Bella Terra Vineyards is a winery, restaurant, and event venue in the small town of Hunker in…read moreWestmoreland County.
It sells a variety of dry and sweet wines (e.g., red, white, rose, sparkling, and cider), cocktails, mocktails, and beers. Some vineyards are on the grounds as are many barrels and bottles of wines.
The restaurant has both indoor seating and seasonal outdoor seating in lakeside cabanas and winter igloos. It is open for brunch/lunch and dinner. It is a nice setting for daily dining as well as special events such as weddings, bridal and baby showers, and private parties. Furthermore, the website lists activities such as bingo, painting and candle-making classes, live music with dancing, and more.
For my husband and me, I made a reservation for lunch in an igloo. Our igloo was large enough to fit eight people and cost $50 plus foods and drinks. A larger "party dome" fits up to 14 people and has a fee of $75. The temperatures outside were very cold, but our igloo was kept warm by an electric fireplace and a zippered door. Throughout our meal, our waitress provided timely and friendly service.
The Bistro menu listed shareables (e.g., pretzel sticks and charcuterie board), several smash burgers, several flatbreads, mains (e.g., fish and chips, cajun chicken pasta, and quinoa bowl), several salads, several handhelds (e.g., turkey melt, veggie wrap, and Italian panini), many sides, and a couple of desserts. Prices were moderate. (The menus for Sunday Brunch and a group Gathering differ.)
The waitress first brought our Sweet Wine-Cookie Flight (4.5 stars), which consisted of the following pairs: Diamond Reo with Brown Sugar Pop Tart, Sweet Finley with Chocolate Salted Caramel, Riesling with Cookies and Cream, and Rose Cider with Strawberry Crunch. The wine glasses came in a wooden box, which was slightly too small, so I needed several minutes of time to carefully pull each wine glass out of the box. I, however, did enjoy the sweet flavors of the wines and cookies.
Next our waitress brought out our shareable and two mains. The Hummus Plate (4.5 stars) consisted of fresh and tasty hummus, feta, olives, top seedz crackers, tomatoes, cucumbers, green and red peppers, carrots, celery, and tzatziki.
My main course was Crab Cakes (4 stars) with a substituted side of salad. Two crab cakes were a decent size of 4 ounces each, but I would have preferred more crab meat. I liked the garlic aioli.
My husband's main course was the Cali Burger (4 stars) with a side of fries. In a brioche bun, a beef patty was topped with fontina cheese, applewood-smoked bacon (which he would prefer be crispier), avocado, avocado ranch, lettuce, and pickles (which he commented were nicely crunchy and sweet-sour) (no tomato at his request).
The total price for the flight, shareable, two mains, and a soda was $98 plus sales tax and tip (plus the earlier $50 fee for the igloo).
