TORC — Restaurant in Napa

Torc leads diners through a crowd-pleasing menu of local fare, well-made and served with care. Most diners will be very happy with a night at Torc.

Decor; environment

The chair legs vibrate somewhat on the hardwood floor when moving; it contributes to the louder atmosphere. The high ceiling has no sound dampening, although it isn't flat.

Visually, there are several textures, and a few pleasant medium format photos creating some appeal. The kitchen is open and vibrant. The lighting is pleasant and warm.

Menu design; content

Menu was well-phrased and effectively communicated; dishes themselves were a bit trendy, with how much black truffle and iberico ham were featured. The menu appears to be relatively static, which raises my expectations for plating and flavor.

Would have liked to see a more expanded mocktail menu, although my judgment in this is tempered by the restaurant's location in wine country serving a clientele likely primarily interested in wine.

The three column format of the menu reads a bit strangely (left aligned on the right and left, center aligned in the center), but it's fine.

Staff; service

Staff was very effective and knowledgable. They quickly determined which dishes could and could not be prepared without meat, which cheeses were pasteurized, and also what components were used to make ingredients listed on the menu. E.g. our staff knew that the veloute included chicken stock and duck liver. Napkins and other table settings were changed in a timely and thoughtful manner. Staff also executed well on their duty to guide guests (the menu is a la carte) to choosing complementary dishes across courses in their meal.

The staff do not offer to refill the bottle of water they bring to the table. This was the same for all of the tables dining tonight. I am not sure why, but with how consistent the service was otherwise, it seems intentional, and I don't see this as a negative (but you might). I am sure they would have refilled it, had we requested it.

Taste; plating

The small dishes from the left of the menu (almonds, pakora, iberico) were plated pleasantly, although very plainly. In particular the almond plating could have been improved beyond the "finger bowl of bar nuts" aesthetic.

The larger dishes were plated more lovingly, and across all of the food the flavor was superb, although one of the dishes was just shy of great, in that its flavor lacked contrast: it had a fairly uniform flavor throughout, which was very pleasant, but I would have expected more contrast.

I won't labor over specific dishes; you will like how it tastes, unless you are tightly clutching very exotic, or exceptionally refined expectations.

Table salt and pepper is provided. I personally feel that s&p on the table shows guests too much deference from the chef. Guests should be cared for to the utmost, but imo chef should not exhibit their art next to a bucket of paint. I personally think it shows a lack of conviction, but I am a bit strict.

I would highly recommend this experience to a typical diner. I would lightly recommend it to a diner whose taste is somewhat refined, and I would be unlikely to recommend it to diners of exceptionally refined taste. The price could be...

NEW VISIT 12 21 24 A QUICK FAMILY DINNER WE WANTED OUT KIDS TO TRY OUF FABOULUS FOOD SO WE ORDER THE SAME THING SERVICE WAY BETTER THAN LAST GUY BATRHOOM NICE AND CLEAN BUT OUT 175 DOLLARS 60 DAY DRY AGE WAS VERY JUST OK TE DER YES BUT NO FLAVORS ON MEAT SOME PIECES OVERY DRY COOKED WELL DONE AND SOME VERY RARE NOT SURE HOW THWY ACCOMPLISHED THAT BUT THE MAGIC HAS LEFT FROM MY MIND (some one had told me their steak wasnt great i though mine was pretty amazing but now i wonder was my first meal a lucky one well see next time maybe) ONE LESS STAR BECAUSE WHILE FOOD ALINE CAN MAKE UP FOR A SLOW OK SERVICE, GREAT SERVICE CAN NOT CHAMGE YOUR FOOD EXPERIENCE........Ok first i was a bit mad because they took my bottle to.open it away from my table and had ud wating with only water for about 25 minutes we were told if we ordered their specialty whole chicken and or prine 60 day dry age steak it would take about an hour to cook so the fist 20 to 25 minutes we sat wating for no one know but I wanted some wine and he had my bottle away from my table and I wasn't happy we order their 175 dollar steak and a whole chicken to share for a table (4 of us ) and it did take a long time but the food was worth it the server was supper nice but we ended up pouring our own wine (not usual for this type.of restaurant specialy with a 35 dollar corkage fee) while we wait we ordered a 9 day plate of specialty bread (not so special most places is free and way better) and some firsh tartare which was really good (still not happy about paying for bread) very small appetizer food came out right about an hour or a bit less they do bring hot plates so its nice because their AC was way to cold the humongous sharing plates look pretty amazing food was great steak way up there with some of the best we've had (ALEXANDERS in san francisco needs some lessons from this cooks not even close and way more expensive and way lower qualitythay this great guys ) the presentation was pretty impressive the flavors just immaculate supper tender meat and chicken very flavorful a bit dry but good Crispy skin and fries were also pretty awesome main dishes were awesome service was supper nice but VERŔYYYYYY slow didn't even care that we poured our wine nice guy but slow slow service over all great food ok service bathroom smell like they have some deep cleaning to do fast and also who in their right mind has a spay stinky cover up Glade bright orange most places have something in place that stays automatically this guys have ( better get galde) walmart bathroom prayer little details that make you wonder if someone if paying attention petty yes but thisnis not Applebee's s or dennys the price should reflect the experice AMAZING FOOD,, OTHER STUFF JUST VERY AVERAGE FOR THIS TYPE OF...

I want to give TORC the benefit of the doubt given how busy it was and the overwhelming amount of positive reviews. I think my experience was a fluke, but I still want to detail the experience because it's an expensive spot and I left disappointed.

My husband made a reservation here for us at 7 pm for our anniversary. We showed up two minutes before our reservation time and were told our table would be ready soon, which is totally fine/understandable. However, a couple showed up a minute after us and I overheard that they also had a 7 pm reservation time. This couple ended up being sat five minutes later. My husband and I waited until 7:20 and received no apology.

As for the food, we decided to order the NY Strip which was listed on the menu as a meal for two and our waiter told us it was 24 ounces. We were told the steak would take 35 minutes to cook for medium rare. It ended up taking 45 minutes, so between when we arrived to when we actually received food, we waited over an hour and twenty minutes. When the steak arrived, it looked to be a little over 12 ounces. This is still a lot of meat, but we were splitting it between two people and didn't order any appetizers/sides in anticipation of the amount of steak. We ended up leaving still hungry.

In addition, we ordered our steak medium rare. What we got was medium in some places and closer to well done in others. I'm normally not one to complain about this, but when I'm paying $119 for a steak I expect it to be cooked how I order it. Also, although the steak came with a tiny amount of horseradish and red wine jus, it completely lacked flavor.

Overall, a lot of little things added up to a...