Napa

Napa Wine Bar and Restaurant
293 Main Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-528-4311

I had lunch at Napa today (and why is a restaurant in the Berkshires called Napa, you ask? good question). Napa replaced a restaurant called Union a few years ago, but I had never tried it since it changed owners. I remember Union as being mediocre and trying too hard, plus having bad service. But why not give Napa a try?

Well, it was mediocre and had bad service. I arrived a little before 1pm and received my meal at 1:30. It took about 15 minutes for some bread to be delivered (I wasn't expecting it, but I was glad as it took so long to get my sandwich). It took about 30 minutes to get a chicken salad BLT. It was in the "OK" category of chicken salad. I prefer chicken salad with big chunks of chicken, some interesting additions such as walnuts or almonds, grapes or cranberries, and a very light dressing, rather than the deli variety with shredded chicken, heavy on the mayo. This was somewhere in between. The dressing was a little too heavy but the chicken tasted fresh. It had celery, purple onion, and tiny carrot bits which added nothing to the flavor. Since it was pretty dead, I wondered if perhaps the chicken salad had been prepared to order, but I think that is being rather charitable. It came with some passable fries that were "handcut" but I suspect they were "handcut" by someone else other than in the kitchen at Napa.

For a $12 sandwich and a 30 minute wait, it was not awesome.

Given the number of excellent restaurant choices in downtown Great Barrington, and at either end of Route 7 going in and out of town, I see little reason for visiting Napa again - unless it means northern California.