Vinoteca 902

It’s that time of year in downtown Wilmington :) though not nearly as big and center city restaurant week my girls and I like to venture out to have ourselves a 3 course delish dinner that won’t break the bank. Table for 5 via open table at 7:30 fit the bill.
This restaurant used to be something else and we all could have sworn that we had eaten and the previous establishment .
We arrived to an near empty restaurant. We stood at the front for about 5 min before anyone came to acknowledge us.
No hostess not a good sign .
George sat us and was to be our waiter. We were waiting on one more so perused the wine list. There were several interesting choices and they offered at least 25 if not more by the glass.
I hadn’t heard good things about the sangria so we each opted to get our own glasses. The wine list is also separated by country France, Spain/​Portugal, Italy and America (south and north). This made it easier to chose and the bin # were labeled for ordering ease! Plus one for vinoteca
Last person finally arrives and George comes over to take our drink orders:) it’s a little after 8 when wine arrives back at the table.
I wanted to do the prefix but found out that they only offered two options for the main course and neither were seafood or veggie friendly.
I chose a tapa and racione.
Tapa– spinach and cheese empanadas with pine nuts and raisins. = heavenly, melt in my mouth goodness. The dough was perfectly cooked and favors a savory and sweet pie all rolled in one. The sweetness of the cheese was countered by the salty pine nuts YUM
Racicone — fancy Spanish word for large plate or entrée was crispy skinned sea bass with Brussels sprouts. Seas bass was cooked perfectly and skin was super crispy:) season very well only complaint was the aioli that came with it was bland. Had no flavor whatsoever. The sprouts were good and I’m usually not a fan Carmelized but still maintained the shape and color.
Others ordered
Clams w/​chorizo — enjoyed. They were te favorite of the table (after the empanadas)
Ham croquettes — like arricini with a Spanish twist were liked as well
Duck breast entrée came with couscous but the portion was VERY small could have been a little bigger. My friend enjoyed it as well.
Everyone else had the short ribs which were a little fatty but very moist and cooked well.
Chocolate cake was ok nothing special.
Overall we enjoyed the meal but agreed we prob wouldn’t return for a sit down dinner. Maybe HH at the bar or late drinks and snacks .
The wine list is impressive and I would come back for the empanadas alone:)
Service could have been better but you could tell they were short staffed.

Going to go with just ok. I had a better experience at Orillas, from the quality of the food and service to the prices and the atmosphere. Vinoteca’s fancypants décor is a little incongruous when the waiter says «what’s up,» and the wine is seated in a plastic ice bucket. The beet dish was so weird I kind of had to force it down, and I can eat a cold can of them in one sitting.
It gets 3 instead of 2 stars because it provided me with my first ever chance to shimmy my undies off and pass them across the table to my date, assuredly a juggling act of coyness, modesty, and absolute terror that all women must experience at some point in their lives. It was only because I was literally backed into a corner (in an otherwise completely empty restaurant) that I awkwardly dared the skirt shuffle.

Hotdiggity what a place. The food was superb, perfectly seasoned and very unusual… which is why we wanted to give it a try. I had the octopus appetizer with pesto, fava beans, garlic, sweet peppers and whatever else they threw in there. The octopus was perfectly done and the taste was spicy/​mild hot. THEN I had the pork chop special and, once again, the food was perfectly prepared. It came with a mustard sauce that I just can’t explain… spicy with a hint of a lingering sweetness.
She had a pretty nifty, thick tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich suspended above it. Dropped the sandwich into the soup and it was kind of a gazpacho-​y kick with a hot soup that you can eat with a fork. Her entrée was the short ribs with with a pile of melt in your mouth yucca. While she loved it, she said the meat was just a bit fatty (which she expected). I expect to inhale the leftovers on Sunday, NTW.
We really like our cappuchino (NO Lavazza, please) and George, our waiter did not disappoint. Finally, we split a very moist strawberry cake dessert. The perfect hyperglycemic finish to an extremely well done dinner. Oh yeah, George’s wine selections were first rate; as fans of sparkling wines, I’d like to see more of a selection. HOWEVER, we were encouraged to taste before we bought. Geeez, can’t ask for more.

Vinoteca was a staggering disappointment — a «renowned» tapas chef, friendly wait staff, and a great location was no match for the overly-​oily, overly-​cheesed dishes, underwhemlingly theme of most of the tapas, and the utter lack of proper execution in serving wine, water, and food.
Unfortunately, the lack of variety in Wilmington might necessitate my return, but I shall rue that day.