La Toque — Restaurant in Napa

Underwhelming is the word that comes to mind when thinking of this restaurant. Restaurant reviews are difficult because they are so subjective, but I have traveled extensively and eaten in some of the best restaurants in the world, so I feel I have a pretty level expectation for what a Michelin star restaurant should be, and frankly this was not it. The entire meal was awkward from the moment we walked in. The table we had was in an uncomfortable spot between the two dining rooms which was a very high traffic area, certainly not a romantic table in anyway, and its not as if every person who came by didn't wish us a happy anniversary. Beyond that, there were many open tables in much more romantic areas of the restaurant with less traffic. The service was average at best, we had met three different people before our server came by. He didn't spend much time with us after trying to talk us into the truffle sandwich and upgraded Wagyu and Lobster supplements. After two days in Napa drinking wine, we were unsure of doing yet another pairing, but its hard for me not do the wine pairing with my meal. The good news is the pours were very corporate, meaning they were incredibly small. The SOMs seemed much more interested in spending time with other tables than ours. And the wine was, like everything else at this restaurant, underwhelming. On to the food. The first Amuse Bouche was mostly a bowl of couscous. While I like couscous, I certainly wouldnt consider it to be an amazing start to a meal. The second Amuse Bouche was a bit better but still nothing to write home about. As I write this, I struggle to remember the courses, sadly they left that small of an impression. I do remember when the Chef- I assume it was the Chef, though he didnt even introduce himself, he stood at our table as if we should know who he was- put an overwhelming (I guess there was one thing that didnt underwhelm) amount of truffles on our course. I like truffles and all, but a plate of them is a bit excessive. Desert was probably the best course of the dinner but still left me wanting something sweet. The box of "candy" at the end is supposed to be a nice touch but once again, the three pieces of candy were underwhelming at best. But the topper of the night came when our waiter dropped off an autographed menu from the staff to as an anniversary gift. I found this gesture to be really amateurish and not worthy of a Michelin starred restaurant. At this price level I expect a certain level of food, service and ambiance. The only thing that was in line with my expectation of a Michelin star restaurant was the price tag. Beyond that, everything about La Toque was disappointingly...

Underwhelming!

We recently spent a long weekend in Yountville for a special occasion but unfortunately, no aspect of our experience at La Toque met our expectations. After being greeted warmly and being offered a glass of champagne to start off, we both picked our tasting menus. One of the reasons we chose La Toque was that they do offer a vegetable tasting menu, which my fiancé chose. Unfortunately, her dinner was a big disappointment all around. The bottom line was that there was just not enough food and whatever was there was not very special at all. The cauliflower soup to start was probably the best course. The tempura vegetables were dry and fried too long, the wild mushrooms were barely a taste, and there was even less of the heirloom beets. At that point she really hoped for the pasta, but what arrived were two small specks of noodle, a few green dots, one sunchoke and maybe a mushroom (we’re not sure). All around, her dinner was a complete bust and she walked out of the restaurant hungry.

I chose the standard tasting menu and didn’t fare much better. Most courses on the standard tasting menu were just not that special. The greeting from the kitchen – deviled duck eggs – were tasty. My choices after that were carpaccio (bland), black cod (the fish was fine, the accompanying sauce was the best part of my dinner), duck breast (not a lot of meat, tender but hardly any sides), and then red snapper (odd to have fish after duck again – the fermented beans were weird and the rest of the sides were not exciting). Our desserts – the wall of chocolate and the truffle ice cream sandwich – were also just OK and plain and simple not good enough to convince us that we had just eaten dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant.

Aside from the disappointing food, one of the other things that we did not like was the fact that eating at La Toque felt like you had a fine dining dinner at a hotel restaurant that will serve a buffet breakfast at the same place a few hours later. Tables were set with odd fitted plastic covers that do not at all convey a feeling of high-end dining and tables, chairs and booths placed in a non-descript square room felt cheap.

Unfortunately, this was not at all what we hoped for. We do not...

Not worthy of a Michelin Star. We had the worst experience at La Toque. Went to celebrate our engagement and ordered a multi-course meal with wine pairing. Without asking permission, the restaurant decided to replace a duplicate wine pairing with Champagne- which doesn't agree with my fiance. When we noticed the Champagne we asked for it to be replaced with another wine. The Sommelier, in the most unprofessional, rude and condescending tone said "Oh, I guess you didn't notice the champagne glass on the table before I poured it." This nastiness and pettiness from the Sommelier was SHOCKING- for any service experience let alone a $600 meal. We told the manager on duty and they replaced the Sommelier for the remaining course; however, our experience was already ruined. We were given a bottle of wine to try to mitigate for the experience - which living 3,000 miles away doesn't really mean anything to us because we can't travel with the wine. Two days later, after reflecting on how poor our experience was, we went back to the restaurant to speak with the General Manager. He could have not been more rude. Did not apologize. Told us the issue was "handled." And then TOOK THE BOTTLE OF WINE BACK and walked away!

We both thought the food was delicious; however, service is a key factor to a fine dining experience and it does not matter how delicious the food is when the service was so abysmal. Shame on you La Toque for ruining our entire experience.

I hope this restaurant loses it's Michelin star. They are not worthy of the designation. It's bad enough to have a one-off bad experience with a Sommelier but the follow-up by management was even more rude and more upsetting.

The owner's response is to recklessly and maliciously call us "bullies" and "jerks." How about owning up to your staff verbally abusing a guest? And perhaps you should look through the aggregate of your reviews on Google, Trip Advisor, Yelp and Facebook because many other guests share my view of...