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Our Press Restaurant Napa Valley review is from a recent visit, where we also stayed at Auberge du Soleil (review forthcoming).
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Press Restaurant Location and Hours
Press Restaurant is located at 587 St Helena Highway in St Helena, Napa Valley. It was about a 7-minute drive from Auberge du Soleil, where we were staying, and it's about a 20-minute drive from the Four Seasons Napa Valley in Calistoga. Press is open nightly from 5-9pm all days except Fridays-Saturdays, when it's open until 10pm. Reserve through OpenTable.
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While it's advisable to make a reservation, if you come early, chances are good that you'll be able to score a seat at the bar, where you can order a la carte.
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Press Restaurant Menu and Food
Press offers four-course and tasting menus in its dining room, but we opted to dine from the a la carte menu in the bar.
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The amuse bouche was a chilled creamy soup that wasn't very memorable.
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We'd read so much praise for the Caviar Pretzel that it was unfortunately a let down. Don't get me wrong: I'd have loved the warm pretzel on its own if it was a complimentary bread basket offering, but at $75 my expectations were high, and the tiny caviar serving, which wasn't sufficient for the amount of pretzel, was galling.
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Much better was the Chips & Dip: crispy salmon skin with avocado kosho. I would order this again, over the pretzel.
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For my main, I chose the Black Truffle Glazed Chicken with Roasted Sunchoke and Sauce Vin Jaune. The truffle flavor on the skin was good, but the chicken itself was strangely compacted, not in a good way. Overall I wouldn't order this again.
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I definitely preferred my husband's main, the Dry-Aged Kurobuta Pork with Huckleberry Jus. It was succulent, without the texture issues mine had, and the huckleberry sauce complemented it well. Recommended.
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Service really slowed down throughout the meal, even there were a number of servers; not sure why it was so inefficient. If service had been better we might have ordered dessert, but instead we took our petits fours to go. They were fine, but nothing approaching what we've enjoyed at French Michelin Star restaurants.
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The Verdict
Press Restaurant, for us, was one of those places you want to like more than you did. The welcome was good, plating was beautiful, dishes were good but not great, service fell off noticeably, and ultimately the value fell short compared to other 1-Michelin-star restaurants we've dined at. We're glad that we tried it with the Chase Exclusive Tables benefit which gave us a $150 statement credit, otherwise we would have been rather disappointed for the price.
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