Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen

Amazing fresh food. Of course it has a great wine list. One of our new favorite places to eat at when in Napa

Cindy’s Backstreet is a great option for a intimate dinner, or a sophisticated lunch in the Napa Valley. The atmosphere contributes greatly to the dining experience, and the service has been to par on the numerous occasions I have eaten here. I have tried most of the regular things on the menu, and all have been delicious and quite unique. Be prepared to enjoy multiple courses, because if you are just going for a lunch salad it may leave you ready for a meal after. Overall, worth a try!

Been here a few times over ten years, and every time it’s just as good. And now that we have a five-​year-​old, we can appreciate it even more because it’s kid-​friendly too. Excellent food and service, great value for the price.

As a Wine Tour owner I have taken groups here countless times who have enjoyed their time. Finally I took the time and enjoyed a lunch here with my sweetie.
We started with the pork tots — absolutely blew our mind.
I had the adult grill cheese he had the fish and chips. We both loved the grill cheese and had fun trying to guess what was in it. He said the fish and chips were ok nothing special.
I partook in their specialty Margarita– was yummy. Yup no wine I like to try a cocktail when out.
It is a bit noisy so at times it was hard to hear each other from across the table. But what spoiled the service is we sat next to a table with someone important (I did not know who) who got the best treatment from our waiter, the host, manager, and a few more of the staff. Everyone should get half that treatment.
It was a welcoming and acceptable location for a mixed couple.

Our experience here was definitely kind of… meh. There were a few things that were disappointing:
— Service was sloppy. Our waitress was friendly, but slammed down our glasses, plates, food, as though she was working in a pizza place rather than a high end restaurant. She did not pour the glasses of wine tableside, which is a pet peeve of mine (I like to see that the wine I ordered is the wine that is going in my glass).
— Food was average — it was plated in a very casual way, and there wasn’t anything special about it. My lamb chops were $ 29 and were overcooked (waitress didn’t ask me how I would like them cooked), and the potatoes were a little on the greasy side.
— Appetizer of «Crispy Pork Tots» was not impressive — three tots, a wilted piece of lettuce and some sauce in a ramekin that tasted like it was out of a jar.
— Restaurant was completely empty by 8:15 p.m. on a Sunday evening on a holiday weekend (and Valentine’s day!)…probably not a good sign. We actually felt really bad leaving because there were just two other couples dining in the front room and the ambiance was dead besides the TV at the bar (which felt too casual and out of place). The vibe seemed like it catered to an older crowd (done with dinner by 7:30 type crowd).
— Air conditioning was blasting on our table (the tablecloth was fluttering)
Overall, for the price point (which is about $ 10 – 15 for appetizers, $ 20 – 30 for entrees, and the usual $ 10 – 20 for a glass of wine), I expected something along the lines of Farmstead, Bistro Jeanty, or Ad Hoc, but there wasn’t anything special about it and the experience just felt tired.

We were looking for a farm to table experience for dinner and during my research Cindy’s kept coming up. We made a reservation and arrived for an early dinner. The restaurant was nicely decorated and so comfortable, the service was amazing (professional, attentive and great with recommendations), and the food was truly incredible. My husband and I enjoyed the blistered brussell sprouts (a seriously amazing dish), the mighty meatloaf, the albondigas special, and we shared the campfire pie and lemon soufflé — a true dining experience!

3 ~ 3.5 stars
We had a reasonably good Sunday brunch; food was good service was not great .
We were seated upstairs at 12:30, there was only another table almost finished at the time; perfect for us with 6 adults, a toddler and an infant. Our waiter was very attentive but perhaps not very experienced.
We enjoyed very much the crusty sour dough bread with our starters; Avocado papaya salad, stuffed peppers, fried pork taco squares (?), polenta sticks. Everything was tasty, portion sizes were on the smaller side.
For main courses we had linguini with clams, mushrooms pie, scallops, meat loaf and the meat balls (month of pork special). The mushroom pie and scallops were the winners, meat loaf and linguini were decent the meat balls were not impressive at all. They were out of seared tuna, ordered the beef short ribs daily special only to be told later that it’s not available anymore.
We were ignored for quite a while after the food came because the only waiter was busy with other customers… we wanted to try the smorg pie with coffee but no one check with us for quite a while so we ask for our check. Agree with the other Unilocaler, there are too many excellent restaurants in the area for us to rush back any time soon.

My husband and I came here last night as part of my surprise trip to Napa! The ambiance is really nice. It’s in an old house off of Main St. We were seated right away and greeted by the bartender as well. Always good.
A waitress was very nice and not overbearing which is always a plus. The menu was American/​Italian with some Mexican twist entrees. I got the clam linguini and my husband got the pollo loco. The clam linguini was good, but gritty. You get a lot of clams with the pasta, which is awesome, but the sauce was gritty because of the bread crumbs and herbs (hopefully not dirt.). The pollo loco was really good. The chicken was brined and then pan seared, so the chicken was nice and moist and crunchy. It also comes with an Anaheim chile and black beans.
Overall I would give this spot 3.5 stars. I would definitely come back, but just have something different.

I had the ahi tuna salad, friends had various other dishes. Everything was A-​OK but nothing was a standout or amazing. The clams in my friend’s linguine were sandy.
Cute rustic vibe but the food is almost comparable to the kind of food you’d find at a restaurant in a suburban shopping mall. Save your Napa calories for elsewhere.

Delightful venue for brunch, or any other meal for that matter, in wine country. There’s plenty of seating, whether at dining rooms upstairs and downstairs, at the bar, or at a glorious outdoor patio. Service is also warm and attentive.
What matters, of course, is the food, and it doesn’t disappoint. While the prices might look quite steep, you’ll get what you’re paying for in both quantity and quality. Many of the menu items manage to showcase both fresh, regional ingredients as well as global ingredients and influences. The rabbit tostada, for example, came topped with so many greens that it looked like a super-​sized salad, but, sure enough, held plenty of meat inside. A side of polenta was also a pleasing accompaniment to the meal. Overall, a great place to stop for a high-​quality meal while you’re in the area.

Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen combines qualities that are not so easily found in the Napa-​St. Helena area. The restaurant is homey — very inviting, warm — giving you a feeling similar to the comfort you have when you visit a friend’s house at the end of the block in your childhood suburban neighborhood (that ‘you-​are-​welcome-​here’ feeling). And, I guess more importantly — your taste buds will be impressed. It is a rare menu that leaves my partner torn among the many menu options (from the black truffle risotto with lardon to the rabbit tostada and adult grilled cheese). It’s comfort food with a touch of class. I will say the mushroom pot pie took the medal during our last visit at Cindy’s Backstreet (it’s huge) with the risotto (such rich flavors!) coming in as a close second.
Parking is easy; service is excellent; corkage is $ 25. And (depending on what you order), prices can be reasonable. The $ 50 ribeye did not impress, but everything else was well-​worth the price.
Oh, and I should add — get the campfire dessert. It’s fun (not to mention delicious!) and ideal for sharing.
In short, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen should be on your visit list. When the weather is warmer they have an even more adorable outside patio — perfect for a pre-​dinner drinking perhaps.

Campfire pie, campfire pie, high in the sky, with a campfire pie!
if you’re sitting here reading this you’ve gotta order the campfire pie. Toasted marshmallow fluff, fudgy chocolate, almond ding & Oreo cookie crust. It is unreal– probably similar to an upscale smore.
I also tried the adult grilled cheese– it had that sweet/​savory juxtaposition but unfortunately didn’t hit the spot. The fries were so-​so. Overall I loved the campfire pie but wouldn’t go back for much else. Not to say the restaurant wasn’t beautiful, it was! it’s just overall this is such a foodie area and there’s not much to write home about here.

Maybe more of a 3.5 star review. The venue is great. Cozy romantic vibe. The patio dining looked cute for dinner. We were upstairs for a rehearsal dinner. Service was very kind and attentive minus one server who was a little frazzled it felt. Not bad, just that the others were much stronger.
The food was just okay I think. Maybe because we had a pre fixe menu. But after years of hearing about this restaurant, I think I expected just a little more.
The portions are filling. I could barely eat a few bites of dessert because I got full already. The campfire pie was yummy but so sweet and big! Can’t quite remember the rest of what we had. Not memorable I suppose…

6:30 pm on Monday. Labor Day. Out of bread & butter. C’mon. I’m staring at three booths that I requested to be sat in instead of the row of two tops (it’s just me and baby girl). Awkward. Don’t sit someone right next to me when the joint is empty.
Bathrooms upstairs when you have a lot of 1^st floor footprint. Work it out.
Not that I was ordering, but out of their fish and chips. The two old birds next to us were disappointed. I know because we were sitting that close.
Manager (?) and waitress kept asking: «Wasn’t that _​_​_​_​_​_​amazing?» Settle down. Not the right question. And no, it wasn’t.
Still no one in the booths.
Grilled fig app was underwhelming. Too rich. No one loves a fig wrapped in cured pork like this guy. Sad.
Still no one in the three booths. I have time to write this because the food is soooo slow.
$ 7.50 for a bottle of Pellegrino. Insulting.
Baby girl got the duck burger. Bland, dry, forgettable. Side of mustard (?) sauce. Throw some greens on there to lube it up, please.
I ordered the lamb, pounded out loin chops, described as t-​bones. Pounded out, nice and tender. Had some sort of muddled polenta underneath, didn’t play. Had to ask for some salt & pep, as the chops had little to no seasoning. Disappointed again.
Wouldn’t go again. Bad execution. Poor service from the host. Server was nice, but aloof. Tough call on her, I wouldn’t want to be serving that mess if I was in her shoes.
P. S. Two of the three booths were empty when we left.

We always wanted to try CBK ever since hubby and I attended a Unilocal event next door at La Condesa a couple of years ago. It was love at first sight when we saw the warm & welcoming signs. We knew we had to come back for a cozy lunch/​dinner sometime. This building is rich in history, actually, the entire city of St. Helena is steeped in history. Simply take a look around… if only the walls could talk.
I planned our lunch date after a nice wine tasting adventure up on Spring Mountain thanks to Unilocal.CBK was the perfect spot to unwind and stroll through downtown St. Helena afterwards to walk off our burgers. Then again, their downtown is approximately five blocks, needless to say, we ended up walking to an ice cream parlor LOL. We also watched a movie nearby, what a day I tell ya! These days, we don’t have date nights, we have «day dates», which works out fine by me.
They serve bread upon arrival ~ score! Hubby enjoyed his deliciously cooked Backstreet burger, and I loved my succulent Chinatown duck burger. We had to share the campfire pie, as it reminded me of the S’more pie from Buckeye Roadhouse, also another restaurant Cindy co-​created, along with many others. Can’t wait to come back for the casual fare and attentive staff. My kinda place!

Patio Dining, Great. Service and an Adult Grilled Cheese!
This restaurant embodies the Valley’s life style. Fresh ingredients, patio dining to enjoy the weather and vibrant flavors. I tried the lunch menu items including the stuffed pepper appetizer; meat loaf; and the adult grilled cheese.
~Stuffed Peppers with Avocado-​5 Stars!
A delight. The flavors were well done. There are three pieces and they lasted for about 2 seconds before they were devoured. The dish actually was great for the time we waited for our food and even stimulated out appetite.
~Meat Loaf– 3.5 Stars!
The meat was soft and flavor was great. I just felt it was lacking a little more pizzazz.
~Adult Grilled Cheese-​4 Stars!
This dish was great and would go well with a wine or even a soda. It was just the right amount of food and I wasn’t too full and I didn’t leave hungry.
~Price– 3 Stars
Yup, a little pricey for lunch. but fresh ingredients may be worth it.
~Service was great. Again, I love the patio seating.
~Overall, I had a good lunch and I am a fan!

Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, July 7, 2015
This is tough to write, especially when I suggested to my group of six that we go to Cindy’s for lunch yesterday. My wife and I had been before, and so my expectations were high, but, yesterday I was disappointed. It’s fried chicken month, and yesterday was, apparently, fried chicken day, and they were running it as a special. So I went for the fried chicken special.
My wife and I typically share our food, and so she ordered the Caesar salad that we split at the table. It arrived with other peoples first courses, and so the chicken was still left to arrive. The Caesar was the highlight of the day. It looked great, and tasted as good as it looked.
Before I get to the chicken, others in the group ordered the adult grilled cheese sandwich and two people in our group who are light eaters ordered the calamari appetizer for their lunch.
The chicken arrived, but it was not hot, and so it left me thinking that it had been cooked some time earlier and was sitting someplace until I ordered it. It was paired with some lightly cooked greens and a side of grits. The grits I enjoyed, the greens were okay, but the chicken left me wanting a lot more flavor. They did serve a country gravy on the side, and it seemed to be lacking in flavor. Of course I put some on the chicken and tried it together, but still not tasting great to me.
Here’s the problem, I was not alone. Nobody was raving when we left the place.
Did they check in on us? Yes, but I’m not the type of person that’s going to tell you, in front of guests that I’ve encouraged to come to the restaurant, whether or not the food is up to par or not. In retrospect I’m sure there is a way to handle this effectively, but yesterday I didn’t do it, as I didn’t feel like I had the words to properly express my feelings on the issue.
I’m sure yesterday was an off day, and I’m going to go back someday, but there are so many great choices in the area that I may be a while.

All the locals would tell you that the best place to eat in St. Helena, would be the CBK, a historical building that used to be a railroad station turned into three other restaurants before everything worked out right.
Just a couple hundred feet off of Main St. this place is the pride of the Wine Country, known for it’s creative New American/​Californian Cuisine, you will definitely see a lot of cultural influence on the menu: Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Moroccan, Italian, and more, a test of your food knowledge.
We made reservation and good thing it’s the busy Bottle Rock Music Fest Weekend where everyone’s busy down in South Napa, the restaurant was way less busy than usual. We walked in 15 minutes late and they are still smiling at us and sat us down quickly, this establish is clean, neat, and beautiful. The artworks and crafts big and small added charming personality to the well lit dining area including a spacious fashionable bar.
The menu is concisely well-​written with enough options to please everyone at the table without feeling overwhelming, with the help of our grumbling stomach, we were able to decide quickly.
The seasonal ingredients for appetizer is a big thing for me (among many other things):
The roasted artichoke ($ 12.95) was generously presented with warm zesty olives and cool Tzatziki sauce.
And the charred asparagus spears ($ 12.95) were glazed in a tsunami of umami miso, sweet and savory, topped with colorful radish slices and arugula, the soft boiled egg was a bit too salty for me disappointingly.
The entrees are the real deals, generously portioned, and consistently deliciously:
My order of the rabbit tostada ($ 18.95) was cooked over fire for 10 hours, served with flavorful and mildly spicy red chile salsa, shredded cabbage, garden herbs, and feta. This large plate of Mexican fiesta inspired dish was tasty but not heavy, the balance of flavor really worked well together over the crispy house-​tostada.
The Duck Burger ($ 16.75) is the first-​timer-​must, the Asian inspired sauces definitely beefed up the gamey savory duck with a bit of Asian kung-​fu and sophistication. Juicy and tender for your teeth to sink into. The Asian mustard «pseudo ketchup» with the crispy fries is one of my newest addiction.
Too end it with a bang, the Lemon Buttermilk Soufflé Cake ($ 9) was a delightful treat to this filling meal, wonderfully presented, the cotton candy like fluff yet with a bit of chewy texture of the pancake. Raspberry compote and a dollop of fresh whipped cream… I will say no more.
We brought 2 bottles of wine with us, for $ 30+ per person, this is a fantastic place, our waitress Mary was attentive, well versed, and happy, the service is definitely on par with the food. I would certainly introduce this place to everyone provided that they are able to reserve a table in the busy season coming up.
Cheers.

This place is completely overhyped. It is ordinary food, with absurdly high prices. And service isn’t very good either. My bf isn’t a picky eater by any means; he basically eats anything without complaint, so when he said this place deserves no stars I knew that the food here sucked on a whole new level.
I came here for lunch today after a wine tasting. My boyfriend and I were very hungry because we hadn’t eaten for a long time. This places seemed decent on Unilocal,so we decided to give it a try. Parking was easy to find (right across the street). It was fairly empty, probably because we were there for a pretty late lunch. We were seated promptly, but the experience went down hill from there.
Our waiter didn’t even recognize our existence until a fellow employee pointed out that we’d been waiting a while. He came over and asked if we had questions. I asked about their fish and pasta special of the day. He asked us if we wanted drinks and we just opted for water. He came back to take our order 5 minutes later. I ordered the duck and my bf ordered the pasta special, wh