Old Vine Cafe+New Waiter= VDay Grudge Match

If you read the post on Old Vine Cafe you know that D and I had an amazing time there. Great food, great service, and HUGE pours of all of the paired wines. I think Mario poured me 4 oz of port for my dessert and Danielle was given an entire bottle of prosecco.

Oh but how the mighty have fallen. D and I were really excited to take our friends the Rhino and W there to enjoy a Valentine's Day dinner. I even called the day before to request that we be seated in Mario's section. It's a small place but I wasn't taking any chances with "the most romantic night of the year" -wink-

When we got there we were immediately seated and I said hi to Mario. He assured me that he would be taking care of us. Come to find out Mario lied. Oh how he lied.

I knew from past experience as well as from working at my wine bar that I HATE the 2006 Frogmore Creek Chardonnay from Tasmania that was paired with my first course of scallops. It tastes like roasted pineapple, stewed fruit, and jam. Mmmmmm...tasty. I thought, no big deal, I'll just ask to be poured the wine from the other tasting menu in place of this one. I didn't ask for an off menu wine, I didn't ask for a more expensive wine, I just asked to be poured the OTHER wine that they were pouring with the first course. Reasonable right? I thought so. WRONG!

Have you ever been reamed by your Denny's waiter for ordering the All-American Slam with a coke instead of a traditional breakfast beverage? How about your Mcdonald's drive-thru attendant for choosing milk with your egg McMuffin? No? Ok ok maybe you deserve to be yelled at by the sushi chef because you ordered the wrong sake with your omikase?

Apparently I was not informed of the fact that sauvignon blanc is a poor pairing with scallops. I tend to disagree and told him so.

 Me: I think it will be fine
Him: (indignantly) Would you drink milk and orange juice together? No, I don't think so.
Me: I think it will be fine
Him: Do you know about wine? Do you have any training?
Me: Yes I studied with Master Sommelier Peter Neptune
Him: Really? I think Peter would agree that this is a horrible idea.
Me:(Thinking Peter would like the idea because shellfish and SB go great together) I think it will be fine
Him: Against my better judgement since you studied with Peter I will let you ruin your food.
Me: Thank you

He then proceeded to be an ass for the remainder of the meal. Pouring acrobatically over D's head, sloshing wine, plating food with no explanation, etc. I felt terrible for our friends because we had raved about Old Vine to them. The food was wonderful as usual, although plating was not as good as the first time. D's polenta was not creamy it was slices, but overall the food was enjoyable. Now if we could just get rid of our waiter.

So if you intend to go to Old Vine Cafe make sure that you request Mario as your server.