Arrington Vineyard: A Valentine's Dinner

Ah, Valentine's Day. This is the first Valentine's Day that I have had the honor of spending with Katie. I wanted this day to be extra special as we've both never had a successful one. I had also planned to propose to my love on this night. Here's what happened:

First, I want to preface this by saying that Arrington Vineyards was recommended to me by a coworker. The website pictures made the winery look very nice and for the price, I was really expecting that we would not be let down. I called them to set up a reservation. Luckily, they had three tables left, though they were under the tent, which they assured would be heated. They asked me specifically what time we were going to arrive so they could have the food READY and HOT. Also, since I am a vegetarian, I asked what meals they could do for me. They said they could give me the pasta plate without the chicken. The day of the dinner came and we drove out there. We showed up a half an hour before the meal was supposed to be served to do a wine tasting (all this was confirmed on the schedule). It was a cold night as we walked up. The tent we were supposed to be under (that was supposed to be heated) was freezing cold. It was clear, too, that we were quite overdressed. I believe I was the only person there wearing a tie, much less dress slacks while Katie (who looked ravishing) was the best-dressed gal. Our food was already at the table in a little picnic pack cooler. We put our things down and went to do the wine tasting. All the types of wine we tried were great. As we picked one out, we headed back to our table. Though it wasn't 6 pm yet, we decided to go ahead and serve ourselves dinner. It was ice-cold. I dished out our salads while I had to wait for a hostess to come by so we could have our food warmed up. She brought it back and I dished out our food. The one marked "No meat" was pretty clear and straightforward, so I put Katie's on her plate first and then served myself. While the larger chunks of chicken that were on Katie's plate were missing from mine, there were still quite a few chicken bits in the rather bland, tastless food. Disgusted, we kind of halfway got through the meal before throwing it aside. Our desert was a pair of little chocolate truffles. That, sadly, was probably the best part of the meal.

I did propose to Katie in a romantic way, getting down on one knee proper-like. That is the one saving of the night. She accepted my proposal and cried. We left and she proceeded to call everyone she knew. That made me really happy.

Arrington Vineyards was an epic fail. For the price that I paid, I expected so much more. Comparitively, our meal at Taco Bell the next day was much better and more cost efficient.

At the winery, we received:
- a wine tasting
- a $20 bottle of wine
- cold food that we had to serve to ourselves that, even warmed, was sub-mediocre at best
- a dismal dessert
- a freezing cold tent
- live music limited to a saxaphonist and a keyboardist who stopped frequently
- a picnic table in the mud

Folks, if you happen to have the opportunity to go to the Arrington Vineyards for a romantic meal, DO NOT GO - unless you just want to be disappointed.