1865 Wine Cellar

My Fiancé and I were celebrating our one year countdown to our wedding and this was the perfect place. Everything was excellent! The waitress was knowledgable and helped us pick out a delicious bottle of wine. The duck and ribeye were cooked to perfection, and the flavor was out of this world. We saved half just so we could enjoy the next day! Just be aware that it is a functioning wine cellar so it’s chillier than a normal restaurant, I was fine but others might be uncomfortable. We can’t wait to go back for another celebration!

I was so nervous to go here due to the reviews but they must have made a lot of changes because every single thing was excellent! Helpful hint for the ladies, wear something warm, it is freezing.

The food and service were amazing. Pram offered pretty good recommendations and I was floored by the filet mignon.

PROS
-Resort was clean and ambience was great.
-Wine/after dinner cocktails were delightful and the wine testing was properly done.
-Door greeter and pianoist perfect touches.
-Pram, our server was knowledgeable and attentive. The tableware was clean and placed well.
-The shareable local cheese plate, specialty butter, cheesecake dollup, apple chutney, and homemade bread was soft and warm.
-The main meals of pork belly and the ribeye had delightful presentation were cooked properly. Asparagus had a good crunch and grilled well.
CONS
-Table was too wide to hold hands, candles were not lit, no flowers were present, napkin folding needs work, and chairs should be pulled our for guests and napkins layed across the laps.
-There was another shorthaired female server that was interruptive and rude. She grabbed wine right over our table twice without so much as an excuse me and treated other servers with distain. She was not a good employee.
-The quantity of the bread/butter, cheese plate, and dessert were WAY TO SMALL FOR THE PRICE.
-The main courses were bland to the taste buds.
-Bathrooms were on the opposite side of the resort.
-The restaurant was a little cold to wear a dress.
-The dress code was not enforced.

We’re very familiar with chef table style restaurants and to be honest, our experience was pretty disappointing. We were back in NH for a short time from Maui to visit family. We gave up time with them to sneak up solely to try this eatery. Maybe we caught chef at an off night but it would be fair to say, we wouldn’t go back or recommend it to anyone. The 3 stars is for ambiance, gluten free options, and wine selection. The food was sub-par. We got there later in the evening and the waitress took our order, she never informed us that the main dishes we had wanted were sold out (duck and scallops) until 15 minutes after ordering. We ordered our steak rare and it was delivered medium-well. We’re big fans of frais gras and that was also over cooked. I listened to the table next to us to hear if it was just our personal experience and they were brought the wrong first selection all together. We chose to have the wine pairings for the courses. There was no glass of wine while you wait for your first course, when our main course came, our wine glasses were empty, the waiter left and came back to check on the food but never offered to provide the wine pairing, I had to ask. There was also no wine pairing with dessert. In a wine cellar, there should be glasses of wine at every point, ESPECIALLY if you have guests willing to pay for each pairing offered! It may be true that this is rated a top spot in the White Mountains but overall, I’d rate is one of the lowest chef table experiences I’ve ever had.

Good but not great, only because many dishes arrived cold (piece of pork belly in amuse-bouche, scallop, duck breast, arctic char, creme brulee) and/or overcooked (duck breast and arctic char). If these two things were better this would be a solid value for the $70 prix fixe pricetag as the ingredients and other aspects of the preparation were great.

Very disappointed with the food. The ambiance and wine selection were great. Waitstaff was friendly. The food was downhill after the first small plate course. Two of the three main entrées came out undercooked. The ribeye, which was supposed to be medium, came out rare. The lamb pieces were all fat, except for a small part. Because at that point we had been there for an hour and one half, we didn’t want to wait for it to be fixed. The table next to us ordered the same meals and had the same problems. They sent both meals back, and it seemed, once fixed by cooking the meat more and substituting a better piece of lamb, their meal was better. They were not apologetic about the issues. Seems it may happen a lot.