Napa Valley Grille

Dreadful service. Went there Saturday, 3/6/10, a little after 7 p.m. Not our first choice - Tucci Bennuch was, but they had an hour wait - there was the first sign of a problem. We were seated right away, and the server came up to tell us she was working with another gentleman as a team. Okay...that was the last time we saw HER. The other server came, took our drink order and our food order. All we ordered, food-wise, was a cup of soup, a side of mushrooms, and a cheese plate.

Fifteen minutes later we got our drinks. At this time I started to notice our servers paying a lot of attention to the large group in the room behind us.

Twenty minutes after that, someone came to our table with a steak (which I had not ordered). Still no soup, mushrooms or cheese plate. How long does it take?

My friend asked for a refill on water numerous times, and we finally asked where our food was. Since we had sat down, 45 minutes had passed. We finally got our soup and mushrooms, brought by the manager, who started talking about how they had changed around the configuration, and that may be causing some confusion, not that it was an excuse. When I pointed out to her that there WAS no excuse for such terrible service, she said "I already said it was not an excuse." Then (a) Why even say it and (b) don't give me attitude because you cannot do your job properly.

We got the cheese plate - TINY pieces of cheese for the price. The cup of soup was plenty spendy too.

The waiter came by after everything had been cleared and asked if I wanted another drink. I said not unless it was free. He said "well, what do you mean, why would it be free?" He genuinely did not understand why we were upset. When we told him about our dissatisfaction with the service, he said "well, Mall of America on a Saturday night." I told him there was no such excuse, and they were not even half-full anyway. I told him we should have some compensation for the service. That was the last we saw of him.

The manager brought our bill, and they had removed the TWO CHEAPEST items as "compensation" for the bad service.

I have worked in food service before, and for what Napa Valley Grille charges, they should be providing FAR better service than that. But apparently when they have a group, none of the rest of us matter, and they made every excuse they could for terrible service. I would never go there again and suggest anyone else avoid it as well.…

A Very Disappointing Dining Experience. I hosted a dinner for 40 guests mid week in October at the Napa Valley Grille and the experience was exceeding disappointing and quite honestly I feel cheated by the almost $5,000.00 we spent at the restaurant.

The service was incredibly slow and here are a couple of highlights:

About 90% of our group arrived at 6:30. We did have a couple of stragglers. We received our first round of drinks in a timely manner and our order was taken promptly too.

At 7:50 p.m. we still had not received our first course! I asked the female server what the delay was and she something to the extent that people were ordering drinks so she did not get the order in right away. Eighty minutes is far too long to wait for anything other than bread on the table. Nothing got better.

At 8:50 p.m. we still had not received our entrees. When the main course was finally served two and half hours after we sat down, people literally clapped their hands.

Two of my guests were so disgusted that they got up and went to do some shopping in between the salad and main course. They had time to do their shopping and come back with their parcels before their dinner arrived.

Two of my guests were pregnant and were too tired to stay for dessert.

I paid the bill and left the restaurant about 9:40-over 3 hours after we sat down.



Patty, everyone in the restaurant knew we were coming and we had limited all menu choices because of the size of the group. This particular group attends a dinner like this every quarter and their feedback to me is the same as I have relayed to you in this email. Of the over 30 quarterly dinners this group has had together this meal goes down as the worst in terms of service.

I did write to the Director of Operations to express my dissatisfaction and never received a response which illustrates another example of poor service at this restaurant.…

Bland and pricey. Good service.. My girlfriend and I stopped by to grab some appetizers and drinks before a movie. Our martinis were weak as they come so we ordered Glenlivet which they managed not to water down.The ahi appetizer tasted solely of vinegar which defeated the purpose of ordering the ahi in the first place.The lamb kabob was bland and dry and the hummus which came with it (more the other way around judging by the portions served), was chunky and flavorless. We ended up grabbing some sushi just across the way to get the bad taste out of our mouths. The atmospehere and service was nice but the prices, food, and drinks ruined the experience. Stick with Twin Cities grill downstairs if you're looking for that type of food and good drinks.…

Pretty to look at, bad to taste. We went to this restaurant for my sister's birthday on a Tuesday evening. I was expecting larger prices, impressive presentations, great tasting food, and stellar service...you can guess where this is heading. The first two notions were met, however, filling up everyone's water at the table seemed like a herculean task too difficult for our bus boy to accomplish, we were checked on...scratch that, and the only dish with flavor was the pheasant but it's consistency was too tough. As a matter of fact: all of the food was pretty much a bland human chew toy that was good to look at. I felt like we were eating a photoshoot diarama, and don't get me wrong I have eaten good, well prepared food before.

To wrap it up: I wouldn't go here again, unless I wanted to impress clients with an appetizer and some wine, but then I wouldn't really be trying to impress clients in a mall now would I, even the second biggest mall in America.…