This winery is the perfect mix of casual and formal. Sounds funny but it's true, you can feel comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt or in a dress and heels. The resturant has 2 patios (one available for private parties) as well as 2 dining rooms, a bar, and a small shop where you can purchase their wine. Every month they have a "wine of the month" which can be purchased for a discounted price. They have a separate lunch menu with sandwiches, salads and half-orders of popular entrees while the dinner menu has pasta, steak, seafood and salads.
We ordered the cheese nosh as an appetizer; Nate ordered the St. Clair Cabernet Sauvignon (perfectly dry and pairs well with pretty much anything) while I sampled their "wine of the month" La Clairette (semi sweet red with subtle Cabernet notes).
The nosh was a platter of 5 different cheeses, Kalamata olives, fresh raspberries and chocolate served with crostini and water crackers. Last night's selection included bleu cheese (strong bleu cheese flavor which I personally love), marbled sage (hard cheese, not sure what the sage was marbled with though), apricot (way too sweet for my taste), Asiago (not my favorite but Nate liked it) and a delicious roasted red pepper spread (honestly the star of the show! It was creamy, tangy and had roasted garlic cloves on top: can you say yummy?)
After the nosh I was pretty full but had to press on with my feast so I settled on the grilled salmon with lemon compound butter and vegetable medley while Nate got the prime rib special; again we had to get a perfect wine pairing so Nate went with the Lescombes Cabernet Sauvignon (a little dryer than the St. Clair) and I went with the St. Clair Pino Grigio (crisp, fruity and dry).
Decor: good, the resturant is all mahogany wood and very inviting. The subtle lighting make it a perfect place to cozy up for a date night or gossip with girlfriends and get classy trashy on wine.
Cleanliness: excellent, despite the fact it was a packed house (Friday night, live entertainment, hungry working people) the staff bussed tables quickly and the bathrooms were spotless.
Food taste: excellent, my salmon was amazing! Grilled perfectly, the compound butter wasn't too heavy for the fish, the vegetable medley (steamed squash, zucchini, green beans, red peppers and tomatoes) were seasoned perfectly and paired with the freshness of the fish and I was given a surprise potato croquet! It was fried to a beautiful golden brown and not too greasy while the inside was the consistency of herbed mashed potatoes.
Food appearance: excellent, the food was all presented beautifully and you can really tell the kitchen had an eye for detail.
Service: excellent, our server was attentive, friendly and more than happy to meet our requests (such as put my birthday cake in the fridge and bring us a lighter). She even sold us on a bottle of champagne!
Total: 14/15
I highly recommend St. Clair for any and all occasions (at least try their wine! They have 3 separate companies in a variety of flavor profiles to appease any palet).
My cake, though regrettably not St. Clair was a tiramisu cake from Whole Foods market and married very well with the St. Clair Bellissimo bubbly we ordered! Another great thing is if you order a bottle of wine (which most people did last night because they were $10 off) and didn't finish it at dinner they re-cork it for you!
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