11/16/08

Out with the good, in with the bad

by lenquest

My daughter and her husband used to praise Vin Santo and frequent the restaurant often. We also have been there numerous times and found it to be good. But there is now new ownership and boy has it changed.

Tonight my wife and I went to the restaurant with a $100 gift certificate from about 18 months ago, which has no expiration date (by law it cannot). The owner, Umberto Pala, came out and said he cannot honor it. He informed me that he paid the previous owner $1,000 for outstanding certificates and he?s already had $11,000 come in. For some reason, he feels that is the customer?s fault. I informed him that when he bought the business, and kept it operating under the same name, he not only accepted the assets but the liabilities also. He flat out refused to do anything and we decided to leave. On the way out he added insult to the injury by saying, ?I hope I never see you again.?

His action on the certificate is, I believe, illegal, His treatment of customers is a ridiculous. I?ve informed my daughter and her husband and they will not be frequenting the restaurant again. i would not recommend it to anyone!

11/05/08

Save your $ and go somewhere else

by MsLadyO

Upon entering this quaint looking Willow Glen restaurant, I was greeted by a gruffy guy, sitting down at a table near the door, working on a laptop in front of an empty plate of food. A confusing first impression since he turned out to be the owner (and chef?). I admit my expectations are high when I go to a 'nice' restaurant, but like they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Waitstaff was good, it took a long time to get our entrees out (and the place was not busy) and then food was cold. (Herb crusted sea bass, nice piece of fish, but unfortunately, the flour on top of it was still dry and gummy, the sauce was cold and so was the broccoli.) I don't mind paying for excellent food but this was definitely sub-par for a $35 entree.

On top if it, the gift certificate we presented was not accepted, because it was from "the previous owners." (They even put a disclaimer about this on the menu, which is downright tacky!) I'm kind of wishing the previous owners were still there, since this restaurant used to have a good reputation.

I'm hugely disappointed, but I'm writing it down here so you won't be too. Go somewhere else!

06/02/06

A Study In the Demise of a Fine Restaurant...

by goatya

UPDATE: 12/31/07. Vin Santo used to be my favourite restaurant in San Jose. Great service, wonderful ambiance, fantastic food. Alas, with the recent changeover of ownership and chef, I have to say that I was extremely disappointed in my meal. We went there for New Years Eve (and the fact that it's still New Years Eve and I'm writing this review should tell you something). The prix fixe menu was pretty steep at $85 a head. This is not unexpected on New Years Eve, but wasn't advertised anywhere. For that the diner got 4 courses, plus an amuse buche. The restaurant seemed to have underplanned its waitstaff for the night with 3 waiters taking care of a packed restaurant. Consequently service was extremely slow. The amuse buche was a lobster bisque which was severely lacking on the cream to give a bisque its usual texture. In addition the cup the bisque was served in was dirty with spillage. The first course was pretty good - crab cakes and oyster and caviar. The second course (pasta- ravioli and risotto) was very poor. Both elements were cold, and the presentation was horrendous. It looked like someone had dropped the plate and quickly scooped the fallen food back on the plate. We had the surf and turf main course, which was also very poorly presented. The flavours were good, but the filet was gristly, which is very hard to believe for filet mignon. All in all, this was a very disappointing meal, especially for a restaurant which used to be our favorite (albeit with previous proprietorship). Even if you take out the New Years Eve factor (which made the bill $250), this was not a good showing. That's really too bad, as Willow Glen really needs a good upscale restaurant which is consistent and provides good value.

• Pros: Friendly service
• Cons: Mediocre food, poor presentation, over priced