The Vineyard Lounge at the Marcus Whitman Hotel

Maybe it was the waiter who was in a tooth fairy costume (it was Halloween Eve) or maybe it was the taste of the schnitzel, but whatever it was, this place deserves an upgrade to a 5.
The schnitzel came with a potato salad, which was a bit scary for me when I read the menu item, but the tooth fairy waiter assured me that it would be nothing like a grocery store variety of potato salad. No eggs, but a true German potato salad, and it was. Super tasty. I hate potato salad, but not this potato salad.
The schnitzel came as two large pieces, one of which made for a wonderful lunch the day after with a little Grey Poupon. The schnitzel was on the Lounge menu and definitely earns a thumbs up from me.

First visit to Walla Walla. Heard we needed to go to Vineyard Lounge. Got water and menu but waited and waited and never saw waitress again so finally just left! It wasn’t that crowded either!

A-​OK is the perfect way to described The Vineyard Lounge.
Very convenient as I was at the hotel, and it seems that most of the town is closed down for Monday nights.
Service and ambiance both were great, the menu was full of appealing options, but I found both my Arugula Salad and Lamb Sliders to be a bit unimpressive. The lamb was a bit overdone (dry) for my taste and both dishes seemed to be a little bit under-​seasoned.
They were both beautifully presented and seemed to be fresh /​high quality ingredients. It seemed like they just needed something else to stimulate the palate.
I would recommend the Vineyard if you are staying at the hotel or just want to pop in for a drink or snack… I would not recommend for a special meal or if you really want to dine.
The home made pickles that were served with the Lamb were excellent and my favorite part of my visit.

I would not recommend asking the bartender advice. He said no wineries are open on Wednesday (and they are). Also recommended a bar that would be a great crowd but was a bit out of town. After getting a cab and wasting 20 dollars we came home as the bar was filled with 3 – 4 meth heads. Not sure if the bartender just had no clue or if he was lying to us. Go for a drink avoid asking for advice.

I ordered the Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Basil soup. TO DIE FOR! Absolutely delicious! So delicious in fact I ordered it twice in two days. The bar has a great selection and the Lemon Drop I ordered was one of the best I’ve ever had. For a lounge in Walla Walla, the food and drinks do not disappoint. Next time I’m in town I know where I’m going!

I decided that it was time to break out of the Friday night rut of going to bed at a reasonable time and hit one of the Walla Walla high spots.
The Vineyard lounge is a relaxing place to enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail before or after dinner.
It is adjacent to the restaurant so you can also eat here if you choose. Reservations for the restaurant are highly recommended but you can usually find a place to eat here in the lounge.
Drinks are reasonably priced with the house wine at $ 8 a glass. This is an exceptional value as they are pouring L’Ecole wine at this time.
The décor complements the Marcus Whitman Hotel. The lighting is subdued so it is a perfect place for a date.
There is ample parking to the north in the back parking lot. Street parking can be a challenge.
There is a TV above the bar but you can choose to ignore it.
As we didn’t eat anything, I cannot offer any tips about the food. You’ll have to read about that in my next review.

Great food in the lounge. Better than you would expect. I had the steak and frites and was satisfied. The house wine is L’Ecole and happy hour is worth it. Highly recommend.

Limited happy hour but great place to have a drink and relax. The atmosphere is a bit on the upscale compared to other places in town if that’s what you are looking for. They have a full bar, some beers on draft and good wine list. The food was ok. Nothing too exciting.

Arrived at HH to check the Vineyard out. Nice space with rich furnishings. The house wine was a special label for the Marcus Whitman Hotel by L’Ecole No. 41 Winery. It went just right with the House Burger and took the edge off a day of traveling. Service was prompt and friendly.

I had a great afternoon here with a couple cocktails and appetizers.
The onion dip that comes with the pub chips was delicious and the calamari was amazing! Light, tender, and fresh tasting. The ginger sauce alongside the calamari was drinkable. I totally would have taken it as a shot had my fiancée not stopped me!
I had a great cocktail the bartender made for me– a mint press? It was delectable!
I would definitely come back here and try some more food!

Awesome service, food and cocktails! Matt was our waiter and he was top notch!
Especially after our terrible experience at saffron!

Ambience — A
Service — A
Food — D
Price — A
I love the look and feel of this old building. The renovation of stepping back in time truly adds charm for staying or dining here.
Everyone was friendly walking though the lobby and bar area. Our server was very helpful.
My only regret were the dishes ordered were lackluster for the experience we were expecting.
The fried calamari was tender, however arrived lukewarm and began getting soggy. Wish it had been served fried piping hot.
The lamb ribs were truly horrible. It tasted weirdly smoked as if liquid smoke was used as a marinade. But there want any charring on the meat and texture was chewy and rubbery. Not fall off the bone or any form of a delectable bite.
The short rib paparadelle also had that weird smoky flavor in its dish and was so harsh in flavor it over permeated the pasta and the outer parts of the rib. Once you cut into the meat, there wasn’t any great flavor.
Too bad, I was looking forward to a great meal, bit these dishes this evening just did not shine.
I’d like to give another chance but there are do many other good restaurants that I would rather dine and know the food is simple and flavorful. Ie. Public #184? And
T. Macarrones.

Service: our waitress was very nice and friendly. 4 stars for the service.
Food: I really wonder how some of the items made it to the menu. I am guessing the chef and manager must not have tasted some of the plates. The scallop roll was a complete miss — a poorly constructed roll overpowered by mango, nori, and rice — what a waste of a delicate sweet piece of seafood. The tater tots were almost there — A little overwhelming on the spices — but paired with a nice home made ketchup. The house burger — stale bun with an average flavor. Not worth the money. Head to another restaurant if you are looking for a good meal.

Came here for happy hour With coworkers, the steak and fries were good, not very filling for my taste though. If you like fancy this is a good place. The run and coke I ordered was really well made, I mean it’s not that hard but they use more then bottom shelf rum. Oh and the fries were very flavorful, garlicky. I wouldn’t come here if you are hungry, or on any type of budget.

Just had a second go at the food and service in the lounge. Very friendly service and engaged staff. The food, however, took center stage. The lamb sliders (2 nights in a row!) and seared scallops were just delicious. Considering the excellent quality, the food is more than reasonably priced. Good menu mix, good wine by the glass list. Perfect for when you don’t want a full on dinner, but still want a stylish adult experience.

My friend and I were super excited to try this place during our first stay in Walla Walla. It was a big disappointment. The food was extremely bland and dry. For appetizers, we ordered the caprese and the lemon hummus. The caprese was fine, but the hummus was one of the most flavorless dishes I’ve ever had. For dinner, I had the fish tacos and she had the prime burger sliders. Mine had zero flavor and I couldn’t take more than a couple of bites. They also brought me fish and chips originally and took that meal back and replaced it with the tacos. I am fairly certain they chopped up the fish from the fish and chips dish and stuck it in the tacos. The sliders were overcooked and were so dry they were difficult to swallow. They desperately needed some sort of sauce. The only thing that saved the evening was the $ 5 happy hour glass of L’Ecole wine, which was delicious.

I could talk about our amateurly-​executed cocktails, but it was with my salad, though, where we really went off the rails. I’m sure that they were going for ‘deconstructed caesar salad’, but what I got was 3 things that didn’t belong on the same plate.
There were some barely dressed romaine spears, a small pile of sun dried tomato purée instead of the olive tapenade described in the menu, and then the croûton. It was, at first glance, a big piece of cheesy toast. «Mmm, cheesy toast», I said, taking a big bite. Imagine the three different types of surprise that played across my face when it turns out to have been a cheese-​covered ‘egg-​in-​the-​hole’, with a fried egg in the middle of the bread; the crispy toast giving way to a mushy and uncooked-​french-​toast taste & sensation as I try to figure out what is going on in my mouth while my wife asked «what’s wrong» and I genuinely didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t on the menu, the waitress never told me what it was, the restaurant apparently thinking that I would be charmed by the gustatory jape.
I guess I didn’t get the joke. It seemed like an Iron Chef-​gone-​wrong sort of idea. And besides being a bad idea, it was a worse surprise.
This was our second visit to the Lounge, the first was strongly unimpressive, this one guarantees it’ll be our last.

Love the bar and service. If Matt is the tender don’t pass up his fantastic margs. We stayed at the hotel for two days and we enjoyed them through the weekend.
Food was actually really good, we only hit it during HH and were not disappointed.

Not a fan of the overall décor of the lounge (or the hotel), but the service, wine and food were all great. Matt (the bartender) was exceedingly professional in the face of a drunk and mildly belligerent guest (who, thankfully, left without much of a fuss).
Chester Kidder (Longshadows) for $ 13 a glass — that’s a DEAL (the bottle retails for about $ 50 and is $ 74 on the restaurant wine list)! Really good tempura veggies (not too greasy and not overly breaded) and good Asian dipping sauces. Had steak salad and substituted the peanut sauce which goes with the beef kabobs for the salad dressing — it was a little thick for a dressing but tasted wonderful!

Fancy, swank, plush, good cocktails, good wine list, not terribly overpriced for how swank it is, and HAPPY HOUR!
Stopped in on the 4^th for a happy hour, and enjoyed a nice bottle of local red with a few $ 5 apps. A hefty serving of some GREAT local sweet onion rings, a quite good cold cantaloupe soup (cantaloupe, almonds, vanilla, and a little proscuitto on top), and some pretty darn good fish tacos. All three seriously hit the spot.
We walked in around 430 to a few people sitting at the bar, and by the time we left an hour later, the place was pretty crowded. I guess this is the local HH spot (or at least it was on the 4^th, when most of the rest of town was closed down).
There’s a main bar area, and then a back room with big comfy chairs, couches, and coffee tables. A great spot for enjoying a cocktail or wine and some tasty bites.
Our server was great. Totally on-​point, friendly, and helpful with some local hints.
Good stuff.