As fans of the Wine House we had high expectations for this place. It was very disappointing.
We called to make a reservation and were told they couldn't take us until 8:45. We showed up at 7:30 and the place was empty. The dining room was poorly decorated and cramped, so we sat at the bar.
The food was average. We had some good cheese and a decent duck salad and pasta boulliabaise. My "five peppercorn rib eye" on the other hand was mostly fat and lacking in flavor. The sauce wasn't good either.
The wines were okay. I had a decent pinot and both the rose and sauvignon blanc my girlfriend ordered were fine. I asked the extremely obnoxious sommelier (who made stupid, faux-self-depricating remarks to underscore just how MUCH really GREAT wine he personally had tasted...great pal, that's your job) how the Amarone was and he suggested instead an Ojai grenache as a pairing for my rib eye. That seemed like an odd pairing with steak, but I decided to try it. 2.5 ounces of grenache was $12. This stuff sells for $30 a bottle downstairs. Furthermore, it wasn't very good. And when the bartender asked me if I liked it and I said no, she told me I was actually wrong and that it was very good. So why ask me, then?
So we spent $120 to drink the equivalent of 2 1/2 glasses of wine and eat a couple appitizers. I was still hungry when we left but decided I'd rather go home and boil some pasta. Atmosphere was remiscent of a Holiday Inn conference room. Crowd was stuffy, old and pretentious. I'd say the highlight of our meal was listening in as the woman next to us struggled to describe the type of Syrah she enjoys, using a mind-boggling array of completely ambiguous terms (if you must know, she likes it "juicy, but not too ripe, but really, like, California-y").
AOC is a bit of a scene but it's far, far superior to Upstairs in every respect.
Cons: Food, staff, price
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