Johnny Chau

Review of Viognier Restaurant

This review is a couple of years old, so take it w...

This review is a couple of years old, so take it with a grain of salt.

This place was good, but not quite good enough for me to want to drive all the way to San Mateo on a regular basis. I opted for the three course tasting menu. (FYI Part One: If you're in the mood for a lighter meal (even though it's not noted on the menu), I was told you can opt to order items a la carte.) (FYI Part Two: The portions for each course are pretty decently sized. If you pace yourself the stretchy waist pants can stay at home. They aren't like Cheesecake Factory large, but they're also aren't one bite snacks. As Goldilocks would say, "They're juuuust right.")

-Amuse Bouch: Crostini topped with a soft cheese and a strand (or two) of roasted red pepper. Just ok.

-The Bread Basket: Soft croissant roll, Cranberry roll, Cheese Roll, every possible roll you could imagine AND MORE! This part of the meal was delumptious. + The room temperature butter = heaven.

-First Course: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Arugula and Ricotta Cheese, drizzled with EVOO. The tomatoes were so sweet. A good seasonal offering and a refreshing way to start off my meal.

-Second Course: Lobster with Fresh Pasta. Also pretty good. The most impressive part of this dish was the perfectly cooked lobster - not an easy feat.

-Third Course: (I was in a savory mood so dessert was skipped.) Pork Tenderloin on a bed of Hominy Grits. While the pork (like the lobster) was perfectly cooked, the grits were not. I know the protein should be the focus, but I place equal balance on both the protein and the carb combination. I'm also a fan of al dente, but these grits were just plain crunchy and under cooked. So disappointing!

-French Pressed Coffee was a nice end to the meal, warm and fuzzy.

-Complimentary Dessert: French Macarons in two flavors, Raspberry and Hazelnut. These were like pillows of air with a slight eggshell thin crunch filled with the respective cream flavors. It almost made up for my pork :)

Overall, the meal was an ok one. The highs and lows balance my overall rating to three stars.

There's a classroom for cooking school if you are feeling academic and if you need groceries the restaurant is also connected to a really nice grocery store.

Side observation, there were a handful of empty Far Niente bottles placed around the restaurant for decoration. Not quite sure what to make of that one. For a restaurant titled Viognier, why do they feature bottles of really expensive Cabs.