Vine Tavern & Eatery

Reviews 4

CH

Chris Wood

Pretty upset with The Vine in Coralville. I went to school at the U of I and ate at the downtown Vine all of the time. Its a great dive bar atmosphere and the food is outstanding. My family moved back to the area recently and we typically go to the Coralville location purely due to size and having children, its a pretty family friendly atmosphere. Unfortunately, the service is lacking. About 6 months ago, we had other family in town, so a total of 4 children and 4 adults and it wasnt really that busy of a night. We were seated right away, waited 20 minutes to get our drink order, then another 40 minutes to get our drinks. Never got approached during this time about our food orders, which we were ready for. Once the drinks came to the table, the server set them down and walked away, again not asking for our food orders. 20 minutes later, he finally came back and got our food orders, which we asked for the kids to be put in first so they could be fed. About an hour later he came to the table and apologized for the food taking so long, said the kids pizza takes a long time to cook. Again, there was no questions about refills on any of our empty drink glasses around the table. Eventually the food came out, we ate, and then waited another 20 minutes for our check after finishing. I understand the serving world as I have served and bartended for about 10 years in my life, so I know sometimes the kitchen gets backed up or sections get filled. But multiple times our server was just standing and talking to other servers. Not sure if this server is still there, but I really hope not due to the lack of quality. Having kids at a restaurant for 3-4 hours is not a great experience. About a month ago, I stopped to get a to-go order for myself and my wife. She always gets the Chicken Malibu and loves it. Her favorite part is the honey mustard that comes with the sandwich. I didnt look at the to-go order and headed home only to find there was no honey mustard on the sandwich or on the side. She basically was stuck eating a dry chicken sandwich. We ended up having to look up a easy to make home version just so the sandwich had something on it. Yesterday, instead of making food for the Super Bowl (excuse me, the "Big Game") I ordered a few to-go items from some of my favorite places to snack on. I called multiple times to put my order in and never got an answer. I eventually just drove there to put my order in, then left to pick everything else up and made The Vine my last stop. Im upset at myself as I should have looked at my order before leaving, but at this point I was ready to get home. When I got home, my order wasnt even right. I had ordered some boneless buffalo wings, and my order were bone-in with some strange sweet sauce. I tried to let it slide off, as typically they have great bone-in wings, but these were about the same consistency as the turkey from Christmas Vacation. They were tiny, and about as dry as an old boot. I wish I wouldve snapped a picture, but my wife and I ate about 3 before just throwing them away. Overall, I LOVE the food from The Vine, I just think from here on out Ill just trek to the original where Ive always had success. The only reason I still use the Coralville location is I call ahead and get it to go, but after two consecutive times of getting my food wrong, Ill just go ahead and go to the original location or probably just stop going at all. I really wish they could get their stuff together, because when the food is good, its great.

MA

Matt Uhlman

The Vine is an establishment along the Coralville strip. The essential spot to stop in an grab a beer after work or meet up with friends for some chill time. Appetizers are generally traditional bar foods. Wings are solid with plenty of sauces - like Buffalo Wild Wings, but the rest of the food isnt terrible. Burgers are solid - affectionately termed the "Jos". They come in many a variety that leave your taste buds pumped, but not raging - a happy middle ground for sure. The Smoky Jo and the Mo Jo are especially delightful! Sandwiches are good size and with some great variety - The Monte Carlo is especially delicious. Fries are plentiful and particularly delicious. Im told the salads are good...why anyone would choose the leaf to the cow Im not sure, but again, Im told theyre solid! Beer selection is impressive and theyve got great happy hour specials. From 3-7pm every day beers, wine, wells and margaritas among other libations are on special. One of the few places Ive ever been that has a happy hour until 7! They also have appetizer specials during happy hour. Every day they have different food and additional beverage specials - Monday is $1 Coors Pint night - Yes MNF! Best part about the vine is the porch however. On a pleasant Iowa evening, sitting out on the porch until 9 or 10 is unbeatable. Hint - Sit on the East side of the building (nearest to Wig and Pen) around 6 PM. The suns still up, but not up in your grill! But seriously, the sun will hurt you if you sit on the porch long enough so why not let him do his thing and you do yours whilst enjoying his warmth! One of the top spots to go in Coralville for a good burger, solid and often inexpensive beers and a great porch for chillaxin!

AM

Amanda Fisher

Called to make reservations a couple days before we planned to come in. We had a party of about 20 people, so we wanted to make sure they could accommodate us. One of the reasons we picked the Vine is because of their open layout and tables they can push together. I was told they do not take reservations but to call 30 minutes before and they would push tables together. So I called 45 minutes before and was told they would push tables together. I had a couple people get there before I did and got a phone call that they were going to put the 20+/- of us in booths. It was absolutely ridiculous. I called and complained to the so call manager that acted like this was her first day, and was very impolite. I had to be the one to say "what can we do about this?" She finally decided that she could in fact put two tables together that 10 of us could sit at, while the other people sat at booths. I was also told that there were lots of eye rolls and talking between the employees about what had happened. Im not sure why this was such a problem for this business. We tried to be proactive and plan ahead, and we got the worst experience we could have got. Service was average, nothing special. The waitress didnt seem pleased to be serving us. Food was less than mediocre. We all have agreed we will never spend our money at the Vine. We also will make sure to spread the word about our experience so that other people dont go through what we did.

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Rachel Howell

What an appalling experience for my daughters birthday dinner. The food has always been mediocre to average, but our daughter wanted to go. After nearly an hour (no entrees yet), we were ousted from our table by an unapologetic "big" top and the wait staff. We were made to stand by an empty booth near the door (no way to put our infant in a high chair at the booth). Since we couldnt sit as a family to eat, we just asked for the food to go. Over the span of 15 minutes, they told us multiple times that our food was being "boxed up right now." We finally asked for a refund, which they couldnt verify for us, and we ended up leaving with only two of our three dinners. One of which was wrong. Our infant was tired as hell and ready to explode and our 5 year old birthday girl was weeping by the time we eventually got out of there, an hour and a half after we arrived, when the restaurant wasnt even a third full. This restaurant ruined our dinner, my daughters birthday feast, and the evening entirely... If you can help it, I urge you to never give THE VINE in Coralville any of your money. I wish I could give this place zero stars.