Houston, Texas
2017-11-27
Not the quality I expected.
I love Italian food, so I was very sad when I experienced Nebbiolo at Secrets the Vine. This restaurant did not do justice to the hotel or the rating of the hotel. We had a long wait (not even during peak season-and would not have been worth reviewing, but for the following factors): our server was so pushy about ordering wine. Before he offered to take an order for an appetizer, he went straight to the wine list to recommend something before we were even close to ordering food. He said he wanted to recommend a wine to go with our dinner, which we had not even discussed as we had not even gotten to open the menus yet. He then recommended a pricey wine, that "was good with this kind of food" (again, before we ordered) and we relayed we weren't really looking to spend that kind of money. He offered to lower the amount and found a lower priced wine (while I'm still waiting to check the menu out), but still out of the range we were looking at even considering (we weren't even really wanting to buy a bottle to begin with). He then kept insisting it was such a great wine and it was worth the cost and we told him again, we weren't looking to spend that kind of money...and I was trying to open the menu to look at food, which is what we had been waiting for. He then offered to give us a special table if we purchased said wine for a "discount" and so we said okay, and as we stood up to move, we were told "oh I'm sorry, my manager just said that table is reserved for later."I'm not one to write negative reviews very often, but when I am paying to stay at a resort like Secrets the Vine and the restaurant is supposed to be 5*, and then there is a wait, the server gets pushy about wine before even letting us check the menu (for what might even not pair well with that wine), offer us a table that is not even available...and then later on, be slow to bring food in a timely manner. We actually started to walk out as soon as we were done, completely forgetting that we had another dish we had never received and as we were walking out, he says "Oh I was going to bring that to you..." I'm sorry, but that is most definitely not 5* service or a 5* experience. It's not even a 3*...Further, the lasagna, honestly...(and I really, really hate to give such a review, but I would rather warn another traveler so you're at least prepared if you decide to try it)... reminded me of Chef-Boyardee (which I haven't had in years)...and as someone who never gets to eat lasagna, I was pretty disappointed. I decided it was not even worth eating after pushing to eat three bites trying to convince myself to enjoy it...the food I choose to eat should be incredible when it is something on a vacation where I eat things I never eat at home.I will note the dish my husband had, was really good. I believe it was a shrimp dish with an arrabiata sauce-definitely recommend this over the lasagna. I wish I had gotten that one instead. The beef carpaccio (an appetizer) was very well done and I enjoyed that thoroughly. We actually left this restaurant feeling unsatisfied and annoyed, just ready to get out of there and away from that waiter, and went to get sushi at Dragons and had a lovely experience.
