bottega

happy may long weekend great foodie friends, while travelling through napa i was very happy to have dinner plans atbottegaristorante ! napa is one great region for flavour magic. the wine region boasts some of most wonderful wines you may ever taste, what kicks it up several notches is being able to enjoy the fruits of the valley along with award winning food created by award winning chefs…. bottegga did not not disappoint! on the contrary our taste buds were in true heaven. from the minute you park and start walking towards the restaurant the “feel” of being somewhere special in the valley was present. if you followed your nose it would take you along this path and lead you to the doorway to a great dinner. the decor was warm and inviting featuring natural brick and warm natural woods. when you walk in the entrance you immediately see the bar/lounge on your left along with a great wrap around patio that looked truly inviting. if you are lucky you will often see chef chiarello visiti

posted by foodoofus ⋅ march 13, 2015 ⋅ leave a comment filed under  bottega, foodoofus , michael chiarello , napa “oooh, what kind of surprise is it? is it something i would like? why don’t you tell me about it” napa… will i ever get sick and tired of this place? probably, but for now i’ll enjoy every excursion until my mind grows weary of the crimson grape vines, luscious backdrops of mt. st. helena, and of course the wonderful gastronomic experiences (aka bomb ass food). i promise this is my last fancy-schmancy place (at least for a little while) and i’ll go back to eating my usual standard of stuff. as previously referenced in my nyc round 2 finale issue , sometimes the pressure builds and even the best and brightest chefs can have an off day. in this case, it is the complete opposite and perhaps it’s because of the system that this top notch italian place has established. yountville, which probably boasts quite a bit of rivalry amongst talented celebrity chef empires, andbottegais no different. chef michael chiarello has proven himself a force to be reckoned with ever since the three-way season one finale, of which even he himself is a good sport of my tongue and cheek commentary via twitter . the menu for this evening’s experience michael chiarello’s confidence could be mistaken for arrogance given his appearance on top chef masters season 1, majority of the chef-testants (beyond the italian mafia top chefs) would want him as their mentor. however after visiting his restaurant, his style of management spills onto the restaurant floor like a well-oiled (pasta) machine. there’s no lack of hesitation when having his staff push themselves to the limit by acknowledging every guest in attendance (big or small) while pumping out pasta dishes like nobody’s business with a high turnover. when we first arrived, our party was immediately seated and presented with this view from the corner seat. the ambiance is lively, bringing the grand italian family meal setting to

bottega is chef michale chiarello's marquee restaurant in located right in yountville and across the street from his own napa style home good store. the restaurant atmosphere is very napa: chic, but casual all at the same time with beautiful touches of wood and stone and copper... the menu is filled with rustic, yet modern italian dishes that really epitomized napa food...if you're a foodie or if you're looking for a really special meal while you're visiting napa,bottegashould certainly be on your 'can't miss' list. just be sure to make a reservation ahead of time!

bottega - awful customer service. my husband and i walked out because the foh manager treated us so badly.

we had a reservation booked. we arrived. hostess said we were early and was not seating anyone until the reservation time. it was for 1:30 p.m. since we were 7-8 minutes early, per the hostess, we went to the shops to kill some time. we returned right on time. the hostess and the foh manager looked at each other, looked at us and he said "make them wait 2 more minutes". i knew right then and there we were going to be seated by the kitchen door or by the bathroom. another server came up to the stand and was ready to escort us but the foh manager stopped him and said no another place was getting set up. the poor server looked stricken when he looked at us.

sure enough, the table we were shown to was in front of the kitchen door. i looked at the dining room, the number of available tables were numerous. this was on tuesday november 29th. i cannot believe such an insufferably snobby, non customer service manger is representing michael chiarello! i have worked in the restaurant industry for well over 10 years and have never been treated in this manner. if i had an emplolyee like this i would make sure he or she never worked in my employment or my colleague's. competition for every dollar is too fierce especially for restaurants.

my husband and i were looking forward to dining at bottega's when we knew we were going to be visiting san francisco. this was the only bad experience we had during our entire trip.

i will tell everyone to avoidbottegaand give them our recommendations on the restaurants we patronized in the three days were were in napa valley.

bottega on urbanspoonin my mind, i had hypedbottegato an almost unrealistic level of expectations. and yet, bite after bite, it absolutely delivered. the food was beautiful and flavorful, and expertly crafted. often when ashley and i go out to eat we think about ways that we can go back and recreate some of the things we enjoyed. but as we walked out ofbottegawe knew that the only thing we had any chance of recreating was the simple dip that accompanied our bread. it was the perfect ending to a perfect day in the napa valley.

celebrity chef michael chiarello’s restaurant has received accolades such as best newcomer by zagat, top 10 by forbes, and top 100 bay area by michael bauer at the san francisco chronicle. the food is amazing here, and recipes for popular dishes like the roasted beets, shaved brussels sprouts salad, and polenta under glass are all in chiarello’sbottegacookbook.

we were incredibly impressed withbottegaand would highly recommend it if you’re after some authentic italian food :)

the food atbottegawas good, but nothing was outright amazing,

we decided to check out michael chiarello's new restaurantbottega(located in yountville, where the french laundry is located). the dinner was fantastic: great, comforting, homemade italian

good food but.... we visitedbottegafor lunch. the shrimp and pasta dish was delicious but the shrimp were not cleaned and deveined prior to cooking. it made a good dish rather poor. i do not expect that from a restaurant lie bottega.

i don’t know why i didn’t reviewbottegasooner? the return of michael chiarello has been long anticipated in the napa valley. his new restaurant,bottegais a welcome addition to the yountville scene. i actually spoke with him at the bar on my first visi

second place top chef master does it right. wow, after reading the reviews below i had to think if maybe my wife and i had dined at another establishment. our server provided my favorite kind of service, attentive yet not doting. he would light take care of whatever needed taking care of and was off again. i felt the food was all very good and well presented. an added bonus for me is that one of my former students is the pm sous chef atbottegaand he took a moment to come out into the dining room to chat. he knows that if i didn't like the food he would have heard about it. beautiful restaurant and very good food.

horrible experience. ! my wife and i and another couple from out-of -town went tobottegatues, march 24th and after having a great experience at the bar with the 2 young bartenders (very attentive and enthusiastic), our further experience with dinner took a sharp turn downward. our waitress looked like she had just finished a 12 mile run and was not knowledgeable about the details of half of the food items. while the descriptions of the items on the menu speak to great promise the follow-through at table-side was dismal. the shaved asparagus and brussel sprouts salad looked and tasted like coleslaw without any seasoning or dressing. very dry, bland and hard to eat. my wife's sea bass and skirt steak w/risotto was carelessly plated. the sea bass portion was tiny and thin and the beef was chewy and rubbery and the green colored risotto was mushy and looked like a left-over st patrick's day joke. my sword fish was the thinnest and smallest piece of swordfish i have ever been served and also carelessly plated as well. our friend ordered a pasta dish as an entree and it was served to him in a bowl the size of a cereal bowl with no serving plate underneath. our other friend ordered the ravioli's, and while tasty, they were served without a sauce and very greasy looking, piled by themselves in the middle of a plate. no extra shaved parmesan was ever offered, no ground pepper was ever offered ( we did finally ask for it). the whole experience was so underwhelming and so way below expectations that none of us could believe it. this is the worst dining experience we have ever had in our 20 years living in the napa valley ( and i am in national sales in the wine biz). someone is not minding the store and not training the staff!!!