Grapevine Cafe' & Gallery — Restaurant in Donaldsonville

We had finished up a wonderful tour of the Nottaway Plantation and were looking to wrap up an exceptional day with a first time experience at the Grapevine. The rest. is unassuming from the outside and beautiful on the inside, with lots of staff everywhere. Drinks came quick, appetizers ordered with no issue. When it was time to order i was informed that the 2 dishes (1 being a Tasso dish) i wanted on the menu they did not have ingredients for and/or they simply did want to make the sauce, i really wasn't given a reason; just "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" I asked if there was anything on the menu that the waitress could add Tasso too and she quickly answered "NO." Consequently my wife's dish would have been incredible with Tasso, it just seems the waitress wasn't interested in "creative solutions." So i flipped the menu over and decided upon and was actually looking FWD to a "gourmet burger." I was then informed that they will not serve burgers at Dinner. Why? The answer the waitress gave me was "because a burger slows down the kitchen." After glancing around the restaurant and seeing less then 5 tables with guests i felt it a quite reasonable request to see if she could ask the kitchen if a Burger order would not set off DEFCON 11 (yes it goes to 11). The waitress never paused, never considered, never blinked (she looked back at me and through me like Mark Zuck at a congressional hearing) and simply said. "NO." It was then that it dawned on me that a 13 dollar burger doesn't generate the REV as does a 28 dollar meal. I resigned myself to ordering nothing and would be splitting with my wife, i guess not an option that the waitress considered. When i did this the floodwaters opened and the waitress suggest all various of things off the menu starting high working her way to her final offer during this mediation phase of a bowl, then a cup of soup. I declined. Negotiation pick up once 25% of the tip generating delta is removed. I was waiting for her to suggest that we "settle out of court for a tootsie roll and a 40 of OE," but it was Thursday and not Friday (Movie ref people!) Conclusion: Make an effort! If im going to drop +200.00 at your place and you have rules, fine, but make them reasonable and coach the wait staff to make the customer feel like they are willing to TRY and do everything they can to find a cow, feed it, name it George, kill it, process it, make patty cakes, cook it and serve it. If she would have said" well let me go ask the kitchen, " walked back tot he kitchen and waited 20 seconds without doing ANYTHING and if she came back with ANYTHING other than "im sorry we are too busy" (because they clearly weren't) then i would have thanked her for her efforts and felt better about spending 200.00. Tipping has because so autonomic today that service has become tedious, tiresome, scripted and irrelevant; with such a low priority from the service industry. BTW: im not cheap, i tipped the tour guide Hunter a 100.00 bill for his over the top wonderful guided tour of Nottaway Plantation. Go see Hunter if you want to know what customer service should be like. Well if you want to give this restaurant a try, i would just get drinks there because its a very cool set up. tell them you want a burger for dinner and that you "heard it through...

Never will I ever eat here again. Our first experience was awesome but tonight was horrible. The waitress we had did not do her job I had to ask can we order appetizers,drinks then our food. While waiting on our food she continued to walk by us and cater to the other “big parties” she had asking them is everything ok you need anything but never not once asked us. I got up went to the bar to order my own drink by this time. So the guy that brought my drink states he was asked to take over our table. I explained to him how we were being treated he send the manager who comes to the table saying she the general manager Trista. I goes to tell her what happen and she says well she had 2 big parties and I’m thinking so that mean ignore us because it’s just 4 of us that doesn’t make any sense. If that’s the so called reason why seat us in that area if she had 2 big parties. The “general manger” came with an attitude because by them she had already been told we were pissed by the one who ignored us the whole time. She says I watched everything I’m no you didn’t because you wasn’t out here general manager . I said I’m glad she asked someone else to take over and Ms manger said so am I. Not knowing we was told what was being said. Long story short how convenient she send a black guy to take over the 4 black people that she ignored the whole night because she had a big party she was tending to. Telling him go see if you know them ,WHAT?? I almost lost my kool but I had to rethink and collect myself. They don’t EVER have to worry about me and my family again because it’s very obvious Trista doesn’t...

Sunday, August 22, 2021, 1:20ish pm Had a really great experience. We went after seeing the Union Pacific locomotive "Big Boy" come through with my 2-year-old. They are out of a few minor things due to the another influx of clientele from the train. We arrived at 1:10ish when they typically close at 2, but we did not feel rushed when the time passed 2pm. Our server was very friendly, and i appreciated that all of the restaurant staff wore masks.

Food: Firecracker shrimp was delicious and included 6 pieces of shrimp. Meals started with salad that was fresh with tasty vinaigrette. Wife had chicken parmesan that she said was good, and started with a cup of crab, shrimp, and corn bisque. She said the bisque was a little heavy on the crab flavor, but i ate some and thought it was good. I had crabcake stuffed redfish that was delectable with some kind of cream sauce on it that mixed well with the mashed potatoes that were included. I also had a couple of Irish Coffees and was definitely not disappointed in the ample amount of Jameson whiskey that was included. For dessert, we had the bread pudding with white chocolate sauce and it was nice and hot and very tasty.

If you find yourself in Donaldsonville, LA, I highly recommend paying this restaurant a visit.

One slight con is that the bathrooms did not have changing table...