Cuisine type: Seafood, American
Atmosphere: Romantic (indoors, dinner patio), mood lighting
Meal: happy hour snacking
Price range: $5/appetizer
Overall grade: 7
Ben
We stopped in for a quick snack in downtown Napa during happy hour and got a cabernet sauvignon and a rose wine. We also ordered some appetizers – raw oyster shots and a potato-fish cake sandwich. The oyster shots were served in an unpleasantly spicy V8 tasting sauce, but when taken as a full shot with the oyster it actually was OK. The other appetizer was also OK, though neither dish I would have paid for at non-happy hour prices. The location is pretty nice and the atmosphere was pretty romantic inside. The service was decent though seemingly impatient with happy hour orders despite the restaurant being empty.
Food 6
Drinks 7
Atmosphere 7
Service 6
Value 7
Nina
Lured by the promise of a festival in downtown Napa (which turned out to be a mistaken date on the online calendar), we took a walk along the Napa river to enjoy the views of this wonderful valley before heading back home. A restaurant along this river walkway called our attention with mentions of Happy Hour on every patio table. Happy Hour? Yes, please!
We asked for a table and had to wait around until the staff had their pre-dinner meeting at 5, just to find out that we didn't really have to wait if we just wanted happy hour, though we were never asked whether we were there for the happy hour specials or dinner. I would think this shouldn't really make a difference in service, but oh boy, was I wrong! While the restaurant had a very nice atmosphere with dim lights and artsy decorations inside, and the patio we had seen had a wonderful view and elegant decor, happy hour customers had a choice between the bar and the crammed patio by the main entrance - with tall hedges and no view. The wait staff also seemed a bit short, though nice nonetheless, almost as though just stopping by for happy hour snacks didn't really make us worthy to take up their time.
I picked a minty fresh raspberry and club soda drink, which is a little like a mojito sans rum. It was delicious and the freshness of the raspberries was pleasantly surprising, though I confess I would have been even happier had they been lighter on the syrup. For snacks, I ordered an oyster shooter and a potato-fish cake slider. The shooter, consisted of a skewered raw oyster hung over an extremely spicy tomato sauce, served in a shot glass. The sauce was too spicy to entice me into taking it as an actual shooter, I was afraid I would end up in a coughing fit. What I ended up doing was slowly sip half of it (alternating with drinks of water to tone it down), then taking the proper shot with the remaining half of the sauce and the oyster in it. It was surprisingly delicious. I say surprising because after braving through the first half of the liquid I didn't expect much of the combination, but the mellow and salty flavor of the oyster actually balanced out the bite of the tomato juice and went together great - I still maintain that the full amount of sauce would have drowned out the oyster, so the dish missed the mark in finding the right proportion between the components. The fish potato cake slider was a little bland, with very little fish flavor coming through and leaving the impression in each bite that I was eating a hash brown sandwich, not the most enticing afternoon indulgence.
Even though the Happy Hour experience was not entirely positive, I would be tempted to try this place for dinner sometime, the dish lineup and the setup and atmosphere in the main part of the restaurant looked very attractive and the numbers of people streaming in by the time we left suggested that it was a popular destination in the city.
Food 7
Drinks 8
Atmosphere 9
Service 6
Value 8
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