Solbar — Restaurant in Calistoga

What a beautiful setting, stunning decor, creative drink menu & superb food! After a long work week, my boyfriend planned a spa day in Calistoga, and for dinner we found SolBar on Yelp. It's Napa dining, so expect high quality and high prices. We arrived early but still chose to sit in the bar area and order some food and drinks. The windows open completely and screens are secured, so you get this wonderful breeze flowing through the restaurant.

*Their house cocktails are divine! Elephants Memory... mezcal with an egg white froth! This is the best cocktail I've had in a very, very long time. The Fig is Up... I'm not a rum drinker, but this has more of a smoky flavor and when combined with the sweetness of the fig, it made my tastebuds happy. Leather 'n Rye... how can you go wrong with a sazerac? This is the drink I used to use to test my bar managers, it needs to be made with precision and when it's done right, the flavors meld together perfectly. Bravo to the bartender at SolBar. Beet-le juice (non-alcoholic) not too fruity, not too beety, but still very colorful and refreshing. I had to start with a non-alcoholic drink after all of those mineral baths and massages; this was a great choice.

Lobster Mac (5/5) - not overly cheesy, but not under either. My bf thought the cheese was a little too runny, but I preferred this over the thick cheese, especially when there were large and ample chunks of lobster.

Beet & Quinoa salad (4/5) - plated well but a little minimal, flavors were excellent but the red quinoa was a little too grainy in texture, like it should've been rinsed better. I love golden beets and with the thin slices of mandarin, it tasted great.

Maine Scallop (5/5) - this is not the menu item, but a seasonal that was off-menu and offered for this day. It was served ceviche style, in the shell, with chili powder, cucumber water, cilantro, mint, lime, olive oil & salt. There were a few small tabs of avocado puree, just enough to go with each small bite. Again, DIVINE!

48 hour Ribs (10/5) - yes, I gave it a 10... out of 5. If you had to get only one thing on this menu, get these!

Two amuse-bouche were offered at the start and end of the meal. The service here was just great, the decor beautiful. My only feedback for SolBar, would be to dust their pictures! We had a booth seat and you could see the layer of dust on their large artwork; when a breeze came through the restaurant it would loosen some of the dust and it made me lose my appetite...

The dream is over, Solbar has fallen, like so many before it. We've been coming here for annual anniversary trips for almost 6 years and it was formerly our favorite restaurant in the SF Bay Area. The trouble started when we ordered poolside service at the Solage spa. Formerly, this was one of the hidden delights of the Bay Area...Michelin rated food poolside. The fish tacos used to be my wife's favorite food, and she's a connoisseur of fish tacos. This time, they were boring and tasted like frozen supermarket food. The guacamole (another of my wife's favorites) was bland and unappealing. Then, it got worse during our much anticipated dinner at Solbar that night. We waited 30 minutes for water, an hour and 15 minutes for our first course to arrive and more than 2 hours before we got our main course. We were there so long that we became ravenous with hunger. So long, in fact, that it got cold, and my request to have a heating unit lit went unanswered. The food is still not terrible (aside from the fish tacos and guacamole poolside), but nothing like it has been in the past. The portions have gotten smaller, and are no longer memorable. I am heartbroken. Solbar used to be the only Michelin rated restaurant we knew that wasn't pretentious, and offered exceptional food without feeling the need to gain respect through minuscule, overly decorative portions. My wife has tried to convince me that, like so many things in life, all good things must come to an end..as has Solbar's former status as the best food without pretense in the Bay Area. Gone, but not forgotten. We will...

Service is horrible here, made reservation 2 weeks ahead of time and when we got here, host hand us full menu to check out while they preparing our table but one of the manager came and told us due the large group of us( party for 10), we won't be able to order most of stuff from menu which is not reasonable at ALL!!! Their excuse is the chef didn't prepare all the stuff we ordered and I call this is BS!!! They willing to take walk in for small group and offer full menu why not large group?! This does not make sense at all!!! We already told them we don't mind to wait even if the plate comes separate but they still insist that chef would not take our orders from full menu. I really don't get it how this restaurant get rated as Michelin 1 star for 5 years in a row when you have a such policy like this. Even though at the end of the day that manager took our orders but we still have to separated our group in 2 (5 in each group) which is really awkward plus we still only be able to order limited dishes from full menu. So if I could've gave 0 star I would love to and I strongly recommend yelp to have this option as well. All in all, please be aware of their unreasonable policy and make it clear with them when you making your reservation with big group. I would never ever come to this place again period. Btw, manager trying to offer free bottle of champion if we willing to sacrifice to order from the full menu which makes me more pissed off and...