Wine Spectator Restaurant @ CIA Greystone - Napa, CA

Lunch on Day 3 of San Francisco/Napa

Let me first say that, with all the good restaurants in Napa, IMO you don't really want to go to The Wine Spectator @ CIA unless you have another purpose in mind like we did, which was to show Joey around the CIA in case he still wants to learn to become a chef five years from now.

There's better executed, more contemporary dining with more polished service to be had at these price points all over the area.

That said, the last time we ate there as a family was about 8 years ago when Joey was in kindergarten, and we figured it would be nice to take him back so he can see what a culinary school campus looks like.

On the menu today, verbatim from their menu:

- TODAY’S TEMPTATIONS: an assortment of small savory bites prepared by our culinary team

- CHARCUTERIE PLATE: house‐made head to tail charcuteries featuring Gleason Ranch Duroc Pork

- LOCAL GARDEN GREENS: apples in season, Sky Hill goat cheese, pistachios, leek‐whole grain mustard vinaigrette

- 5DOT RANCH MARKET STEAK: crispy smashed potatoes, mushrooms, Brusselssprouts, balsamic onions, blue cheese fondue for my dad and Joey

- BOUILLABAISSE: seafood, saffron, fennel, butter beans, olives, red pepper rouille for my mom

- BRAISED SHORT RIB w. french fries for Mads (She didn't want any of the sides that come with)

- SEARED BREAST OF SONOMA DUCK w. confit potatoes, root vegetables in season, spinach, fig‐red wine jus for me and Dean

- GARDEN VEGETABLE RISOTTO peas, mushrooms, squash, green beans, house‐made ricotta cheese for me and Dean

- CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE and CREME BRULEE for dessert

And a shared half carafe of Bodegas Tempranillo (Paso Robles) for me and Dean. Not to worry, he drank the lion's share. :) (I might add that The Man and I both thought the wine too young and underdeveloped to enjoy in any context - very acidic, tannic, and astringent without enough sugar development to round it out - and we were disappointed that they would serve it at all.

And while I'll try not to get all pedantic on you dish by dish, I am definitely going to get uppity on you for a moment and say that there's a lot about the menu development, execution, and service at this place that really makes me wonder if that roughly 60k for 2 years of tuition and fees only at this campus wouldn't better be spent sending Joey abroad to travel and experience great food and perhaps learn how to beg effectively enough to get to wash dishes at a great restaurant somewhere and work his way up.

At this price point, from the outdated food concepts (not to mention the plating) to the not quite ready for prime time execution of said food concepts to the awkward service to the minimum 30 minute wait from appetizer to entree...

I mean, these people can't even spell prix fixe and it's a culinary school FFS.

So are you telling us not to eat there, Shinae?

For the money, YES. Yes I am.

But lucky for you, I took one for the team and warned you about it. :)


shinae


The Wine Spectator @ CIA Greystone
www.ciarestaurants.com/california-campus-restaurants/the-wine-spectator-at-greystone/menu/