bottega

posted by foodoofus ⋅ march 13, 2015 ⋅ leave a comment filed under   bottega , foodoofus ,michaelchiarello , 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, and bottega is no different. chefmichaelchiarello 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 experiencemichaelchiarello’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

abysmal.michaelchiarello would have been mortified if he had witnessed the despicable service my party of 8 received at his restaurant this past saturday night. my husband and i were giving his place a second chance to redeem itself after our first experience there a couple years ago when we were made to wait for our reserved table for 45 minutes past our scheduled time then ignored by our servers for the balance of the evening only to experience an unremarkable dinner.

so, our group travelled from far and wide and just had to one of try yountville's big name restaurants. for starters, we brought our own magnum of joseph phelps backus cab ($400+ value). we asked for it to be placed on ice so it would be at the appropriate temp for serving after a few minutes. when the world's worst server, scott, finally greeted us after a solid 15 minutes of sitting with no offer of beverages, bread, etc., we had grown anxious about where our wine had gotten off to. scott sent for his wine guy to fetch it, and this chap was so young and inexperienced, it was pathetic. he had no awareness of our wine choice. upon showing us our bottle at our request, he then disappeared to the back of the restaurant with it and returned with two decanters containing our wine. we never saw our wine uncorked, never were offered a taste of the bottle, never were offered the option to decant only a portion of the magnum to keep the bottle at temp, etc. absolute disgrace for any restaurant to lack this etiquette, let alone one in the heart of napa.

our wine was fantastic no thanks to the restaurant, but the service continued to go down hill. no joke, it took 4 requests to finally get bread. the meal wasn't horrible, but left no lasting impressions either.

bottom line, skip this place napa goers. resist the temptation to tell your friends "we went to bottega" out of frommer's peer pressure. the reviewers are brain washed by the whole celebrity chef nonsense. try redd or a picnic from whole foods for that matter before you waste your time at this place for zero reward. please learn from my twice-made mistake. shame on you if you go anyway after my review. it is honestly that bad.

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 representingmichaelchiarello! 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 avoid bottega and give them our recommendations on the restaurants we patronized in the three days were were in napa valley.

celebrity chefmichaelchiarello’s restaurant has received accolades such as best newcomer by zagat, top 10 by forbes, and top 100 bay area bymichaelbauer 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’s bottega cookbook.

wow!!. polenta under glass with caramelized wild mushrooms and balsamic game sauce is probably the best thing i've ever eaten. this was one of the best dinning experiences ever. makes sense that this is one of chefmichaelchiarello signature dishes.

bottega ismichaelchiarello's nearly two year-old restaurant in an old winery building smack in the center of yountville. it has great energy, fantastic ambience, wonderfully attentive service, and a vibrant sense of fun--michael

i always wondered ifmichaelchiarello had any cooking chops. i was first introduced to him via television, probably ruining any credibility with me (like martin yan, who fakes his chinese accent for the show). and although i had been to tra vigne and enj

we decided to check outmichaelchiarello's new restaurant bottega (located in yountville, where the french laundry is located). the dinner was fantastic: great, comforting, homemade italian

lamb and figs. aside from getting a photo withmichaelchiarello, i was all excited about the lamb over parmesan polenta. the decadent dessert was bliss.michaelis out in the dining room meeting and greeting guests...awesome. mahalomichaelfor taking a picture with your maui fan.

bottega restaurant napa valley is run by star chefmichaelchiarello. chef chiarello is acclaimed chef, emmy-winning host of food network’s easy entertaining, tastemaker behind napastyle, originally starred at tra vigne, and proprietor of chiarello vineya

amazing food in an amazing location. impeccable service with real attention to detail. and chefmichaeldid stop by for a sit down and photos. what a nice man. we'll be back again!

disappointment. while food and service was good, i was very disappointed that i told the reservationist, the receptionists and the waiter that we were celebrating two birthdays at my table (not mine). the dessert arrived for me, with a birthday greeting. no greeting for my guests. no one seemed to get it right as to whose b'day we were celebrating. i'd also asked that chefmichaelmight stop by to wish them a happy birthday. he walked by our table twice, but never stopped.

mike and i took my sister and her husband to napa for a weekend before they moved from the bay area to hawaii. we decided we would dine at bottega,michaelchiarello’s newest creation. on the night we arrived he was actually in the house. while waiting fo

i don’t know why i didn’t review bottega sooner? the return ofmichaelchiarello has been long anticipated in the napa valley. his new restaurant, bottega is a welcome addition to the yountville scene. i actually spoke with him at the bar on my first visi

what a lucky girl i am! i was lucky enough not only to get away from the snow storm that is cincinnati right now for a couple of days...but also to get to go to a foodnetwork star's restaurant for lunch.michaelchiarella had a show i used to love (when i