ad hoc

what a bad experience. i am a local napa resident working in the wine industry. i finally visited ad hoc with some serious reservation.tk's restaurants tend to be local tourist traps with sub parfoodand inflated prices. ad hoc did not deviate from the reputation. $52 for bbq, well it should knock my socks off. not even close. sub par bbq, wait staff without a personality and over pricedfoodto a point of sincere laughter. i will never agin make the mistake of following a celebrity chef. stale, boring and non receptive staff.
do yourself a favor, do your research and find one of many great foodie spots and enjoy. i want to kick my self for spending the money for such a lousy experience.
avoid avoid avoid, when ever i get the chance to share this story with visitors in napa valley i will. bouchon is probably your best bet if you need to go to one of tom's restaurants.

… and here is the famous buttermilk fried chicken. definitely beats any kfc or popeye’s. arriving in front of us piping hot, the beautiful aroma had our mouths watering before we could even get a piece on our plate. the meat was well-flavoured, moist, and tender, and the batter was fried to perfection, making the crust shatteringly crisp. i was only able to finish 3 pieces because of the sheer amount offoodi’d already consumed that day, but i desperately wanted to keep eating.

been here couple times now. twice for brunch and then dinner. i can officially say each visit exceeded my expectation. 3 - 4 course meal and served family style. our last visit we came to check out addendum but they were closed. we decided to check if ad hoc had any open tables. reservations is highly recommended so wasn't expecting to be any available, but to our surprise they had a table available out on the patio. yes!! we had our son with us for brunch and he didn't want to eat anything that was being served, so the waiter asked him what he wanted to eat and the chef ended up making him waffles and bacon. one of the best waffles i've ever had. my son also asked for chocolate milk. they didn't have chocolate syrup, but they were willing to melt some good quality chocolate for him and make him hot chocolate and he agreed to that. best hot chocolate i've ever had too. (good thing my son was willing to share). service has always been great and helpful. thefoodis yummy and i always end up craving for more. thank you to my friend for introducing me to this place. maybe one day we can actually go together. =) ad hoc - i love you.

for a background i am a 21 year old travelling alone that works in the wine industry. i found the restaurant the perfect balance between a laid back and fine dining atmosphere, staff were very friendly and unpretentious, i did not at all feel vulnerable sitting and eating alone here, manager came and talked to me and everyone was very attentive -foodand wine timing was spot on and i was never left waiting too long without any ting. waitress was very informative about the menu and the optional wine pairing. as i received each meal everyone explained both the wine and dish in detail, which i find extremely important when a prix fixe menu is in place .foodwas a fantastic combo of fine dining with a comfortfoodtwist. serving sizes were very generous (i had to take some in a doggy bag home) the wine pairings were the absolute stand out for me as each wine complimented the dishes so perfectly you would have thought they were made for each other. all of the wines were up to par, there were none that i disliked, most were sourced locally (as you would hope for the location). amazing bang for your buck with the basic 4 course meal coming in at $53 and the wine pairings an extra $39 great atmosphere would definitely visit again.

incrediblefoodawful waiter...thefoodwas heavenly yet simply. the menu for the night i dined there was caesar salad, pork chops, cheese(can't tell you what kind because our waiter pretty much rushed through everything) with honey and a cheese cake pudding type dessert. the pork chop was cooked perfectly, salted just right and they let the meat be the star and it was. the salad was simple but the added capers that seems to be lightly fried gave it a nice burst of flavor. the cheese plate again was simple but the honey went so perfectly with it. finally, the little dish of the cheese cake parfait or pudding(once again our waiter did not do his job in explaining) was divine and forced us to try and get every last bite out of the cup. each course had a glass of wine that went perfectly with thefoodbut once again we receive no more than a 5 second robotic sentence. this is wine country, the customer definitely wants to hear a little more about the pairings. all that being said about the food, alex, our waiter may have been the worst waiter i've ever encountered. he did not spend more than a few seconds at our table, it was so bad i made sure that before he put our dessert on the table i had my credit card out because we had no idea when the next time he would come back. i'm usually very forgiving with waitstaff but his only job really was to be informative, courteous and check in every now and then considering it is a set menu. that type of service can happen from time to time but you would never expect it in a thomas keller restaurant. thank god thefoodwas on point.

in the past, when i’ve gone to ad hoc i’ve always enjoyed thefood(see this post ),but i’ve never been there for their fried chicken (which is usually served every monday night). it was our lucky day when we visited because they were serving fried chicken for the 4th of july...we started with the iceberg lettuce salad with fresh herbs, radishes, and carrots from the french laundry’s garden: everything was fresh and crisp; the vegetables were much more flavorful than anything we eat in new york!...the main course, the fried chicken, is served lukewarm: with a side of corn and watermelon: we also ordered the mac and cheese, which was cheesy...

meh. we ate at ad hoc this past saturday night and were generally disappointed by the food. the wedge salad to start was bland bordering on flavorless---all i could taste was ice berg. we asked for more dressing but that didn't help much, i should have asked for more bacon... the main was good--steak and potatoes, well cooked, big portions. the cheese plate was odd--really uninteresting cheese, and the dessert, a blondie with creme fraiche was fine, completely not memorable.
the price to interestingfoodratio was definitely in the not worth it category.
service was good, very attentive wait staff which we appreciated.

finally this gorgeous plan of buttermilk fried chicken arrived and it looked like a whole chicken. the golden crust had beautiful ripples and the second we bit into the crispy rich crust, the juicy chicken gave us the tingles. totally worth the trip. totally the best fried chicken one can ever eat. here isfood& wine unveiling of thomas keller’s lemon brined fried chicken recipe if you want to try it at home.

happy friday! i like to end the work week withfoodposts that inspire me to enjoy life, eat well, and stay hungry. is there a fun new restaurant you're trying this weekend? while in calistoga for a wedding, husband and i had a double date dinner one night in napa with friends. we finally got to try thomas keller's ad hoc ! if you want to eat at a keller restaurant without breaking the bank, ad hoc is the much more chill and affordable brother to the french laundry . ad hoc changes its menu daily, which blows my mind. it takes so much skill and experience to perfect a meal in one shot! refreshing summery watermelon salad to start. in addition to the pre-fixe menu, we ordered some steak skewers, and they were a very good idea. the main dish was juicy pork chops that had so much flavor, especially near the bone.foodis served family style, so go with people you're comfortable sharingfoodwith. ;) a beautiful cheese plate with some fruit, nuts, and honey is always delightful. this set u

amazingfoodat a reasonable price ($52pp) but there was way too much of it. j says he regrets this meal just because of how muchfoodthere was (and yes, i know no-one was shoving it down our throats). but the friend chicken was worth it and overall i would recommend giving ad hoc a try, just don’t eat lunch, don’t order the additional dish and maybe skip the bread.

sometimes awesome. i've been here several times and each time seemed different to me because of selection on the menu. i've been here when thefoodwas an explosion of delight in my mouth. but on my most recent visit they made a dish that was good ( corned beef ) but i wasn't crazy about the flavor because it tasted very beefy and not like corned beef and on the night i went there the dessert was just ice cream sundaes and they were ok and good but not special to me. i will visit again and hope for an awesome dinner.

what a total bummer!!! wanted something grande-- yuck!! think bad cafeteriafoodand you are close-- go to another place that is less noisy and meant for the masses!!

brunch. unbelievable. the atmosphere is fun and unassuming, and thefoodis outstanding. the family style fixed menu is perfect as it takes all of the decision responsibility out. we went on sunday when fried chicken and waffles were on the menu. something i would never order off the menu, and therefore something i've been missing out on. next time i'm in napa, i'll be back to ad hoc.

still keller.. this review is for their sunday brunch. i have to say this was the best brunch i had this year. $38 per person with 2 courses and dessert, the portion is generous andfoodis comforting. you get out full and satisfied guaranteed.

yesterday, the menu was: smoked salmon with cucumber salad and yogurt raita sauce, suveed tri top, with delicious potatoes and roasted small onions. the dessert was lemon cream bar. i wish i can elaborate more on how it was prepared, because it was not as simple as i described.foodis very simple, but very meticulously prepared. you do identify the familiar flavors right away, then you are amazed how well that is executed.

the concept is very unique. as the restaurant is there to give you the "temporary relief from hunger", the menu resembles files from the doctors office and the staff are in brown casual shirts and jeans. the decor is simple and themed around the comfortfoodwith big old french style kitchen tables at the front and in the dining room with iron pigs on top of them. thefoodis served family style, which gives you the visual of generous portion. immediate relief from hunger can come from seeing the big plate of hotfoodin front of you alone.

service is very knowledgeable and settle. i would say that at times we felt it was a little slow, but welcoming.

i would love to go try their dinner one of these days.

so dissappointing!!. i loved ad hoc, and have been eager to repeat a wonderful fried chicken meal. it took 3 months to get a reservation! we trekked up with another couple to yountville.
not great ad hoc, just good. the best part was dessert.
and too loud, wrong genre of music blaring at us. it was hard to carry on a conversation. at $90.00 per person it should have been great. there are other places, i go there next time.


-----08 sep, 2009-----

destination eating. not the place to "drop" into. unlikely you'll get a seat, and very unlikely you'll land on the every other monday famous fried chicken menu. i took two of the fried chicken experts in my life, they have voted this the best fried chicken ever. i'd say the best biscuits too. so though you will need to plan ahead make a reservation and spend the day in napa, it could be a fine ending at ad hoc. ignore the urbanspoon 76% rating, it just isn't possible. they must not have been there for the fried chicken. the place is beautiful, the service excellent and thefoodoutstanding and all for a very fair price ! only suggestion is that they lower the volume of the music, it was too loud.