The Yin and the Yang of a Saturday night out in Short Pump….

The Yin and the Yang of a Saturday night out in Short Pump….

My husband recently had a birthday and wanted to go somewhere casual with friends. We ventured out to Dave and Busters, his choice, not mine. I gamely went with him, it was his birthday after all.

We get there and the place was packed. My friend ML and I bravely got our pager for a table and bellied up to the bar for beers while the guys checked out the games. After standing there for 15-20 minutes with no acknowledgement from the bartenders, and no beers…I finally got the attention of the bartender, who said…just a minute babe. BABE?? HE called me BABE?? Right there I knew I was in a high class joint.

We went into the game room which was reminiscent of a Las Vegas casino, except it has children running all over, but the noise and the lights were the same. Two out of the four machines to get cards to play the games were out of order and 20 minutes later, we finally had a card to play. Now, none of us are really big video players so we scoped out the skee-ball, but ended up playing trivia – strictly old-school all the way. The trivia was fun and the competition among us fierce, but it got old fairly quick. So we headed back to the bar, where my husband was promptly insulted by the same bartender. We all looked at each other and said lets get the H out of here!!! We are paying for a babysitter for our children – why would we want to be in a restaurant with screaming children everywhere, bad service and more sensory overload than I could personally handle…….


Now for the Yang….

We walked down the “block” of West Broad Village to the Wine Loft which was having a soft opening that night. What a difference….the owners warmly greeted us and helped us to find a spot to camp out at the bar while we waited for a table. I ordered their featured wine a pinotage (insert name here)…excellent wine for $8 a glass. We were introduced to all of the 4 bartenders who were very friendly; the one who was helping us was Corey. He took our order for appetizers: lamb-pops, baked brie, cheese plate, and a chartucerie plate. When we found a comfy couch with a table to sit at, he offered to just bring the food directly to us when it was ready. We were starving by this point so the food was very welcome when it came, the cheese plate was pretty standard, but good. The chartucerie plate was very good with a pate, prosciutto, and sausage. The baked brie was excellent with a balsamic drizzle on it. I wasn’t crazy about the lamb – it tasted very gamey to me. But the husband and ML enjoyed it.

The Wine Loft has a full bar – liquor and beer for those who don’t appreciate a good glass of wine like the husbands. It also has a larger menu. The service we received all night was excellent – when we wanted another drink we just caught the attention of anyone walking by and they were happy to help us. In fact, ML and I liked it so much we made a reservation for next week and our ladies happy hour…we were their first official reservation. So we will update you on if the service and the experience was as enjoyable the second time around…..