Last Friday, August 6, I got the exciting invitation to attend a private dinner at Café Vino to experience some changes the restaurant made to their menu, bar, and more. What I ended up getting was a magical date night with food items that inspired!

Café Vino has really stepped up their game, which is saying a lot, considering the restaurant was a Fort Collins favorite before the pandemic ever happened. However, it did, and the restaurant took that time to step back, reflect, and of course, renovate.

Use your time wisely, right?

...and Café Vino certainly has. During the restaurant's private dinner on Saturday, we had the opportunity to try new food and beverage items, one of which was a cocktail called "El Chappo". This was my boyfriend's favorite of the night. It featured cucumber infused tequila, lime juice, jalapeno agave, elderflower liqueur, habanero fire water and a tahini rim. I stuck with wine, but our waitress had excellent suggestions for pairings for our main dishes, which were showstoppers.

Get our free mobile app

Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning: along with drinks, we had buttered lobster shooters that came before our appetizers, which honestly, was so delicious, and the perfect way to start the meal. Then, we had the Bacon Wrapped Dates, a Café Vino staple. Alex, my boyfriend, mentioned that this was one of the best dishes he's had in a long time.

After that came our Vino salads, and then our entrees. Alex ordered the Pork Belly Ravioli and I, the Lamb Osso Bucco. My lamb was tender and required no knife-- it fell off the bone-- but Alex's dish was definitely my favorite. The only thing we wished was that the portion was a little bigger, so that we could enjoy it for longer.

We couldn't decide on dessert, so we had our waitress do it for us: she chose the Carrot Cheesecake, which was certainly the right decision. It was incredibly creamy and decadent: worth the trip to the restaurant alone.

Check out the photos of the food I snapped while at the event below and tell me which one you're dying to try: I'm sure I'll be back very soon.

Get our free mobile app

More From 94.3 The X