The Vine — Restaurant in Grants Pass

Okay, we'll cop to being a little bit picky and a lot spoiled being from NewYork City. So when we needed to lodge for the night in Grant's Pass, I'll admit I was bit worried about finding a restaurant that wouldn't give me nightmares. After the standard "best restaurants in Grant's Pass" search on google inspired no faith, I enquired of the front desk staff at our b&b and after rendering their shortlist, we decided on The Vine. I confess that when we arrived to find it located at the far end of a strip mall and adjoining a grocery store, I shuddered for a moment.

We arrived and were greeted and seated promptly at an outside table in late the afternoon sun. Joy, who was as sweet as the Oregon Air, introduced herself as our server. My fiancé, a native Manhattanite, began peppering her with her high-handed wine questions, capping off with a request about the availability of something in the spirit of a Nebbiolo while I rolled my eyes at Joy to let her know she wasn't alone in this. Joy, to her complete credit admitted she was probably not giving the answers my fiancé needed. She then begged our pardons and told us to hold on just a sec.

After only a moment, Dustin the manager appeared with a red wine glass between the fingers of the same hand that was clutching the neck of a 2014 Badiola. After most elequently describing it to her and calmly yet deftly returning serve on all of her questions...the pour...the sip...the upturn of the lip. Somewhere, my stomach, which was now about to canabalize itself, uttered a sigh of relief comparable to making it to the bathroom just in the nick of time.

Onto the menu, which was thoughtful and diverse without being over-loaded. My fiancé selected from the pasta list, the crisp breaded chicken parmesan marinara over fettuccine. Being the homesteader at heart that I am, I selected the pot roast with paprika coffee rub, honeyed carrots, and garlic mashed potatoes.

Our food arrived in due time and hot. Her Chick/Parm was voluminous and delicious, bathed in a sauce marinara, rich with notes of fennel. My Pot Roast , equal in its generous portion, its plate blazoned with a panache of some colorful orange garnishing sauce, was elegantly and artfully presented as well as anything I would be served in a Manhattan restaurant. Dustin again appeared to check on us and appraise our satisfaction. He noticed that my fiancé needed a steak knife and quickly brought her one. He wished us bon appetite and departed. I remember thinking to myself that he had not suggested one for me and at first bite, I knew why.

The pot roast was as fork-tender as as any I had ever had. I likely could have just as easily eaten it with a spoon. As for the taste, the gravy was rich and luxurious. The mashed potatoes were creamy yet not over-mashed. I would now like to take a moment and single out these mashed potatoes. There was this flavor in the background that was so fetching, so subtle and yet so familiar...but as I groped for what it could be, I just couldn't get it in my crosshairs.

When Joy returned to check on us, I asked her pray tell. She then informed me of something oh so modestly omitted from the menu's description of the dish. The potatoes were in fact smoked. Yes, of course! This touch of love imparted essence that lingered on the back end of every bite. A veritable aprhrodesiac to a competition griller such as myself. On that note...special recognition is due our server Joy who, so aptly named, was such in every sense of the word.

I would love to bookend this review by being able to tell you how good the deserts were, but sadly, owing to the generous portions we were served, we were at max capacity. We had to ask that what we could not finish be boxed up. These are the types of leftovers you don't forget and leave on the table and in fact they were our next morning's breakfast! I can only surmise however that the deserts are commensurate with the fine grade of culinary offerings at The Vine. By the way did I mention it's in a strip...

We had an unfortunate experience here last night mostly because of miscommunication.

We ordered the artichoke bruschetta and it was amazing. I would highly recommend it.

My wife and I decided to share the gorgonzola salad and the salmon entree. The salad is delicious and I would also highly recommend it.

When we got the salmon, my wife took about a third of it and the polenta and put it on her plate. I had the other 2/3. We started eating and continuing our conversation with our friends. After my second bite into the salmon I noticed it wasn’t cooked in the thickest part of the filet. I ate the edges and sort of waited for someone to come by the table so I could point it out. My wife was also just picking around the edges of hers.

Eventually the lady who seated us stopped by and refilled our water and I pointed out to her that our salmon wasn’t cooked through. She finished filling our water and said, “Let me see what we can do about that.” She disappeared and didn’t come back.

I just ate the polenta and basil mousse waiting for about 10 minutes for someone to come back, all the while getting a little annoyed and staring at undercooked salmon.

Eventually our server came by and asked how everything was (it didn’t sound like she had been told that I had pointed out the undercooked salmon) so I pointed out to her that the salmon wasn’t cooked through. She asked if I wanted to have them finish cooking, but by then I had lost my appetite and had already eaten the polenta (which was delicious!) so I said, “No thank you. I’m done” because everyone was done eating so waiting around while they cook it after everyone is done eating seemed pointless.

We got the bill and I was a little surprised to see the salmon on there because it was, in my mind, undercooked and most of it was still on the plate.

My server had already walked away and we needed to get going, so I approached a gentlemen who was getting plates and said that I didn’t want to pay for the salmon because it was not cooked all the way. He told me that in the future I should have them finish cooking it, but that is how they prepare salmon at The Vine.

This was the first I was hearing this after pointing out to two other people that the salmon wasn’t cooked through. Neither of the two people I had pointed that out to informed me that this was how they prepared their salmon. I was basically made to feel stupid for not knowing that they don’t cook their salmon all the way through as their practice and that if I wanted it cooked all the way through then I need to have them take it back to do that.

To be clear, it was only cooked about 1/16 or 1/8 of an inch into the flesh so about an inch of the flesh was raw. I love sushi and I eat salmon sushi regularly, but I’ve ordered salmon dozens of times over the years because my wife and I love it and I’ve never had salmon that is that rare when it’s cooked salmon.

The food here is delicious and it’s probably worth your time, but my experience was bad enough that I won’t be returning. It would have been helpful, when your customer points out twice that the salmon wasn’t cooked all the way through, to explain that that is how you prepare it. That wasn’t explained to me until after I received my bill, after I was irritated by the fact, and after I pointed out to a third person that it wasn’t cooked all the way through.

If someone had told me that the first time then I could have just said, “Gotcha. I would prefer it cooked all the way through.” Instead, I was made to feel dumb for not knowing that that’s how they prepare it at The Vine. That’s an unpleasant experience and the reason I won’t...

We have always loved this restaurant, we’ve loved coming over the years and ordered out and eaten in tons of times. Sadly, our last experience makes me never want to return. I hope this review helps the owners to re think their management and the way they treat costumers.

When ordering our food I asked our waitress what options were available for kids meals - she said one of the options was “kids chicken Alfredo” which is assumed to be Alfredo with chicken on it since that was the exact name of the dish. We all got our food & loved it - when I received our check I saw I was charged $16 for the chicken on the kids Alfredo. I spoke to our waitress and reminded her she told me it was chicken Alfredo not Alfredo and chicken needed to be added. She said ok she’d try to remove it & was very nice. The manager came over and I can only describe our conversation as condescending and lacking all reason. I told him how the waitress had described the dish and he just would not listen, he kept just asking me - “well did your kids eat the chicken?” “ did they like the chicken?” I told him that had nothing to do with the fact that If your dish is called “chicken Alfredo” I’ll assume that chicken comes on it just like If I order beef stew or turkey lasagna I’ll assume those meats come included, he just kept saying “ well you have to pay for meat on dishes” or “did you even ask for the price of the dish” just completely irrelevant things that lacked understanding for the actual situation which was quite simple - I ordered a dish that had the word chicken in it and didn’t think I should be charged 16 extra for said chicken. Ultimately he took the cost off which was really not that important to me. What was really important was how rude and disrespectfully I was treated. I honestly could not believe this person was a manager- he had no ability to have a cohesive or reasonable conversation & was a poor listener.

Sadly, this whole experience made me never want to return which is really sad after all our...