Anyone been to Redwood Wine Bar in Bethesda?

[chicken kabob]

I was wondering if anyone as tried it or heard anything about Redwood Wine Bar on Bethesda Avenue(?) When I walked by last Saturday night, it was packed, which I don't necessarily think means much at this point because it is brand new and trendy. In other words, time will tell! However, they had some interesting things on the menu, including my favorite bone marrow and also biscuits w/ ham. Wish I had a glance at the food, but I did not see any... Oh well. I would appreciate any insight from those who have been or have heard anything firsthand. Thanks!

[zin1953]

Not that many times . . .

[rarotonga]

I haven't, but some coworkers have and they loved it. They said that they were told that it wasn't officially open yet, and were made to promise not to blog about it or review it yet - ?! Which I found a little odd. This was at some point at the end of last week.

[chicken kabob]

Thanks for the feedback, raratonga! The request not to blog was on their menu. I found it odd, too, and a little pathetic, actually. I am looking forward to trying the restaurant.

[DanielK]

I don't see why it's "pathetic" - they haven't officially opened yet. This is their soft opening, and they're trying out recipes, wait staff, etc. So whatever you post about now won't be true next week.

Since these days the food boards and bloggers can prop up or tear down a restaurant in a single evening, asking to hold back on reviews at least until they actually OPEN seems a reasonable request to me.

[chicken kabob]

I see your point, DanielK =) Maybe I was a bit harsh by using the word "pathetic." However, my thinking is that they are "fair game" like any newly opened restaurant. At any rate, I am anxious to try this restaurant!

[rarotonga]

I see your point too, DanielK, though I think if a restaurant's ready to open then it's ready to open. Word of mouth is going to spread if you have a bad experience whether you blog it or not.

[DanielK]

I don't disagree, which is why they've taken pains to say that they're not open!

[Elyssa]

Perhaps they wouldn't want folks to make an assumption based on a soft opening. But I'm surprised they wouldn't at least want to take advantage of the buzz factor such blogs create.

[DCDOLL]

Do you like Grapeseed? We love that place; we go there pretty often for people who live in NOVA!! Bypass the Redwood crowds til the hype dies down and go to Grapeseed....i love the extensive wine list, option to get half or full glasses, and the delicious (albeit pricey) food. Laura at the bar always treats you well!

[gyozagirl]

I ate there last night at the bar, and also noticed the "do not blog" blurb on the menu. But since they open starting today, does that mean I can write about it now? ;-)

[Elyssa]

Yes! :)

[chicken kabob]

gyozagirl, how was Redwood? What did you order? Thanks! =)

[gyozagirl]

It was a limited soft opening menu, which I believe someone else already mentioned they had also. We ordered a beer and a glass of white wine to drink, unfortunately I can't think of the names- they were out of the Dogfish White Ale I ordered so I just asked him for a comparable light ale. The wine list was mostly composed of west-coast (noticed a lot of CA and Oregon in there), plus a handful of international wines. We ordered the burger ($12) and the fried chicken ($19) to share.

The burger bun actually was the best part of the burger, in my opinion- a nicely toasted buttery roll. The burger came open-faced with a slice of tomato, lettuce, pickles, grilled onions, with little ramekins of mustard and ketchup on another plate. I guess it's bad to assume, but I was a little surprised that it was JUST the burger, no sides. Which would've been fine if the burger was really fantastic I guess, but there was just something missing with the burger's taste. To give you some perspective, I had an excellent burger at the Burger Joint over on the other side of downtown Bethesda just a few days prior, and it was definitely better than this one.

On to the fried chicken... it had the potential to be great, and to me just fell short. It was two pieces of chicken (small breast and a leg) atop coleslaw, with a ring of gravy around it. The chicken itself was hot, crispy on the outside, moist and cooked well on the inside- but it didn't really taste like anything! I'm not expecting it to be extremely hot, but I would've like if it had more spices or flavor to it. I basically dipped the chicken in the ketchup and mustard to make it more interesting, after a few bites. Also, the coleslaw was a little too warm for me- with the hot chicken on top and the warm gravy surrounding it, it was hard to enjoy it after a few bites.

All that being said (do I sound like a Debbie Downer or what?), I think that this place has a lot of potential. Beautiful interior, the bar space was very relaxing and comfortable, and the bartender was attentive but not cloying. Other items on the menu included Chicken liver, Macaroni and cheese, the Bone marrow dish someone else already mentioned, and a handful of other items I can't recall, sorry! I think the location will be great for business, and I would definitely want to come back to try out some other items after a few weeks/months.

[potrzebie]

I was walking past it today and asked to look at a menu. Some of the prices were a bit absurd, I thought. You want some cheese on your $12 burger, add another $2. You want fries with that (OK, "Redwood Hand-Cut Fries)? Add another $8. I don't think I'll be eating there anytime soon.

As for having to promise over the weekend not to blog or review it, if they were serving the public and charging money, I'd say they're fair game. Either you're open or you're not.

[Doh]

They are listed as participating in RW in a couple of weeks, so I might try them then (although I'd like to check out the menu first-- chances are I'll end up going to David Craig for RW).

[chicken kabob]

I can answer my own question, as I went for lunch today. The service was off- we had to request a waiter a few times before a waiter came over-once we got our waiter, the service was fine. Interesting menu for lunch. I ordered the "plowman lunch" which consisted of a cold carrot ginger soup (flavorful, light, refreshing), slice of good cheddar cheese, a few bites of lightly dressed greens, tasty artichoke terrine (I had the option of replacing the terrine for pate.) and 2 mini DELICIOUS biscuits. I spoke to the owner about the announcement not to blog until they are officially open. I told him the request not to blog actually defeated the purpose because people were blogging about his request not to blog!"

[midwesthound]

We went for dinner earlier this week. Group of 4 adults and 1 teen. So we were able to try quite a few things, only some of which I'll remember for this post but I'll do my best. Have to post more quickly after a visit! Also some thoughts on the blog/soft open idea--first that.

Like everyone else, we were told when seated that it was a "soft open" but also that the point was they were "very interested in gathering input and feedback." Our waiter seemed very sincere about this and we also noted that it was explicitly written on the menu too. In retrospect, we really appreciated their idea of a soft open but think these guys could have really thought this through better in two respects, maybe 3:

1. If you're going to say you really want input/feedback, then follow through. After the initial statement by our waiter, he never raised it again and noone else on the staff ever asked how things went. There wasn't even a form to fill out. So have to call into question how much they really value customer input to get things more in line.

2. Soft opens work best with a screened group as opposed to the public at large. I think Enology, for example, got this right by setting up their soft open over email, using blogs to their advantage btw. The participants were very motivated and they really got and used input. Is the point of the soft open to begin ringing the cash registers asap without getting too much flack? Or is really to work out kinks?

3. We were not told by anyone not to blog or review but, if that really happened as someone posted, it's outrageous and not smart of the staff. Besides the value of buzz, you want people to feel comfortable talking and doing what they normally do. Have great food and a great experience and the blogs and talk will take care of themselves.

FOOD

Overall decent but with the expected significant number of issues. Some of these will no doubt be worked out (and we'll try it again) but others made us worry about the overall plan.

Among other things, we had mussels, a salad (forget the specific kind), whatever the special soup was (our friend’s son had that) and the soft shell crab as starters. The mussels were pretty disappointing for one simple reason: cooked at way too high a temp for too long. Whatever sauce was on them had been nearly obliterated and the mussels were dried out. The salad was okay—nothing memorable. The crab was probably the best starter at our table but was pretty small given the season so the flavor of the shell/skin was much more dominant than crab meat. Nice presentation though. A bit worried the place may end up being more about presentation than great food.

For mains, a pork chop was the standout. Thick, juicy and well cooked with a corn based crust. Everyone tried it and enjoyed it. Our friends ordered the special whole striped bass and all agreed it was average and, similar to the mussels, probably fired a bit too long. The steak, a locally sourced, grass-fed cut, was cooked properly and tasty. The waiter pointed out the accompanying sauce as a highlight (served in a small white ceramic pitcher on the plate) but I’d have sworn it was out of a bottle. Lighter colored than A1 but very reminiscent of another grocery brand whose name escapes me… Finally, we ordered a side of macaroni and cheese. Everyone at the table was a sucker for a good mac&cheese. Disappointingly basic at $8. Simple elbow macaroni in a little butter and lightly cheesed with some bread crumbs on top and baked. Compare to Central—different world altogether. We also had a pinot noir which the waiter (not sure they have a sommelier?) recommended. It was fine but, like a lot of the other things, not really special in any way. We didn’t order dessert since the dinner didn’t wow us but, next door, there’s a very cute Argentinian gelato place where the gelato was surprisingly good.

SERVICE

The service was a mixed bag. Our waiter was very charming but the kitchen clearly wasn’t helping him. We waited an inordinately long time for the starters and then the mains came out before we were half done with appetizers. He was very apologetic—sensed it probably wasn’t his fault.

We’ll be very curious to see what others think as Redwood gets its kitchen and service up to snuff. We’ll go back and try once more in a few weeks. It has potential but my biggest concern is really that this place is in over its head. It’s a huge and impressively designed space. They have to be paying a fortune in rent and staff. They’ll need large crowds willing to pay high prices (our bill came to nearly $450 with one of the least expensive bottles of wine) and, if the food doesn’t get better in design (not just the cooking temp challenges, which are easier to fix), portion and ingredients, it’ll be tough going.

[hotel]

Well here's an update on Redwood, we went on Saturday the 13th:

First of all the place is massive and very pretty. I like the fact that they don't stuff in a ton of tables. There is plenty of space to move between groups and you won't have to listen to other tables' conversations.

Food:

Appetizers ordered were the mussels, pot of Pennsylvania Rabbit, and two beet salads. The mussels were your typical run of the mill variety with a butter garlic sauce and came with a piece of toasted french bread. The bread was sadly the standout part of the dish. It tasted like it was grilled on charcoal and very nice. The shredded rabbit dish was very underseasoned and plain, luckily it came with some homemade honey mustard that could have come out of a jar to liven it up. The beet salad with watercress was unimpressive with a standard vinagerette of some sort drizzled around it.

Entrees were Quail, Vegetable Gratin, Flat Iron Steak, and Halibut. The gratin was only potatoes and some run of the mill cheese to hold it together. Being a vegetarian entree we really expected to see some more veggies, but a tiny salad accompanied it. The Flat Iron steak was perfectly cooked, but the braised greens that came with it tasted like feet and the homemade steak sauce was unimpressive. The Quail was the standout dish, perfectly cooked and simply prepared, and very tasty. The halibut was plain but it was served with an eggplant spread that was very good. We also shared a pot of bacon mac n' cheese, which at 8 dollars was not worth it.

If I were running this place I would fire the entire front of house staff and potentially the kitchen manager. The service was terrible. Our server couldn't figure out where to pour water or wine from; continually reaching over our dishes, twice dropping his tie into my plate. He also had two or three pimples that grossed my wife out. Our entrees came out while one of four appetizers were still being eaten, which lead to an awkward moment of picking up my own appetizer plate while they dropped the entrees. Either this is poor serving or poor timing by the kitchen, but there was no apology.

I really had high hopes for this place, as I love Mendocino Grill, but I just was not impressed. After we left, we popped into Enology on Wisconsin & Macomb for a cheese course and a glass of wine... more on that in a different review...

[Doh]

For what it's worth, Tom Sietsma reviewed for the Post this weekend (it's up on the website), and it's one of his most negative reviews (one star), despite the fact that he thinks they knew who he was.

[DCNatFan]

We stopped by last weekend for the 1st time to check the place out. Loved the bar area, very open and warm despite the size. We were able to grab a couple seats at the bar as a couple was leaving. Wife had a martini and I had a nice glass of red. Wine list was decent by the glass, although slightly overpriced.

Shared a couple apps at the bar, which were about average but enough to entice us to return and try the full menu.

[charmedgirl]

I was there last weekend too DCNatFan. Posted a review in the "What are we missing in Bethesda" thread. I thought the food was quite good. Not spectacular but definitely above average -- especially the short rib entree. I'd recommend it for a night out.

[chezcurd]

I was there 2 weeks ago on a Sunday. I am still deciding if I will go back and give it another try. While I was there, there was a problem in the kitchen (with the stove/cooktop or something like that). We had appetizers and they came out about 15 mins after ordering (figured it was due to the donut holes (made fresh)). Then after they cleared the appetizer plates, the waiter came over and said there was a problem in the kitchen and the food would be a little longer, which turned out to be 45 mins. I had the salmon skillet, the salmon was overcooked and the sunchokes were undercooked, but since it took so long to get the meal, we immediately got a to go box. Got one apology from the waiter about the wait.