House Wine & Bistro — Restaurant in McAllen

Valentines bummer

The first and last time I go to this restaurant. Our tab was $270.00 (without tip), which was 100% what I expected when I made the reservation but the experience fell way short of my expectation, specifically with the food and organization.

It was so obvious this restaurant bit way more than what they could chew when it came to hosting the amount of people that they did. At the lobby I heard the receptionist say "im sorry we had guest stay an over hour more than we expected" at a minimum 15 times. It was kind of annoying hearing that.

I opted for the $250 valentines dinner a week in advance yet when we showed up we were given a menu as if we were walk-ins. If I'm paying that kind of money I expected to be seated and served what I reserved in advance, not wait for the server to hand a menu, bounce, attend to his tables, and come back and ask what we wanted. (not a big deal).

After a notable wait time, our appetizers came in and started strong with six delicious fried oysters. (no big deal its a holiday its obviously busy and the apps were good).

Things went downhill with the beef tomato salad, literally two fat slices of tomato with mozzarella slices, cucumber slices and salad dressing (LOL) what a joke, the Cobb Salad at chick-fil-a is way better. (whatever we werere expecting bomb-a** steak next)

*reminded our waiter about the bottle of wine (he forgot, no biggie) we get it right away but it wasnt even a full size bottle, (okay whatever, nothing to cry about)

Then came the steak, which was one steak to be shared between two people. This was an curveball because we were each asked how we wanted our steak, giving the impression that two steaks were headed our way. Wrong, we were given one steak to share. The table next to use literally complained about the same thing so at this point I was convinced we were not being uptight, and it started to feel like I was ripped off. Also we wanted our steak a little red in the middle so we asked for medium rare, our server recommended medium, so we accepted his recommendation yet our steak came out fully cooked.

The dessert was disappointing as well, it was a hard-ish brownie with jelly that felt like it came straight from an HEB bottle of jam.

All said and done, the whole experience felt overpriced. I felt like the plate should have been worth $200.00. This review strictly reflect the restaurants organization, price and overall taste. Half the meal was great ( steak and oysters), the salad and dessert was rubbish. My waiter was great, nothing against him. I'm sorry I only tipped $30.00, I just cannot justify paying 15% of the overpriced total which was...

I made reservations for valentines day here 2/14/24 and the experience was not the greatest for my wife and I.

We arrived at 6:45 and knew exactly what we wanted to eat, so we had our order in by 6:55 shortly after we were sat right in front of the restrooms (which in all honesty seemed like a hasty decision to add a small table there in a small corner where every single person was bumping into my wife's chair and table to get past us to the restroom).

We got our Calamari in a timely fashion and it was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about our butternut squash risottos. The main dishes did not come out until around 8:10. Our candle on the table had even died during our wait which was tragically funny. Right before the food got to our table, my wife and I had had already decided to take the food to go. Ultimately, it felt like we were forgotten about in said corner in front of the restrooms because we would see all the risottos going out to the bigger parties that were sat at the same time as us.

That's the first half what went wrong. The second part was finally sitting down to eat in our home and finding out the risotto and butternut squash were both undercooked. We could tell because the squash was as hard as uncooked carrots and the risotto was crunchy. Not a good experience after having had dental work done. We have eaten here before and know for a fact that this is not the standard that has been set in the past.

Albeit being Valentines Day, I understand things can be lagging behind a bit in a kitchen. But if we're paying over 80 dollars and it takes an hour to be delivered undercooked food, then we will refrain from coming back in the future.

The initiative from management should've been to resolve the situation, or at the very least talk to us. But the manager that delivered our plates simply took our food back, wrapped it up to go and called it a day.

Needless to say the server was still well tipped because the issue was not with her service per se, but more so the...

Consistent quality service was lacking by the waiters the evening we visited. One needed to look for or wait to get their attention versus them coming over to check on you. The atmosphere was loud due to some customers at other tables forgetting to restrain &/or control their enthusiasm. Take a sweater or light jacket. The AC temperature may be too cold for some.

The actual backing of the menu is something similar to a large rectangular clip board but without the clip. It was a nice rarity, at first. Then it became awkward later in trying to find a place to park it, once you were done looking at it.

The grilled panela starter was unique and delicious. I would have enjoyed two orders and skipped the putanesca risotto, which came with salmon. Although the salmon was wonderfully cooked and seasoned, the risotto came with capers that exhibited a sharp/tart vinegary taste, detracting from the flavor of the risotto. I would have been content with a much larger piece of salmon and no risotto. Yes, the salmon was juicy, well-flavored and great! It tasted as if it were cooked in the same place after a steak was grilled on the grill. No detraction, it was a plus for the flavor. The yahweh salad, with grilled chicken added, hit the spot....delicious!

Expect some pricey wine and beer for the amount of liquid ounces you get. Similar to Olive Garden, your bill comes accompanied by a 3 option gratuity fee suggestion chart. Your choices are a 18, 20 or a 22% tip. This shouldn't be necessary, nor a standard. A faint existence of up-selling or suggestions for higher priced drinks was noted.

Suggestions: tweak the ingredients on the menu a tiny bit and train the servers better.

I’d still go back for another visit, either way.

PS: if you are using Google Maps to find the location. It will be the restaurant in the middle, since there are 3 restaurants side by side and the names are difficult to see if approaching from the east at night. Parking is in the rear or you will find plenty of parking across the street...