Review Chowhounds at Vintage 6/16
Five Chowhounds and two guests met at Vintage (http://www.vintageri.com/) in Woonsocket, RI this past Saturday night. The account provided contains comments from all of those in attendance (and pictures from three). If I missed something, please add your comments.
We met up in the bar area and started with drinks. Vintage has a nice drink menu with a vast selection of interesting cocktails and a good wine list. Members of the group had the Sangria Martini ($7.00), V-Tini ($7.00), Blueberry Cosmopolitan ($8.25) from the cocktails selections. I had a glass of wine, Alamos Merlot ($7.00) from the wine by the glass list. I’m missing a few of the other drinks.
We were seated in the dining room at copper topped tables.
Vintage has an extensive bar menu that includes sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, burgers and a variety of other bar foods. We opted to try several items off of the bar menu for appetizers. We had the Asian Style Crispy Point Judith Calamari with two kinds of Chili Peppers, Sweet & Sour Red Onion and Sambal Aioli ($10.00) and two flatbread pizzas. The Roasted tomato, Mozzarella, Snipped Basil, Young Pecorino & EVOO ($11.00) and the Short Rib, Truffled Potato Puree, Red Wine Syrup ($13.00). The Calamari was the disappointment of the evening. The Crispy Calamari lacked crisp (not hot enough oil, not cooked long enough) but the Aioli that came with the Calamari was very good. The group agreed that both of the pizzas were excellent with the Short Rib pizza having surprising toppings that were “unique”, “very interesting” and “delicious”.
With our dinner, three of us split a bottle of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir ($32.00). Others stuck with the water that was provided at the table or second helpings of the cocktails mentioned above.
Stacy had the pasta special with wild mushrooms and truffle oil ($15.00). Stacy said her entrée was very good, very rich and she enjoyed it. She also thought that the portion was large for the price.
Jane had the Hanger Steak with Truffled Parmesan Frites and Herb Butter ($22.00). Jane was disappointed in her entree. It wasn’t a traditional preparation that she was expecting for an entrée called Steak Frites. The steak appeared to be marinated steak tip and I believe Jane was expecting a different cut of meat and did not like the herb butter that accompanied the steak. The truffled parmesan frites were not the Parisian style frites that Jane was expecting.
I had the Seared Ahi Tuna with Toasted Couscous, Marinated Tomato Salad and Black Olive Sauce ($25.00). The tuna was prepared rare and there were four generous slices.
Jim had the Grilled Native Sword Fish with Crispy Potato Hash with Chorizo and Onion & Herbed Butter ($23.00). It was a surprising large piece of swordfish, cooked nicely.
Renee, Joanie and Meryl all had the Wild Striped Bass with Sweet Corn Risotto and Crispy Potatoes ($24.00). Each of them enjoyed their bass and thought the clams, which were not noted on the menu, were a pleasant surprise. Renee and Joanie substituted Sauteed Garlic Green Beans for the Crispy Potatoes.
Except for Jane, we all brought home our leftovers.
We looked at the dessert menu. The group was most interested in the Butterscotch Panna Cotta with Almond Tulies and Cappuccino Gelee ($8.00), but were disappointed to discover that they were out of this dessert. We opted not to try another of the house made desserts.
The building is beautiful and the group liked the ambiance. The service was good and the server was knowledgeable of the menu. She was happy to accommodate our requests for six separate checks! We didn’t check out the lounge (they had live entertainment) or the patio. They do offer outdoor dining.
Overall, I think we had a wonderful night and I really enjoyed meeting everyone. I am looking forward to participating in more Chowhound events!
Entrees $14.00 - $32.00
Appetizers from dinner menu $8.00 - $14.00
Bar Menu $6.00 - $14.00
Desserts $8.00 - $10.00
Bluebird
Jun 18, 2007 06:33PM
Here are a few more pictures from dinner.
Permalink | Reply
Thank you, Lisa, for posting such a thorough review. It was good to have gotten all the details you did!
I really enjoyed my experience. I wish there was a Vintage in Worcester. I would be a regular there.
Meryl
http://theoccasionalcook.blogspot.com/
Permalink | Reply
Thorough, accurate review. Overall, a very nice evening, thanks in great part to Lisa's impeccable organization.
Jane
www.littlecomptonmornings.blogspot.com
Permalink | Reply
No complaints from me except for the calamari problem. You can see in the picture that they just don't look crisp. And I'm not sure you can tell in the photo that the drinks were as big as your head. As was the swordfish, I've never seen such a thick cut. Besides the great server, the manager and chef stopped by, chef Matt used to work at Restaurant L. Why are Woonsocketians/Woonsocketers not flocking to this place? At 8:45 on a Sat. nite, there were only two other tables occupied in the dining room. Nice bar area for hanging out with a nice cocktail, I can't imagine there are many other places to satisfy that niche. But maybe that's a tough sell in that town.
Permalink | Reply
We had a meal at Vintage last night and I found it to be an average meal. It certainly is a step up from most culinary offerings in the Woonsocket/Cumberland region but not as good as many meals we have had in Providence. We started with salads. My husband had the Ceasar and I had the Field Greens with goat cheese and cherries. My salad was very fresh and well composed. The Ceasar was the very trendy whole leaves of romaine and a few croutons. I think my husband felt that it was more work to eat than he actually wanted to spend on a salad. I had the Red Miso Salmon which was cooked perfectly and reasonably flavorful. The side of mashed potatos were boring and lacked any punch. The bok choy was a nice option for a vegetable but, again, quite non-descript. My husband had the pasta special with seafood. He felt the seafood was totally overcooked and there was an inappropriate ratio of pasta to seafood. (The pasta being the greater percntage, of course.) We did complain and they were very receptive to our concern. They offered free dessert to my husband which he gleefully accepted. My son had the flatbread pizza with BBQ pulled pork. He found it quite tasty and devoured the whole thing. For dessert my husband had the vanilla snowball which was a trio of vanilla ice cream scoops with toffee and shaved white chocolate. He found it to be delicious. My son had varaition of a chocolate brownie over ice cream which I was barely able to assess before his plate was clean.
Overall, the service was very good. The food was served in a timely manner. Our waitress was very knowledgable and attentive. The tables are very sleekly made with inlaid copper tops and the interior design is comfortable with some unique sculptural peices placed throughout the space. We will likely eat at Vintage again. However, I would not bring anyone there that had a seriously discerning palate for I fear they would not be impressed.
Permalink | Reply