Twisted Vine in Derby, CT

[Scargo]

I had read about this place and was curious. In an old bank building, it has a curious mix of old Derby wealth and wierd French. Out front, they have a spectacular awning over sidewalk and the impressive, old bank's front entry, but the lighting was almost non-existant except for one glaring bulb and surrounding the front door were many pots of dead chrysanthemums. Lovely! On this dark, rainy night, the restaurant's main entrance was not very obvious and it was fairly dark. Inside, there is an odd shingled roof outcropping over the cashier's area where you also access the "Birmingham Cellars". In the main diningroom there is the old, dark and beautiful wood of the old bank mixed with a couple of cheap French posters. The posters are mixed on a wall with old, sconce-like extendable lighting fixtures; probably originals from the banking days--but not French looking..... Other wall hangings were a mix of pictures of flowers or dark unintelligible images in crooked hanging frames. There are intimate seating areas upstairs but all the lights were off on the second floor. With so much dark wood, this vaulted ceiling room had an eerie, almost gloomy feeling. I could imagine being held prisoner in the (bank vault) room (with the bars) and starved while others ate well. That, and the room being so empty gave it a very subdued, dark feeling, except for the fact that they played upbeat "oldies " tunes from the fifties! Then, to break up the strangeness of this type of music, in this setting, the owner/manager would talk loudly on the phone from across the room. They cover over the nice tablecloths with butcher's paper and then, inexplicably, give you nice cloth napkins!

To the food.....

There were good, garlicky smells coming out of the kitchen and overall, we had good food. We had a nice bottle of Italian wine, once we convinced the young Italian waitress that we "really, really" wanted to see the seperate wine list for bottles of wine. Small, cheap wine glasses were offered and she filled them to the brim... A decent, buttery, garlic bread was brought to the table for us to munch on. We had a fried clam strip appetizer, which was pretty good with a Remoulade-like dipping sauce. My partner had a chicken cesear salad where the chicken had a bland and odd, gravy-like coating which also made the salad too wet. There was no pepper or additional parmesan to be had. It was a pretty bland and uninspired salad, even though it was only $9. I had the stuffed veal chop, which turned out ot be spectacular! It was stuffed with a combination of domestic and shitake mushrooms and (at least) spinach. It was served over a bed of delicious, garlicky, mashed potatoes swimming in a wonderful, rich brown gravy. The stuffed chop was so large I could not finish it. This alone was $26. We skipped dessert, which we usually do. We were not aware of the Birmingham Cellars aspect of the restaurant, which is a "cellar" bar/dining/dancing area where you can supposedly drink, eat and be entertained. We heard no sounds from that area and saw no activity from the entry area. There was supposed to be live entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday but this did not seem to be happening and the website calender for entertainment ( http://www.twistedvinerestaurant.com/calendar.htm# ) is not current.

There were three young women working on the sparsely occupied first floor; two as waitresses. It was never more than half occupied and most people were dressed very casually. The service was also very casual for such a high-end, high-priced menu. The waitstaff would have been better suited for a nice pizzaria.

It all seems so incongruous that nothing about the restaurant seems to match the capability of the chef..... or the potential of the building. The website portrays the restaurant as exotic and full of light. I hardly got that feeling. We may go back and try it again and see if the food is consistent and to see if there really is life in "the cellar".

What are these owners thinking? This place has really wierd vibes. There is such a clash of interior styles and decoration. The Twisted Vine is supposedly portraying themselves as an up-scale American/Continental restaurant but there are so many anomalies that I wondered if it was a halloween prank!

[Scargo]

Man! I can't believe there are no eGulleteers or adventurous foodie people in the vicinity of Derby who do not have a story to tell about this place.

[Chris Amirault]

Dude, I'm still recovering from the clam strips app!

[jeffperez62]

Derby & decent restaurants?? I would never put both of those words in the same sentence.

[fchrisgrimm]

Glad the veal chop was good, and the building looks interesting, but I can't imagine looking for a stand-out meal in Derby.