R+D Kitchen — Restaurant in Yountville

I must begin this review by expressing my bewilderment at the perplexing dining experience my party and I recently encountered at R&D Restaurant. Little did we know, we were about to embark on an adventure filled with arbitrary rules and frustrating encounters.

Upon arrival, our group of ten, all seasoned professionals from the hospitality industry, settled around the inviting fire pit. Eager to commence our evening, we ordered drinks and some appetizers, including nachos with guacamole and pimento dip. When it came my turn, I attempted to order sandwich (veggie sandwich...avocado, tomato, cheese) for the fire pit was met with a peculiar restriction – apparently, food for the fire pit must be ordered elsewhere at tables located about 10 feet from the fire pit.

Undeterred, I decided to order the sandwiches to go, only to be confronted with further absurdities. As three of our party members went to order sandwiches without sides, we opted to join them at a nearby table. However, our seemingly harmless act of relocating chairs to accommodate our group was promptly halted by an employee citing strict regulations against moving furniture.

Resigned to stand and eat, I was told I can not do that either because only 4 people are allowed at a table that could easily sit 8. I quickly devoured my sandwich under the vigilant gaze of the establishment's 'table police' so my wife could then come and eat her sandwich.The absurdity didn't end there – my attempt to engage in casual conversation with a passing part of our group heading to the restroom was promptly shut down, as apparently, chatting whilst standing was also forbidden.

As the evening unfolded, more absurdities ensued. A member of our party was denied a drink from the bar, only to be redirected to the already overwhelmed server attending to the fire pit area. The culmination of these bewildering encounters prompted a visit from the manager, to whom I voiced my exasperation.

Despite the commendable quality of the food, R&D Restaurant's inexplicable insistence on enforcing arbitrary rules overshadowed any positive experience. In an industry built upon the foundation of service, R&D's baffling approach left me questioning their priorities. While research and development may have its place, it certainly shouldn't come at the expense of basic hospitality.

In conclusion, I can only hope that R&D Restaurant reevaluates its approach and prioritizes the essence of hospitality over unnecessary rigidity. Until then, I cannot in good conscience recommend this establishment solely based on its culinary offerings, no matter how tantalizing...

This review is on Addie at the hostess stand for Service- I was there for my birthday Friday, March 31st. I made reservations for lunch inside for 5 people. My cousin had join us last minute and met us at the restaurant. We walked up to the hostess stand and told Addie we had one extra person so now a ttl of 6. She rudely declined said the tables only could sit five there was no room inside and we would have to sit separately. We didn't want to get separated it was my birthday and it was special for me I've been looking forward to this year. My cousin saw a big round table outside where we all could sit first come first serve basis. We thought its a little a chilly but it's ok. I preferred the inside experience, but it'll have to do. It was not busy at all outside and there was no one sitting on the smaller tables that seated 2/3 ppl each we had the biggest table. We were all just excited to eat. We took two hightop chairs to our table since it was missing 1 there was only 4 chairs not even 5. Our waiter Kyle he was so sweet and asked us what we would like to drink. Addie then, came outside charging at us again she was very rude and declined we could add one extra person to our table. She took the 2 chairs away, now we were down to 4 chairs again not even 5. Left my 2 cousins just standing there she then came back to our table very rudely with a lot of attitude pointed with her finger right in front of us and counted to make sure we only had four chairs. We were all in shock mouths open. We NEVER got treated that way before most of my guest were first timers which was embarrassing for me. She was VERY unprofessional and treated us poorly. Our sweet waiter from outside Kyle noticed the bar inside just opened up for the 6 of us to sit, but at that point It ruined my birthday lunch experience :( we left and walked over to R&H where it was all of our first times there. It was a totally different experience they made up for it for sure. It was too bad we didn't get to experience Kyle he was so sweet you can tell he felt bad for us and we felt bad for him. We were all ready to spend good money there especially, me it was my birthday and I was ready to go all out. You shouldn't have someone like Addie working there before she ruins someone else's birthday or...

Came with a group 6 friends, 2 of which are local. Everyone was really excited to eat here as we’ve heard good things about the food. We purposely came at a time where the place wasn’t busy, but for some reason they were adamant that they couldn’t sit all 6 of us together - which is really weird , especially considering there were many many open tables, as well as a big corner booth directly adjacent to where they sat us. Before they took our order we asked if it was at all possible to sit together at a single table - which is the whole point of going out to dinner together: that is, To catch up and share a meal with friends. We asked if we could sit at the corner booth since it was empty and had a huge amount of sitting space (again, there were only 6 people in our party total, so we’d easily fit there and were beyond happy to touch elbows). Our server said “6 people can’t fit at that booth”. All of us were frankly caught off guard that she refused our request, as all of us were certain 6 people could fit there, easily in fact. It’s like a 270 degree booth with a huge circular table . She said, “lemme check with the hostess and see if you guys can move to that table “. One minute later she comes back and says “no, sorry, the host said only 5 are allowed at that table.” No idea why they were so inflexible, especially considering all 6 of us have been sitting at tables our whole lives and know intuitively how much space a person takes up on a seat. There was absolutely no question in any of our minds that we couldn’t comfortably sit there together . Long story short , with this huge open booth and many, many other open tables , she still nonetheless refused to help us find a solution to eat together at one table. So we literally sat at two separate tables like strangers. What a great dining experience. To top it all off, after this she came back over and asked my LGBQT+ friend that they had to remove their hat before she would take our orders - said it’s policy. However, there were other diners inside wearing hats, so making my friend have to remove their’s is suspicious and rude and felt like some passive aggressive punishment for asking to sit together . All this said, the food was good. But none of us will ever be back,...