Went to Vesta Dipping grill last night for a birthday. Party of five. Arrived at 5 because it was the only time available on this Saturday. Ordered all 5 of the ""special"" $2.00 appetizers to see what we may want to continue with. They came: 1- beef satay, 1 -shrimp, 1- 1"" square pork belly, 2 chorizo balls the size of a large gumball and 3 tater tots with a creamy cheese filling. Food cost, maybe 10%. All were good but uninspiring. Ordered 2 nice bottles of wine, Freemark Abbey 2006 merlot over the course of the dinner. They were very nice at at price of $46.00 each.\r
Ordered beet salads for $10.00 each(they were very good), organic greens salad for $7.00 and another chips and dips sampler for $7.00 both of which I felt were unispiring. Food cost: maybe 10%. Then ordered chicken (leg and thigh) @ $23.00(good), 2 tunas at $26.00(good), smoked duck breast (excellent)for $28.00 and their special korean bbq buffalo at $32.00 (very good). Each came with small plate portions of burned (I guess they were suppposed to be carmelized) vegetables. Food cost maybe 15%. With the salads mentioned earlier priced in, each plate was from $30.00 t0 $42.00. Then the finale: we were brought a ""2 bite"" piece of chocalate moose cake (excellent) with a candle for the birthday boy. Nice touch I thought. After Macallan 18 year for $18 and two Taylor Fladgate Ports for $10 each, we received the bill. Amazingly, we were charged $2.00 for the sliver of chocalate moose birthday cake (which we never ordered). We just spent $415 including tip on dinner and were charged $2.00 for a ""two bite"" piece of birthday cake we didn't even order. A summary would be: good food, the dips are an interesting hook, food is way overpriced and I would hate to think what a full slice of birthday cake would have cost us!\r
Pros: wine list and smoked duck
Cons: super expensive, good wine but we felt nickle and dimed
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