At Vine, the food was outstanding and the martinis and wine were a pleasant and fun accompaniment.
Often when a restaurant touts itself as a martini and wine bar, the food can take second place—but my family was pleasantly surprised to find that The Vine defied our expectations.
The Vine is located in the heart of downtown Grayslake. It’s cozy, small, casual and friendly, but a bit dark if you need glasses and light to read the menu!
Two-thirds of the large menu is dedicated to beer, wine and every conceivable martini. While we waited for a table on a busy Saturday night, my daughter had a Pumpkin Martini ($9.50), which was light and not too sweet; my husband and son shared a bottle of the beer of the month. It was a hefty (for a beer) 6% alcohol and cost $17 (the bottle was the size of a wine bottle … it was an artisan beer). I had a Lemon Drop Martini ($9.50), refreshing but nothing new.
For appetizers, we split an order of the tasty Bruschetta ($7), and also Butter Rum Shrimp, which were wrapped in bacon and served, warm and yummy, over a bed of guacamole.
Pescatarians Need Love, Too
My 24-year-old daughter is a pescatarian—a vegetarian who eats fish— and the menu was rather limited for her. So she had the Salmon Piccata ($16.50) and it was delicious and fresh. My husband had the Shrimp Alfredo ($15) over fettucini, and it managed to be light, cheesy and creamy all at the same time.
My son ordered Surf and Turf ($20); a generous dish which came with two filet medallions and four shrimp, all perfectly prepared. It normally is served with wild rice, but he asked to substitute the garlic-mashed potatoes and they did so cheerfully. I had the bone-in Apple-Cinnamon Pork Chop ($19.50) with wild rice. The pork was succulent and perfectly portioned. In my family we all taste the others’ food and rate who got the best, but on this evening it was unanimous that all the entrees were perfect.
Since it is a wine bar, we got a bottle of the Lucky Star Pinot Noir ($28) from California. I am pretty wine friendly but I was not familiar with any of their wines (which can be intriguing or annoying, depending on your sense of adventure).
Liquid Dessert!
The Vine is known for their dessert martinis so we went that route with my daughter ordering a Snickers-tini and my son a Peanut Butter Cup-tini ($9.50 each). Both were delicious, light and tasted just as their name implied.
I had The Victorian Martini ($9.50, Chambord, Southern Comfort, Champagne and Triple Sec), which was the only disappointment of the night. We all agreed it tasted like Robitussin! The waitress noticed I wasn’t drinking it and offered to replace it with something else at no charge. So I had a Chocolate Covered Strawberry-tini that was to die for. My husband had a Drambuie—always his go-to dessert—which many restaurants don’t have in stock. We were impressed to find it here.
