Location

The Vine Resto has finally opened their branch in Pagadian City. The other branch is located in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur. In Pagadian, they are located in 23 Urro Street, a block away from Jack and Jill Elementary School and UCCP Church. According to my source, the place is previously an old house of the Ceniza family and was converted into a restaurant. It is still obvious once you've visited the place that it was once a house. 

The Place

Once you are in the vicinity of the resto, you will be welcomed by their friendly looking staffs. You may opt to dine on the first floor or to the second floor. The first floor has no aircon (only ceiling fans) and it is where their bar is located while the second floor is where the air-conditioned rooms are located. The restaurant is more of a fine dining experience. They have lots of service staffs roaming around and ready to take your order and make you feel comfortable.

You can also dine outside where old memorabilia on the walls are hanged. 

As to smokers, you may opt to smoke outside. 

Currently, they are building a large birdcage in front of the resto. I guess they're still developing the property. 


The Food

They have a variety of foods from Filipino foods, Japanese foods, and Italian foods. The meal pricing is more on the expensive side. Do not go to this restaurant if you're on a budget. Meal price ranged from 300 plus and above.


Summary

It's easy to locate the restaurant. However, the parking area is a bit crowded. The customers dining in will have to park outside the road to the point of double parking on both sides of the street.

Their foods were not superb. I will give it a rating of 6/10 stars. Our first experience is we ordered a shrimp meal. The shrimp is still raw inside. The second time, we ordered their chicken cordon bleu but the breading is charred. Their chop suey is bland and soggy. However, I highly recommend their seafood chowder. I really enjoyed eating that.


Their staffs are not at all friendly. Well, there's this staff of them named May, she's the one who took our reservations. My partner went there as early as 1 pm to inform them of our reservation because it's Valentine's day and we're afraid the place will run out of tables. So, here it is, the receptionist/staff of Vine Pagadian, named May, insisted that they don't take reservations. That we should be early for dinner. However, she gave us a piece of paper and let my partner write our desired time to dine. My partner, following her instruction, wrote only the time because that is only she's asking and going back to her statement earlier that they don't take reservations (Why should we give her our time if they don't accept reservations?). Upon reviewing the paper, she even scolded my partner why is there no name and contact number indicated. Well, going back again to her statement, that she only needs the time. Hence, my partner did not indicate his name nor his number because it was not instructed by May, the receptionist/staff. Her face looked annoyed upon receiving the paper. My partner did not mine her attitude at all. 

We arrived at the place around 5:30 in the afternoon and took our order. We ordered their Valentine's day special offer which is 399.00 each order. So we ordered two. The 5% service charge is not included in the 399.00 meal yet. The food took a little bit time to serve but we are okay with that since it's Valentine's day and the place is crowded with couples also having their romantic dinner. The breading of the Chicken Cordon Bleau was a bit disappointing because it's overcooked. Well, I didn't mind it at all because I have a feeling that they're just being pressured to cater all the diners. 

I was still eating and my partner have finished his meal then a waiter approached if he can take the plates now. We let him took our plates because it's a bit crowded on our table and we're still eating our desserts also. A few minutes later, I'm also done with my food. We chat a little bit with my partner while eating our dessert and trying to finish our lemonade. During our conversation, I told my partner to pay our bill first so that if we're ready to leave there won't be a hassle anymore.

Then here comes May, the receptionist/staff that time, after paying our meal, insisted that we should leave our table in a rude manner. She insisted that there's a reservation on the table we're currently using. In my mind, I thought they don't accept reservations and how come is she saying this? I noticed that there are lots of diners trying to get a table. In my opinion, she's trying to accommodate these people through our expense. I'm not yet even done with my drinks and we are still trying to cope with our full stomach and she's driving us away like that in her rude tone again. I believe that in her line of job, where hospitability is involved, she should not approach us that way. We are civilized people and we greatly believe that manners matters in her line of job. Good for you, we don't muddle with pigs like you because pigs like it dirty and we don't. Therefore, we just leave silently but remember, we're not leaving because you think you're right. In our case, we always believe in choosing our battles and you are not worth it.

So, this is what we got from our 900 peso meal. Instead of enjoying the romantic evening, their staff just ruined it. We went home discouraged and vow to blog about this incident.
The lady on the left is the one I'm talking about (photo from Vine Molave's FB)
As to the owner of Vine Pagadian, please do check upon your staff/s acting like this to your customers. You may think you've lost only two customers for now but you know in business, this poses a threat to you in the future. As a newly opened restaurant, believe me, the word-of-mouth advertising in this small town has been proven to be the most powerful form of marketing. 

For now, I don't' recommend my friends dining in Vine Pagadian because their service charge fee is not worth it. Some of their staffs have no manners at all. I may recommend this resto again if this matter has been dealt with.