Belle Vinez

This is our second time here and have experienced a couple different things of what Belle Vinez has to offer.
Our first time here was in the summer. It’s a beautiful property just outside of downtown River Falls. They have a BIG patio where you can enjoy their house wines and their amazing appetizers. They also serve Neapolitan style pizza but I’m not sure if you can order that outside or not. Maybe only inside. Which would suck.
In the summer we tried all the wines — there 7 of them with great pictures of important events in their lives for labels — and decided we really only enjoy 2. The others, to us anyway seemed either too light or extremely dry. And I’ve been drinking wine since MTV first began. We then ordered the spinach artichoke dip, served with pita bread wedges. Christ, we gobbled that up toot sweet! Fantastic! The other we ordered was the bruschetta. Amaaaaaaazing! Again, it was gone in moments.
The winery is run by a family. We noticed they like to talk to each other when their are customers that need help or are loud like they’re at their family reunion.
The second time we went was just last night for my birthday. My wife and I sat inside (of course, it’s November!), and it’s just as beautiful inside as well. Again we stuck with the two wines we like best. Our pizzas were good. Mine was a little soggy — Neapolitans can get that way with too much sauce — yet the bottom of mine was burnt. Black. Charred. Oddly enough, it wasn’t bad. If it had tasted bad, I would have said something. Regardless I ordered a pepperoni and sausage while my wife ordered a chicken with white sauce. Hers was very good as well.
We again noticed that the employees like to sit and talk with each other. At one point, one waitress had to ask for help because food was piling up to be served and two waitresses were just standing there talking to two women or giving hugs to old friends. My wine glass sat empty virtually the entire time it took my wife to drink hers. Not acceptable. Even one of the owners was more interested in talking to 4 separate divorcees than mingling with everyone or helping out, and there were quite a few people.
There was a private event going on that the owners were involved with and there was a «reserved» sign on the door that looked like a drunk paraplegic wrote. Can’t they afford a professional sign?
This is my overall complaint with Belle Vinez. A lack of professionalism. The food is good, we enjoy the wine, the property is beautiful yet the employees like to talk a little too much vs being attentive to the customers. And this wasn’t only us. We noticed it both visits with all customers. Our first time here a tall very thin blonde employee was so loud and obnoxious, it was annoying. The «let’s have fun and every day’s a party» act doesn’t work at a vineyard.
This place has a lot of potential. They even mentioned on two separate occasions that it had been slow as of late. They chalked it up to people saving money for the holidays. Could it however be a lack of professionalism and urgency with customers?
We’ll be back of course and hopefully my 3 star rating gets bumped up.