Napa Valley Grille Review

I suppose the Napa Valley Grille is the closest thing you have to a Napa Valley chain restaurant with locations in Southern California New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Minnesota (is that a list or what?). Just the thought of a chain store puts some people off, but we don't care if it's a chain or not; we care about the food. And the dining experience at Napa Valley Grille has its moments but is maybe a step behind the rest. It was originally opened by Bob Hurley, who apparently got tired of the corporate style at Napa Valley Grille, and opened Hurley's Restaurant and Bar (the corporate owners, Constellation Concepts, then went bankrupt and sold to Tavistock Restaurants whose parent company is in that mecca of fine dining: Orlando)

Napa Valley Grille food

For appetizers, they have this tasty hot crab fondue which is a creamy parmesan cheese sauce with red onions, artichokes, and crab meat. Focaccia pieces act as the cheese delivery mechanism. We keep on meaning to try their other appetizers but always seem to come back to this one. Salty, creamy, cheesy, with bits of sweetness from the onions and crab. It's a tasty combination.

Entrees are Napa Valley cuisine with a focus on fresh, regional foodstuffs. French and Italian foundations with melting pot influences. Overall, their food is on the heartier side though. Steak, rib eye, pork loin, short rib, etc. (it does say grille after all), The last time we were there, I had some grilled scallops and shrimp sitting on a potato gratin and some grapes in what I think was a balsamic vinaigrette. It was ok, but I really should've stuck to the heavier proteins. I thought the grapes and vinaigrette were the most interesting bit, but the potato gratin was a little out of place with the shrimp and scallops which themselves were a underwhelming. Not that I couldn't eat a few skewers of them because who doesn't like grilled shrimp and scallops, but I was expecting a bit more out of the dish.

My wife's steak (I think it was Kobe tri-tip...) with foie gras butter, mushroom medley, sitting on a puff pastry was much better. My wife's steak was a little closer to rare than the asked for medium. But it was still a delicious piece of meat, juicy with a lot of flavor and well seasoned. We've enjoyed their braised beef short rib too. It's likely that the next time I go, I'm going to skip anything that didn't walk on 4 legs. The Napa Valley Grille does seem like a step behind the other Yountville restaurants, but that's a pretty high bar.

For dessert, the Bellwether Farms ricotta cheesecake was ok. The presentation seemed a bit weird to me (one of our cats is a bit on the barfy side...and...well...), but the cheesecake was creamy and the bananas Foster sauce and macademia nuts pralines let your have your pick of tastes and textures to go with the cheesecake. Looking at their dessert menu, we need to give the nectarines and cream a shot when they come in season.

Napa Valley Grill offers wine flights which I'm surprised more restaurants in the area do not do. A wine flight is a themed tasting of wine so that you can try out multiple wines rather than just settling on one. My wife had a Cabernet themed wine flight while I had one that focused on red wines from smaller, local wineries. The prices aren't too bad at all at about $11-$20, and a flight is about 1.5 glasses of wine total. The glasses are carried to you in a little 3 glass holder, and each wine has a small tag that matches up to a wine list to tell you about your wine. If you go, you should get it as it's not too expensive and it's fun to see which wine goes best with your food, maybe a little bit of wine swapping with the others at your table (if you like to swing that way), etc.

Napa Valley Grille setting and service

The seating area is fairly roomy and the booths give you a sense of privacy which is nice if you're not in the mood to see and hear every bit of everybody else's conversation which can sometimes be a problem with restaurants in the area. The lighting is a bit darker than other restaurants at night. The interior already is full of the common earth tones and wood that you often see, but one advantage of the darker lighting is that little recessed ceiling lights provide a type of soft spotlight on each table which is a nice touch. The service could have been a little snappier at the start, but it was overall fine. They do a good amount of business from the nearby Napa Valley Lodge so they usually have a decent sized crowd.

Price of our meal

2 wine flights, appetizer, two entrees, dessert, tax & tip = ~$140

Other Napa Valley Grille reviews and links

• Citysearch user reviews
  
• Gastronomic Fight Club review (What would Tyler Durden eat?)
• Tripadvisor reviews
• Yelp user reviews