Maybe it wasn’t as good as I thought?

The food, a seven course offering, was lovely. Creative, tasty and beautifully presented. The pace was slow, it took 4.5 hrs to get through the meal.

For an additional $95 a wine and beverage pairing was offered, which we decided to take part in. This was disappointing. We expected better wines. Having a husband that is a certified sommelier may make me picky, but for $95 I did not appreciate that one pairing was tea and another tequila. The value was simply lacking as most of the wines poured were not expensive wines nor were the pours very big – probably less than 2 oz per pour..

The wine server presented himself as the sommelier, was quite knowledgeable but through conversation, we determined that he wasn’t actually certified but rather, self taught. While he seemed to possess much knowledge, I would encourage the ownership to get him certified so that he can engage those with the knowledge and expertise of the subject.

It really is a bummer, I’ve read this over and over. I can’t really say anything about their value point other than the tequila was extraordinarily expensive compared to anything else, and thus for it to be mentioned that way isn’t justified, but it’s too bad that I suppose they didn’t enjoy it.

I’m actually writing this post because of the last thing they wrote — about being certified. We got into talking half-way throughout the night and they asked me where I did my training. My reply was that I learned from books and friends, and the fact that I basically live in an environment surrounded by great wines and chances to discuss them. I said that from my experience, the ‘somm schools’ put the ‘certification’ in a bad light for me. Not only is it stupidly expensive and inconvenient to do, but those I’ve worked with at levels 2-3 over my last several years at Q don’t seem to bring anything beyond my scope to the table. I said that the role of what I do isn’t easily learned from books, it’s more of an apprenticed position learned by experience. The fact that I can be so rejected by a fellow ‘wine lover’ because I don’t have a piece of paper that says ‘I’m her peer’ makes me feel a sense of resentment. If it was only about the value of the dinner, sorry but — we need to stay in business, and we put considerable effort into what we do.