GrapeVine's Casual Italian Dining — Restaurant in Dahlonega

This was our 3rd time over 7 years trying Grapevines. On this particular trip we decided to give it one more chance since eating there in 2020. It was a struggle but we had to give one more chance to a local spot. We arrived at 610 pm on Sunday and got a seat without a problem. We ordered drinks, and appetizer meatballs. When they arrived they are obviously not fresh made. Frozen bought in prefect little circles with a trace of sauce in the dish or on them. You can see 1 round sear spot on each where they were originally seared. When we cut them open they were pink and undercooked. They were dense , granular, dry, flavorless meatballs. These are not edible. No one should mistake these for good authentic meatballs. We asked for cheese and our server grated some on top. We could not eat the meatballs. We set them aside and the server came by and said "let me guess" She went on to say there was another table that just did the same thing. She took them back and offered and alternative. We declined. We then noticed they wrote meatballs on the "86" list white board. The bread rolls were good and the plate for oil spices and vinaigrette that came with was ok. It was however missing any form of cheese on the table to add. Keep in mind the bread is not Italian bread , its just hot rolls. We asked for cheese and got a powdered tasteless sawdust cheap form of grated parmesan? Not real sure what it was. I do know its the cheapest cheese the could buy in. No flavor at all! After the rolls I asked for another small plastic container so I could try to determine what it was. We got our salads and they were the most basic hard chopped salads. Stem pieces, 2 small tomato slices and loads of onions. The dressing is again the most basic able to be provided by Sysco or some other supplier. On top of that it had an overwhelming earthy dirty taste. We could not finish them. We set them aside. We sat for 30 minutes waiting on our food in a third full restaurant and finally had to tell our server we were just wanting the check and we would not stay for the entrees. We had to leave. She was very apologetic. She said "Im so sorry , our kitchen has just been off and I think the meatballs got everything out of whack" ( something to that affect). The very thought that problems with microwave meatballs could throw a kitchen into not being able to make other dishes is amazing. There should be no reason an Italian restaurant should not be able to make home made fresh meatballs. Give me 10 minutes in the kitchen and Ill teach you. Its so simple. She offered to give us the meal to go, she offered to bring something else, and we told her we just were not interested. She left to discuss and came back and said you guys are set to go. And again offered to pack it to go since it was almost done. I told her no, please just ring me up for the tea and the glass of wine and I would tip her. I told her its not her fault. I insisted that I be able to tip her. She left to go to the register right next to us. My wife heard the manager (who by the way came up after the meatballs to apologize and made it weird) say to her something along the lines of "they probably wont tip" over her shoulder as he walked up to her. Absurd! She was at the register because I insisted on tipping her. We went to eat, Sunday evening with other options, we went to enjoy a meal. Not have to fight off our food and decide we had to retreat. This place is an insult to Italian food, Its a kitchen nightmare and I imagine is run by il microonde (look it up). There is no situation where we will return or ever refer anyone. This is lazy, unimaginative, non fresh ,freezer bought and no passion food. Its NOT Italian Food. If you stop in and eat its only to keep an owner who has lost all ties to Italian or fresh cuisine making...

My wife loves Italian food. ME, not so much! The wife was heartbroken when Caruso's on the Dahlonega square closed a few years ago. Last week she made me take her to the "new Italian place", Grapevine. I intended to go in with an open mind and try to like Italian. I asked the waiter for an entre' recommendation. I had seen a salad that I wanted to try. When forced to eat Italian, I always go to Alfredo or Lasagna. Not this night. I had Chicken Pablano and Gorgonzola Salad. BOTH WERE INCEDIBLE! I loved the food. The experience ended up OK, but initially, we were seated next to the kitchen noise while we watched as two couples who came in after us were seated near the front. We complained and were satisfactorily relocated. The next night, I wanted Italian. My wife was definitely game so we returned. This night I went safe, I had a regular salad, lasagna, and a cup of Toscana soup. ALL, were good but the soup was fabulous! It was a broth based chicken vegetable type soup. I loved it! Because I had raved about my meal the night before, my wife ordered exactly what I had previously. When her's came to the table, I said to the waitress, "that's not what she ordered." The sauce on my chicken the night before had been brown like brown gravy. The sauce on my wife's was creamy white. The waitress said, "it depends who cooks it." It was ALL still VERY good. SO, 3 days later we returned because now I had favorites that I wanted to create my own meal. I ordered a BOWL (previously I had ordered a cup) of the Toscana soup and the dinner size Gorgonzola Salad. A HALF BOWL of soup was delivered - I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! Instead of a "bowl of soup", I received a "cup of soup in a bowl" at double the price AND the soup was different. It was not broth based, it was creamy tomato based. Again I was told, "it depends upon who makes it." Also, our gorgonzola salads (my wife also ordered the dinner salad but added grilled chicken) were delivered with Blue Cheese dressing. I told the waitress, we ordered gorgonzola salads to which she replied, "these are gorgonzola's." Pointing to the dressing, I said, "what's that?" She said, "Blue Cheese dressing." I said, "it's supposed to be balsamic vinegar with gorgonzola crumbles." She replied, "OH, you want balsamic?" I said, "Yes, that what it says on the menu and what I had here three days ago!" It wasn't a problem, we got our balsamic and the meal was great. My issues with this restaurant are consistency in the product and value. How can I have a favorite dish if it changes every time I have it??? I'd like to know that what I ordered is going to be what is served to me each time, not some variant that I may or may not like. Either hire a single chef or teach each chef how a meal is to be prepared. The waitresses should also know the menu. And finally, There should be a difference between a bowl and a cup of soup besides the price. I AM NOT exaggerating when I say that my BOWL would have fit in a cup. I would have proven it that evening if my wife would have let me. I was going to ask the waitress for an empty soup cup. The wife said, "don't embarrass me." The food is absolutely incredible which is a very good thing since you really don't know what you are going to be served even if you order the same meal over and over. If you like surprises, this is your place! Overall, I am OK with menu prices. I think its a pretty good value. They need to nail down consistency in preparing their recipes, and I'll just be ordering cups of soup from...

I really like GrapeVine's. The ONLY reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because of a few random things that don't necessarily matter...but they did last night. First, if you're eating here on a Friday or Saturday night-plan to wait at least an hour, usually closer to an hour and a half. Also, expect to see lots of empty tables while you're waiting because they don't seat you as soon as a table opens (it's not for lack of staff, either) I am sure that there is a reason for this, but it doesn't make sense to me (and I've worked in food service). Unless it's just for the kitchen to get caught up. The food is fantastic. I don't eat red sauce, so I can't say anything about it-but the lobster ravioli and the pesto chicken are my favorite dishes. Last night we had a bit of a rough experience. There is a female hostess there that singlehandedly keeps the restaurant afloat. She's INCREDIBLE. My 7 year old was very hungry, so she went and put an order in for him to eat while we waited on a table. She helps EVERYONE and is so nice. There was a guy host, who we had an issue with. Several tables were ready to be seated, but he went to the bar to confirm no one sitting there was waiting on a table. When they all said no, he then OFFERED a table to those at the bar. These are couples/singles who had purposefully sat at the bar to NOT wait on a table and were already waiting on food and he offered tables to them over the other parties waiting. He also consistently sat down at the bar with friends of his for several minutes at a time while people would be walking in just waiting to put their name in...and the female hostess was ya know...actually working. When we got seated the waiter ONLY took our order and never came back to the table. He had literally forgotten he was our server. We sat for 20-25 minutes before we finally decided to say something to management. We are very understanding, but that was a little much for us. The manager DID give us a discount (which we did NOT request or even want. We just wanted to make a point that a waiter doesn't need to forget his table) but she willingly did that for us. The food is very VERY good and is worth the wait, but the service is a little lackluster at times. The manager was great and as I said the hostess is literally the backbone of the restaurant. The experience won't keep us from going back, but just...