SubTerra Kitchen & Cellar — Restaurant in Newberg

We had eaten at this restaurant before and had a good experience but this evening at a family reunion we had a very different experience. We had reserved a table for 10, 1 month in advance for 7pm and we all arrived on time. We had our drink orders taken about 10 minutes after we sat down by the waitress Brandon, who also explained that they were out of 6 different things on the menu and told us the special for the evening. Our drinks finally came about 20 -25 minutes later and then our dinner orders were taken. She asked how to divide the checks and we told her we wanted 4 separate checks. At around 7:50 bread finally was brought to the table at 8:15 our first course of soup was served at 8:35 our second course of salad was served. At 9:10 - 9:15 our meals were brought and 1 was incorrect. The waitress then proceeded to argue with the customer that she was right and they were wrong. The final corrected meal was brought at 9:30. The waitress then said that she would cover desserts for the table for all of the trouble. The food that was brought was cold and did not taste very good at all. It was either over-salted and over-cooked or tasteless and undercooked. One party only ordered a dinner salad to split between two people. After our dinner plates were picked up she set down dessert menus and said that she would cover two desserts for the table. Now all of the people at the our table heard her say she would cover all of the desserts the first time, now she changed her story. No one ordered dessert because there were several people in our group that needed to get going because of medical issues so I explained to the waitress that they needed their checks so they could go and that the meal and service was very poor. She again started to argue with me that we were the problem because is seemed we did not like the menu and that we seemed to be dissatisfied from the beginning when we walked in. I asked her if that was a reason to give us poor service and bad food? I personally did not feel this way when I arrived but I ca not speak for the rest of my party She said no but she felt she needed to defend herself, I asked her why she felt she needed to defend herself if she did not thing wrong? She said it was Friday night and she was busy and that was why things went the way they did. She rarely checked back with our table for anything and never kept us up to date on what was going on with our food. She said things got behind because of the drinks that were ordered. We ordered 2 iced teas, 2 sodas, 1 Pear Martini and 1 beer. the rest were water. When she brought the check she just set it on the table apologizing and said we could figure out the totals for each person on our own and that they removed several items. We had asked for separate checks at the beginning of dinner They removed the drinks and 1 entree, the one they screwed up on. That's it. I will say that this was one of the worst dining experiences I have had. I am a bit of a foodie and I dine out quite a bit. About 3-4 times a week. Everything about this experience was poor, the food quality, the service the way our complaints were handled and the offensive nature of the server. Now that we are home most of my family is suffering from severe indigestion and stomach pains. My suggestion is...

We were eager to experience this presentation. 1st off, the meal was wonderful. Becky had scallops & I had halibut. She liked hers, thought my halibut was a bit dry. I thought hers was rich, tasty, creamy & though my halibut was a tad dry it was in a pinot sauce with a mish of crafted vegetable-wrapped potato that was delicious. Both soups were super. The salad was "artsy". I felt the entree prices based upon the meal presentation was fair, a bit over $30. The wine list is EXTENSIVE, mainly Willamette Valley wineries- BRAVO! Most selections in the $40 range. The problem I had was that it really is 8n a cellar, the concrete basement of the strip mall on street level. They've done an adequate job on the redesign and accoutrements: some drapes, a big and nicely done mural of our wine field heritage, and sconces abounding. However, it is STILL a concrete room and the acoustics reflect that...literally. The ambiance was one of loudness, echoing indecipherable syllables of two dozen tables of conversation. The louder it got, the louder we got, and the louder we got the louder everyone else got. It was unpleasant to me. My preference would be to break up the one big room with a group of partitions and a lot of noise dampening material. There are places that are noisy that don't bother me. This was not one of them....for me. That doesn't mean you won't like it. I would certainly recommend you...

We ate here for the first time & it was excellent with some sweet surprises. They called to confirm our online reservation and asked about dietary restrictions or needs. Then, were we celebrating anything special? Our anniversary had been a couple of weeks before and we hadn't had a celebratory dinner. We told them since it was a few weeks ago, they didn't need to do anything; however, they mentioned they thought it was still important. We arrived and felt welcomed by everyone and were charmed by the beautiful atmosphere, the very kind waitstaff who even gave us a list of favorite wineries we could go visit during our stay. The appetizers were outstanding and each of our entrees had such creative taste combos (their menu changes often, because the chef, trained in France, is so inventive, we learned). Dessert featured the best tiramisu we've ever had, including Italy. The interesting taste of truffle ice cream was a sweet and savory combo that had our brains and tastebuds surprised in a wonderful way. Our cocktail was a lavender-gin delicious something -- they are more than just great wines at Subterra. They surprised us in the end with a little anniversary celebration, too. We would go there every day if Subterra was in our town. Consider them for your next meal or, as a friend later told us, a really nice place for a...