Hill & Vine — Restaurant in Fredericksburg

A bit of a conundrum really. We haven't seen some friends for 5 yrs and made the trip up to F-Burg from ATX to visit and celebrate. with them. They live in F-Burg. Knowing this establishment is very, very popular we wanted to get there early, be seated and leisurely have some appy's and then dinner. The bar keep and the front of the house staff at Hotel Albert recommended them as well. So, off we went and arrived promptly at 4pm. We were seated in a lower room adjacent to the kitchen. Which is fine for me since I like to peek over to see what's going on. Jonathan was our waiter and came by quickly and grabbed our drink orders. He came by a couple times and we choose to order the Sausage/Cheese plate and the Hummus plate to share, while we visited and caught up.

Jonathan came by and checked regularly on us, which is fine since he wasn't being obtrusive or anything. I get it, since this is his table and his income depends on turning tables efficiently. We had been there for an hour at this point and we did eventually order dinner. I'm always nervous when a server doesn't right orders down, but there was no need, he got it right. Time passed and he came back by to let us know that, he knows our dinner was running long, it would be here soon. I believe it was another 15mins + before our dinners arrived.

I will say that the Sausage/Cheese board was very good, fresh fruit, lightly toasted bread points, big helpings of sausage and cheese abound. Easily big enough for 4 folks. The hummus was also very good. Unique, being black-eye pea based, but it worked very well. Even with the celery bites as part of the blend. I order the Red-Fish $38 and my Suzie the Bison Bolognese $24. Unfortunately, a huge disappointment. My filet was warm to cool at best and was served with cilantro chili butter, pineapple pico de gallo, warm chili-lime street corn esquites. I dunno, perhaps a 6oz small filet served on top of 5-6 tablespoons of pico-de gallo, looked very bare on the plate it was served on. I think that because of the temp it was served, the filet was not very flakey. The pico was somewhat bright due to the corn esquites. The esputies being my favorite part of the entree. For $38, I felt a little gypped. Suzie got the Bison Bolognese with pappardelle pasta, parmesan cheese, burrata, fried basil, and garlic toast . I did have a taste and felt it lacked the punch of perhaps red chili flakes and the fried basil, really didn't add much to the dish. I like the idea of burrata and probably will add that when I make bolognese myself. Unfortunately again, her entree was barely warm. She didn't share this with me till after we left the restaurant. Jonathan did come by and check on us. I did let him know my entree was cool and he immediately asked if he could replace it. I choose not to. I didn't want to wait another 20 or so, he made sure of my decision politely by the way. No pressure. I did eat the whole plate. Suzie left half of hers and we opted not to take it to go. Our guests had the Coconut Shrimp and an awesome looking cheeseburger. They enjoyed their meal. Perhaps that would of been a better decision.

We asked for our tab and Jonathan let us know he had talked to management/chef regarding my filet and they wanted to offer us a complimentary dessert for the delay in our meal and the temp issue with my Filet. We were frankly fine, but he playfully twisted our arm and grabbed the bread pudding, which we managed about 3 bites of. Very large serving, easily enough for 2 big helpings or 3 folks. It was tasty and Jonathan mentioned it travelled well, so we got the rest to-go. I made sure to tip Jonathan 30%, we had been at his table for 30 mins and he the best out of a situation out of...

I love the food - flavor and presentation are great, but waitstaff/weekend manager were not warm/friendly or family-friendly. I was there on a Saturday morning brunch in a group of family- there wasn’t that many of us, maybe 10. They accommodated us, but just enough. They made a very big deal about the size of our family. The way the staff carried themselves was enough to let us know we were an inconvenience and they were not happy we were there. The waitstaff and manager would not let us combine tables and sat us separately. When we asked for the logic (because it takes up the same amount of table space for us to sit together versus apart) they simply said “it’s our policy! We have tables for medium to large size parties but it’s currently in use by people who made reservations!” And they made a point to remind us multiple times that the other medium/large-sized parties made reservations. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry before for years so I get it. But I also think making guests feel uncomfortable and guilty is bad hospitality. They seemed to have this attitude that they did not like that we brought children along either. When showing us our two (separately spaced) tables for our group, they made sure to say “we will need y’all to not seat the kids alone at one table.” We already were not going to do that, but the reminder was condescending. Especially in the context since they had already given us so much attitude. At the end of the meal the server let us know she would not be splitting the check separately between each adult, but would only split the check evenly into thirds, or all on one. She didn’t tell us this would be the case before we ordered. Not that it would have changed the fact that we ate there, but again, it was placing their convenience above ours and sending the message that they didn’t value or appreciate us as customers. It felt like bad business. I left feeling guilty for even eating there without a reservation and with my family. I had brought with me family members who are from out of state and really regretted that this had to be...

If I could rate 0 stars, I would.

My parents (locals) took me here as an outing. The ambience is beautiful & we wanted to have a nice dinner. However, that quickly ended.

Service: 0/5 - waiter was absolutely horrible. No personality, no smiles, no customer service. Waited for over 15 minutes to take our drink order.

Beware of added gratuity on “large” parties. They classify large parties as 6 or more. We had 5 adults & 2 kids (including an infant who did not eat).

Food: 2/5 - I’ve heard some good feedback on the half chicken, so I ordered that. The chicken portion was VERY small. 1 wing & a drumstick. In addition, chicken was black when it came out. The chicken had MINIMAL meat. All factors considered, I mentioned it to the waiter. The waiter did explain that the chickens vary in size, but agreed that the chicken was small & overcooked. He offered to replace the meal, but with a sleepy infant, I could not wait for another dish to be cooked.

1 child had a kid’s chicken tender which was very spicy. Not a peppery spice, but more of a cayenne or a paprika.

Food portions are also small compared to menu pricing. For being in the middle of Fredricksburg, this is to be expected due to the high volume of traffic.

Managerial service: 0/5 - upon mentioning these service the had, the included gratuity (despite having 2 infants), and the chicken feedback, we were rudely greeted. Her response to the complaint was that the “waiter did his job” and that “we had enough entrees to meet the large party criteria” (despite having an infant who did not eat & 1 child who barely ate the kid’s meal due to spice).

As a local, will not be recommending this place to anyone. Very disappointed with the food, service, and managerial response. Save your time & try out other...