Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery

117 Sharptown, Pilesgrove, NJ 08098, USA

Address:	117 Sharptown, Pilesgrove, NJ 08098, USA
Phone:	+1 856-769-9463
Site:	auburnroadvineyards.com
Rating:	4.7
Working:	12–5PM 12–5PM 12–5PM 12–9PM 12–9PM 12–9PM 12–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Frank Ferro

I want people to know about the horrible experience I had at Auburn Winery as a returning open mic night performer and paying customer on Oct. 20, 2016. My four-piece acoustic band walked onto the stage to play when it was our turn. We tuned our instruments quickly and were ready to play in seconds. However, we were forced to wait ten minutes as the sound guy for the night attempted to connect us to the PA system, but without success. Eventually one of the employees there (I believe her name is Bo and she’s a “trained sound engineer”?) walked up and told us to “begin playing or get off the stage.” Why the rude and unnecessary comment for something that was beyond our control? She then told our fiddle player to hold her fiddle up to a vocal mic for the entire performance because the sound guy couldn’t figure out how to connect it. It’s not as though we had crazy effects pedals or drums to mic; we simply had four acoustic instruments with standard cable jacks. While we were playing, the sound levels were very off. My banjo was too loud, and we could not hear each other despite the fact that there are monitors right in front of the stage. Our entire performance, from setting up to playing, was one huge embarrassing debacle. Other performers I had watched during the night also had similar issues such as uneven levels or sound cut-off, the latter of which was due to faulty cables that ended up interrupting their performance mid-song. Luckily I brought my own cable. When we finished two songs, I announced that we would play one more (playing three songs doesn’t seem unreasonable for an open mic night, right?), but I noticed our sound had been abruptly turned off. I looked over at the sound guy and open mic host Larry and asked if we could play one more song. Larry tersely and rudely replied, “No, you’re done.” Other performers, however, got to play three or four songs. This was very unfair, especially since the unreasonably long setup time was their fault, not ours. I think the main issue here was that they had a featured act play for ONE HOUR at an open mic night when eight other performers were signed up on the list! I could see thirty minutes, but one hour? Some musicians actually had to leave without performing because the featured opener took so much time away from everyone else. I approached the sound guy immediately after leaving the stage and asked why they limited us to two songs because of their mistakes. He was unsympathetic and only said, “It’s beyond my control.” Really? The whole situation was completely within his control since HE is the sound person! If he’s not in control, then who is? In addition, our fiddle player approached open mic host Larry to express her disappointment with our experience and to explain the fact that we brought out many people to watch us play, yet were able to perform only two songs. Again, like the sound guy, he was very unsympathetic and did not apologize for our disappointing experience. In fact, throughout the entire conversation he spoke sarcastically to her and even said, “Sorry, don’t care,” when mentioning that she brought out a lot of paying customers who are now disappointed. How unprofessional of him. This is not the way to treat musicians who are also paying customers and potential entertainment for future shows, and who brought out a crowd of almost thirty people who purchased food and wine and spent a lot of money to watch us play only two songs – two songs that those people could not hear very well to begin with because of the poorly-set-up sound system. My band and I will not set foot in this winery again, either as musicians or customers, and I will not recommend it or its open mic night to others because my experience here has left me no reason to do so. There are such things as customer satisfaction and customer relations, and I don’t think this place has heard of either. My recommendation for Auburn Winery is to discontinue its open mic night until its owners hire competent, pleasant, and respectful people to run it.

John Kelly

This is our second time visiting Auburn Road.The setting is beautiful, but I must say that the service was terrible. It was at least 20 minutes before anyone gave us a menu and that only happened because we had to flag someone down. We asked for water, a coke and glass of wine when the menu was brought out. When our server came back to take our order she did not bring the beverages. We ordered a pizza which was delivered in a timely manner but no plates or napkins. When we asked for those we were told the young lady could only bring pizza not plates or napkins. We waited about 15 minutes longer for our beverages while our pizza got cold. Finally I went to the bar and purchased beverages so that we would have something to drink WITH our pizza. Still no plates or napkins. We ended up eating without any napkins or plates until finally we went to the bar again for napkins. When we got our check there was a 10.00 cover charge added to our bill for a band that was playing that night. We did not know that we would be charged for the band. We simply went for dinner and a glass of wine. Beware, if you arrive early and happen to still be there when the band starts, you will be charged this cover charge! Our first visit was very pleasant and we intended on inviting friends to join us here in the near future. Regretfully, we will not be going back.

Tajee B

This Winery is my favorite to date. The Vineyard itself as well as the bar are very quaint. The grounds are very beautiful. Even driving in you feel like youre on Old Country Road. Our servers were very awesome. Alexis being very knowledgeable and made our wine tasting very fun. Fellas, she is really cute by the way. And all of their wines were delicious. They also have a small kitchen where they make pizzas and bread. The pizza was delicious and the waitress Kelly allow me to go off on the side in the vineyard to smoke my cigar while enjoying another bottle of wine. Two bottles of wine 2 wine tastings and two pizzas came out to like $60 . I was so shocked at the bill how cheap it was . I ended up blowing another hundred dollars though taking wines home. I know I gave other wineries five stars but this definitely get 6 for welcoming my wife and I.

A Private User

The wine truly is amazing! The vibe is cool and laid back. The Enoteca and Courtyard are truly beautiful. Is the Auburn Road Crew ironing out some rough edges in the presentation? No doubt. But some new, talented staff, a new kitchen that is almost ready (complete with an in house chef) and a dedication to making the experience as close to perfect as possible are already beginning to pay great dividends. Every Friday night is "Whats for Dinner" Friday, there is great live music every Saturday night and a terrific, rustic Harvest Lunch all weekend long. Amazing tours with the winemakers every Saturday and Sunday afternoon (complete with cheese, bread, olives and wine tasting)! And of course the wine....you really gotta give it a try!

JordanLaurelle Timchal

Absolutely love this winery, the wine, cheese and food is amazing! But we were very disappointed because we tried to go on a date there Saturday, but because they have a band playing Saturday nights they charge an $8 cover charge per person. Even though the band was an annoyance, as it so loud we couldnt even hear ourselves talk in the room, and we requested to sit outside and as far away from the band as possible, they still would not waive the fee. We walked out and are very disappointed that they force people to pay for an loud, disruptive music they dont even want to begin with.