I was so looking forward to a night out with my husband last night, his idea. We went round and round about where to go to eat, finally settling on Twisted Vine in Derby. I perused the menu online to see what it looked like. Very interesting! Italian/Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim is how they described themselves. I thought the pan-seared tuna with wasabi aioli sounded good, as did the Malibu coconut tilapia. We arrived at the restaurant which is in a decent location with a lot of businesses and restaurants on Main Street in Derby. We were 15 minutes late for our reservation and the host was joking with us about it, which was fun.
Inside the restaurant, there is exposed brick on one wall, paintings and wallpaper on the opposing wall, and a staircase that leads up to a balcony level. There is a cozy looking table that overlooks the restaurant. Next time we go there, I am making a reservation specifically for that table (yes, I rated it a 2, but I will give it another chance).
The service was great as far as refilling my water glass, but I needed so much water because the food was so salty! I am not used to meals with a ton of salt in them. I probably could have eaten more of my meal if it was less salty but instead I wrapped it to take home, knowing full well I probably won't eat it again but maybe my husband will. I hate to waste food.
Before our orders were taken we were brought a basket of focaccia bread to the table. I thought it was fresh and tasty, but my husband thought it was stale.
We ordered a bottle of Bogle Merlot, one of our favorites. Hard to swallow paying $24 for an $11 bottle of wine, but you have to expect that upon ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant.
For an appetizer we ordered the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms and the tomato and fresh mozzarella salad. The salad came topped with a dollop of pesto sauce on each slice of tomato and mozz, nice touch and really delicious. The salad also came over a bed of spinach that was drizzled with balsamic. This app was spot on.
The stuffed mushrooms were lacking in the crabmeat department. You could taste the butter in the stuffing, and the cracker crumbs they used to make the stuffing, but you could not taste crab meat. These were definitely not my favorite and I would not order them again. Plus, they were slightly burned on top.
Again, we had a hard time deciding what to order on the menu. Due to the eclectic sounding meals there seemed to be so many options but I asked the waiter. I was trying to decide between the Malibu tilapia, the swordfish with artichokes and capers which was a special, (basically puttanesca without the anchovies), the veal with wild mushrooms and risotto, or the Italian salmon. The waiter suggested either the salmon or the swordfish, I went with the swordfish ($19).
My husband ordered tortellini (they looked homemade) with sausage and peas in an Alfredo sauce. This was really good but again, salty. The waiter came over with a block of fresh parmesan and a grater and asked if we wanted any on our meals. I have never seen that done before but really liked it.
My swordfish was slightly overcooked but had nice grill marks and good flavor. It was a huge piece of fish too but sliced on the thin side. The risotto was very tasty. The sauce of tomatoes, artichokes, and capers was very good as well. Overall, a good meal. Even with a bottle of wine and two apps the bill was only $78.
We decided to check out the lounge downstairs after dinner. It seemed cozy and there was live entertainment. We were in a lively mood: until we got down there.
First, the bar area induced claustrophobia for me. It felt like (and smelled like) a basement. The bartender did not serve us after 5 minutes of us being there, which was actually a relief because I did not then feel bad getting up and leaving to go elsewhere. The live entertainment consisted of one guy singing "Desperado" when we got down there. The music was slow, it made us sleepy, and everyone sitting in the lounge must have been 60+. Not our scene so we took off.
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