No.10 Eatery @ WillowsAwake — Restaurant in Leeds

Today marks my 4th and final visit for a long time. I recently moved to Maine and tried hard to find a winery with a restaurant. To my surprise willows awake is 25 minutes from me and I was told it was amazing. We went twice during the warmer months on a week or weekend day. Nothing special. The food is amazing. Our server was outstanding. However, the driveway is a mess. Long, winding driveway through the grape vines is perfect, but with pot holes the size of a small car, we had to drive on the grass in order for our sedan not to bottom out. This week, winter, I went twice. Each time for an event. First, Sunday, it was was unseasonably warm. The driveway was all mud. This time I was smart and took my suv. The driveway was all mud. Off-roading would have been easier. I had mud on the roof. I had to take my car to the car wash it was so bad. On top of that, as I slid in the mud I almost slid into another car. I almost fell multiple times as I slid walking in and out of my car. Sunday was a Galentines event. They kept telling us the bar was backed up as we waited and waited for drinks. The food came out faster. When the food came out the girl spilled a pink drink all over me. My pants covered. Their offer, to make me another drink. Nothing else. No comp, no discount, nothing. Tonight is valentines. We ordered drinks and an app. They came out at what seemed like a normal speed. Then we ordered dinner and a second drink, normal order of events After being there for an hour and 45 minutes we started to ask where things were. The waitress kept saying “the bar and kitchen are backed up” I watched the 1 bar tender make drinks for about a half hour. 1 guy. It took him on average, 2 minutes per drink with the other tasks he was doing, like pulling out the full trash. The restaurant was full. No one was helping him. When we asked for an update on food she said “soon” we asked if she could get and update on how long and she paused and said 10-15 minutes. We had been there for 2 hours. Reservation was at 6. This was now 8pm. Other tables around us were having the same issue. We were all sitting around talking about it and in the final request we were informed their ordering system wasn’t working. It seems events are not something they handle well. I wanted to go to the wine event on March 1st. But I will be canceling that reservation after today. I’m beyond disappointed. I booked this reservation for our fist Valentine’s Day as a married couple and we went...

Beautiful location, but everything else was a disaster. Apps for the table took more than 40 minutes to arrive, despite some of them as simple as smearing butter on a board with some bread. We actually watched as that butter board came out of the kitchen, was brought to the wrong table, then returned to the kitchen, not to reappear for us for another 15 minutes. Worse, one of the key ingredients in the $18 salad was rancid. Mentioned it to our server, who apologized, left the salad on our table, and didn't remove it from our bill at the end. Also surprising that our server was unable to describe the wines on the menu that were made by the winery (how does your staff at a winery not know your own wines?).

As far as food, the mussels were excellent, yet everything else was way downhill from there. Some were ok, like the meatballs. But other dishes showed a lack of basic skills (or interest) in the kitchen. The "homemade chips" with two of the sandwiches (a meh chicken sandwich and an under-seasoned burger) were cold, greasy, and either entirely soggy or too tough to eat, depending which one you got. The wedge salad would have been very good had the "local bacon" not been served ice cold with the rest of the salad, making every piece a mouthful of congealed fat. While the parmesan crusted haddock was severely overcooked and overwhelmed by its heavy cream sauce. Needless to say, dessert was a hard "no", as we elected to cut our losses at this point.

All of this is really a shame because I would love to see a winery like...

From our first experience, this instantly became one of our favorite spots from breakfast, brunch to dinner and special events. We made reservations for Valentines Day and it was not our usual foodie experience on top of being a special night for two very busy parents…we NEVER complain but we had to speak up and voice our opinion of the quality of cooking and how truly disappointed we were. It seemed overall it was a frustrating night for the management, staff and owners…our bill was discounted but we thought we’d never return. Willows Awake reached out to us about a month ago and said come back, eat dinner with us and let us give you the experience you expect from us…at a discounted rate of course. We really loved this place and wanted to give them another chance. We had reservations tonight, new Chef…Chef Tony! They even called us earlier in the day to make sure they set aside what we planned on having for dinner so they didn’t run short on what we wanted. I have no words for what my pallet experienced…I’m such a foodie and this exceeded all and any expectations. From the service to food to a talk with the owners after our dinner…we are beyond impressed! YOU MUST GO! The overall experience was phenomenal…Chef Tony will awaken your tastebuds and the owners warmth/kindness will make you feel like you’re family. Thank you Sarah for reaching out…we are routing for Willows Awake...