Vesu

Although I did not write a review when we dined at Vesu last September, we had a very memorable dinner. The place is elegant and a great place to celebrate a special occasion. The owner came and stopped by our table to chat about her new restaurant.
I’ve read reviews and later discovered that the head chef departed shortly after we dined there and things went slowly downhill.
I would have rated Vesu favorably than Eleve or Sasa, but the restaurant business is highly competitive and when the food is just okay after the head chef left, it’s future was predictable.

It’s a shame about Vesu closing. I came here a couple of times but only actually ate here once. I certainly can see why they went down. The food was passable at best. Still, I enjoyed the cocktails here and I thought the décor was spot on. I guess at the very least it should provide an opportunity for a new tenant to improve on the formula. Certainly all you really need is to find a solid and creative Chef who can put out solid meals.
On a personal note, I’ll remember this place as the bar where I first tasted Saffron Gin. That was yummy!

Oh, where to begin.
First off, for lauding itself as a restaurant and wine bar, the wine list is not extensive at all. I was disappointed to see that most wines that they featured were whites, when I was craving a good malbec or syrah. The waiter recommended the «intelligent design», which was a mixture of garnacha and other varietals whose names I forget. Not bad, but not exactly what I was looking for.
The group ordered a round of appetisers — ceviche, white bean truffle dip and calamari. I only had a white bean dip, which had just the right amount of heat balanced with the truffle oil. It was pretty tasty, but they had the ratio of toast points to dip all wrong — we could’ve had three times as much bread and still had dip left over. It was pretty delicious.
The menu is very artisan (read: moderate sizes with not so moderate prices, and the use of less mainstream meats/​ingredients). For example, I learnt that an arancini is a fried risotto ball. But I digress.
Being a vegetarian who HATES mushrooms, the mushroom truffle tarts were not an option. Since everything else was non-​vegetarian, I asked the waiter to get me the chicken and shrimp pesto pasta — hold the chicken, shrimp and mushrooms. At the end of the day, it was essentially going to be a creamy pesto pasta with peas, but that was just fine by me.
They brought the entrees out, and there was no missing the bright pink shrimp sitting on top of the penne. Profuse apologies, this that, and they promised to bring me what I actually ordered.
Take two. The pasta came back, thankfully shrimpless, and I was ready to dive in. I was starving, everyone else was at least halfway through their entrees by now, and therefore I was raring to go. I pulled out a lump that could be mushroom — which I was willing to pick out — but, being a suspicious creature, I had a friend taste it. As he pulled it apart, my first thought was, «Should mushrooms really shred like that?».
The answer would be no. When the waiter came by, I politely pointed out his grievous error and he was appropriately mortified. Almost immediately, he came back with a beet salad on the house, which, you know, nice thought and all, but all I wanted was the damn carbs. I ate the salad more out of starvation at this point (at least fifteen minutes went by between each food mishap) — it was tasty, but when your taste buds have been salivating for pesto pasta, salad ain’t gonna cut it.
Finally, the pasta dish arrived. At this point, the poor waiter must have been so scared of screwing up that he took everything out of the ingredients list on the menu. So I basically ended up with alfredo pasta with peas and huge, undercooked chunks of carrot. I had absolutely no will to argue at this point — everyone was practically done with their entrees — so I ate what I could, leaving most of the carrots behind.
The dessert selection was good. I had the profiteroles with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Really not worth it, as the profiteroles were pretty dry. Everyone who got the lava cake seemed to enjoy it, though.
Overall, this place is definitely trying to be trendy. And I’m sure the meat entrees are fine and would probably justify the price. But, for being a restaurant in California that isn’t a steak house and prides itself on its alcohol selection, you’d better damn well have a more extensive wine list, more than one vegetarian entrée option and wait staff who can get your order correct in fewer than three attempts. I’ve experienced all three at an honest-​to-​God steakhouse so it IS possible.
The only minor plus is that their cocktails have more than their fair share of liquor. In retrospect, if I’d started my night off with one of their martinis, I may have been more favourable.

Ah, Vesu, there you were on the Unilocal East Bay Drinks List like an old friend. We’ve been there a few times, on the recommendation of a friend as a great afterparty spot, (thanks Kristina!) for an actual Unilocal event, and now as part of Unilocal Drinks EB.
Swanky bar, friendly service, well-​made drinks, what more could you ask for? Well, maybe better parking, but that’s WC’s fault, not Vesu. The bathrooms are interesting as well — individual stalls with full doors and a common sink and mirror where you get to meet people, flirt, and be a little more social.
Thanks for extending the happy hour for us just a bit longer!

My girls and I came for Unilocal Drinks week. We got here around 5, close to 5:30pm on a Tuesday night. We actually thought they were closed because from outside it looked dark and no one was dining in there except for a couple of people sitting at the bar. But turned out they were open so we went in.
It’s a cute place, pretty cool interior, there’s a huge plasma on the side with a fireplace underneath (built into the wall) and couches and tables for the lounge area.
We just happened to arrive right before happy hour was ending (6pm) so the girls ordered one of each of the small plates on the happy hour menu: white bean truffle dip, calamari, crab cake, oysters and cod ceviche. They really loved the oysters on a half shell. They had ordered the half dozen — some of the oysters were really small so our waitress gave us a couple of extras, which was totally cool — well, my friends liked it so much they ordered another dozen after that.
We all loved the French 75 drink. The chocolate lava cake and crème brûlée for dessert were both dee-​lish-​ee-​o-​so!
Overall, we thought this place was ok and all had a pretty good time here. It is kind of pricey, even with the happy hour prices, and the Unilocal drinks price was real nice but our waitress was a really cool chick and the service was great. So we’d probably come back again for happy hour if we were in the area.

Okay, I used to live in the Creek and I cannot even remember how i stumbled onto this place but it had a bar that was visible from the outside so that’s my guess. i“ve been here about 6 times and have had some really great meals here and then i had the Char crusted flat iron steak ! and I NEVER eat steak ! And I still think about that damn steak !!! Damn you Vesu, damn you for making me a red meat eater! ! I swear that steak is the best I’ve had — pretty certain its sous vide cooked because i havent had a steak like that so perfectly pink on the inside and wonderfully charred on the outside — its pretty damn ridiculous but I SWEAR order it and you wont be sorry!

First visit: Mad Men Themed Unilocal Elite Event (
)
Second visit: Dinner & a Mad Men Themed Birthday Party
I sense a trend.
My honey and I went early to grab dinner before our friends’ birthday party and, as far as the food and service are concerned, it was pretty much perfect.
I’ll start with the main thing that is holding me back from giving Vesu five stars. I wasn’t a big fan of their cocktails. We started with manhattans and they were okay but too sweet for my taste. For my second drink I ordered a sazerac and as my honey pointed out, «that was not a sazerac». Again, way too sweet. I’d prefer something a bit closer to the original. (i.e. not too sweet)
My disappointment with the cocktails aside, the service and food were on point. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. To eat, we split the following small plates and one large plate:
Oysters (6 for $ 12): fresh, delicious, *slurp*.
Ahi tartar: tuna and avocado served with crispy nori «chips». the fish was fresh, melted in my mouth, flavors balanced well.
Mushroom tarts (large dish): two nice sized puff pastry tarts filled with mushrooms, roasted red pepper, goat cheese… yum.
Griddle cakes: my favorite dish of the night. the pork was tender and the poblano pudding was the perfect flavor topping.
Fried plantains: crispy but not greasy. I wanted to drink the cumin lime dressing.
The only other thing I didn’t care for was the obnoxiously loud laughing woman across the restaurant from us but that certainly wasn’t Vesu’s fault. Other than that women, the ambiance was lovely.

My BF and I had Vday dinner here. Not on the day of, but the day before on a Sunday. They weren’t as busy as I thought, but it was full enough to keep the staff busy. We were a little early and the host suggested we go to the Bar first. So we did and had a drink and an appetizer (tuna tartare). It was really good with the deep fried seaweed chips. The Pinot I had was okay, I prefer it a little more saltier.
Then when we sat at our table, we started off with the Ceviche I so wanted to try this. It was a spicy, which surprised me, but this was okay I liked the Tuna Tartare better as an appetizer. For our main course I had the Chicken Breast with gnocchi. The sauce was soOo good, but the chicken breast was huge! LOL While my BF’s dish, which was the Chicken Penne was so small. I laughed at how small his dish was, so good thing I couldn’t finish my food and he finished my food for me. Over all our food was delish. The price wasn’t so bad, I’ve had more expensive food with less amount as a serving. I would definitely come back again.
Oh minus 1 star, due to our waiter kind of lagging on our check AND also for no one telling us that our table was ready while we were having drinks at the Bar in the beginning. I know in the past that usually when you have drinks at the Bar, someone will come and get you when your table is ready. Eh, that didn’t happen and we had to get up and ask.

I was here for happy hour this past Friday, and I was kind of shocked to see the lack of people inside. I mean… I’ve heard rumors about the lack of business, but it was kinda sad.
My friends and I enjoyed good service, and the drinks were relatively alcoholic (for those of you who are up in arms about watered down drinks at local hot spots). I would definitely come back for the ambiance and a drink.
P. S. They have some good beer on tap!

This is a great place for pre drinks before a dinner out with friends! I personally, have never eaten here, but they do have an appealing International Tapas Menu if I remember correctly. The staff are excellent and fun, and they offer great drink suggestions. The wines are lovely and reasonably priced per glass/​bottle. It is around the corner from 1515, and a stone’s throw from Dan’s, Crogans and Mr Lucky’s if you are into those kind of places as well. Nice bar tables and couches, but no dance floor and they have «easy listening music,» which is good because you can actually hear people at your table talking to you! A must try for all you wine bar lovers… Salud!

Dear Vesu: please start a happy hour menu, please!
We went for a round of cocktails and some tapas. Both Bombshell & Hot Lips (see my pic) were refreshingly yum! All the tapas dishes were visually appealing as well as tasty. I wouldn’t say this place is completely extraordinary, but it is definitely a charming little new addition to downtown Dub C for sure.

This review is for the bar, or for the after dinner drinking. It’s a nice, fancy-​schmancy place with pretty lights and a really coool look. My friends and I have been here a couple of times, but we usually stay for no more than 30 min and then end up somewhere else like Lift afterwards. The drinks are alright, nothing spectacular. And the crowd is usually chill, maybe a bit on the pretentious side. But besides that, the service is good and the last time i was here the server accommodated our big group and put together some tables for us to sit at.
Not too bad of a place, but nothing super special. I’ll probably end up here sometime in the near future and hopefully i’ll have something more exciting to write about then! =]

We swung by to meet some of boytoy’s old middle/​high school buds for dinner. I’m not getting why my fellow Unilocalers were so darn happy at the Unilocal Elite party? Maybe it was the party itself for hanging out w/​cool peeps, but surely it wasn’t because of the food!
This was my first & it will be my last time coming here for dinner. Service was okay. Our waiter & water boy were both friendly but nothing extraordinary. Boytoy & I popped in late so the rest of the group had decided to share a bunch of the appetizer plates. Of course I didn’t know this & just ordered an entrée — which we all shared of course!
Most of the dishes were just cooked meat/​veggies. Nothing distinctive. Nothing horrible. Nothing amazing. Nothing disgusting. It was just there. I felt like I could make better at home & after boytoy forked out $ 45 for each of us, I REALLY felt like I could make better for less.
Honestly — the item I liked the best was my Manhattan Vesu drink. It made me happy & toasty warm.
The food items we consumed unhappily:
1) County Line Farms Wild Arugula — it’s a bed of arugula w/​almonds & a poached egg. What were we thinking when we ordered this? We need a veggie dish. Waste of money & time.
2) Vesu Crab Cakes — there was nothing special or tasty about it. It was crispy on the outside & warm in the middle. I don’t even recall the taste — forgettable.
3) Ahi Tartare — It was a standard ahi tartare dish, not too salty with a side of seaweed chips (mine was bendable to soggy — maybe ‘cos I was the last one to get their portion).
4) Cod Ceviche — I couldn’t see the fish for the life of me — for all I know, they served me stuff from a can… like a tuna can? Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little but midway through the appetizers, I was getting antsy — eating a little of each & not happy about anything yet.
5) Colombian «Arepas» Griddle Cakes — the waiter told boytoy that this was the «BEST DISH» when he ordered it. What was our waiter talking about? It had minimal flavor — where was the «citrus braised» flavoring?
6) Cuban «Roast Pork» Belly — so I was excited thinking this would be like the Chinese fat pork belly DanDan (or however you pronounce it). When it came to the table, none of us knew what it was. When I asked, on closer inspection, apparently the top ½ fell off of the bottom ½ and was dismally lying on the other end of the dish. WTH? I cut a slice of the pork — it was cold & very fatty. Was it cold ‘cos it fell off of it’s nether region? Was it cold ‘cos I wasn’t feeling the Manhattan any more? I don’t know what it was but I was dying to get out of there to go eat at SF Creamery down the street.
7) 38 North Chicken Drums — this came out looking yummy. We cut into 2 and it was uncooked. The waiter took it back & served us new ones. Cooked but no flavoring of the meat. It was just a deep fried mini drumstick.
8) Caramel Glazed Pork Ribs — this was the best appetizer dish we got. It was flavorful, came easily off of the bone. There was this cole slaw like thing on the side that just seemed like it was covered in soy sauce & something spicy (it was dark — I couldn’t inspect any closer — sorry about that). Forget the slaw. Eat the ribs — order like 4 of these dishes & you might be full.
9) Finally — the ENTREE — Char Crusted Grass Fed Flat Iron Steak (what a freakin’ mouthful — I just ordered it as the «flat iron steak») was black. But when I cut into it, it was medium rare as ordered. This wasn’t bad but for $ 25…it’s an expensive piece of meat.
So 1 star for the food + 3 star for service = 2 stars overall.
Ambiance that they seemed to be striving for was a higher end restaurant but the lighting was so dark it seemed more like a Hollywood bar/​club after dining hours. We could barely see our food let alone take any pix of them. Okay, with how dismal our food turned out, I didn’t bother whipping out my camera any way.

Saturday Date Night, November 13, 2010 @ 9:05 PM
My fiancé and I are not very familiar with the Walnut Creek area and we needed a post-​party dinner. Thanks to his evo 4G we found our way around WC and ended up at Vesu through Opentable. Here’s our experience in a nutshell:
Vesu is SWANKY.
It is loungey with dark wooden tables, dramatically dimmed lights and a contemporary bar. It seems like Vesu is the place to see and be seen in Walnut Creek. The women were decked out in shiny little black dresses.


And check out the modern «communal» bathrooms:
Our table at Vesu was CRAPPY.
Vesu is beautiful and spacious. It was packed on the night we were there. I understand that real estate in the Bay Area is premium and despite our VIP Opentable reservation– in Vesu’s attempt to fill each nook and cranny with $$$ dropping patrons – we were seated right next to a wall. Owners: Do you enjoy being seated right next to a wall when you go to dinner? I don’t think so. A poor seating is a prelude to a poor dining experience. Period.
The dishes at Vesu were LACKING IN FLAVORS.
1. Hampshire pork chop with creamy potatoes, broccolini and coriander chimichurri ($ 21). My fiancé had to drown his pork chop with the sauce because according to him, it was bland and had no flavors. He asked me to taste the mashed potato. He was right, it was weirdly too sweet!
2. Halibut ceviche black pepper water cracker, avocado, cilantro ($ 8).
It lacked the complex taste of spices and tasted nothing but the lime. It did not have enough salt.
3. Heirloom squash «scallops» plantain mofongo, cilantro-​lime sofrito ($ 9). This small plate dish did not have any «rhyme or reason.» Each «tower» gets a slice of green squash perched on top of a flavorless fried plantain chip sitting on sofrito that lasted like the Hawaiian poi. This is a culinary experiment gone wrong. I am very sorry to say that this dish was terrible!
4. Except for the Crab cakes ($ 14) which were actually delicious. Crusty on the outside and creamy on the inside.
5. Salad (came with the Crab cakes) was overly salted with plenty of salt grains with every bite.
6. Hot Lips ($ 10) Tequila, ginger, lime, cilantro, fresno chili. Not chilled enough. This drink was okay.
SUMMARY:
Vesu is swanky. The service was friendly. I applaud the chef’s attempt to create fusion dishes with Latin influences that are innovative. The presentation of each dish was pleasing to the eyes but the taste did not come together. The combination of flavors lacked harmony just like an orchestra whose conductor is tone deaf.
1 good dish out of 4. Sadly, I really did have better somewhere else…
Tab: $ 86 including Diet Coke, tax and 20% tip.
(By the way, after posting my review, I started reading other reviews on Vesu. It seems like running out of menu items was a common theme. I was excited when I saw 21^st Ammendment beer on the menu and plantain appetizer – until I was told they were out!)

Vesu has everything I look for in a girl. independent, strong willed, confident, opinionated, cultured. one who is not afraid to try new things & maintains an open mind. traditional yet sleek & modern. intelligent. that type of down to earth, straight to the point type chick. straight sexy. Not only is Vesu all these things, but is also so talented. I’m impressed.
If you ever run into her, you’ve got to try the Alaskan Coho Salmon ($ 15) It’s melts in your mouth to die for! On top of the salmon sits three to four carefully placed shallots adding a nice crispy texture. The citrus crusted ahi tuna ($ 24) is definitely worth every bite. It’s served with a side borba farms zuchinni «noddles» that is a perfect compliment to the dish’s main focus. Next time I run into her, the Ahi tartare is next on my list. Not much on the menu, but tapas restaurants usually don’t.
If dinner isn’t your thing tonight, or just playing hooky from work, Vesu is also the perfect go to place to have drinks, vibe and enjoy the night.

We came here with a party of almost 50 or so people and so we had the little secluded room in the back.
Must trys: ahi taretare, griddle cakes, and the CHICKEN.
Be warned, it’s a trendy spot and the portions are TINY. When the chicken came up, I took a bit of it and it was SOO good, but I could have eaten 4 more they were so small. The bed of potatoes that it came with were really good too.
The waiters were on it before I even had time to ask. I didn’t get to stay long for the lounge, but the music was decent.

Just had to write a review mostly to correct some amazing misconceptions. First of all, what part of «small plates» don’t some of these reviewers understand? This is a tapas/​small plates restaurant. You may not like that concept, and YES, it is pricey, but seriously these complaints remind me of the ignoramous I once was standing next to who ordered a coffee she called an «expresso» and then complained about the small serving! («They ripped me off!» Four dollars for two sips?” If this is not to your taste, go to Dennys for their bottomless cup of coffee for a buck.)
Second, I have eaten here quite a bit, from its first week until as recently as last week, and I have not experienced any tough or salty food. Can’t speak for everyone, but it seems odd that all these problem dishes never seem to make it to my table. And as for the person who labeled the people who gave this place five stars «pretentious» and then suggested they hop on a plane and fly to far away places for dinner… err, who is being pretentious exactly? I actually have eaten in some of the best restaurants in Paris, Florence, Milan, Venice, London, Vienna, Salzburg and the Italian and French Med, just to name a few, and this food ranks as good as any of them.
I personally have also never encountered this so-​called rude wait staff. Maybe they’ve cleaned up their act. Or maybe some folks are just too sensitive to perceived slights if a service person disappears on them for five minutes. (And yes, in small plates restaurants, they *do* bring the plates out a couple at a time at regular intervals. That’s how it works.)
Everything I’ve ordered has been uniformly tasty and flavorful, never over or undercooked, never salty. The cocktails are some of the best in WC and the beers are delicious. Yes the menu is limited. Again, those accusing us of being «pretentious» might do well to know that most fine restaurants in France and elsewhere have small menus filled with locally-​grown and –raised items that the chefs specialize in preparing. You want a huge menu held together by big staples with sixty different entres, go to Chilis.
If you want a classy, low-​key but high quality dining experience, this is one of the best restaurants in Walnut Creek. True it’s expensive, but they’re not pretending to be anything else. Don’t give it one star because you don’t like the small-​portion/​sampler concept. It’s like giving a sushi restaurant a bad time because they serve raw fish.

I came here a couple weeks after they first opened. I was very pleased to see such a hip, swanky restaurant open in downtown walnut creek. The restaurant is modern, chic, and trendy. The manager came over and introduced himself to us and was very friendly. Our server was also very attentive. I came here with 3 girlfriends and we decided to share everything. While the food isn’t exactly tapas style, the server was considerate enough to get some of the entrees portioned onto individual plates to save us the trouble of dividing up the food ourselves.
Here’s a breakdown of what we ordered:
–Ahi Tartare (super delicious — loved the crispy nori seaweed that came with it)
–Flat Iron Steak (the bearnaise sauce was really good, but i would have preferred the meat cooked rarer… if that’s even a word)
–Hampshire pork chop (hands down my favorite dish! the coriander chimichurri paired perfectly with the pork chop, which was cooked to perfection, slightly pink. it was also accompanied by creamy boniato potatoes, which is a like a sweet mashed potato, SO YUM, and broccolini. This is probably the BEST pork chop i’ve ever eaten).
–12 hour braised pork belly (i had high expectations for this dish, but it was a bit on the salty side)
Overall: great service, lovely atmosphere, great location, and the food is pretty good too. I will definitely return soon to give this place another try.

Amazing executive chef Robert Sapirman. Good selection of wines and speciality drinks. You have to appreciate all that this place has to offer.
Bar– 5
Food– 5
Price– $$
Highly Recommended
Reco’s
— glazed pork ribs
— chicken drums
— sazerac (cocktail)

(REVIEW FOR DRINKS ONLY)
We’ve been waiting for a nice stylish spot for some relaxed after dinner drinks. The existing downtown WC options have been either too suburban, wanna-​be nightclub… or too frat house (minus the college education). On most nights, the current spots are pretty much just one hoe short of a full tool shed. For us, we have been looking for something a little more refined and sophisticated.
When we first saw Vesu, we thought our problems had been finally solved. Vesu is walking distance from where we live and it’s really got a nice airy feel the moment you walk in. Design is modern but not too cold. Lighting is warm at night. Overall ambiance is swanky yet not over the top. Since we came here after dinner, I can’t comment on any of the food served up here.
From a drinks perspective, this place is pretty spot on. All our drinks were perfectly mixed. Manhattan Vesu is potent if you are into strong drinks. My fave is the Sazerac with a twist of ignited orange peel… so good.
We’ll probably end up trying some of the cooked dishes soon… Update to follow. In the meantime, late night drinks here are perfect for our tastes. Just wish they didn’t shutdown at midnight.