la Route de Vins

[Marissa B]

Tonite I have the pleasure to dine with Maureen and Joe 'Mcdreamy" Memo at Route De Vins and it was WONDERFUL.
Located on 5 and 28th in the old Gia (gia?) location this is now a french bistro who serves wonderful food. The ambiance is lovely. Granite bistro tables located amongst large wooden floor to ceiling windows with a lovely breezy upstair also the Route De Vins serves wine and a large menu filled with salads, crepes, fish, meat and mussels. Lots and lots of mussels. Flown in 3 times per week from the west coast of mexico

The wine by the glass list is 15 or so choices of red, white and rose ranging in price from 37 pesos to 104 pesos. And champagne by the glass. The choices of wine we drank were wonderful. Much better than most places in playa.

We shared food. Pate with a mango salsa (yummy) and a salad of trout, pears, lettuce and blue cheese (wonderful) and a big bowl of mussels with bacon, sour cream and other things. The list of mussels and sauces and crepes and fillings were extensive. There were so many choices but ours served 3 people happily. Prices were varied. The mussels are for two and ranged from 250-300 pesos for the two. Salads were 60-100 pesos. Other things were in the 60-200 pesos range.

We finished dinner with a big pot of dark chocolate fondue served with a variety of fruits and cake. We could not finish it all although I tried so hard!

Luis -our waiter- was wonderful. He was attentive and funny and knowledgeable. His support staff were so helpful. Serious white table cloth service in a restaurant that is lovely but very casual and relaxed. I can't wait to go back.

The owners are a combination of French, Mexican and Dutch.

Open from noon until late. Make sure you try it !
__________________
Marissa B

[maureena5]

Good Morning mi amiga!

This was most certainly a great dining experience!....especially with your company!!

La Route des Vins is fabulous on all accounts.....food, service & atmosphere! Our server, Luis was most definitely warm & very professional! I've never had mussels cooked so well! The sause/broth was phenomenal & that salad was one of the best in Playa! Oh & the fondue!!!....delicious & fun!!!

I highly reccommend this new restaurant! What a lovely night out!!!

See you tonight!

Maureen

[Marissa B]

Maureen,
Apparently there is a lounge area where you can drink good wine! I think we've found our new hang out!

Besitos,
M

[maureena5]

Oh yes!! I love lovely lounge areas and good wine...and great conversation!!! Their wine was really fabulous!!

For anyone interested....here's their web site...
www.laroutedesvins.com.mx

MM

[Heather]

Ohhh, that sounds wonderful! Especially the dining company.

[Marissa B]

Originally Posted by Heather

Ohhh, that sounds wonderful! Especially the dining company.

gee thanks Heather. Next time we go we'll invite you along. Then the company can be EVEN BETTER

[maureena5]

Heather & Michael,

I'm going to insist that we take you here for your "Thank you for handling our property so well" dinner!! I think you will love it! Once all the family/visitors leave town, let's set a date....we may drag Marissa along too!!!

Maureen

[Marissa B]

Originally Posted by maureena5

Heather & Michael,

I'm going to insist that we take you here for your "Thank you for handling our property so well" dinner!! I think you will love it! Once all the family/visitors leave town, let's set a date....we may drag Marissa along too!!!

Maureen

we may DRAG me along too!? Drag me? Geez louise! An amazing meal. Great wine. Chocolate fondue AND McDreamy, you, Heather and Michael all at one table!?! No dragging required. I'll be running for the restaurant!

[barbj050]

those mussels sound great ...love mussels ...do they do clams as well..........

[ProfessorPibil]

Sometimes I wonder... I've looked at the menu, I've looked at the pictures of food posted elsewhere... stuff like this:



With all due respect to everyone, this isn't food you usually get for dinner at a French restaurant (well, maybe at some really low end brasserie in a train station at a town that time forgot, or at a humble bistro with no pretension). The menu itself reads like it's from the book "70s stereotypes of French food", but the execution looks even worse.

This is what French food looks like today:



And there's none of that in rdv.

Anyway, why is it that "high end" restaurants in Playa are such a joke? do they count on the fact that all their diners are tourists and there's no repeat business? Is it just too hard to find ingredients and skilled labor?

[Sue]

Originally Posted by ProfessorPibil

Sometimes I wonder... I've looked at the menu, I've looked at the pictures of food posted elsewhere... stuff like this:



With all due respect to everyone, this isn't food you usually get for dinner at a French restaurant (well, maybe at some really low end brasserie in a train station at a town that time forgot, or at a humble bistro with no pretension). The menu itself reads like it's from the book "70s stereotypes of French food", but the execution looks even worse.

This is what French food looks like today:



And there's none of that in rdv.

Anyway, why is it that "high end" restaurants in Playa are such a joke? do they count on the fact that all their diners are tourists and there's no repeat business? Is it just too hard to find ingredients and skilled labor?

Well, what is that first photo of? It involves bread and cheese, I see. I think it looks quite good!

[ProfessorPibil]

Who knows what's under all that cheese, probably something worth hiding

[Sue]

Originally Posted by ProfessorPibil

Who knows what's under all that cheese, probably something worth hiding

Yeah, it'd be good if it were just bread and cheese but the key is, what else is there? Funny but I think that the photo looks more like German food than French food.

[lil_kissy]

Originally Posted by ProfessorPibil

Sometimes I wonder... I've looked at the menu, I've looked at the pictures of food posted elsewhere... stuff like this:



With all due respect to everyone, this isn't food you usually get for dinner at a French restaurant (well, maybe at some really low end brasserie in a train station at a town that time forgot, or at a humble bistro with no pretension). The menu itself reads like it's from the book "70s stereotypes of French food", but the execution looks even worse.

This is what French food looks like today:



And there's none of that in rdv.

Anyway, why is it that "high end" restaurants in Playa are such a joke? do they count on the fact that all their diners are tourists and there's no repeat business? Is it just too hard to find ingredients and skilled labor?

i agree with you totally about the "high end" restaurants in Playa... we live here and are hard pressed to find restaurants that we add to our list of frequented restaurants... di vino, the glass bar, etc- not so good!

we ate at this restaurant when it first opened and were not impressed. the fondue was alright- all flavors quite similar to me. and ONLY served with bread! we had to request apples, broccoli, etc to which they acted so strangely... they did finally bring it out... i have heard from a friend that returned soon after that they actually starting serving these things with the fondue since that incident!

as for the rest of the food, not so impressed. and as previously stated, not so french... it is more of a fusion restaurant i believe. it was better than some other restaurants in the area, but we haven't returned in the past few months...

we used to love ula gula, but their chef changed and wasn't as good on our last return visit...

our most reliable favorite is cocina 38 now. most everything is fantastic- and keeps getting better... we have been there about 7 times now and the chef always comes out to talk to us and asks advice. my husband suggested more meat dishes a couple of weeks ago when we were there because there was a lot of fish (which he doesn't really like). lo and behold when we returned last night, there were more meat dishes on the menu!

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by lil_kissy

i agree with you totally about the "high end" restaurants in Playa... we live here and are hard pressed to find restaurants that we add to our list of frequented restaurants... di vino, the glass bar, etc- not so good!

we ate at this restaurant when it first opened and were not impressed. the fondue was alright- all flavors quite similar to me. and ONLY served with bread! we had to request apples, broccoli, etc to which they acted so strangely... they did finally bring it out... i have heard from a friend that returned soon after that they actually starting serving these things with the fondue since that incident!

as for the rest of the food, not so impressed. and as previously stated, not so french... it is more of a fusion restaurant i believe. it was better than some other restaurants in the area, but we haven't returned in the past few months...

we used to love ula gula, but their chef changed and wasn't as good on our last return visit...

our most reliable favorite is cocina 38 now. most everything is fantastic- and keeps getting better... we have been there about 7 times now and the chef always comes out to talk to us and asks advice. my husband suggested more meat dishes a couple of weeks ago when we were there because there was a lot of fish (which he doesn't really like). lo and behold when we returned last night, there were more meat dishes on the menu!

Where is that? I think it is near where we are staying in the north end on 10th and Calle 38-right?

I am the first to admit I am not pretentious about food- I just like what tastes good, give me a red curry at Babes and I am happy as a clam. I wouldn't know what current French food was if it crawled up and bit me. And I am okay with that.

I think most people are like that, and let's face it, 'most people' are who the majority of restaurant customers are....which is why really high end restaurants in any city are few and far between.