Cafe Vino — Restaurant in Fort Collins

When I go to a restaurant I don’t expect just some good food, I expect the whole experience to be exquisite. I expect a host to greet me at the door promptly, professionally, and politely. As I walk in the restaurant I look around at the ambiance. The setting, mood, atmosphere, and energy are important to me. As I walk in I want to feel at home and have a sense of ease about where I am and the company that surrounds me, including the staff. The professionalism of the staff is important to me. The cleanliness is another thing I glance at when I walk into a restaurant and throughout the duration of my stay. As I glance at the menu I look for the price points of the items listed, ensuring that it is a fair transaction between both parties. I expect to get served in a timely manner, that is well timed. I also expect my check promptly, so I can be on the way to the next thing on the agenda for the day. When I visited Café Vino yesterday, all the above criteria were as perfect as possible; they exceeded my expectations in many ways. The criteria were met, without a flaw.

As soon as I entered through the front doors of Café Vino, I was greeted in a professional manner. The host said, “Hi, how are you doing?” As a customer I like to treat people as respectfully as they treat me. That is part of what makes the ambience and energy so good in a restaurant. The professionalism in Vino is fantastic all around, which has a lot to do with the clientele as well as the staff. The staff was great that day as per usual. Vino attracts a higher end crowd because of the menu, pricing, and wine selection. The higher end crowd has a level of respect about them, partially due to business. The level of skill and wisdom in the atmosphere makes me feel at home and at ease while I dine there. The atmosphere is kept clean because they clean off the tables promptly during and after meals. While I was there, the volume limit was kept to a minimum. There were no obnoxious kids screaming and running around. Nor were there any loud and rowdy college kids, or other drunks that were unaware of their surroundings. The staff talked at a perfect volume level, so you could hear them, but it wasn’t too loud. The music was at a good level, so you could hear it, but it wasn’t overpowering. The next focus I was aware of was the timing of everything. The timing was great throughout my whole stay at Vino that day. I received my water as soon as I sat down, while they asked me what else I would like to drink and if I was getting lunch. As soon I was ready, I ordered my food and the bartender went straight over to the computer to put the order in. My food arrived within 2 minutes, which surprised me because it was so fast. As soon as I asked for my check she went over to the computer and quickly returned with my bill. The pricing was fair in every way. The price is exactly what the menu said it costs. I think all the prices are fair for what you get. Once I placed the credit card in the pouch, she returned right away to grab the check presenter. She returned promptly after finishing the payment. The event was concluded by her politely saying, “Thanks Finn, I hope you have a good day, It was good to see you!” I was in and out of the restaurant quickly which resulted in the rest of my day going smoothly, with the timing of it on track. Overall Heather made the whole experience very pleasant, and made me feel respected, appreciated, cared for, and loved. The experience made my whole day better and was a day...

Had never been here before and it looks so cute from the outside. Went on a Wednesday night for our anniversary (we were going to go to Boulder but had to change plans) and were told that it was all booked up except one tiny table butted up against the backs of some other patrons...literally six inches away. We asked if there was anything else and was directed to a short table that was next to the host stand. The table was a piece of glass on top of some kind of metal sculpture, very low to the ground with lounge chairs that were impossible to scoot close enough to the table to eat comfortably. Anyhow, we ordered our food and my salmon was good but my husband's scallops were very undercooked. We looked it up, and it seems like they are not supposed to be served this way due to bacteria that may be in seafood. We, personally, always cook our scallops all the way through but wanted to make sure it was safe. We told the waiter who was very kind and did take care of us best he could, but probably got our table added far from his regular section because his visits were few and far between. He told the manager who came over and he said he thinks that it was how they always cook the scallops. After acting like he didnt really want to, he did ask if we wanted them to cook some again for longer...it was literally 3 scallops in the whole dish. So my husband said yes, could they? He brought them out and they were cooked exactly the same...slimy and jiggly inside and not white all the way through and very undercooked. I touched them and they weren't even lukewarm inside and a slime string stretched from the scallop on my finger. He eventually came back and asked how they were, and we told him again that they were undercooked and he said that he was sorry and that he had told the cooks to cook them all the way. shrugs That was it. He didn't offer to remake them, he did not offer to take even half of the dish off the bill. Nothing. I gave my husband some of my salmon so he wouldn't be hungry since he only ate about 3/4 cup of mushroom risotto for dinner that was served with the scallops. The manager came and gave us his card and said next time we come in to ask for him and he can give us some pointers on what to order. As though some of their menu items are bad and some are good, and he'll help us to know which? We don't need help on what to order, we have been in the restaurant business for over 30 years. Bill for two dishes, an iced tea and a ginger beer: $92.57. His card indicated that he was the general manager. My husband is also the general manager of a restaurant. A GM has all control over what goes on in the restaurant. If they want to comp something, they can. They are in charge of the kitchen crew, the FOH staff, everyone. We dont know if this guy was just being stubborn, or a jerk, or if he was just plain clueless. Apparently, they are just SO busy that they don't really care whether or not they have...

We were excited to eat here as the food looked and smelled good and we really liked the ambiance. Unfortunately, we didn’t even get to eat. Once we were seated, everything seemed to go wrong. We were seated maybe 5 minutes before someone brought water over to us (just dropped them off and walked away). It turns out, he was our waiter. He had been at the table behind us a couple of times before he brought the water, but never stopped by and did not say he was our server when he dropped off the water. After about 5 more minutes, he finally came by and asked to take our drink order. We said we were ready to order everything and placed an order for an appetizer, a beer, a wine flight, and food. I asked about the pizza special of the day and he had to leave to get his notebook to let me know what it was. When he came back, he finished taking our order, but never wrote it down. Awhile goes by and he comes back to ask which burger my boyfriend ordered (he ordered a pizza). Then he came back and informed him that his beer was unavailable and brought a menu to pick another one and just stood there staring at him until we asked for a minute to look it over again. More time goes by and my wine flight appears (him carrying all 3 glasses in him arms awkwardly instead of on a tray). I notice one of the glasses had quite a lot of cork in the glass, but at this point, we have been here about 25 minutes, so I decide I can drink some cork. Then I realize that he brought Flight 1 and not Flight 2 which I had ordered. When he came back, this was the point we told him that we were leaving. We had been here around 30 minutes and finally received our wrong and unpresentable drinks. On our way out, we saw someone from the kitchen bringing out our appetizer along with our food to the table. So either they made everything together or our appetizer was just sitting there for a while…I am guessing the later. On top of that, he dropped a pizza on the floor for the table behind us. I believe that is part of the poor service we received as he seemed very focused on them and ignored us quite a bit. Maybe he was just having a bad day, but everything seemed to go wrong, he seemed clueless about that fact, and didn’t do anything to mitigate anything. Even just saying “Hi, my name is so and so, I’ll be your server today, but I will be with you in a minute” goes a long way. Hopefully he is able to work...