Defiance Ridge Vineyards — Restaurant in Defiance

Response to Defiance Ridge Vineyard’s reply below Started off horribly!!! Was instructed to go into a room where the band was playing by a worker but Imagine being the only black couple walking into a room full of people who don’t look like you. All heads are turning and whispers start. You and your wife proceed to sit down at an empty table with 6 empty chairs . An irate server runs over and aggressively asks if we are part of the Shriners party. We politely say no. Then she yells and aggressively says we can’t sit at this table! Ok. Where can we sit? Anywhere but here she responds yelling with an attitude. Then walks away. You don’t know if race played apart in her attitude but it’s hard not to think so. She was so nice to everyone else that we saw who were not a people of color. Another server saw what happened and politely directed us to sit outside where we could still hear the band but not see them or sit some other tables that were not restricted. We chose to sit outside.

Outside was much better. Destiny!! Our server was polite, informative and kind. She answered all our questions about the wine and food and helped us make an informed decision. We ordered food and wine.. had drinks and even picked up a few bottles of wine to take home with us. We were celebrating our 25 yr wedding anniversary and wanted to visit a winery close by and have a good day. We thanked Destiny and tipped her very well for her service. She saved the day which was on the way to being a horrible experience per the rude and yes ,possibly racist server we encountered earlier. We are not sure if we will visit this establishment again. Being belittled over empty seating is uncalled for and should have been handled in a professional manner.

The response from the vineyard is disappointing and shows a lack of accountability from this establishment.

We sat where we sat at the direction of the bartender. Within one minute, we were confronted by the 1st server, who was extremely rude. Us not being able to sit there wasn’t a big deal. We’d never visited this vineyard and were appreciative of actual guidance.

When we asked her where we could sit, her terse response was, “Anywhere but here”, then she quickly walked away. That is not an appropriate response to a question from customers who are simply trying to locate seating. Immediately after that, another server walked past. I asked her where we could sit and she politely told us we could either sit one table over, at any table in the pavilion without a tablecloth, or on the patio. I’m not sure if the second person we encountered in the pavilion was a manager. If she wasn’t, the manager mentioned in the vineyard’s response could have only been basing her opinion on what the first server may have said, in an attempt to make herself look better after such a poor encounter.

The entire interaction, from the time that we walked in until the time that we chose to enjoy the patio, took one to two minutes. It seems that the vineyard tried to insinuate in their response that we got some of the catered food for the private event, which is untrue. We walked in, sat down and were immediately accosted by their rude server. The fact that the vineyard chose to respond in this manner makes it seem as if they are attempting to use tired, oppressive stereotypes to try to justify their discourteous employee’s actions as heroic-to protect wrongful food consumption-rather than villainous. This is such a tired trope for people and companies that don’t have a strong moral compass.

Due to the poor treatment and the vineyard’s response, we will not be back. We will spend our money with companies that can at least maintain the appearance of professionalism and holds their employees accountable when they fall short of that expectation. Whether the server is habitually rude is of no concern to us. She was rude that day. Having a bad day is understandable. Lying about what happened is not. I hope that you all do a better job of ensuring an enjoyable experience for all customers...

This restaurant does not take food allergies seriously. I ensured our server checked to see if citrus and/or mayonnaise was in the wrap my friend ordered as she is severely allergic Server did not seem to think she needed to check and I asked to do so die to her severe allergy. She came back and said it did include citrus so my friend ordered with a different dressing substitution as suggested by the server. I had ordered the wrap with ranch as featured and and soup combo. Waited 45 minutes for our sandwiches after ordering. After I took a few bites of my wrap I realized that my wrap had the substituted honey mustard dressing and my friend was served the one with the ranch dressing which she was allergic to and had also taken several bites. This was a careless and potentially life threatening situation. I went inside to find the server who seemed not to be concerned, was questioning whether mine had the soup I had ordered or the slaw my friend had ordered. I again assured her that her modified wrap to avoid an allergic reaction was on the plate with my soup and my wrap was on the plate with the slaw she had ordered. She then said she would have the kitchen prepare a new wrap for her with the honey mustard.

Later when the checks came I was billed for a $10 glass of wine which I had not ordered nor received. One of my friends had ordered wine and a cup of soup and was only billed $5 for her soup so I again had to get the server and have her correct the two incorrect checks.

The food was marginal at best, received poor service, and the lack of attention to ensuring that life-threatening food allergies are accommodated is unacceptable. Poor dining experience. Lovely...

Lovely place for lunch, but before you book a wedding or special event, be sure to write in the contract: "Event Manager and Event Coordinator will be present at your rehearsal and wedding/event, and will perform only the function of manager/coordinator." Illness prevented the event coordinator from working my daughter's wedding, and the front of house manager Lynn was provided as the substitute. Except she was also serving dinner and working behind the bar, resulting in a serious lack of service, and quite a bit of stress and confusion. Also be sure to write in the contract: " The bar in the pavilion will be open and staffed during the event." Despite several verbal assurances from various employees (Michelle, the former event coordinator, Trevor, another manager, and Lynn), that this would happen, it was not open at the wedding, where over 160 guests had to walk into the tasting bar to be served by one bartender. Most importantly, write in your contract: "Excellent service will be provided by enough staff to serve your wedding or special event." While most wedding venues would consider this common practice, at Defiance Ridge, if it is not written in the contract, it is not provided. Unfortunately, several attempts to request the owner offer a partial refund or even an accounting of responsibility or apology were futile, despite the fact the owner was not present at the wedding (gift cards were offered as a sign of "goodwill"). His reply to our letters was that Defiance Ridge fulfilled it's contractual obligation. If you are considering a large event here, be sure to get those items in writing because they might prevent your special event from being...