Really wierd vibes some really good food...
I had read about this place and we were 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 the impressive front entry to keep you dry, but the lighting was almost non-existant except for one glaring bulb and there were many pots of dead chrysanthemums; lovely. On this dark, rainy night, the restaurant's main entrance was not obvious at all. There is a shingled roof outcropping over the cashier's area where you also access the "Birmingham Cellars". In the main dining room there are a couple of cheap French posters mixed on a wall with odd, sconce-like extendable lighting fixtures; probably originals from the banking days-- but not French..... Other wall hangings were a mix of pictures of flowers or dark unintelligable images. There is intimate seating upstairs but the lights were off. With so much dark wood, this gave the room an eerie, almost gloomy feeling. I could imagine being held prisoner in the 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 the owner/manager would talk loudly on the phone from across the room. They put butcher's paper over the nice tablecloths and then give you nice cloth napkins. To the food.....
There were good, garlickey 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" 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 the 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, 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 to 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. It 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 ocupied 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 fit well into any local pizzaria. It all seems so incongrouous that nothing about the restaurant seems to match the capability of the chef..... We may go back and try it again and see if the food is consistent and to see if there is life in the cellar. What are these owners thinking? This place has really wierd vibes. You are supposedly portraying yourself as an up-scale American/Continental restaurant but there are so many anomolies that I wondered if it was a Halloween prank.    [20 Oct 2007 10:28:21]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Veal

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