My husband took me to Umbuntu in Napa, CA – this lovely restaurant (and yoga studio) a while ago. He’s such a patient and kind meat eater, willing to take me on food adventures to try vegetarian restaurants (and for the record, he even enjoyed it!). Tucked downtown Napa, this posh restaurant is open, airy with lots of earthy decor gracing the tall walls. The ambiance is comfortable and the staff was friendly as we were seated. Looking toward the back of the restaurant, you can see the stairs into their yoga studio. I might have to go try a class sometime…
We were seated at the long bench along the wall with tables lined up. It was a bit too tight for my tastes. I didn’t love sitting elbow to elbow with fellow diners. I felt a bit uncomfortable and didn’t feel like I could talk freely and comfortably with my husband across the table from me. Because we were so close to other people and because lighting was dim and because I didn’t bring my “big” camera, I just took flashless shots with my point-and-shoot. That means I don’t have any ‘great’ pics to share. So, we’re just going to have to say these are artsy, gritty shots done this way for the sake of art, ok? 
If you walk in from the back door (like we did), you’re sure to be impressed with the line up of awards and articles framed on the wall of the hallway to the dining room praising the owner/founder Sandy Lawrence and partner/executive chef Jeremy Fox and chef Deanie Fox. Since we dined, Jeremy Fox has departed Umbuntu and Aaron London, the very young (26!) executive chef, has taken on this role. I’d be curious to return and see if I can ‘taste’ the difference.
The restaurant is following a green philosophy by growing a lot of their own produce and their menu is graced with bold fonts for each ingredient grown in their gardens. I ordered their signature salad (don’t remember the name) with the beet ‘dirt’. It had great flavor and the (optional) cheese was a nice touch. This salad basically has everything in their garden, so the ingredients change with the season.
As much as I loved each dish that was brought to our table, the highlight of the meal were the appetizers! They were to amazing. We had the lavender almonds, chickpea clusters, and some ‘crackers’ of sorts with an avocado dip. We talked about the almonds for days, weeks, and even months afterward. In fact, that’s what inspired my own attempt!
The presentation of each dish was spectacular You could tell that the chefs took each dish to heart and carefully placed each item of food on the plate. Gorgeous! And since they work in an open kitchen, it’s easy to see them slaving away on each service.
The desserts were pretty good. I got one of their signature desserts – the cheesecake in a jar. It came out in a darling jar with some fruit layered in between the very soft, pudding like cheesecake with a lovely crust on the bottom. There were a couple of cookies on the side that were tasty. Overall, while it had good flavor, I wasn’t spectacularly impressed. Granted, I’m a big dessert snob, so for others it was probably great. It was good. Not great. This surprised me considering all the praise over the pastry chef on the wall.
My main regret about this restaurant is that even though I consider myself an average to above-average ‘foodie’, I really had a hard time deciphering the menu. I didn’t know what half the things were or how they were prepared. It made it next to impossible to decide what to get and then when I did finally decide and order, what I got wasn’t really what I thought I was getting. For example, we ordered a pasta dish and it ended up being very sweet. I did not want ‘sweet’ and the menu didn’t give any indicators that it might be sweet. I wish they’d use a bit more ‘plain’ English to a certain degree so the average (and maybe even slightly above average) foodie can know what they’re ordering.
I tried to ask a lot of questions, but I think we got a new server because they didn’t know the dishes really well and had to request assistance from other servers. I’d say service was just ‘ok’ but I blame it on the newness of our particular server. Everyone else seemed just fine.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this restaurant to any food loving vegetarian. It’s a must-try place. Prices a are a bit high, so for us, it won’t happen often, but hopefully we’ll go again soon so I can check out the new chef and see how the food/service is this time.
