Papa Vino's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Saint Joseph Charter Township

I don’t often get to go out to eat unless it’s fast food. Well we just moved across the state and I’m trying to explore the local cuisine. I didn’t realize this was a chain restaurant but it’s for the best. We have no microwave and we need a water softener installed so we are kinda limited on food options at home currently. I knew this would be a bit of a splurge but decided to try it. Hubby isn’t much of a pasta person so Italian is a very rare treat and usually carry out so he can get something he likes from elsewhere too. The stars aligned and he didn’t want anything brought to him for lunch. So my two teenagers (one picky and obsessed with pizza, the other more adventurous but definitely has her set favorites to try at new places) and I went and I actually got the picky eater to try gnocchi and shockingly spinach and artichoke dip which he actually liked! We were so full but none of us finished our food because we wanted to try dessert. The service was spectacular too! All staff were wearing masks or face shields. From the moment we came in we were promptly seated at our reservation time. We were offered drinks, a loaf of bread with oil and spices to dip it in, and offered an opportunity to order appetizers before we even realized there was an appetizer menu. We never went without food and drinks the whole hour and half we were there. We took our time eating and enjoying ourselves. We made sure to tip decently despite the pricey meal. I always try to tip 20% because I know servers usually make most of their money in tips. But I went a little over the 20% because I was able to this one time and it was well deserved. Expect to spend a decent amount here, but you will more than get your money’s worth and have an enjoyable meal. Sure I can’t do this very often but I did not feel anything was overpriced for the delicious quality and wonderful service. If you have more than two people expect to spend about $100 or more but trust me it’s a worthy treat.

What I can’t figure out is how they managed to shrink my pants! XD

I left happy and super full. My daughter mentioned she felt underdressed. We were all in jeans and t shirts. I did feel I could have worn better clothes but didn’t feel like we were obligated to wear a suit and tie. A nice casual sun dress would have made me feel more appropriately dressed if we had planned it, but our casual attire did not get us looks or detract from the experience at all. We wore our masks to the table and when our server took our order. Nobody asked us to but it was an unspoken courtesy we chose to abide by since we don’t have our second...

4 of us dined this evening. We were able to walk in at 6:30 and get seated right away. It took our waitress "A" about 15 minutes to bring us bread and water then take our appetizer and drink order. First drink order was 2 Sicilan Ice Teas and a glass of Moscato (Italy). About 15 minutes later the teas came but the wine was forgotten. Teas were very off according to the description on the menu and the wine was a pino NOT a moscoto! Big difference. Anyway appetizers came before the meal order was taken so we fumbled making room and giving orders. Apps were mediocre- brushetta and rubbery calamari. Entrees were Cubi and prosciutto- looked like 1 piece of bacon broken up on my pasta pockets but honestly didnt taste to bad. 2 entrees were steak and shrimp. 3 pieces of shrimp- they looked raw. Steaks not well or rare as ordered. Shrimp and asparagus linguine was crunchy as noodles stuck together and under cooked. 2nd round of drinks- Italian margaritas- RUN! It was pure sugar-little if any amaretto and beyond sweet. Not even close to an Italian Marg. Most of our meal was left on the table. I brought my padta pickets and piece of bacon home. Not very good service. Bartender does not appear to know how to mix drinks or moscato from pino, cook (clearly not a chef) needs to google how to cook shrimp and linguine, and our server needs to move faster and learn how to multi task. My friend being a former Whirlpool employee said her and her Co workers would go there all the time. She was appalled. No, I did not talk to management. Our friends took us there as a celebration to my fiancés new job. We didn't want to hurt their feeling or seem ungrateful to their attempt at a kind gesture. They couldn't apologize enough. In turn this made us feel bad. So much for a...

Beware of dishonest charges from the bar. We had just arrived at Benton Harbor helping my daughter move from Southern California and decided on Italian food at Papa Vino’s as it appeared to be a nice family restaurant. After driving for 9 hours my wife decided to have a couple of glasses of chianti and specifically indicated to the waitress the cheaper of the two offerings on the menu. We all witnessed her tell the waitress the cheaper one and actually point to the one she wanted. When we had finished dinner and received our bill we discovered that we had been charged for the more expensive wine, almost double the price. We pointed the discrepancy out to our waitress and she said she would take care of it. After waiting a really long time, she and the bar manager came up to our table and the bar manager condescendingly explained that since my wife drank the wine (sorry, my wife doesn’t have the discerning palate to tell the difference between the two wines!), there was nothing she could do but offer a $10 voucher on a future meal. Hello? We are from are from the other side of the continent! Not sure if the disconnect was with the waitress or the bar manager taking it upon themselves to go ahead and serve the more expensive of the two offerings, but obviously they chose to pull the old, “bait and switch” and it made me wonder how many times they do this to customers who never catch it. If this restaurant prides itself on being an honest business, the ethical thing to do would have been to at least offer the difference off of the check. It is unfortunate that the restaurant preys upon tired and hungry travelers in order to make a few dollars more on drinks. Nothing worse than unethical trade at...