I tweeted last week about how my wife and I were trying out the new wine bar, DaLuca’s, in the Old Trail Town Center. That tweet prompted this reader-submitted* review:
DaLucas is newly opened and we are thrilled to add yet another restaurant name to a rapidly growing list of other new eateries in Crozet.
Yippee they are here – however – some tweaking needs to occur if they are going to flourish and compete with what is already out here and what is on the way.
Having worked in New York in the food and entertainment business I tripped over myself to be first in line at Dalucas after having read their posted menu pre-opening that seemed Zagat worthy to me.
Upon arrival I was disappointed that Sauvignon Blanc was not available by the glass – it may be on the wine menu by now if others like me who enjoy a good grassy wine have requested it.
My husband and I ordered two drinks – a pinot grigio and he a beer that was an interesting lemony/citrusy brew – forget the names but was good.
Then the three tapis – quite pricey and not very large for a tapis serving in my mind. Quality too was lacking, but hey, it was only night two since opening.
The bill was a shocker at $65.00 and we went home still hungry.
We love the view of the mountains from the patio, we love that they are here but we hope the prices come down some and the wine bar expands its choices of wines (hint we have some great local wineries to add to your wine menu – Mount Fair, King Family, White Hall).
We want to support these nice folks – all of them from the wait staff to the owners – but with current prices we can’t afford DeLucas very often.
Foodie Mom in Crozet
As I said again on Twitter:
@crozette at $60 minimum for 2, da Luca’s won’t be a weekly (or monthly) outing for most, I suspect
*Thank you for the review! If you would like something on RealCrozetVA, please let me know.
Thank you to everyone that has visited us during our first two months and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback that we have received. In response to the foodies we have made some adjustments to our dinner menu. We will be re-releasing our menu on Tuesday, November 17th, it will have some changes in pricing as well some very savoury new dishes by our new chefs. As for the request to carry more local wines we will be featuring a different local winery each month.
Please stop by next week and try us out, also watch our web-site for upcoming events as well.
Thanks,
Misty
Wow,
What a let down. Living in Afton it is a trek to get to many nice places to eat so we were thrilled to see Da Luca’s coming on board. Agreed, prices too stiff, I did not find the management friendly, they basically ignored us, but we were there for the food/wine anyway, so no big deal. The quality of our meal was weak and the presentation was unremarkable. We also found our table to be less than clean. If they want to be a local and family friendly place then they need to pay attention to what is going on around them. Won’t be going back.
This is response to the “foodie in Afton” . I happen to live in Afton also,and was also happy to see a wine bar come close-my experiences at Da Luca’s have been very different. I have always been greeted with a “hello” and a clean table. And, then left to enjoy my wine and food- both being very good! So,I’m still glad that they are open and I will go back!!
Foodie – Thanks again for the comment.
S.E. – My experiences have been more similar to yours, although I have not yet tried their new menu.