La Vina |
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The following review has been written by Sheffschefs after a visit to the establishment. All visits are made anonymously, as ordinary paying customers. Since La Vina opened in Summer 2006, we'd driven past it a few times and it always seemed to be popping at the seams, so given the interest in it, we thought we'd better check it out and report back to you. We roped in a couple of friends and set off for La Vina on a Saturday evening in late October. Even at 7.30 pm it was full of people, either at the bar, or already seated and mid meal. We were given a table in the back section, which is partially separated from the bar and were relieved about this, as the main eating area at the front was already getting quite smoky. Settling down with menus, we ordered some bread and olives, which turned out to be a very good idea as there were plenty of them and they took the raw edge off our appetites. We also ordered a bottle of the Vina Solidad which was nicely crisp and dry, but given that this was the 'house' wine, it was startlingly priced at £14.25 a bottle. The La Vina menu is a combination of tapas, larger dishes to share, such as Paella and their 'special' brochetta, which are combinations of meat, chicken or fish, grilled with vegetables. Rather than ordering everything en mass, we decided to make the evening last, enjoying the company of friends, so we ordered a selection of tapas to share, to be followed by a seafood paella and a couple of brochetta. After half an hour or so of waiting, we'd munched through the bread and olives and were almost ready for a second bottle of wine, so we were pleased when there were signs that food was about to arrive at the table. We immediately realised there was a hitch though, when a paella dish was placed in front of us. It seemed our tapas selection had gone astray somewhere. Hasty consultation with the kitchen ensued and it all got a bit complicated, but eventually, after another 20 minutes or so, we got our tapas. They ranged in quality from acceptable to very good. The grilled prawns and fried aubergine were delicious, but the whitebait and chorizo skewer were really nothing special. With tapas cleared away, the paella and brochetta arrived. The brochetta arrive in some style, on a vertical cast iron skewer, from which the food is then served onto a plate by the waiter. The problem with ours was that half of the prawn brochetta missed the small plate and ended up on the floor as it was served. We assumed that the waiter would dash off to get a replacement cooked, but instead, he simply said he was sorry, but they had no large plates left! By now, we were almost beyond complaining and just resigned ourselves to the situation. Ironically, the prawns that survived the service turned out to be the best part of the meal, they tasted fresh and were perfectly cooked. There was a benign reaction to both the chicken brochetta and the paella, they were fine, but nothing of note. On the plus side, the waitress we had went out of her way to apologise for the chaos we had with our order, she really couldn't have been nicer about it. It was also clear that people around us were having a good time and there was most certainly a lively buzzing atmosphere in the place. Not a place for fine dining, but it might be a choice for a party night out. October 2006 Back to previous page |
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