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etoile Restaurant Review

Domaine Chandon Winery
1 California Dr. (Hwy. 29) Send to Phone
Yountville, CA 94599
707-204-7529 | Make Restaurant Reservations
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THIS RESTAURANT IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED Grand destination for California-French cuisine and sparkling wine.

Cuisine

Open

Lunch & Dinner Thurs.-Mon.

Features

Wine

Great Wine List

* Click here for rating key
Dining room at etoile, Yountville, CATHIS RESTAURANT IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED Strolling from the parking lot past meticulously landscaped grounds and over a bridge with pond and fountain seems a fitting overture for this house of bubbly. Inside, the long dining room with rounded wood ceiling mimics a wine cask. It feels elegant in an 80s hotel lobby way: tiered seating with cruise ship railings, black lacquer-trimmed armchairs, towering black vase centerpieces with lilies and tree limbs, single red tulips on tabletops, and smoky glass facing a lunchtime terrace. One needn’t wear a jacket, though natty feels natural here. Eleven house sparklings, all available by the glass, offer a celebratory welcome, and the well-rounded wine portfolio makes for savvy food pairings. Chef Perry Hoffman’s four-course tasting menu seems de rigueur, but flexes to be à la carte. Lead with lobster bisque poured over melting Chardonnay gelée, lobster pieces, prosciutto and mung beans. Or try green-apple-wrapped opah belly with dill accompanied by sweet onion purée---cream-colored but capturing the goodness of golden caramelization (all wonderfully paired with the estate rosé). Build with a boxy beaker of lobster consommé spilled over crisp-skinned wild striped bass with black forbidden rice and lardons, duck fanned out on pear purée with green lentils, or fork-tender venison fragrant with lavender (ideal with the house Merlot). Cheese or a chocolate-skewed finale keeps spirits effervescent.

User Ratings & Reviews for etoile
Average rating    1.5
Reviews 1 - 2 of 21
Very disappointing dinner
by wdooley on 09/23/2008
 
My wife and I had a much anticipated trip to the Napa Valley. We were recommended to go to this restaurant by several sources. The location is lovely as is the building decor. We were sat under large lily flower arrangements that had overwhelming odor and pollen. After about 2 minutes you could smell nothing else since the flowers were less than 6 inches above our heads. We requested to be moved and were re-seated elsewhere - but in reality that odiferous arrangement had no place in a fine dining eating area.
We selected the chef's tasting menu and wine pairings. To our dismay we were given 9 full glasses of wine through the meal. Although the wine was supposed to be paired with the meal - obviously no one with taste had done this. It seemed the primary interest was for us to sample as many as possible of the vineyards wine types.
The food was poorly seasoned and courses with more than one component were not well matched or married together. There was a beef course which was tough, poorly cooked and devoid of any seasoning. Usually the presentations were pleasing to the eye as long as you did not expect it to taste good.
We would recommend not to waste your cash here. It was more expensive than Charlie Trotter's and not a single mouthful in the category with that of Trotter.
 
Not worth it...
by jsipila on 07/09/2008
 
Had lunch for 4. About $250. Sat outside. Nice setting with lots of trees and large green lawn.

Pallet cleanser: Japanese-style soup spoon filled with a cold tomato base and some raw ahi. Good.

Smelt cold appetizer: Ridiculous. Two tiny, fried smelt on a huge plate sitting in some sauce for around $20; 25 cents worth of smelt sold for $20? Come on... I like the whole small serving, big taste French thing, but this was just dumb.

Halibut: dry and poorly seasoned.

This was my second supposedly high-end meal, after El Paseo in Mill Valley, on my trip to the Bay Area, and it stunk. For the same price I can eat at Melisse or Spago in LA and get 10x better food. Stick to Napa Valley Grill when you go up there. This is no gourmet restaurant.

Service was good though... Oh, and the free champagne supposedly chosen by the chef was awful. Ask for some OJ and make a mimosa.
 
Reviews 1 - 2 of 21
 


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