Robert Goodman Wines

I like this place.\ The food is decent, the drinks are decent the people who work here are alright. When compared to other places for a drink and a well rounded meal in Arcata I have no complaints.

One of the nicest spots to go for a night out in Arcata. Vanessa is probably THE best mixologist in all of Humboldt and you can’t go wrong when ordering one of her specialty drinks. The staff is always amazingly friendly and welcoming, and the DJ they had last Saturday night is hands-​down THE best DJ in Humboldt as well. Under new management so I’m sure it will only get better. We were able to sample some scrumptious new desserts that will be on the menu. Just don’t actually order the Robert Goodman wine unless you like your mouth to taste like sour wine for the next day or so. His wine is pure swill, but luckily the restaurant makes up for it.

Majority of the wines, especially the ones made my mr goodman himself are crap. Been here several times and each time there is a problem with the food, stale bread, underdone meat, raw fries.etc. Heard lots of bad things from people who have worked there in the past about mr goodman, and no longer want to give him any business

I love this place! First off, they have a full bar that is complimented by a large selection of wines as well as some local beers on tap. Secondly, the food is consistently delicious. Joselyn, the head chef, is an artist and I enjoy trying her creations. And thirdly, the wait staff is great. They are always friendly, attentive and extremely knowledgable about their menus. Finally, they are often hosting live music as well as salsa dancing on Wednesday nights. I always enjoy a night here and I would definitely recommend it to a friend :)

Great ambiance, whether the house is packed or not. The staff (Anne especially,) is always attentive without being intrusive, and Vanessa can concoct any drink your heart desires, even if you don’t know what you want! The food is local, fresh, and excellent. Just enough to satisfy AND leave room for dessert. This is my favorite place to order a few appetizers and have a couple glasses of wine (the mushroom dip and the brussels sprouts are the best!) Both Robert G’s wine, and the guest wines from all over the world pair nicely with everything on the menu (just ask Vanessa, she’ll know what to pour for you!)
Robert Goodman gives a fantastic alternative for late night food and drink that ISN’T on the plaza. I much prefer to have a glass of wine than to choke down an overpriced cocktail and try to avoid being groped or harassed on bar row. Thanks for providing a great atmosphere, with great music, and excellent sustenance!

I ate at Goodman’s (The Machine Works) last night for the umpteenth time and It was a great meal as always. I sat at the bar with my boyfriend and enjoyed a couple delicious cocktails in addition to a few appetizers, the entrée special, and the most AMAZING crème brûlée Ive ever had! It was a chai flavored crème brûlée that was a special for the evening (I had to stop myself from licking the dish). I’m always perplexed by the negative reviews of this place because it is honestly my favorite place in the area. I moved here a year ago from the Washington DC Met area and consider myself to be a pretty educated «foodie.» In addition to the great food and amazing cocktails, this place has live music every week and I absolutely LOVE the atmosphere. Its the only bar/​restaurant in town where you can put on something cute and feel like a sophisticated adult with a chilled martini glass in your hand! Arcata needs to get with the program and realize what a GEM this place is. Additionally I have always found all of the staff and Mr. Goodman to be incredibly professional and pleasant. Oh and ya, did I mention this place has AMAZING COCKTAILS?! ;)

So I have had both good and bad meals here and consistency in general is a problem in Humboldt, but tonight I have to give up on Robert Goodman. My wife and I arrived shortly after opening to dead restaurant which was to be expected. The waitress was rude and acted like she was doing us a favor by seating is and taking our order. When the food came the burgers were over cooked (we ordered medium not dry hockey puck) and my fries were hot but raw. I asked to send them back and while the waitress was walking them back to the kitchen the owner, Mr Goodman himself, told her he would eat the fries. She told him they need to be cooked more. When they came out two minutes later, shockingly they were still undercooked. I told her again that they were undercooked but that I was over it and should could take them away. In the end Mr Goodman got his fries and in the process lost good customers. P. S. His wine is crap too!

Let me start by saying that the atmosphere and ambiance were great. The wait staff was very polite & professional too.
I had the pork which itself was tasty, although the salad was so saturated in the sauce it was tossed in that the flavor was too overpowering and the lettuce had turned to mush. My husbands dish (I don’t remember what he had) was a small portion and he didn’t seem to like it too much. He was left hungry.
Since this IS a wine bar I am rating mostly on the wine part; again, ambiance, wait staff, and atmosphere are great. The wine selection was very small, and there was no description of the wines listed. I generally have three different go-​to types of wine that I enjoy, and none of them were on the list of selections. I’m not against trying new wines, but with no description of any of them I wasn’t inclined to take a shot in the dark with what I’d end up with.
Both of us ended getting a hard cider, which arrived in a bottle and FLAT. I’ve had a LOT of different ciders in my day, and this one was completely bland and flavorless. Considering that we showed up at a wine bar this sort of made me doubly disappointed.
This is a newer place is town, so I won’t not recommend it. They do have a lot to learn and «polish» as a business, but I won’t visit them again. There is an amazing wine bar just down the road that I visited a couple weeks before that is a 5 out of 5 for me, so I see no point in going to a place where it’s a 2 out of 5 (the points being for great staff and ambiance).when I can be fully satisfied just a block away.
Hopefully given time and constructive feedback they can build themselves up to be a place worth visiting in Arcata. But for now they’re just another restaurant that’ll come and go with the breeze.

I had great service for a Monday night around closing time. Unfortunately, the food and the wine was not very good and was ridiculously overpriced. The pork dumplings I had were undercooked and chewy. It was swimming in oil, which would have been fine, however the oil added little flavor to the dish. The cheese plate was fine, I enjoyed the pears and the cheese selection. I did not enjoy the meat add on. Charcuterie was sliced way too thick to be enjoyable. The wine was not to my liking at all. I started with the Pinot noir and sent it back. I am no expert, but the Pinot was thick and lacked good fruit flavor you find in most Pinot. The cab at $ 12 a glass was not much better. All in all I spent $ 40 for food and wine that I did not enjoy. I give them points on being nice and refilling my water when I ran out.

Food is good. Service is hit or miss. I’ve had great service. And almost been completely ignored. The wine isn’t great. Don’t bother buying a cocktail. I have ordered cocktails on several occasions and literally couldn’t taste the liquor nor could a feel a buzz. Once I asked the bar tender to add a smidge more liquor to my drink and she wouldn’t oblige unless I wanted to be charged for a double. Tip for the owner: make your drinks satisfying and your customer will come back for more. If I’m paying $ 8-​$ 10 dollars for a drink I expect much better. I will never order a cocktail here again. If this place could step up its service and beverage quality, I would hit this place up regularly as it has good food and a nice ambience going for it. A little disappointing overall.

Really delicious mushroom dip! We had small yummy small plates at the dining room and had such fun with our company! Really a nice atmosphere as well, a beautiful little tasting room.

I’ve been here on several occasions and it has always been a great experience. The ambiance is comfortable and relaxing. The food is harmoniously balanced, creative, & high quality. The presentation is beautiful & the attention to detail has never been disappointing. The staff are professional and friendly. Expect to spend a couple extra bucks but you get what you pay for.

I think the problem with Unilocal reviews in Arcata is locals don’t do much Unilocaling overall, so it’s hard to get an idea of a place. Robert Goodman is no exception. Don’t miss this place. The food here is fabulous! The burger with sweet potato fries or regular fries is one of the best ever. Had it 3 times already in a couple times visiting. Others complained about he cost, but honestly for the quality, it’s cheaper than SF and just as good. Personally I don’t like their wine that much compared to some other good local wines like Cabot, but they do have some excellent beer on tap usually including some redowood curtain, a local favorite.

Here for brunch. Excellent food and very nice staff. Stuffed french toast, raspberry chocolate waffles, fresh squeezed orange juice… yum!

Just an ok place for dinner and drinks for two.
It can be both good and bad — depending on what night of the week you go. We have been a few time now over the past year, and it really does depend on when you go and what time it is. We have had both good and bad experiences, An okay wine selection, with the food being average to above average, again depending on when you are there.
Sadly, this is part of the problem with most of the restaurants in Arcata.
Its a nice enough place to go for a late night drink, or an early dinner, but trying to eat and drink during normal dinner hours (7−9pm) is a crap shoot at best here. We have gone during those hours twice and had a good meal and a bad meal — so we figure you have a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance.
There are other places in town that for the money, are better.
Last experience there, from two weeks ago, late night around 9pm, place was crowded, sat at the bar, ordered two appetizers and had a couple of $ 8 glasses of wine, then a chocolate dessert to go, with a 15% tip = $ 75… which is on the pricey side for some late night snacks and drinks in our book.
Why we do not see many of the college kids here in town, in the place we guess…
Anyway… if you are looking for a wine bar in Arcata, this one is okay — but there are others and they seem to have forgotten that…
25

After hearing so much buzz about the new restaurant I went there with high hopes. What a disappointment! Walked in and the staff all stared at me for a moment then went back to chit chatting. Uh ok– guess I seat myself? Seated myself and waited and waited– no greeting, nothing. Finally got a menu and some water– sparse menu, over priced mediocre wines, disinterested staff– I was out of there. Only plus is newly remodeled building. Typical for Humboldt– another case of some one with more money than sense trying to run a business. Don’t waste your time! Check out Crush around the corner.

BRUNCH on Sunday be prepared to wait, but its worth the wait. Its rare in Humboldt county to get food like in the City –SF. But breakfast today on Sunday was that. The food was great and well presented, fresh and colorful. They did a very good job. Service was good a little casual but not bad.
It took about 20 – 30 mins to get our food while we sipped on a Bloody Mary (tomato juice, horseradish, celery, lemon and vodka. And a Blini, champagne and peach nectar.
It wasn’t busy either about 6 full tables including ours.
Good food: Crab Benedict with spinach, polenta and fresh crab and lemony hollandaise. Waffles with fresh fruit, pancakes with sausage and real maple syrup. and lots of other choices, all top of the line, not your average breakfast, I“d go back no problem. 60 dollars for 3 ;worth it.

Went there with a friend, we ordered the Asian sliders, and the cheese and bread, along with one glass of wine each (bill came to $ 50). The food is served as «small plates» similar to tapas. Food was ok, the wine was good (I had the zin.). Overpriced for what you get, in my opinion. However, the main reason for the low review is fact that they try to rush you out. It’s insulting enough to pay $ 11 – 12 a plate for what amounts to a tiny appetizer, it’s just downright rude when the waitress walks up to our table, interrupts our conversation, says «excuse me» and slaps a RESERVED sign on our table. I don’t mind that the place is overpriced, what I do mind is being rushed to leave, to the point of rudeness. I won’t be back.

Not so much —
Had a pocketful of cash waiting to burn — time and a desire for a glass of vino and/​or a full blown wine tasting. Waited over 20 minutes to be served — not even a hello — so figured we would go somewhere that was more prepared to be in business — luckily not everything closes at 9pm — the facility and grounds look great — just no service so no thanks

This new wine bar in Arcata is just off the Plaza in a welcoming building with (reclaimed?) wood tables and a nice bar area. A couple girl friends and I were the only patrons for a while on a weekday in August, but some other folks later came and the proprieter let them bring in their dog, which was I thought was very nice (the dog was friendly and well behaved). The server was friendly and very knowledgeable, and let us try a couple different wines before making our selections for a full glass. The whites were nice, the Chardonnays not overly oaky, and the reds impressive. They had a small menu of cheeses and other bites — we ordered a baked brie plate which the server offered with some of his homemade strawberry jam which was amazing, and really nice of him to share. The portion was tiny and the cost a little pricey, but fine as long as you’re not going there hungry — just a bite to complement your preferred glass. Tastings and take-​home purchases by the bottle or case are also available.
I would recommend this place for something different to do in Arcata, and for anyone who is truly interested in wines and wants to learn a little bit about what they’re drinking, and about the state’s viticulture industry which can seem far removed when you’re behind the Redwood Curtain.