[nkiar]

Last night my husband and I had a wonderful dinner at Vineyards- near the Belknap mall. We've been there many times and to be honest it hasn't always been a good experience. The problems have been related to the service and long waits- not the food. We keep going back because we want to see the place succeed (we have no personal investment in the restaurant other than wanting a non-chain place to enjoy that is close by) and the food is usually very good. But last night they hit a home run! Beth, our waitress, was friendly and informative. Mona, who we've had in the past, was there and she is great too. I was glad to see the place was full because maybe our past experiences weren't shared by other patrons -although I did hear a waitress thanking a large party for being patient and apologizing for delays that occured. I ordered the special, chicken and shrimp capresse served w/linguine and a pesto cream sauce w/ a balsamic dressing. It was out of this world. I told Beth they need to add this to the regular menu and she agreed it was a great dish. I heard diners at other table make the same comment about adding the dish to the menu. If they did, I'd be there every weekend- it was that good. My husband had a penne dish w/ sausage in a spicy red sauce which he enjoyed but liked mine better. We saved room for dessert and having seen so much written about Love Bites- I asked who did their desserts. They said it was a woman from Mass. that delivers them to the restaurant. I had the red velvet cake and husband had coconut cake and both were wonderful. Bottom line is that I'm glad all the forces aligned and we had a great dinner. Can't wait to dig into the leftovers! nkiar