Vineyards Trattoria & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Virginia

BLUF - the food is delicious, be extra cautious if you have a food allergy (in our case, gluten specifically).

We arrived for dinner on a Monday (my partner and I with our young son). Our server was very sweet and personable with all 3 of us. Prior to ordering, I asked if there was a gluten-free menu. Our server was not sure, so she went to the back, returning to let us know there were gluten free penne noodles available. (While this was helpful, it didn't direct as to which dishes or sauces in general were gluten-free). The menu indicates gluten free noodles are available, as well as gluten free crust for pizza.

We first ordered wine, during which our server noted her language barrier, so she was extra careful in reviewing the menu as we ordered and writing exactly what the menu said on her note pad. Next we ordered a dish for our son to arrive first. At a different time, we ordered our entrees and salad (the salad we modified slightly). Everything arrived as ordered, no issues, until our entrees.

I ordered the Seafood Cannelloni - a delicious sounding stuffed pasta with ricotta, shrimp, lobster, and crab sauce (if I remember correctly), but received a pasta dish with mussels and linguini. I politely let our server know that the dish was incorrect. She promptly took the food, and asked another server who confirmed that the dish was indeed what I ordered. When she returned with the same dish, I said, I'm sorry but that does not match the description so either the wrong dish was made, or that belongs to someone else. At the same time, my partner had been given a dish with shrimp, veggies, and penne pasta (assumingly his requested order with gluten-free noodles).

After a couple minutes and our server chatting with angry cooks, she came to our table, apologized for the mistake, and let me know my entree would be out in about 5 minutes. She apologized again (we understand mistakes happen).

While waiting for my dish, my partner asked me to try his, so I tried a noodle and noted the darker color and chewier texture, often the case with gluten free noodles. He was not confident his food was gluten-free, so he asked the server who said yes, they were. I tried his dish and told him they didn't taste like regular pasta as the color and texture was off, so they were either whole wheat (which I assumed unlikely) or gluten-free. He continued eating, eventually finishing his meal.

While he was eating, I received my corrected meal (which was DELICIOUS), and our server checked in on us to see how everything was. She then let us know that we both received the incorrect dish and she apologized. She asked if my partner would like the kitchen to remake his originally ordered entree, and he said yes - he had been eating what he thought was his food, but realized some of the seafood was missing (he ordered Shrimp Christina).

I continued my meal, and we waited for his original order to arrive. Eventually, he asked that it be boxed to go (we hadn't received it yet and it was getting late). Then things got weird. We were trying to confirm that his pasta was indeed gluten-free with the server. We could hear and see cooks in the back getting angry. Eventually, someone came to our table and introduced himself as the manager/owner. We let him know the situation, we weren't mad or upset, but wanted to confirm if my partners meal was gluten free or not, as he will get really sick if he eats gluten.

His pasta was not gluten-free. He received whole wheat penne instead of gluten-free noodles. Their whole wheat noodles are called their low-carb option, and the dish my partner received was the Low-Carb Penne Primavera.

My low rating is due to the handling of this situation. The server was in tears over the situation. The manager was yelling at employees in ears distance of customers, and we never received the original order. Our meal was comped, but that doesn't solve the issue. Allergies are serious and NEED to be handled properly. Staff should be adequately trained and menu items clearly identified to help ensure...

No more birthdays at the Vineyards. I apologize for how this reads. Google's reviews does not show paragraph breaks so it makes this look like a jumbled mess.

I used to enjoy going to the Vineyards. I went on May 14, 2011 for my birthday dinner. The place was packed, the parking lot was jammed, so it was obviously a busy time. We had reservations and were seated at a table near the front at the side window.

As I said, I used to enjoy going there for a specific kind of pasta served with a delicious spicy pink sauce. To my dismay, it no longer existed, (they did have seafood with a champagne pink sauce, but I don't eat seafood and this was not the same thing) so I had to scramble for something else. I wound up with the Veal Parmesean.

Out came the garlic knots. Usually the reason for it's name is the strong garlic flavor it has. Well, it had none this time. My family being a bread family still ate it waiting for the food. The second basket came... still no flavor.

I noticed the table in front of me receiving their meals... only to complain that a plate was not what they ordered. Not a problem. That happens from time to time but the waiter that took it back clearly looked annoyed. I don't know if it was with the table or with the kitchen, but it's not something the customer should see.

The salad was good. Fresh, leafy greens with a few tomato chunks, a few olives, and a couple of pepperoncini.

My brother and my mother received their dishes first, only to find out that they put the wrong sauce on my mother's. The waitress asked my mother if it was still okay. (Are you kidding me? Very different sauces and she has to be very careful with what she eats) She politely responded with a smile, "no", and back it went.

Then there was the giant yellow Hummer truck that parked at the side window I was seated at. I gave an annoyed stare at the driver as what little view I had was now the side of a yellow beast/truck that was 3 feet away from me. It eclipsed the light at my table! She glanced back as if she owned the restaurant.

Funny thing is, the actual owner of the restaurant wound up having a delightful conversation with them, so they apparently knew each other. Wonderful. Not every customer likes the feeling that they just sat down at a Sonic fast food restaurant as the view was all monster truck!

My Veal Parm came out and I decided to wait for my mother's meal first before starting. To the Vineyard's credit, her dish was in front of her in less than 5 minutes.

There was very little seasoning on the food. Salt and pepper was rolling around the table like it was the newest taste sensation.

My veal was properly cooked, but generally uninteresting. I half expected it to be flattened as I see in many good italian restaurants, but did not see that here. Again, there was a bit of a let down that this was a very distant second choice, so that is both the restaurant and my fault.

When we had finished, we decided not to have dessert as the meals simply weren't particularly tasty.

While the ratings here on Google only give good or bad ratings, the bad ratings I have given are not at the worst of the scale, but clearly this was NOT a good night for them.

I chose The Vineyards to be my Birthday dinner location as I had considered them to be one of the best area Italian restaurants. After last night, they're average at best. Next year will be somewhere else. Maybe Primo 116 in Suffolk, maybe even Luigi's north of Denbigh, but not...

I don't normally do reviews, but my dining experience on 6 May 24, is an exception, I was very disappointed. I and my family have been dining at The Vineyards for over 20 years, lately because of my wife's terminal illness we hadn't been in probably 2 years. In the past we were always greeted when we came, the service and the server were great, and the food equally so. This time we arrived for a 5:30 reservation and it took a few minutes for someone to come forward to greet us and show us to our table; there was only one other couple in the restaurant, and the host and someone were at the rear doing something on a laptop. Our server was friendly, but seemed nervous (maybe he was new), but he had an overpowering deodorant or aftershave that was noticeable an offsetting. He gave us our menu's and said he would return shortly to get our drinks order since I wanted to take a few minutes to look at the wine list. He was gone long enough that it was noticeable and I was wondering when he would come back; he did a short time later (there was still only one couple there). I requested a bottle of Italian wine and was told he needed to check to see if they had any, they did not, so I gave him two other choices, which they had one; the wine was good. He took our order and returned shortly with the house salad and bread knots. In years past the salad was in a larger bowl, the server served it to each diner and then added parmesan if desired. Our server did not serve and attempted to add the cheese without asking our desires; the bread knots, a favorite in the past, were either overcooked (they were dark brown) or they were left over from another day and reheated. At this point it seemed obvious that management had change since I last dined at the restaurant because it was a totally different experience, a disappointing one. Before we were even able to finish our salad the entree's arrived. I ordered the Farfalle Gorgonzola, the farfalle seemed undercooked (the edges of some of the pasta were still very firm), and the dish was rescued only by the sauce; the portions were adequate. In sum, the service was lackadaisical, and the food average, not something that would encourage me to ever return. I hope that other diners had a better experience and that the management takes a critical look at their operation, and not rely on patron loyalty, which mine...