Mayo Reserve Room or J Winery Food & Wine Pairing?

[sparkplug]

Which is better for a food and wine pairing- Mayo Reserve Room or J Winery? I will be in Sonoma next Monday and want to do one of these, but not sure which one. The price for Mayo is $20 and J is $25, so really not much of a difference there. Has anyone done both of these and able to compare? Also, will this be enough food to serve as our lunch on a day of wine tasting?

The location we would go to for Mayo is the one on Sonoma Hwy- I'm not sure if there is a difference in what they serve vs the one in Healdsburg, but thought maybe I should throw in that bit of info just in case.

[mariacarmen]

i can only be half-helpful - have only been to Mayo in Sonoma, not J Winery. We loved it - food was inventive yet simple, and they do a great job with the pairings. if you get the chef involved, which we did, he comes out to your table and chats. we also got tastings of some wines off the menu. very good. that said, i do not think it is enough for a meal. we had it as the end of our day of winetasting, and still ended up having dinner later that night.

[fyoulady]

I havent been to either but I am very curious as well! The Wall Street Journal called Mayo's wine and food pairing the "best deal in the wine country." I have a friend who works at J so I will probably head there this weekend. Please report back and I will do so as well!

[sparkplug]

I just posted my trip report with a review of the Mayo tasting, which I LOVED! Wow, the food was amazing. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/441683