Ventana

Ventana has the best margarita in Charlottesville. Period.

Okay, now that I've said that, I admit that I may have to take this back once I FINALLY get in to Continental Divide. But seeing as that place is always exceedingly crowded, and I'm actually very confident that Ventana has one of the best margaritas I've ever had, I'll put that bold best statement out there. And since Ventana has renovated their space from a bar that was slightly larger than my not so large closet to a full and very swanky and comfortable restaurant, its certainly got the space advantage over Continental Divide. The ambiance at the new Ventana is very nice. Very upscale. Now, on to the fare!

Let's be honest. Foam is SO last year. Not even last year. Foam is like 1999. And I hate it when its on food. But Ventana successfully uses foam. I think they could maybe use a little less foam on their margaritas, because I always end up with a small mountain of foam in the bottom of my glass, but the slightly salty foam adds a nice bite to the margaritas, without the overwhelmingly salty/"omg the salt" is gone problem of salting the rim. Huge fan of the seafoam. Excellent touch, sir. I approve.

Another major positive about this place is the charcuterie. Fabulous starter at an extremely reasonable price. Ventana margaritas come in a range of flavors that can be sweet, savory, or even spicy. I had the cucumber margarita, Dean had sage, and Floren had tangerine. The prices of the margaritas and charcuterie make this a do-able swanky hang out even if you're on a college budget.

But, if you're on a college budget, or are generally opposed to things that are overpriced, which I certainly am, then I would not plan on having dinner at Ventana unless you have the appetite of a 90 pound junior high school girl. My real struggle with this place was that the flavors were fantastic and well combined, and the plating was some of the best I've seen in Charlottesville. But the portions were tiny, and the prices were unreasonably high. So, they either need to drop their prices by about $3 to $5 on almost every item except the charcuterie and drinks, or they need to dramatically increase the portions. I mean, are you really going to pay $8 for regular tortilla chips and admittedly tasty salsa, when the salsa comes in tiny portions? I'm not.

I had the flank steak and frites. It was $17, but I was still hungry afterward. And that was after splitting the chipotle and duck terrine charcuterie. Which, the charcuterie was actually the perfect portion to share as a starter. We also split the churros and hot chocolate for dessert. It was delicious, but, again, overpriced for the portion. I spent more than $40 on this meal after tip, and I left the table hungry.

So, my recommendation is to hit Ventana for happy hour, or even as a classy and sophisticated starting spot on a date, and then head down the downtown mall to a place that has good food with decent portions at reasonable prices. You are not going to find that at Ventana.



Don't know where it is and want to try it? Go here: http://maps.google.com/maps?rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7TSHB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=ventana,+22903&fb=1&gl=us&hq=ventana,&hnear=22903&view=text&latlng=979443177442959577

So, the breakdown, on a scale from 1 to 5:

Ambiance: 5
Service: 4 (very attentive and responsive, but the waitress was actually too fast, and didn't let us finish starters before serving our entrees)
Entrees: 3
Cocktails: 5
Desserts: 3
Overall: 4