Gold Cup Wine Bar

Remarkably good food in a relaxed but beautiful setting. We spent 2 of our 3 nights at Salamander dining in the Gold Cup and loved every moment. The service, like all of it at the Salamander, was friendly-​yet-​polished. It’s not an easy task to make a place so perfectly designed feel comfortable, but they’ve managed it beautifully.

THE GLUTEN-​FREE MASON JAR CHOCOLATE CAKE IS MONEY. Meaning, «ridiculously good» for all you old folks.
The layers consist of rich GF-​floured chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and root beer cream. I normally hate anything root beer flavoured but the cream was subtle and very foamy. The jar is surrounded by a delicious housemade vanilla bean ice cream and toasted GF granola and hazelnuts.
Seriously. The best GF dessert I’ve had in a long while. They rotate the menu items seasonally here but Tom, our server (who was wonderful), assured me that the chocolate cake is staying put. I think it’ll be a house favourite.

It was a beautiful spring-​like Sunday and a few friends and I decided to head out to Salamander Resort for an afternoon of brunching and antiquing to celebrate.
I had been excited to check out Salamander Resort for a while now and was immediately struck by the vastness and beauty of everything. Everything was chicly decorated and fit perfectly with the horse country theme. Lots of eye candy for sure!
As for the actual restaurant itself, I think that there is still a lot of training that needs to happen before the dining experience matches what the hotel should be.
Service was quite awkward:
+ My friend asked for a latte but got a cappucino instead and they completely forgot about another friend’s tea order.
+ They just assumed we were there for their brunch buffet so they left us alone without any information about what was on there or what it costs. We eventually asked for a menu and decided to order from there.
+ Service was slow in general and did not check on us or refill our waters.
Food was okay:
+ I was surprised to see they had a sushi menu with some interesting fusion choices! It was fun to try new roll choices (including one with everything bagel seasoning) but it quite honestly something I would skip the next time I came back. It just doesn’t seem to be a house specialty (For example: Roll was loosely packed and the cream cheese was cut into a cold block so the flavors did not melt into each other like it should.)
+ That being said my friend’s crab cake looked fabulous and a few bites of the sides we ordered like mac and cheese and papas bravas (a huge portion!) were delicious.
I really want to like this place so I know I will come back for a return visit and hopefully by then they will have the service kinks worked out.

Way to make a first impression.
The Salamander Resort is really big on appearance – as are its patrons – so from the jump, I felt pretty good about the place. Warm woods and a very home like feel… maybe if you’re a Vanderbilt. Nevertheless, the Gold cup wine bar seems to only use pockets of well-​heeled revelers as boundaries as it is literally dead center the resort’s main area.
There was a bar but I couldn’t get to it; no matter, the seating was luxurious and comfortable enough so I didn’t do my normal barfly perching.
The wine and cocktail list was, of course, sufficient for me though I must agree with some of the other Unilocalers that the actually food ranged from pretty good to ‘are you serious?‘ I’m not that big on VA wines, at least not the reds I selected. Of the whites, the Jefferson select was my favorite. The others were some degree too metallic and even earthy on the nose.
All in all, it’s a glorious looking hangout spot with a few notable tidbits to eat. But I think the best things here come by glass… and occasionally by bottle.

My husband took me here for a dinner to celebrate my birthday. Love the ambiance and the staff was extremely accommodating. We sat in the back hall for a little more privacy. Excellent drinks, highly recommend the cheese plate for an appetizer (the granola was unexpected and delicious). Entrees were good. My husband had arranged for a custom birthday cake through Jennie and Chef Jason, and they surprised me with the most gorgeous 3 layer cake covered in rosettes! Jennie even came over to introduce herself and check on us. The cake was stunning and literally people who walked by gave us so many compliments on it. It was a wonderful and memorable birthday celebration. The level of service and attentiveness of the staff really made it special.

I had lunch at the Gold Cup Wine Bar today. We ordered the Risotto Fritters and Hummus for «social dishes». The fritters tasted like cardboard and the hummus was not much better: made with green peas. The $ 16.00 cheeseburger was disappointing, as the cheese seemed to be the one with the cellophane wrapper.
I love the atmosphere however and going for drinks (although very expensive) is always a good time.

This is my second time here, and sadly, I am disappointed again. My first time here I had a (very expensive) burger which was mediocre. Needless to say, at such a beautiful establish as the Salamder Resort I had higher expectations. This time I ordered the hummus for an appetizer and the tortilla soup as an entre. The hummus was made with green pea instead of chick pea… gross. Moreover, the tortilla soup tasted nothing like any tortilla soup I have had before (maybe I’m biased living in Texas though). It’s texture was too creamy and it tastes smokey. Ultimate conclusion, I will not eat here again. Harriman’s however, is wonderful. Highly recommend it for brunch.

2.5 stars. So, I adore the atmosphere — right smack dab in the middle of the gorgeous Salamander out in the VA countryside, you find yourself in a lovely wine bar with great views, and if you go into the billiard room you find three giant TVs, comfortable seating, and a pool table, which is a super fun atmosphere and a great place to enjoy Sunday football games — and that’s exactly what my husband and I did a few Sundays back during a wedding weekend getaway at the Salamander.
Now, here’s the big caveat — this particular Sunday was also the last Sunday of the Middleburg film festival, and the place was JAMMED. I mean, beyond jammed to the point where we got there around 11:00am in the morning, staked out seats in front of the TV, and pretty much never left for the entire day, while people all around us fought for tables (you were mixing the film festival crowd, the Sunday brunch crowd, AND the sports-​watchers crowd). So, admittingly, I wonder how much some of my experience was affected due to the sheer crowd sizes. Anyway, I digress.
So, onto the food and drinks. My husband and I started with two bowls of the chili (special of the day) and since this was a brisk, chilly day, I admit it was perfect. It was delicious too. I also had a bloody mary (they made it spicy as I requested) and my husband had a beer. All was going well so far.
Then, when it was time to order another round of drinks and settle in to watch the games, we waited… and waited… and waited. Probably at least 30 minutes (and this is when it started to get really crowded — to the point where a family of 3 joined a woman who was eating by herself — everyone was desperate for a table)! Once we did get the attention of our server, they were out of the first cocktail I wanted but I liked the one I ordered as a substitute (my husband kept drinking beer).
After a little while longer, my husband decided to order food and ordered the LowCountry BBQ Chicken, but the server must have misheard him because what came out (after a lengthy wait, again) was the Virginian, which was pork. It was pretty loud in there by this point so maybe she heard «Virginian» when he said «Chicken»? It’s possible. My husband hates pork so he requested he get the chicken, and what came out was wrong once again — the Chicken Sandwich (well…at least it was chicken). At least it was the protein he wanted so he ate it. The server apologized for the error (s) and comped one of my drinks. The food was fine — nothing special (we did both like the chili a lot).
All in all, I say 2.5 stars because of the following combination: 4 for atmosphere, 2.5 for food, and 1 for service. I definitely think it wasn’t all our server’s fault, though — she was clearly overwhelmed by the number of people (as were other members of the staff) and that’s management’s fault — they should have been better prepared, gotten more staff, etc. I’ll have to time my next visit to the Salamander on a non-​film festival weekend!

So the Salamander is a gorgeous resort. We had been wanting to come here since the resort opened, and just got around to it this past weekend.
More than $ 100 million went into the property’s development, and you can see it in every detail. From the artwork to furniture, everything is exquisite, shiny and new. It’s got the luxurious feel of a Four Seasons, with some horse country chic-​ness to it.
My beau and I took a drive out to Middleburg for a last minute date night.
We loved the look and feel of the resort and lounge — we finally have a place for a proper, dress up, date night, without having to make the trek to DC. If you’re waiting for a table in the restaurant, snuggle up by the fire in the main living room.
They also have a fire-​pit outside for chilly nights and smores treats. Something the kids would love.
So why the 3-​stars? The food was awful. We just split a few appetizers, and sadly, none of them were good.
— Risotto balls were bland and boring. Bill only ate them because they were deep fried.
— Vegetable maki — It was just alright. Better than what I would expect from a vegetarian roll.
— Edamame — Inedible. There was so much salt and spice, neither of us could eat them.
— Olives — just ok, nothing special.
Although the food was disappointing, the bread service was outstanding. When the hot olive oil/​rosemary rolls came out, we could not keep our hands out of the bread basket.
I still really want to love this place, so I am planning to come back and give it another try. Hopefully, we will have a better experience.

Good place for a drink and a bite. The only place to get legit sushi in NOVA. The beignets are worth ordering. Its only that sometimes the service can be… spotty.

Talk about getting away for a weekend… this is a nice place to do it. This nouveau equestrian spa retreat in its spacious and incredibly appointed facility while simultaneously keeping you in the 21^st Century trips you back to the 1800s! The amenities here took careful and intent planning in fulfilling a dream that serves to sooth the visitors’ angst and weariness coming here is meant to do. Their restaurant, well appointed, relaxing, spacious and incredibly furnished is only topped by the cuisine, its presentation and its worthiness to the overall endeavor of putting this place together. Although we decided on light fare, our orders of Middleburger, a Pasta sided by a Cecci Chianti and a Whitehall Viognier. These were excellent choices. So impressed by this, we plan on going back to spend more time, and eat much more!