette steak which came with asparagus and duck sauce fingerling potatoes. I ordered my steak medium well and it was delicious, but it was small. They'd precut the steak and I was wondering where the rest of the meat was. Then I ordered the Beehive Charcuterie board to go. The look on my face when I looked at that togo plate betrayal. It was just some bread, cheese, sweet pickles and two different dips. It was a let down. Honestly, I was still hungry after I left. For the price of the food, it should have been better.

In my opinion, only come here if you want so.e good drinks and feeling "peckish" because the food will leave you wanting.

Side note, the bathroom was clean and smelled very good. They use hand towels...

I have been here numerous times since this place opened. As a downtown resident, places like this are exactly what Augusta's downtown needs.

First the ambience - a prohibition style bar that feels fresh and modern. The servers are dressed appropriately to match, with an impressively styled liquor and wine collection behind the bar and bartenders carefully making each drink. The quality and though put into the design feels more like a place you would stumble into in a larger city like Dallas or Atlanta, and is a fresh breath of air for Augusta.

Next are the drinks. You can tell someone put an excessive amount of time into this menu. The cocktail list is diverse and interesting, with throwbacks to the classic liquor forward drinks and some with modern day twists that will challenge your palate. The wines (I have only sampled the reds) are extremely well chosen and I have to give my hats off to the sommelier as I have never had one I have been disappointed with there. The markup is extremely low for the quality of bottle, meaning your money goes a long way when getting some very nice wines. Additionally, they have a vacuum sealed wine system that allows them to serve even their nicest bottles by the glass or even a 1 oz pour - ever feel like sipping on some Opus One or Caymus without dropping for a full bottle?

Then there's the food. A diverse array of meats and cheeses, tapas style veggies, meats and pizzas. Again, clearly a lot of thought went into these dishes - you aren't going to find anything like them at your "standard" Augusta restaurants. Their menus is constantly changing and never fails to impress, with the various items ranging from interesting to utterly delicious. I could have given recommendations prior but their menus just changed and so many of the current dishes are new to me.

Finally there is the staff. They are friendly, welcoming and extremely helpful in navigating the menu. This is obviously to be expected at any quality place, but it is nice to see it routinely done.

Places like craft and vine excite me about the re-vitalization of downtown Augusta as I have watched it grow over the past few years, and I'll be sad to be leaving one of my favorite restaurants here. If you haven't tried it out, you're missing one of the newest and brightest...