CJ thumbs up for new Napa River Grill

[Robin Garr]

Marty delivers a report on Napa River Grill in its new location, raving in general about the style of the place though fairly knocking them down to a 3 1/2 star rating over an entree delivered lukewarm.

His almost lovingly affectionate description of the aggressively suburban Westport Village, a setting that many have compared to a Universal Studio set (along with the very odd assertion that Napa's old location - frequent winner of awards for its grapevine-lined patio - "seemed as out of place as a sprig of parsley popping up through a sidewalk crack") makes me wonder if he's been sipping Gannett's corporate Kool-Aid. But the restaruant review itself is good, and seems fair.

Napa River has a new home
A cheery crowd found flavorful food

Napa River Grill
1211 Herr Lane
893-0141
http://www.napariverlouisville.com

I always thought the Napa's old location was very odd, Haven't had any closeup look at the Westport Village one.

[Robin Garr]

I always thought the Napa's old location was very odd, Haven't had any closeup look at the Westport Village one.

I guess it's sort of like the old Sears Building, Charles. Since the old Napa was "where Mamma Grisanti's used to be," a lot of us are very used to a popular restaurant being there.

Plus, the old place did in fact have an outdoor patio surrounded by grapevines, so they didn't exactly change the paradigm.

No big deal, it's just that Marty seems a lot more smitten by Westport Village than I am (or than a lot of the people I know are. It's a shopping center! And its decor and design are a bit ... um ... I'll leave it to someone else to find the word for it.

...like Norton Commons.

I call it, "Truman Showish."

I keep looking for the glass dome.

Westport Village is surely a better location than was the Dupont site. The back part of that area is the pits. Plus, the Watterson isn't the back yard at Westport Village. Of course this is all subjective and will elicit many opinions. As far as Norton Commons goes, it's a lot better than many of the other hoods being built out there. Seems cool to me developers are looking to the past to build the neighborhoods of the future.

Another great happy hour (4:30-7:00 everyday)at Napa River last night.

You have got to try the Ahi tuna, quesadilla, and shrimp scampi.

Both of my trips have resulted in great food and outstanding service.

I sit at the indoor bar on both my trips, I can't speak on the the outdoor bar.

***Check out the bathroom doors***

I hate to post negative comments but I had an opposite experience last night. We got to the Napa around 6 - 6:15ish last night with a group of 7 co-workers, we looked around both bars for places to congregate. It was really crowded and there wasn't enough room for all 7 of us in either bar area. We went to the hostess and asked to be seated at one of the tables and she informed us "you won't get the happy hour pricing if you sit at the tables." Which we were perfectly ok with and we told her that was ok we didn't mind paying full price. Some one in our party offhandedly mentioned that we were only going to have drinks and appetizers. She then furrowed her brow and wrinkled her nose at us and said "hang on." She walked away from us to another server and what looked to be a manager and started to have a deep conversation about if we could be seated or not, this involved multiple backwards glances. Due to rude treatment we said nevermind and went somewhere else.
Is this normal? Do most places not like large(ish) groups to come and just have drinks? Did we over react? To make matters worse we then went to Macca's and they also were standoffish about whether or not we could sit at one of their tables. But once they expressed their concern about us "not taking care of the server" we let them know that the server would be properly compensated they finally let us sit and drink and eat.

Is there some unwritten rule in restaurants that says you can only drink in the bar and not at the tables? Or do people not usually tip as well when they are only drinking?

Let me guess, you were the group of guys in all golf attire.

Nope 5 women and 2 guys all in Business suits, We had all just gotten off of work and we were taking our Regional Vice president to a nice local place. We actually went a week or so ago and had a great time. We are by no means bashing the place it was just an odd situation.

Let me guess, you were the group of guys in all golf attire.