Root & Vine — Restaurant in Morganton

Do not go here on a busy night - Service and Management is horrible:

Decor: 2 - We had holes punched in our walls where we were seated. Now I know why. Greet: 5 - This girl needs a raise excellent multitasker. Service: 0 - Avoid the waitress with short red hair and grumpy attitude, others will serve you well Food : 3 Owner/Management: 0 - Don't waste your time. They don't care.

I had high hopes for this establishment. My first time dining there will be my last. I had reservations and when I arrived I was greeted by a smiling hostess that took my party to the table with no wait. It goes down hill from here.

My waitress was not very friendly and totally forgot our table existed after we were seated. Our drinks were quick but the food was not. The appetizers took 45 minutes to arrive then our dinner another 45 minutes later. I don't know if the kitchen was slow or if the waitress just forgot our food in the window but I could have cooked our parties dinners solo in the time we received our meals. My tuna was cold and my wife's salmon which was microwaved from the looks of it, was cold and mushy in the thicker end of the filet. The mountain trout and my daughters quesadilla were the highlights of the meal. They were hot and perfect.

Near the end of the meal a manager stopped by and asked how everything was. I told her the wait times for our food was ridiculous and she walked away to check the ticket times in the kitchen. When she came back I told her that we had waited 45 min for our appetizers and another 45 minutes for our entrees. The couple next to us who was being served by the hostess, yes the hostess, received better treatment than we did. They came in 30 minutes after we arrived, they sat at their table for about 20-30 minutes before they were served drinks, I guess the real waitress forgot about them as well hence the hostess to the rescue. Once they received their drinks they were given their entrees shortly afterwards. I was actually kind of jealous. I asked the manager if our wait time was acceptable considering others around us got their food before we did. The manager was just as unprofessional as our waitress. She didn't even want to discuss what happened during our visit and she told me I was rude and walked away, at no point during our conversation did I raise my voice or curse which would warrant that type of comment. I merely stated the truth of what was going on and she could not handle the situation and resorted to name calling and fled the seen.

I hope anyone that reads this post has a better experience that I did if you decide to visit this establishment, but save your self some heartache and go to Wisteria instead I am sure you will have a...

Edit to review, with a visit a year later. It looks like they have their opening kinks worked out. Service was excellent. Food was still very very good. Hint: if you get a salad they split it and it’s actually quite large. Below is my initial review. —— Great pizzas but service/drinks very slow.

We stopped here on a whim on our way to High Rock Lake from Asheville.

We were going to arrive too late to have dinner, so we thought we would stop some place nice and sit down. We haven’t explored Morganton much, and so this was all new to us.

I think this restaurant is either in a new location or has just expanded, because they seem to be a bit harried. The drinks took absolutely forever to come. The server told us that the bar was backed up, and we watched other patrons struggle through the same thing.

The owner/manager seated us outside. The outside patio was super cute! And I feel sure it was the owner/manager who stayed us, because the host looked to be completely overwhelmed. Again, we think this is either expansion or a new location. I base this on the fact that they were really overwhelmed and also some of the people waiting with us to be seated (assuming locals) were saying how great the place looked.

On to the food. We both ordered pizza. I love a good brick oven pizza with a crispy black crust. I especially like it when it’s a little crispy black, but not really burnt. The person cooking these pizzas did a great job. Onto the food. I ordered the puttanesca pizza. I’m a huge fan of puttanesca, and this was a bit different, because it included some meat. The pesto drizzle on it was brilliant, because it really softened some of the other elements, which really ended up quite salty. Olives are salty, and they added some salty prosciutto to it, so the overall effect was that the pizza itself had a little too much sodium. But the pesto was nice and bright and helped balance that out.

My husband had the rossa pizza, which was really delicious and well balanced. Lots of sausage.

My yuzu drink was good. Yuzu everywhere now! We visited Japan a decade ago, and Yuzu was really popular, and it seems it has hit the states! Perhaps it’s the new apperol, or Luzardo. Those elements are in everything now. I also had a glass of their cab, which was good. It would be nice if they expanded their red wine menu just a little bit, since they have so many food offerings that pair beautifully with reds.

We will absolutely be back. For the courtyard and for the pizzas, and hopefully they will have eased through some of their growing pains and the service will...

My daughter took me out in celebration of my being named as Rehab employee of the month at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital. She wanted to treat me to someplace special.

1st we were seated at a little table in the darkest corner of the outdoor sitting area. Not a problem, they kindly sat us at a better table.

My daughter ordered the trout and I ordered the duck breast which was something I've never had before. The waitress recommended medium-rare as it would be very tender. She also told me if it was cooked more it would be tough and since duck doesn't carry the same diseases as chicken does, medium-rare would be safe. Since Root and Vine has an excellent reputation and because we've enjoyed wonderful meals there in the past, I was certain she was correct with her recommendation and I agreed to it.

My duck arrived and the raspberry vinegrette was wonderful, but the duck was chewy and on the cool side. It had little flavor which I felt was odd. Since I've never had duck before, I thought that the consistency and taste was as it should be. It was nighttime and the lighting didn't allow for good inspection. My daughter tried it, pronounced it as awful and she deposited what she had tried into a napkin. I brought what I didn't eat home with me.

This morning when I pulled it out of the fridge and looked at it I could tell it most certainly was not medium-rare - it was very rare.

I research and looked at several sources on the web to find out what properly medium-well duck should look like, taste like, and what the correct chewing consistency should be. What I was served last night was not cooked correctly.

After watching a couple YouTubes, I panned the duck and cooked it correctly: juicy, tender, with lots of flavor. My daughter tried it and readily agreed.

In closing, the atmosphere, conversation, and my half pulls were all wonderful and my daughter and myself enjoyed ourselves. Her mountain trout was exquisite. But at $29 per plate I expect that my main course should be cooked correctly. It was not.

My daughter was worried that our evening was ruined. I reassured her it was not, but my food was disappointing. Again, at $29 a plate, my food should have matched the rest of the evening. That alone warrants a 1 star review, but I'll give 2 stars because fortunately, the evening...