Who would have guessed that Worcester County would turn into the home of “super sized?” A recent visit to a new wine store and an Italian restaurant are just two examples of why bigger does not mean better.
On July 30 Thomas Trone and his son Taylor opened WineNation in Millbury in a space formerly occupied by a Linens ‘N Things store. I was quite excited about the opening and the possibility of a store this size having a diverse and interesting selection of wine, beer, and gourmet foods. Unfortunately, it was a mistake to shop there the day after the opening, but I was in the area and just couldn’t resist.
My first impression was that it was like walking around in a massive warehouse store that could be selling bulk paper towels instead of wine. An article in the local paper said they carried 5,000 wines. The large space did have a lot of bottles, but it was mostly of the same wines. Does a display of 2,016 bottles of Kris Pinot Grigio count? (If I were not having trouble with the camera on my phone I would show you the photo!) Not only that, but there are five aisles of Chardonnay.
Despite the store map showing the supposed locations of items, there was a horrible lack of organization. There were wines randomly placed next to each other on the shelves regardless of region or varietal; I couldn’t see why Catena Chardonnay, Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon, and Domaine Serene Pinot Noir were together. Regional sections only featured the predominant grape of the region (for example the Argentine area only had Malbecs, while other wines from Argentina were with varietals from around the world or the other grapes).
To make matters more confusing, nearly nothing, except for a few of the larger wine displays, was labeled with a price. When I asked a gentleman who told me that he knew all the prices by heart about the items in my cart, he gave me incorrect information. I arrived at the register only to find out two of the wines were twice the price he had told me. Customers throughout the store were puzzled and trying to track down staff for assistance.
Checking out was chaos. The lack of prices carried over at the register, where nearly nothing scanned and the prices on most items had to be manually looked up. When I asked the cashier if perhaps the store had opened prematurely, she told me that on opening day, the server crashed and they were not able to print out price tags for the shelves. It seems very strange that they would have waited until the morning of opening to price more than 5,000 items.
Even though I was disappointed with my first trip to WineNation, I will return and hope that the owners will not treat the wine shop as if it were a Costco. I would love to see them use their space to create a store that offers a unique selection and experience to both wine lovers of all levels of knowledge and experience, and not massive displays of one wine and five aisles of Chardonnay.
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Il Forno, which has three other locations in Massachusetts, recently opened its newest outpost in West Boylston. Located in a former McDonalds, it is apparent that it is difficult to completely overcome all of the design factors of the fast food chain without completely demolishing the building. Despite significant renovations, the windows, doors, patio, and roof are reminders of the previous occupant.
And perhaps it is fitting that the space was once home to one of the leaders in the “super size” movement, since Il Forno has taken portions to the max. My dining companion and I stuck to the basics: the traditional pizza made in the mesquite-fired brick oven and eggplant parmesan. To start, our waitress brought us a garlic bread – a whole loaf of bread drenched in garlic butter! The pizza was large and simple – marinara sauce with mozzarella on a home-made crust, which was not quite as crisp as we had hoped it would be. The shocker, though, was the eggplant dish, which consisted of eight or so large, thick, deep-fried slices of eggplant swimming in a platter of what my father would have called “wash tub tomato sauce.” As if this was not enough food, the eggplant came with a side of ziti in sauce that would have easily qualified as a meal for three people in its own right.
With enough food to comfortably feed a family of four (or more!), we had plenty to take home. Our waitress excitedly exclaimed, “That’s what’s so great about Il Forno: you’ll always have leftovers. No need to cook tomorrow!” I was tempted to leave the leftovers behind, but felt guilty that so much food would be thrown away. The waitress was right: we didn’t have to cook the next day or the day after that!
