Arte Cafe's 20th Anniversary Wine Dinner

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Four of us tonight for this dinner at Arte Cafe in Cerritos.  www.artecamellia.com,  Started out with three "amuse bouches".  Some kind of seafood on a toast round, smoked salmon on a blini and "pig in a blanket" The "seafood on toast was good as was the "pig" but the smoked salmon was very fishy. I like strong flavors but this tasted old to me.

3 of us ordered splits of bubbly. Cheap stuff but just as good as the wine served through out dinner. Wines were from White Oak Winery of Alexander Valley. Mediocre at best.

First course was a Pasta Appetizer. Looked like very thin spaghetti with a soft egg in the middle. Had decent flavor and the egg was good. I thought it was a quail egg but the others said no. The waitress had no clue. Wine was a 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River. Way to grassy and very weak finish. Gave my wine away.

Second course was the best of the night. Sea Scallop, cooked perfectly with spinach and lobster sauce. Sauce was excellent. Paired with a 2014 Chardonnay from the Russian River. Way to oaky and gain I gave my wine away. Good thing I still had the cheap bubbly.

Third course up was a grilled salmon with a crusty top with vegetable ragout. Salmon was cooked correctly and had nice flavor. Decent dish. Wine was a 2013 Pinot Noir from Russian River. Mediocre but I did drink it

Fourth course was a sliced leg of lamb with fresh herb au jus. Lamb had good flavor, could have been more tender but OK. Paired with a 2013 Cabernet from Napa. Another mediocre wine.

Dessert was a creme brulee. Hard to mess that up. 

They offered coffee but had no decaf. Waitress took my clean wine glass and away and then poured the cab into the glass that had a bit of pinot left in it. Service had always been a real weak point at Arte Cafe along with terrible acoustics and loud music. By the end of the evening I was getting really irritable. The noise level was terrible and I was having a hard time hearing what anyone at the table had to say.

There was a "gift bag" set on each table. It did not matter whether you had 2 people of 6 people. Same gift bag. 2 half bottles of wine, two hair clips, 1 tee shirt and 1 wine opener.

The dinner was only $45 plus tax & tip. Price was reasonable so I take that into consideration. did not expect that much from it.