Press 626 Wine Bar — Restaurant in Norfolk

Flawless. We were greeted with a great ambiance and were seated pleasantly and felt welcomed!The incredibly warm hospitality shown by Jessica was matched by her expansive knowledge of both food and wine! She informed us we were sitting at a very "special" table, one made of Palatinate wood (wine region of Germany). I believe that's what she said I was too busy enjoying my incredible complimentary tasting she brought over for us right out of the gate! (She let us know it was new on the menu & they'd decided to do a small tasting...) The wine menu is Glorious! But not to the point of overwhelming. You can tell it was constructed by a true person of skill, meant to allow you to explore and enjoy but letting you know you'd be back! You can't look over that wine menu and think you're not going to return! It was a global wine menu with lots of wines telling you might have been missing out but not anymore. No passport needed, no traveling or dealing with airport security...no, right there on that menu sat an invitation to an incredible journey to places you could confidently allow your taste buds to explore. You knew you were in good hands. The service was as gourmet as the food. The staff was a team but we were never in want of anything and knew Jessica was on top of anything we needed. There was a really beautiful gentle glow from the small view that led into the kitchen. You knew something magical was happening in there. The real, the genius of true artisanal craft. We enjoyed our meal immensely and I'll leave my food comments for more on my next visit but we did enjoy a wonderful Blueberry Key Lime Cheesecake. We had the most delightful deconstruction conversation with Jessica about it even as we relished it. So much fun! I doubt there's anyone there who isn't just as culinarily savvy but Jessica won us over and we'll be back to see her for sure. You simply knew this wasn't just a garage type band experience, but an orchestra of flavor! Finely tuned and with all the passion of an opening night. If you don't go there you're certainly missing out but that's ok with me. I'm sure there were those who wanted Chez Panisse to stay their own little secret long after it was finally "discovered." Hats off to...

We've been meaning to hit up Press 626 for some time! Really nice lowkey but classy setup inside. Someone with a nice eye for design layed out and designed everything inside and the outside really is a testament to well thought out horticulture.

I got the duck confit grilled cheese with rosemary-garlic tater tots, wife got the salmon BLT, and we got the baked Camembert appetizer. Everything is done well enough however The salmon BLT case like there's two heavy of a char on the salmon and it leaves the seasoning on the fish tasting just burnt, and the duck confit grilled cheese actually had a rather large bone in it and honestly isn't noteworthy. However, special emphasis needs given to the awesome baked cheese with walnuts and blueberry reduction compote! They offer a lunch combo for about $5 less than the full lunch meal, which I have to say the sandwiches are pretty big and filling and you'll be walking away with leftovers if you get the full lunch, so if you're looking to watch your intake and save a little bit then I recommend going with the lunch combos.

The spritzer lemonades are fantastic! I got the lavender chamomile and it was so good! The sweet tea was perfectly sweetened, not too much not too little and we do prefer it on the sweet side. Perhaps on another outing we will check out the alcohol menu 😉.

Overall the only reason for giving three out of five stars is because of the price given the moderate degree of flavors delivered. You're looking at about $16 for a substantial but okay sandwich and small side, at least $6 a drink, and at least $13 for any of the appetizers. Our lunch date bill was $62. It was a date for us since it was my day off, but it does discourage us from making this a regular dining out spot. Nice setting for a...

I have eaten here before and the food is fine, but the experience we just had... will never eat here again and will tell everyone I know to avoid the establishment. We had a table reserved and when we arrived the sweetest server started to escort us upstairs. There are a LOT of stairs, and my mom has a bum knee, so we asked if we could sit downstairs. There was a 4 person wide open table for our party of 4 and no one else waiting. The kind server asked what I assume was the manager, a tall slim guy with light skin, and he looked at us and said no, we have a rotation, we can't seat them down here. So the server very nicely said sorry and tried to escort us upstairs. And I said my mom has a bum knee and there is a table open. He said to her they can wait then and we will seat them when we can. She was super apologetic because she knew he was being incredibly rude for no reason, and so we sat on thr bench at the entrance and waited... while servers were standing around talking. He just refused to seat us on principle, and after waiting for 5 minutes and giving the benefit of the doubt, and watching the servers and hostess standing there and him smugly refusing to seat us, I insisted that we leave. The server said "oh it will be just a minute" and I said "it's not you, you've been kind. He is extremely rude and we are uncomfortable."

I can only assume that either a) this person doesn't gaf about customer service at all, which is difficult to fathom for someone in a restaurant management role or b) he viewed us with disdain because he thought we just didn't want to climb the stairs. Either way, his rude and dismissive demeanor and refusal to seat us despite us telling our server that my mom had a bad knee, we will never...