Vine Restaurant

02/15/08

Valentine's Day at VINE

by destinationvideo at Citysearch

Valentine's at the new VINE began with a bit of vacillation, given how restaurants typically need time to perfect new concepts. Our apprehensions, however, were immediately meet with reassurance when the sommelier, greeted our table and suggested a perfect paring (and affordable) to our meal. Our server was witty and appreciated how special the night was for my partner and I. We enjoyed the new menu items .. 30 day aged rib eye for me complimented with a bernaise sauce was absolutely mouth watering after being tempted with marinated olives appetizers. As for the new decor, it was much more comfortable and casual feeling -even with a packed house and wait. Mahogany paneling accented with chocolate sued fabric adorned the main wall and seemed an excellent fit with the new leather couch and open fireplace. Distinctive yet understated, comfortable but not too cozy...perfect dining ... great new concept!

• Pros: plenty of parking and great price!

02/14/08

The worst service I have seen in a long time.

by rodlane1410 at Citysearch

I found this restaurant on Open Table and thought I would try it. I went tonight, on Valentine's Day, and I was amazed at the terrible service. We waited more than 15 minutes for our drinks, and our entrees came almost 45 minutes after the order was put in. Our server was probably the worst server I have ever had at a restaurant at this price point (and worse than many at places like Ruby Tuesday, even). He never came by the table, left empty plates and glasses for the entire meal, didn't refill our water, didn't bring the wine we ordered to come specifically with the entree, gave us butter knives for the steak (which we solved by asking another server for steak knives), and didn't remember who had ordered what entree. We asked to speak to a manager, who didn't seem at all concerned with the poor service. He eventually comped the meal, but he didn't check back with us and there was seemingly no sincere effort to apologize. We were seated on the patio, which was nice until I realized we were next to the server station, where servers were slamming silverware and plates so loudly that I jumped.

Our food was actually very good. It is shame that the restaurant is run so terribly that the food doesn't get a chance to shine. Keep the chefs, but fire the managers and servers. Not only would I not go back, I am telling all of my friends about it.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: Horrible service and unconcerned management

01/28/08

Vine has turned in to a joke.

by gooodeats at Citysearch

This restaurant has gone from great to being one of the worst run restaurants in Atlanta. The service is horrible for a restaurant with the highest prices in Morningside/VH. The food is OK, nothing great but not bad, just way over priced for the quantity, quality and service. The place looks run down and when we were there on Friday we were even served drinks in different glasses. When we pointed that out to the server she said we ran out of the other kind. What kind of restaurant is this? I would expect that at some low end tavern, but not a restaurant that is suppose to be somewhat upscale. Why doesn't the management get it? Every other place in the area is packed to the gills on weekends and you walk in to Vine anytime and get seated. This place needs new management badly, it used to be one our our favorites but has gone way down hill, which is very sad since for a while it was the best place in Morningside/VH. I was talking to my neighbor that said they used to go to brunch at Vine all the time then and stopped going because they changed it to a buffet and said the quality was terrible, so now they are part of the crowds at Babettes, Murphys, Food 101 or LaTavola.

01/08/08

Service isn't up to par

by atlfoodie07 at Citysearch

I have eaten at Vine since it opened, and the service has really gone downhill. I had a dinner party for a friend's birthday there with a large party of 18 - something their website says they specialize in - but it was a nightmare. The food was wrong, served sporadically, we were charged for bottled water we didn't order and the server had a horrible attitude with everyone and never once smiled or was gracious. The birthday dessert was brought with little fanfare, and when we gave them candles for the dessert, the brought a tealight for us to light them ourselves. The hostess had previously asked for seperate checks, and though we only had 4 checks, much of it was incorrect. The server had a shadow who was training and unable to find answers to simple questions, such as "what beers do you have?" After this bad experience a few of us contacted the manager, who sent a 100 gift card email to give Vine a second try.

Upon this next encounter it took 10 minutes for our drinks, the server FORGOT to put in our entree, and after coming by and telling us it would be out any moment finally realized why we hadn't eaten and confessed. They brought out one entree 3-4 minutes before the other. Our 8:30 reservation had us leaving the restaurant at 10:20! Had the meal not already been comped I would have asked for it to be. Given all this no manager was sent over and the waitress, while charming, didn't seem to find our poor experiences distressing. The food was good, as it always is, but the apparent turn over and lack of customer service is a big turn off. We won't be back.

01/06/08

Not good

by atlfoody at Citysearch

I rarely write reviews, but I'm rarely so disappointed . Went last night. First, was wide open on a Sat- we called at the last minute because Ecco was packed.

Food was ok, but I expect better than ok for a $25+ entree. The service was just silly - nice guy, but totally unprofessional. Forgot our drink order the first time, then came back and asked us to remind him what it was. We waited 10 minutes easily for drinks. The server just laughed everything off. The table beside us left right after the (not great looking) charcuterie plate - they didn't stay for dinner.

The place just seemed disorganized. If I'm going to spend $50 on food and drink, I'll go to repast or la tavlola, ecco, watershed - the list goes on. It just won't be Vine.

Oh - potato chips no good. Don't order them.

01/01/08

New Years Eve Huge Mistake

by twohills at Citysearch

My boyfriend and I decided on Vine for NYE since we wanted a smaller more intimate spot. Little did we know we would be just a handfull of people that selected Vine. The special menu was horrible and way over priced for the small portions and poor quality. We had 8pm reservations and by 10pm the place was nearly empty. We were talking to another couple earlier that told us they were going up the street to Wisteria after dinner since that is where they really wanted to go but was sold out by the time they called. Not wanting to ring in the new year in an empty restaurant, we drove up there. The place was jammed. They were still seating people for dinner at 11pm. We had a blast at the bar. It was a little bar but they had to bartenders on to handle the crowds of people. The people at Vine were very nice and we actually felt sorry for them because they were so slow on one of the busiest nights of the year. It is unfortunate since the place is cute and has potential.

• Pros: Cute, intimate restaurant
• Cons: over priced, poor food quality, poor service

10/28/07

What happen to Vine?

by seodessa at Citysearch

We had dinner at Wisteria Saturday evening and they were so busy we had to wait close to 30 minutes to be seated even with 7:45 reservations. While we had a wonderful meal, we decided to venture to Vine for an after dinner drink since the Wisteria bar was jammed when we finished dinner around 10pm. We walked in to Vine and there was no one there! What is going on? Wisteria was booked all night with a wait and Vine is dead. We decided not to stay because it looked like they were closing up and we did not want to be the only people there so we went to Food 101 which also was still pretty busy. We used to like Vine but have not been back in a while and by the look of things others have not been either. I really felt bad for them as Vine used to be such a popular spot in the Highlands. We decided we would go during the week and check them out again.

10/27/07

Don't waste your time or money

by ray_ts at Citysearch

We went to Vine last evening (one of the few in the whole restaurant on a Friday night). Our server was terrible. She had no business trying to wait on tables in a restaurant as expensive as Vine. This must be her first job which is a shame the restaurant hires people like this or can not train them. My scallops were so over cooked they were like rubber. My wifes salad had brown lettuce through out. At the end of the meal they were telling us about their wine dinner on November 6 featuring King Estate wines. Sure we will rush back for that. You can find King Estate in any grocery store at the end on isle. What a joke that they would feature a mass production winery that you can buy anywhere. We drove from Midtown to Vine for something different and what a mistake.

• Pros: If you can't get a table elsewhere you can at Vine
• Cons: service, poor food quality, over priced

09/28/07

new owners, great food, great service

by beta2308 at Citysearch

I've been to Vine several times recently and it has been amazing each occasion. They have specials Sun-Thurs (including a bottomless glass night!) and even though it's a little spendy, nothing disappoints. They have a Sunday brunch buffet with a "make your own" Bloody Mary bar that we will definitely try out. Don't let some of the older reviews scare you away... the service has always been great and the food delicious. The new ownership and management knows what they are doing!

• Pros: food, service, wine list (all amazing)
• Cons: need a reservation for more than 4 people

08/09/07

Wednesday - Wine tasing delight for me and my girls night out!

by southworth57 at Citysearch

This is the first time I have taken the time to write a review for any restaurant,

but last night (Wednesday) We had ladies night out at a little place in the highlands called Vine and we had such a good time all around that I had to write about it!

The wine tasting was tremendous, the "wine tasting Guru" Chris really gave us a treat

turning us on to 6 great new wines and thier backgrounds, none of us were wine experts by a long shot, but Chris made it fun and educational to try our new passion (wines) . Then we all had dinner, ( I had the wrapped fish on lentels)

it was great, the menu rivaled that of a 5 start bistro. We were delighted to know that our cost of the wine tasting was then credited towards our meal, making the wine tasting adventure absolutely free! hard to beat that, ladies!, cant wait till cooler weather so we can come back and try the patio- thanks Vine for a perfect night out.

- The girls from Mid Town-

• Pros: Huge Wine list - great service
• Cons: can be crowded around Chris the Wine man