Wine Dine and Play: Kona Grill

New American Fare with Asian Flare

Tampa, Florida, USA

Dined in June & July 2016

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

My wife and I dined at Kona Grill in Tampa two times inside of one month, once for a happy hour for drinks and lite bites, then a few weeks later with her sister and husband for a lunch. The restaurant is well located near to the airport and in an area where there are several hotels and other restaurants chains to include Cooper’s Hawk, Texas de Brazil, Fleming’s Steakhouse, and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion. Our first visit was very pleasing, wonderful service in a great atmosphere, serving modern style American dishes with an asian flare. Our second visit would exclude me from ever eating at Kona Grill again.

Being in the food service industry for 20+ years, and writing reviews at restaurants all over the world, I had seen some bad experiences in the past, but none like the second visit. It topped the cake. These were my own experiences, and I tell you them to give you more information, but don’t let this review stop you from trying Kona Grill, because you may have a complete opposite dining then we had. With all the good reviews I have written about here on Wine, Dine, and Play, sometimes you have bad things happen, and that is the way it is. Here is what happened to us…

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General Manger:

Jacquelyn Vandebult

Main review:

My flight landed at Tampa International in the mid afternoon, and the long 30+ hours of flight time finally came to an end. Starting in Iraq, a seven hour layover in Dubai, eating a wonderful meal a Roberto’s Ristorante, followed by a few hours in Paris, and Atlanta, it was good to be back home and to see my wife. It is usually a tradition that when I arrive, we go out to grab a quick happy hour bite before driving back to St. Petersburg. Nearer to the airport there are several restaurants from your normal to higher end chains, and to local regular and finer dining restaurants. The choice was made to go to Kona Grill. I had never been there, so regardless if it is a chain restaurant or not, I enjoy trying new places.

We arrived, and sat near the bar section at a high top table, ordered some wine and appetizers. My wife had a glass of the Belleruche Rosé from the Cote du Rhone, and I had a California cabernet from Louis Martini. Kona had a special happy hour menu along with a lunch and dinner menu. Our second visit was a lunch menu, so the breakdown listed below will be for the happy hour and lunch menu’s, not the dinner. You can visit the website for more information on that.

Happy Hour:

Half Off Appetizers
Essentials
Favorites
Cocktails and Wines

Lunch:

Starters
Flatbreads
Salads
Soups
Sandwiches
Entrees
Finishers (Desserts)

Sushi Menu:

Starters
Traditional rolls
Kona Rolls
Chef Plates
Lifestyle (low calorie)

As we enjoyed our drinks, looking over the happy hour menu we decided on the pot stickers ($10), five dumplings to the order stuffed with seared chicken and vegetables with a side of asian slaw and traditional soy dipping sauces. They had very good flavor. I do not know if they were homemade or pre-processed dumplings, but they did taste like they were homemade.

We also shared one of my wife's favorites from Kona Grill which was the chicken satay dish ($11) served with cabbage slaw, and two sauces, a sweet hoisin, and a Indonesian peanut sauce.

Finally, we ordered the spicy tuna roll ($8) with cucumber and motoyaki sauce, which was different considering that this Japanese style sauce is prepared to go with oysters, but still enjoyable. The starters were all half priced from the amounts you see listed as a happy hour special. We finished off out little bites, enjoyed our drinks then headed home. We would return three weeks later to a completely different type of experience.

THREE WEEKS LATER

July 20th we returned to Kona Grill for a lunch, and had my wife’s sister and husband with us. They were visiting for a death in the family, and were flying back home that day. My wife and I had such a good experience three weeks prior that we wanted to take them to Kona Grill to enjoy the same meal and service. I can say that I have never in my life experienced such a 180.

We arrived a few minutes after the lunch opening and we may have been the second or the third table in the restaurant. According to the receipt we were seated at table 62 (check # omitted from this review), and our server was Andrew. We ordered a few drinks, and chatted while we looked over the lunch menu. It took some time for the drinks to arrive, and one cocktail beverage called the "tropical mango punch" arrived several minutes after the others. It still was pretty slow with only a few tables, but it can be understandable as the bar tender may still be in the process of setting up, so at times you can expect delays.

Around this time more tables began to come in and be seated, the typical lunch rush. We placed our lunch order, bypassing appetizers and having only entrees. My wife's sister ordered the chicken pad Thai ($14.75) served with bean sprouts, crushed peanuts and pad thai sauce. Other entree items included jambalaya ($17.75), lemon-garlic shrimp penne ($18), and miso-saké sea bass ($28.75) to name a few. There were thirteen total entree selections available.

Her husband ordered the cuban sandwich ($12.50), with braised kalua pork, ham, swiss cheese, mustard, and homemade pickles served with sweet potato french fries. Other sandwiches on the menu included an avocado chicken club ($13.25), big kahuna cheeseburger ($13) and pulled pork sliders ($12.50) to name a few. There were nine total sandwiches on the lunch menu.

My wife had the chicken satay from the starters menu as we ordered from the last visit and small house salad ($5.75), with tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, danish bleu cheese and tossed in an onion-soy vinaigrette.

I decided to go with the sushi menu for lunch and under the section listed as Kona Rolls, I enjoyed the picasso sushi roll. This was a spicy yellowtail with avocado, jalapeño, cilantro, togarashi, sriracha, and yuzu ponzu sauce. They had a total of eighteen different speciality Kona rolls on the menu from a coconut shrimp roll ($11.25), to a spider soft shell crab roll ($14) which I nearly ordered. Under the traditional roll section you had your California ($7.25), eel, and salmon ($7) to name a few of the fifteen total options. You could also order sashimi, edamame, and miso if you wished.

Now, my wife and I both being in the food and hospitality industry are not the type of people that make complaints as much as the typical outside the industry client makes. My wife has worked in restaurants, and done outside wine sales to restaurants for years. I have worked the front of the house from server, bar back, host, bus, to dining room manager over the years. In the back of the house i've prepped, cooked, been a Sous Chef, Kitchen Manager, and now the Executive Chef to the American Embassy and Consulate in Iraq. My wife and I are avid foodies and restauranteurs, hence this website among other things.

So, what was the problem with our experience here at Kona on this particular day. The server was okay, a little flustered, and delivered items stagnantly, but other than that he was fine. Our problem came with the delivery of the food. After placing our order, we had a few more drinks and enjoyed conversation. By this time the dining room was packed with every table taken to include parties. A great deal of time went by, nearly a half an hour. To remind you, we were one of the first tables to arrive, and had placed our order before the restaurant filled up. We noticed other tables that arrived after we did getting their food before we did. No big deal at first. Finally the server began delivering our food, only it was a just a little tease, since the only item to arrive was the chicken satay my wife ordered.

She didn't want to eat until everyone else got their food, so she waited. We assumed the food runners or other servers would be coming up right away to deliver the rest. Usually this happens from time to time, where a food runner gets ahead of themselves and deliveries items to quick, before the kitchen is done with the entire order. Then a few minutes went by, we had also placed more drink orders earlier, and they still had not arrived either. Then my sushi plate appeared, but still nothing else. I waited like my wife did, as we did not want to eat until all the food had arrived. By this time her satay was cold. Thankfully I ordered sushi, so at worst, my dish would increase in temperature.

The cocktails and other drinks that w ehad ordered fifteen minutes earlier had finally arrived. By that time we had drank all our water, and that took several more minutes to be refilled by one of the bussers. We continued to wait from the time the satay arrived until the remainder of the food. We clocked it at just over ten minutes and finally my wife’s salad, the pad Thai, and cuban sandwich arrived.

Before the entrees had all arrived a manager did come to the table and apologize after we asked over server what was going on, and he offered a coupon for a free satay on our next happy hour visit. After the entrees arrived we were all very upset and asked our server to see the manager again. We continued to eat, except my wife, who didn't want to eat the satay since it was cold, and no offer was even made to make a new hot one. The manager stopped by again and said he would comp off the satay and my wife's salad. He was rushed and didn't spend a lot of time with us, which irritated us even more. The next time the server came around to collect our plates we asked him to pass a message on to the manager to have him comp our bill not just $16.00 of the $140.00 we had spent.

The server left then came back a few moments later and said that the manager would comp the bill. So we knew that this was not the servers fault to our knowledge, but overall the experience was not good. We left him a 25% cash gratuity based on our check, then we left. As we were walking in the parking lot the manager ran out to catch up with us saying that we needed to pay our bill. From this point we were enraged. I went back in and payed the bill.

In my twenty-five years of dining out and 20 years of being in the food service industry from chains to fine dining, this experience rocked me, and sadly enters the top three of the worst experiences I have ever had, eating at restaurants on five continents, and throughout the United States. I am horribly saddened to have had such a good experience three weeks earlier to have a turn around like this. To have tables that arrived twenty minutes after we did, get their food, and leave before we got our entrees is crazy. Then to be told our check would be comped only to be chased down by the manager in the parking lot was truly embarrassing.

I really cannot believe that a restaurant of this calibre and reputation could allow something like this to happen. So many mistakes during one experience is honestly insulting. I sent a letter to the general manager of this Kona Grill, and she responded with an apology, and thanked us for making her aware of what happened. She of course did explain that these things happen, even though the past twenty-five years I’ve rarely if ever seen anything like this happen. At this point I was expecting her to say that a comp certificate would be mailed to us, but that did not happen.

A month or more went by and my wife did go back to redeem the $10.00 coupon, and she informed me that the service was just as bad, and they didn’t know who she was, to them, just another number. Very sad. You can't make this stuff up folks!!

A brief look at the wine list:

Kona Grill - like most of the restaurants in central Florida want to cater to their clientele when it comes to wine, and most of those clients unfortunately have an uneducated basic table wine style palette. I was there as well, but my wife is helping me to expand mine. It is hard for us to find places that offer boutique wines, which are sometimes cheaper then the mainstream, and have a better taste and quality. This area is held captive by large corporate alcohol vendors like Empire and Southern Wine & Spirits. So you are always going to see your typical basics like Yellowtail, Robert Mondavi, and Beringer. On the wine menu at Kona Grill, since it is corporate they offer the same selections at all of their restaurants which falls into the mainstream.

Though some of the wines are good flavor and decent quality, all of them are mainstream from the big vendors. I compare it to a Walmart and the Target coming into town offering cheap asian sweat factory products, putting the small guys with better quality out of business. The big stores make you think you have a better product, with an expensive brand name, but in the end is it worth it? Hopefully one day this will change and the restaurants will open up to expanding their wine portfolio’s and educate their clients to help expand their palettes, which will only bring more business and greater appreciation there way. Once the client is informed, then the restaurants can open up to a fantastic world of wine, making more money by selling more, and keeping the client happy at the same time. Now is the restaurant bad for offering only mainstream?……No, they are just stuck because the client only knows mainstream. I was a California cab and basic brand name Cotes du Rhone drinker for decades, and fell into the same mainstream category, now my palette is expanding thanks to my wife. I’m not condemning the restaurants for this, only trying to make the client aware so hopefully over time, they can educate themselves like I have been.

Wine Tasting Notes:

Wine & Grape:	Nose (Bouquet):	Palette Experience:
Belleruche Rosé by M. Chapoutier Appellation d'origine contrôlée France	Winemaker: Grenache, then Cinsault and Syrah CONTACT THE WINERY	Winemaker: No information available on the webpage
Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon American vituculture Association USA	Winemaker: The dark violet hue of our Louis M. Martini Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is indicative of its decadent blackberry, cassis and black cherry aromas and flavors. CONTACT THE WINERY	Winemaker: Earthy notes of truffle, smoky cedar and dried herbs unfold around this wine’s assertive tannins that will soften with age. Rich, expansive and well-structured with a long, lingering finish, this wine has aging potential of a decade or more.
Ferrari-Carono Fumé Blanc American vituculture Association USA	Winemaker: aromas and flavors of pink grapefruit, pineapple, lemon grass, lychee, kiwi, honeydew, orange blossom, guava, white peach and lemon lime with a touch of minerality CONTACT THE WINERY	Winemaker: This wine has bright acidity and crisp freshness from the cool, stainless steel tank fermentation, while the subtle oak character from neutral French oak barrels adds body, complexity and depth.

So, with the meal and interview complete, and our culinary appetites fulfilled, lets see how Kona Grill rates overall shall we. Here is how my rating system works….

5 stars	is Extraordinary
4 Stars	is Outstanding
3 Stars	Exceeded Expectations
2 Stars	is Above the Average
1 Star	is an Average Dining Experience
No Star Rating	The Restaurant is Basic, Poor, or Appalling

Rating Breakdown And Analysis:

On Wine, Dine, and Play, I have an overall star rating scale of six levels with the lowest being a poor or appalling experience (zero stars), up to an extraordinary experience (five stars). This rating scale is formulated by braking down individual experiences such as (1) wine selection, (2) plate presentation, (3) ambiance, (4) “wow” factor, (5) customer service, plus (6) food quality and combines them on a separate scale of zero to ten, with ten being the best. In the next paragraph, I brake down how and why I come to the conclusion of the rating numbers listed in the overall review chart below.

The overall star rating from Wine, Dine, and Play that I give to Kona Grill is a zero, meaning that they failed in every way to meet even my basic expectations for a restaurant. I also believe that with the 20+ years of dining across the world, I do set my expectations to a higher standard compared to some other reviewers out there so it may seem that I am being harsh, but it is what it is. I came to this conclusion based on all the other factors listed above and how they rated.

Overall Star rating by Wine, Dine, & Play:	0 of 5 Basic, Poor, or Appalling
Ambiance:	5 of 10
Quality of the Food:	5 of 10
Plate Presentation:	4 of 10
Customer Service:	1 of 10
Wow Factor:	1 of 10
Wine Selection: *(See the full list below)*	5 of 10

INDIVIDUAL QUALITY RATINGS:

I rate ambiance on several factors from the most important being cleanliness of the dining room and restrooms, to organization and flow. I look at the atmosphere, character, the tones, artwork, and the design styles to see if they match the themes of the food. During the daylight hours natural lighting versus electric is also a strong enhancer of enjoying a meal, and of course the styles of furniture, or if it is inviting and comfortable.

The restaurant was clean and well designed, fitting a more modern format to dining rooms that you see popping up all over the place. there was nothing really fantastic about the set-up so I rate them with 5 out of 10 points.

The quality rating bases the essential or distinctive characteristics that the food offers, or if I see that it is of a higher grade, superiority, or excellence. Also important is the taste. Did the chef pair or match distinctive ingredients together, and did he send my palette on an adventure?

On our first visit the quality of the food was good and hot, since we got all of our food at the same time. Most of the food since this is a chain is delivered by major vendors, but some items are sourced locally. With this I rate the quality only at a 5 out of 10, since our second trip was horrible.

The plate presentation is based on the art of how the food is put together and displayed as it is brought out. Does it look unique, molecular, or have interesting garnishments, or built action style at the table? Does it make you look twice and go “wow”? All of these attributes help add to this rating.

Nothing really exciting in plate presentation, sauces, or garnish. simple food, plated and ready to eat give them a rating of 4 points out of 10.

Customer service can make or break a restaurant. You can have the best quality of foods, and plate presentations that put Escoffier to shame, or the most beautiful ambiance, and fantastic wine or bar list. However if you have a service staff that is not attentive to the needs of the guest, or has an unclean uniform, smells like a cigarette after returning from a break, does not act professionally, or lacks knowledge on the menu, food, and restaurant, then you have a major problem. On the other hand a great server can bring a customer back over and over again even if the food is mediocre. People go to restaurants for the show. They think they are experts because they watched a reality tv show on the Food Network, but what needs to be understood is that as amazing as a kitchen staff and Chef’s may be, the front of house is just as great.

Wow is the word of the day. the first visit, the service was wonderful, during the second our server did what he could. I give Kona a rating of 1 out of 10 because of the management and how they handled this entire situation. I might consider giving them 2 points since the service staff was friendly and understanding.

The “wow” factor as I like to call it is a quality or feature that is extremely impressive. It can be something that is seen or done that is funky, surprising, or pleasing. It is something that just makes me go “wow”. This rating is also the hardest to get high marks for. The wow factor is a combination of ambiance, quality, plate presentation, customer service, and wine or mixology that goes above and beyond what you would expect from a restaurant.

Normally I rate the “wow” factor at most of the restaurants I’ve reviewed at a 2 or 3 point range with a few exceptions to that rule. Several central Florida restaurants that we have dined at have varied on the point scale from 2-4 points. This is not a bad thing and a lower score does not decrease the overall restaurant score, but a higher wow factor will help to raise it at the same time. I rate the Kona Grill at a “wow” factor of 1 points out of a possible 10. They did nothing to “Wow” me. The only reason they did get 1 point instead of zero was the fact that I was “wowed” by the horrific outcome of the visit from a place that is considered a moderately fine dining chain restaurant.

The wine selection can vary from place to place, and I base the ratings not just on the quality of the wines offered but also the selections. Wine is grown everywhere around the world these days and the demand for it has increased ten fold. Distributors in every major city whether they work for a large named company like Empire or a small boutique company can provide any restaurant any wine if they want it. Some restaurants will choose to have brand name wines only and that to me will lower a rating faster than a plane nose diving. If they make an effort to have even a small selection with variety such as a wines from Napa California, Willamette Oregon, Bordeaux France, Stellenbosch South Africa, the Yarra Valley near Melbourne Australia, or the Piemonte in Italy, to name a few, then that rating will shoot up higher on my review list.

As I mentioned above in the brief look at the wine list, using the Walmart analogy, most restaurants in St. Petersburg and Tampa are controlled by the big alcohol vendors, and don’t offer boutique wines from the small mom and pop vendors out there. I rate the Kona Grill at 5 points out of 10 since they had a good world selection available.

If boutique wines were offered, then the rating for not only Kona Grill, but any restaurant being reviewed would go up at least two or more points. The restaurants here can do it if they put their minds to it. Order from a no name company, stock up some boutique wines, then educate your customer base. Offer tastings, wine pairing dinners, or special flight nights, then watch over time as your customer base grows and greatly appreciates your constant improvement with wines. Still offer the mainstream of course for those that will never deviate, but try it, and see what happens. I might even be able to put you in touch with a distributor who can get you these wines.

This rounds up the review and rating for Kona Grill, and from this experience, I would compare our experiences here this evening to a few other places either I or my wife and I have been to in the past such as La Cote Basque Winehouse, in Gulfport, Florida where the food was okay but the experience was not a memorable one in our books or a little place called Table Six in Canton, Ohio where I don’t know how they stay in business. This place delivered the food and drinks in the same style as Kona Grill did. I can say now that the experience I had at Alioto’s Restaurant in San Francisco was now moved off the list of disapointments, and replaced with Kona. Congratulations.

Other Tampa reviews on Wine, Dine, and Play:

Council Oak Steakhouse, at the Hard Rock Casino

Copperfish

Edison Food + Drink Lab

Yacht Starship

First Flight Wine Bar, at the Tampa International Airport

Food Prices

(excluding, alcohol, taxes & gratuity)

$£€¥ - Under 50.00

$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00

$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00

$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00

$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00

**Currencies chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur’s**

My food bill:	Currency:	Price chart:
$91.00	United States Dollar (USD)	$$
$120.00	Australian Dollar (AUS)	$$$
£74.00	Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)	££
$120.00	Canadian Dollar (CAN)	$$$
¥611.00	Chinese Yuan (CNY)	¥¥¥¥¥
€82.00	European Union (EUR)	€€

Rates as of October 12, 2016

Alcohol Prices:

$70.00

***

Customary starting gratuity for restaurants in the United States begins at 15%

Of your total food bill and increases or decreases based on the level of service you received.

In most parts of Europe, Australia, Africa, and some Asian countries it is not

common to leave any gratuity as it is already included into

the check, but you may feel free to leave extra anyway. Alcohol gratuity

is calculated by a separate 10% or higher gratuity if you wish.

***

Review basics:

Wine selections by region:	5 of 10 Old world: France: Bourgogne: (Chablis, Puligny Montrachet, Chassagne Montrachet, Macon Villages, Meursault, Pernand, Pouilly Fuissé, Nuits St. Georges, Gevrey Chambertin, Viré‐Clessé, Vosne‐Romanée & Bonnes) Other: Côtes du Rhône, Champagne, Spain: La Rioja Italy: Aosta Valley, Veneto Germany:Mosel New World: Chile: Central Valley: (Maipo, Curicó, Maule Valley, & Curico Valley) Australia: Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, Central Ranges, Frankland River, Margaret River, Yarra Valley, Coonawarra, Sunbury Victoria, New South Wales, Burgenland, Victoria, Tasmania & South Western Australia New Zealand: Marlborough: (Wairau Valley, Awetere Valley, Waihopi Valley) California: Sonoma, Napa, Edna Valley, Sonoma Coast, Paso Robles, Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, Oregon: Willamette Valley Washington State: Columbia Valley Argentina: Mendoza, San Juan, & La Rioja New Mexico: Los Rancho
Corkage fee’s:	The Restaurant does not list any corkage fee’s however, most American restaurants charge $25.00 per bottle
Restaurant style:	Casual
Reservations:	Not Required, But Recommended Walk-Ins: Accepted, but not guaranteed
Child policy:	The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette. Hire a Babysitter!
Dress code:	Casual, or Conservative attire
Cuisine style:	Contemporary, Modern, Lounge, Seafood, American, Hawaiian, Fusion, & Vegetarian
Experiences:	Lounge, Business parties, Great outdoor dining, Good for special occasions, Tourist grabber, and a Neighborhood gem.
Payments:	Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
Parking:	Public lot
Wifi	The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
Noise level:	Medium to Loud
Smoking:	Nonsmoking restaurant, and nonsmoking patio
Patio:	Yes

RESTAURANT NAME:

4134 West Boy Scout BLVD

#B-1

Tampa, Florida

33607

GPS Coordinates:

27.950575 Latitude

-82.457178 Longitude

Contact Information:

Maître d or host:	813-877-5938
Online reservations	OpenTable
Restaurant website:	Kona Grill
Serving hours: Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00)	Dining Hours: Sun-Thur 11:00 am - 10:00 pm Fri-Sat 11:00 am - 11:00 pm Happy Hour Mon-Fri 3:00 pm - Close Sat-Sun All Day Happy hour
Email or webpage contact:	Contact the restaurant
Social Media & Accolades:	Facebook link
	Twitter @Konagrill
	Pinterest
	YouTube
	Instagram

****

The worlds best restaurants, based on the

Wine, Dine, and Play’s Favorites

That have been visited and reviewed on this site…

Alinea Chicago, Illinois, USA	Tetsuya’s Sydney, Australia
The Test Kitchen Woodstock, Cape Town, South Africa	Qui Restaurant Austin, Texas, USA
Vue de Monde Melbourne, Australia	Grill 225 Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Leopard Hills Lodge Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa	La TABLE de Joël Robuchon Paris, France
Quay Sydney, Australia	Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud Dublin, Ireland
At.mosphere Dubai, UAE	The Tasting room at Le Quartier Français Franschhoek, South Africa
Attica Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia	5A5 Steak Lounge San Francisco, California, USA
Mr. Todiwala’s Kitchen London, United Kingdom	Zuma Dubai, UAE
McCrady’s Charleston, South Carolina, USA	Cook'n' With Gas Bistro Christchurch, New Zealand
Aubergine Cape Town, South Africa	Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire Festival City, Dubai, UAE
Rioja Denver, Colorado, USA	Commanders Palace New Orlean’s, Louisiana, USA
Brick and Mortar Saint Petersburg, Florida USA	The French Laundry Yountville, Napa, California, USA
Constantia Uitsig La Colombe Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa	Restaurant Le Gabriel Bordeaux, France

You can also use these sites for reference on the top restaurant categories:

All of these guides are helpful to find what you're looking for, starting with The Best Restaurants Near Me by the Trip Advisor Restaurant Finder, followed by my favorite list, the top 100 in the world by the Elite Traveler’s Magazine, also its competitor and more recognized San Pellegrino Top 50+. For the individual continents, start your adventures in North America with our neighbor to the North with the Best of Canada, then for the United States with the100 Best in New York try Timeout.com. Hop over to the West Coast for the top 101 list from the Los Angeles Times, and then enjoy some meat and potatoes with the Top 100 Steakhouses in America.

For social media the lists you can view include the Yelp Top 100, the OAD Guide, the OpenTable Top 100 and The EATER 38 Top Places to Eat.

For Central to South America you have the Latin America top 50. Across the pond you can focus on the 50 Best in Europe, then east with the Russia. Move south to the wilds of Africa from Cape Town to Cairo’s Top Restaurants. Then enjoy the desserts of the desert 10 best Middle East guide, with an even greater focus on the 7 Best in Dubai. Next, travel to the far east which includes India and the islands 101 Best in Asia. Lastly, the trip around the world is nearly at an end with the final continent’s best Down Under list of the top 100 in Australia, and its island neighbor with the New Zealand’s Best 15 Restaurants. There are many more guides out their, but these are a good start.

So many great wines in this world, here are a few of my favorite tastings:

Meerlust Wine Estate Rubicon Stellenbosch, South Africa	Hoopes Vineyard Napa, California, USA
Jonata Winery Santa Barbara, California, USA	Yarra Yering Yarra Valley, Australia
Penner Ash Wine Cellars Willamette, Oregon	La Motte Franschhoek, South Africa
Biltmore Estate Winery Asheville, North Carolina, USA	Bergström Wines Willamette, Oregon
Silver Oak Alexander Valley, California, USA	Eagles Nest Winery Constantia, South Africa
Ghost Block Vineyards Yountville, California	Pahlmeyer “Jayson Wines” Napa, California, USA

Reviewed by:

Sean Overpeck (CFE)

Picture below was taken in Philadelphia

At Pat’s King of Steaks back in 2014

About Sean:

I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta, Georgia prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra. Since that time, over 250 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide. There are articles on exotic world locations such as Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; ethnic country cuisines such as Afghan, and Peruvian; tasting tours of world cities like Charleston, Cape Town, and Dubai; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with much more to see and write about.

Who is John Galt?

“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,

But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)