Attended a concert here tonight and the musicians and sound were phenomenal. Two of my absolute favorites, and they didn't disappoint. Seeing them live was truly a treat. Having said that, we bought general admission tickets and there's huge room for improvement. (The dining option was sold out, and since we don't live in the area, we didn't want to purchase season tickets.) The website recommends that folks line up one or two hours ahead to get a good seat--and today it was 100 degrees with a blazing sun at 5pm. The line snaked through the unshaded, asphalt parking lot and was oppressive, as you can imagine. This is not a good practice and shows a lack of concern for attendees. A woman ahead of us suffered heat stroke and fell as a result. Someone in line behind me, said, yeah, that happened to someone last year. There are many simple solutions and this warrants some thought as to how people can line up for events without risk to their health and safety. read more

We went to Cafe Champagne for a birthday party and the location is great. We were seated quickly with a reservation and our server was awesome! Pros: Atmosphere, good service, the burger I got was delicious Cons: That burger was not worth $34 for sure and the other prices were insane also. The food was fine but absolutely over priced for what it was. read more

Wow Bradley you are amazing server gave me and my freind the best customer service and the from the hair to the beard you looked amazing. The Ambiance was just perfect. Thanks for the best experience. read more

Love, love, love this place! Besides the amazing views, the service and wine are exceptionally delicious. Lobster flatbread..... The estate Syrah is a perfect drink for those of us who don't love dry red but not too sweet either. It is so lovely. They squeezed us in, had spectacular service and we drank ALL the wines!!! Ask for Lisa, she has worked there for many years and had immaculate service. Thornton is a wonderful stop while in Temecula. The chocolate flight is a must try, as well as the well known bubbles flight. I have yet to meet a Thornton wine/bubble I didn't absolutely LOVE!! #thorton #thortonwines #syrah #winelover #bubblesflight #temecula #winecountry #estatesyrah #chocolatewine #champagneflight #love #weekendoflove #temecula read more

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They are quite expensive but beautiful views. I got the mussels and they were great. Really nice for a fancy get together, like an event. The food came took a while to come even though it seemed like there weren't very many people but the service was nice. read more

Going here after a full day of wine tasting was just what we needed! The atmosphere is beautiful. When you enter the staff is present (cant say that for many places here.) My meal consisted of the Mushroom crostini, Ceasar salad (dressing oN SIDE) and Lobster Ravioli! Bravo and Merci!!! Best Meal in a loong time- you can tell the chef is experienced and puts attention and detail to what they put out! The food is WELL seasoned without being too salty! Every bite is complimentary to the next. Can't wait to see what's next! Our server Ford was excellent, excited and friendly! Thanks for an outstanding Evening and I did not have to dress up to feel welcomed! read more

Got the sparkling champagne which was great! The staff was very friendly and the food was okay. Very nice winery overall.

My husband and I ended up here solely due to proximity after we weren't able to get into Bolero (across the street) due to a wedding. Normally fine with dropping a decent amount on dinner if the food is really good, however unfortunately that was not the case here and the food is honestly exceedingly overpriced. My husband's input: "I just dropped $200 at the Carl's Junior of wineries" Our entrees were Salmon and Lobster Ravioli which were ok, but not great. The Salmon was cooked really well but the flavors were unbalanced, the the farro was flavorless and the purée was too sweet. The sherry cream sauce that accompanies the ravioli was delicious but the ravioli tasted like it might have been previously frozen. Also worth noting the fluorescent lighting outside was not the ideal dining vibe. Overall, certain elements of each dish were good (hence the 3 stars) but definiteellllyyyy not worth $41, $42 for an entree. Would not come back. read more

Wine is good. Food is not! I should have read other reviews before coming here and dropping $190 for an underwhelming meal. Good thing our server was nice. Will come back again but only for wine tasting. read more

We came from San Diego to see a Rick Braun/Richard Elliot concert at Thornton in July 2024. The venue is beautiful, clean, well organized, and the concert was EXCELLENT!! Mr. Braun and Mr. Elliott put on a high energy, top notch concert. They were accompanied by a drums, a keyboard and 3 guitar musicians. This was our first visit to Thornton, and this is what we learned: 1. When you arrive, you are guided to either the dinner pkg parking lot or general admission parking. The parking on the right of driveway is paved, the parking on left is a dirt lot. 2. We called in advance and were told concert starts at 7 pm, doors open at 6, people start to line up prior to 5. We arrived around 5 pm. The general admission entrance line is through the paved parking lot. There is no shade provided because it's pretty impossible to set that up in a parking lot behind and between parked cars. You can bring chairs, food, umbrellas while you wait. On our day, it was 89F at 5pm, but the breeze helped. We ate dinner prior in Old Town Temecula (traffic there was awful). We brought folding chairs, sun hats, water for our wait at Thornton. I saw folks who brought sandwiches to eat while they waited in line. The line is right behind the parked cars. You are allowed to use the bathrooms inside the venue while in line. 3. Our tickets were scanned while we waited and we were given a program to show that we had tickets. This really speeded up entrance into the venue when doors finally opened. 4. At 5:40, we were asked to put our folding chairs back in the car. We put the chairs and big hats away then. This is the only criticism I have, because we put our chairs away, and then stood outside for 40 minutes while the dinner pkg customers were seated. The general admission customers were not allowed to enter till 6:20. We had 2 people with back issues in our party of 4, and had not expected to stand that long. 5. You can only bring sealed water bottles into the venue. No food or other drinks are allowed. The program is also a menu. One can purchase food inside and wine by the bottle - no individual glasses, just bottles. 6. The general admission seating is first come, first served. It is in front of the stage, in rows of folding chairs. You can bring seat cushions, which we did. The cushions made the chairs much more comfortable. Most of the aisle and very center seats were marked as reserved. There were 6 rows of center seating in front of the stage, then a path, then 8-9 more rows. There were sections of row seating on the left of the stage, and a shaded section on the right of stage. The dinner pkg tables were in the back, behind the rows of general seating, about 4-5 rows of tables. One can see the stage from anywhere and the music was really loud. There was a shaded dance floor section in front, on the left of stage. The food tents were set up on the very left, right by the entrance. Bathrooms were clean, easily accessible. There is a gift/wine shop past the bathrooms behind the stage. 7. The concert started at 7:05, with a 30 minute intermission at 8:08. Concert ended at 9:20pm. We backed out of our parking spot at 9:28. Traffic was directed out of the lots to the main driveway and it took us about 8 minutes to get onto Rancho California Rd. There is no traffic light to help you make a left on Rancho California. 8. The temperatures in July on the day we went were 89F at 5 pm, 73F at 8 pm, and 71F at 9:30. I wore capri jeans, tshirt, and baseball cap and brought a jeans jacket which was all I needed in the evening (and I tend to get cold). 9. My husband has sensitive hearing and found the concert a bit too loud. He probably would have preferred sitting more in back or appreciated ear plugs. Our friends and I were fine with the sound. Overall, we found Thornton to be a beautiful and very well organized venue. The staff were very nice. We had a really great evening thanks to calling in advance and a little planning. read more

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Didn't want to seat us after we made a reservation on open table. Said it was made too soon. There was literally 80% open capacity. They don't want my money, fine. I don't want to spend -$30for an appetizer anyways. Thanks for saving me money. Worst experience ever. read more

Visited Temecula and stopped at Thorton Winery for Dinner. I took the whole family and the staff was super friendly with the toddlers and found the perfect spot for us to sit. The food is a but pricey but we knew about it before sitting down so I was fine with it. We ordered the Fried Green Tomatoes BLT , The Cheeseburger and Mussles for the appetizer. The food came out picture perfect and I have to say the Bacon on the BLT was cooked perfectly. We also order two Wine flights. I enjoyed the Barbera from my flight the Red and White flight. Overall this was a fun place to enjoy lunch. read more

Thornton Winery - Cheesburger with Onion Rings - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

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This was our last stop on our self-guided wine tour. We came around 5 PM as a walk-in for their wine tasting and restaurant. They said they were only seating reservations at the restaurant, but if we were only wine tasting we could sit at another dining area. We chose that option and ordered a Sweet flight. Their chocolate wines are a must try! Our server, Travis, was great! He was attentive and working hard. It looked like they were short-staffed, but Travis always made sure we were okay and got us what we needed. We really appreciated it! Thornton has a classy and elegant feel perfect for small group settings or dates. The location was perfect for sunset as well. Great place in Temecula! read more

Thornton Winery - Sweet Wine flights - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

This place was super accommodating. We were pretty difficult in the beginning because today out of all days they don't have breakfast due to a special event. 5 stars for service! I had the chicken naan and tasted bland. I had the Pinot grigio and it was good! It was hot and we were seated outside so a white wine was a great choice. read more

Thornton Winery - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

We had a really negative experience during a wedding venue tour. We were initially told we would meet with someone and tour the venue over wine and discuss possibilities and pricing. The event manager took over the tour from the representative we had spoken with and did everything she could to convince us not to get married there and kind of pushed us out the door. I'm sure it's a lovely venue, but we really didn't get a chance to see it. Didn't even get to try the wine... read more

No reservation needed for tasting. Nice indoor and outdoor seating areas for dining or wine tasting. Good selection of wines. We tried two different wine flights for tasting. Neither one of them had any wines that tickled our taste buds. The restaurant menu looks amazing. Come here for some food and a little wine tasting, see how you like it. read more

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Went here for lunch with a friend and her parents last weekend. All was going fine initially. However, I ended the lunch mortified when a server ran after us insisting we hadn't paid our tab. She wasn't even our server to begin with which made the entire situation even more confusing. We had paid our tab 10 minutes prior and left a very reasonable tip only for another random server to practically accuse my friends parents of not tipping her or paying the bill. Not a great look for a winery with lackluster service to begin with. I think we saw our waitress once throughout the entire meal. I had to go to the hostess and ask if we could pay the tab, to which she replied smugly, "you'll have to find your server." Not let me help you and track her down for you but no me, the customer, needed to find her down so that we could pay the bill. So not cool. So many other wineries with warm employees that will not only do their actual job, but go above and beyond (especially when there's only two tables in the restaurant). read more

Came to Champagne Lounge at Thornton winery for a birthday lunch. The Chardonnay was delicious. The food mediocre and extremely overpriced. We had to keep fanning off the flies and gnats from our food and wine. A fly landed in/top of my Caesar salad after only having about three fork full of the salad. I Could not continue to consume my salad. Not a good lunch experience at all. Management needs to do better and fix the bug problem. It's gross! Will not revisit this winery or recommend to anyone. read more

Stopped here for lunch. Menu far overpriced. I received a cold turkey sandwich with fries for $34. Appreciated the gluten free options but seriously this is NOT a place to stop on your winery tour of Temecula. Server Lisa was excellent and seemed truly embarrassed by the culinary failures of this place. Subway has more culinary skills tha n this place. read more

Thornton Winery - Turkey Turkey Club Sandwich - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

Would not seat us at 3:15 this afternoon and restaurant was nearly empty. Gave us a run around and sent us upstairs downstairs etc. They cancelled our open table reservation because we made it too close to seating time. Hello no one was there! Poor customer service! read more

We went to see the Elton John tribute show. I don't ever remember being taken advantage of so badly! My wife & I purchased 2 General admission tickets @ $40 ea. That means no dinner was purchased. The person who I spoke to on the phone when I bought the tickets neglected to mention that the seating would not allow us to view the show only to hear it. The chairs were situated as to not allow you to see the stage, especially if anyone sat in front of you! They were also tethered together uncomfortably. Lesson learned I'm not going back there. read more

Thornton Winery - I was holding the camera OVER my head. - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

They serve a baked Brie inside of a sour dough bread that is to die for!!!! It is amazing with wine tasting...... read more

Valentines dinner was excellent. The food was great and our server Travis was attentive. Food came out timely and the wine was delicious as well. Definitely worth the price and such a great dinner and service. Thank you Travis! read more

Thornton Winery - Valentines dinner dessert - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

I took my daughter here for her 21st bday. She had the sweet sparkling tasting & I had the champagne. We enjoyed most of our tastes. We were told the Yelp check-in is a bogo (app doesn't say that) - no prob. Food prices are ridiculous. We got the charcuterie plate which was $38 on the menu and was supposed to include a baguette (it didn't, but bill reflected $29, so that was good). And since when are tastings $25+?? Clearly I haven't done this in a while! lol read more

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Loved this place!! So classy and quaint. Enjoyed their summer concert series. Jeffrey Osborne headlined and was FANTASTIC! Food was delicious and so was the wine (obviously.) View at night was spectacular. Their staff was also super accommodating and professional. It gets busy here, with the potential to be chaotic, but they clearly have a perfect system to make sure everyone is attended to. Definitely appreciated that. read more

Thornton Winery - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

This review is based off of the one visit I experienced at Thornton Winery. A group of us about a party of 9 arrived with no reservation around lunch time. We were able to be sat right away out on the patio. Our server was amazing and very organized handling the size of our walk in party. I ordered a white wine flight. While not every wine was delightful to my tastes buds, I did find one that I really liked. That's the risk you take with ordering a flight but it was no issue to me. I then knew which wine to order for the duration of our visit. After a round of drinks we ordered food. I ordered the chilaquiles with chicken tinga. When I tell you those were the absolute best chilaquiles i've ever experienced in my life.. I am not exaggerating. And I am a self proclaimed chilaquile connoisseur. Everyone seemed very pleased with their meals. I want to add that the environment was very beautiful and relaxing as well. It was just all in all a great experience with great people. I will be visiting again in the Spring. read more

Thornton Winery - Chilaquiles with Chicken Tinga - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

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I originally got the membership at this winery specifically because I love music and they host live concerts there that members can purchase at a discounted price. The monthly winery memberships comes with a preselected wine pick up option every other month, a fixed number of complimentary tastings, a limited number of discounted tastings for guests, discounts in the restaurant, and discounts on bottles of wine. The problem is: 1) Unlike the majority of the other wineries, they force you to drive there twice (two separate days) and you can only use the tastings on two people (including the member) on the same day (instead of using your tastings when/on who/how YOU want during the month). 2) Their website is borderline (if not outright) false advertisement. Only a select few flavors/brands are ever offered at a discounted price. 3) They forgot to mention that during concerts: a) tastings are not even served/available, b) the restaurant is completely closed during the event c) no food is offered unless you buy the package for an exorbitant price, and d only select wines are available for purchase for full price (no membership discounts apply). The restaurant is very dated. Although I have only had the membership since March, I've noticed there is always a very musty smell inside the restaurant so I normally opt to eat outdoors. The weather was very cold on 5/24, so I ate inside and was horrified when my husband killed the ROACH crawling on the crevice of the wall because I was disgusted, shocked, and horrified and refused to sit down after seeing it there in broad daylight, shortly after our arrival. I'm planning to contact the Health Department. read more

Best CHAMPAGNE in the French Valley but.... It's not as aesthetically pleasing as some of the other winery's around. Food was over priced and they had no exciting options on the menu. I gave this place three stars because parking was convenient and the champagne selection was honestly the best I have had! I wouldn't care to come back to hangout or eat as my experience was underwhelming BUT I will be coming back by to buy a case of champagne/wine! read more

Wine tastings were good but warm. Tried the white wine tasting because it made sense price wise but was disappointed when the wine arrived not chilled. Food selection was overpriced. read more

This is a wonderful winery! Definitely make reservations if you want to eat here on a weekend! We came by on a Saturday and their wait time was over and hour and a half! Luckily they have a section to order tastings and wine by the glass. Our group got super lucky and found a table by their pond. It was definitely a great spot with a pretty view! This place gets very busy on the weekend so come early if you don't have reservations. I can't wait to come back and try their food and other wines. read more

Thornton Winery - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

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Good food, but slow service at the time, granted that we were just getting over Covid times. Overall great food and good wine. Would come back. read more

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TL;DR: Somebody buy the chef a thermometer. I've lived near Thornton for over 20 years and eaten there many times. Food and service have always been very good to excellent. Not so much this time. We lingered over a glass of wine before finally deciding on our food orders. My friend had several special requests, which the server handled cheerfully. It was a longish time before our food arrived, but we weren't in a hurry, so this was fine. A food runner brought our plates, and when I stuck my fork in and tasted the birria on my chilaquiles, it was stone cold; so were the surrounding chips. The plate itself was barely warm. It took a few minutes to flag down a server (not ours), and she immediately took the plate and said she'd get it taken care of. She took the plate to our server who was now in the area, and they had a longish conversation about it before the plate was returned to the kitchen. Now was that awkward time ... my friend's plate was hot and fresh, so I encouraged them to eat. But it took a while before the food runner reappeared. If possible, this one was colder. A few moments later, the server rushed up with another plate. It turns out the food runner had picked up the original plate (why was it still lying around after having been returned???). I could see steam rising from the new plate. And the eggs on top were indeed hot, fresh, and perfectly over easy. The birria and chips were hotter than the original, but not as hot as they should have been. I did not return the second plate. Our server brought us each a second glass of wine (comped) and apologized profusely. She was very gracious. I did not see the bill, but my friend indicated that it was apparent that they were "truly sorry." It was a lovely day; the view is nice. We spent lots of time catching up. The wine is always excellent, and the flavor and presentation of the food was excellent, despite the temperature. The server did her absolute best with a situation she didn't create. read more

We live in Temecula and I really wanted to go for a nice lunch with my friend and we haven't tried Thorton winery yet so we decided to go there, I love the atmosphere when I walked in. We got there at 12 o'clock so it was very quiet and hardly anyone there and there was a few people sitting in a restaurant so we went inside and sat down and a girl came up to us very rudely and said next time you come here you need to check in with the host stand so we got up and left, number one there was no stand when you walk into the restaurant and then when we did finally see where it was, it was off to the side and in a corner and there was no one there. She was so rude and snippy It was awful so we left. read more

What a great place to have a Sunday afternoon brunch with a friend! The big patio outside made a nice beautiful venue to some yummy food! We first ordered the artichoke appetizers and it was sooo good! It's crispy fried - almost like a calamari- and it had this sauce you can dip it in. Then it said it's known for its burgers...so, we ordered it along with some fish and chips... omg... the burger was amazing! Definitely lived up to its claim! The fish and chips were also good but I'm not much of a fish and chips person but everything was delicious! The fries.... yum! Then, we ordered a series of dessert wines and the chocolate wine was yummy!!! We topped it off with a chocolate cake dessert and we were completely satisfied! Overall, the service was great, the venue and I can't wait to go back!!! Adventure on!!! read more

Thornton Winery - Artichoke! - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

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4 of us came here on a Sunday. We were seated quickly and our waitress was very nice. However that is the only good thing I can say about it. My wife and I got the chilequilles for $27 a pop. It took about 40 min to get our food. My eggs were overcooked and the food was very bland. I did get a discount for that. We won't be going back. read more

The worst experience ever this place is crooked. We had a large party with three tables. The waitress did not disclose that gratuity was included in the check when I called management. They were very rude and said they would do nothing about it. when I asked for the general manager, they said she was not in. I asked that she call me and the manager on duty stated I can't guarantee she would and rudely hung up on me. this ruined our whole experience in Temecula Creek. read more

A beautiful winery with good food, but not our favorite for wine. The winery like most others in the area has a large patio to relax and enjoy your wine. They also have a restaurant on site which is nice. The cheese plate that we enjoyed here was really good and had an interesting selection of cheeses and other goodies. The cheese plate was definitely the highlight of our visit to Thornton. On our visit we tried four selections. One champagne, one wine, one red, and a dessert wine. We didn't love the Brut, Chardonnay, or Syrah. They weren't bad, but definitely not our favorites compared to wines we had at nearby wineries. The Kiss of Chocolate dessert wine was the one we did enjoy. It was unique and delicious. read more

Thornton Winery - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California

I used to love coming here but after today never again. Let me say Daniella......AMAZING!! Thank you for being so sweet and kind. So we came to Thornton and was extremely happy to be coming here. We had a group of 22 with 2 members included. We asked to be seated but initially the servers said our group was too large and we didn't have reservations, so they couldn't seat us even though there were obviously open seats. However Daniella made arrangements and was able to accommodate us with a seat outside which was fine. Once we were seated the service went down hill from there. The food took forever to come and it was cold. We had a few cancel their order because it took so long. We also asked if we could use the outdoor heaters and was told they didn't work but saw them using those same heaters for other people. Not only that they began to close off the outdoor section so they could turn on the outdoor heaters, but our group was excluded, without explanation or even asking if they could move us inside to the many empty chairs that were available. We asked the server Scott about being closed off but his explanation was that the tables were reserved but we never saw anyone get seated there. We asked for our checks and realized that the 2 members who had courtesy flights were charged gratuity for the flights. Scott stated "this was standard for a large group" even though that was not explained when we sat down. So disappointed in this winery and the service. Will not be recommending this place and will never be back. read more

I would like to update my review and let everyone now reading this! Once I posted this message I got an email asking if I could would like to receive a bottle of wine, and I denied. I would like more than a simple bottle of wine for the horrible experience I had for my Mother's Day. And yet, they still have not returned my phone call or message. I feel I am that person that would NOT keep leaving a bad review but I would like to let others now that they are getting themselves into To. Beware of the horrible food and service you'll get for you're Mother's Day. I assure you going else where, ANYWHERE else will be better than this place to celebrate any experience!!!!!!!! read more

We spontaneously decided to go Temecula and went on Memorial Day. We lowered our expectations due to the previous reviews. Our experience was some good and bad. The good: the patio had an amazing view, people were very nice and accommodating, gave free tastings inside the store, and was dog friendly. The bad: food and drink service was excruciatingly slow, outdoor seating was outdated, and servers weren't as attentive to us in compared to other patrons. Their red/white wine and champagne flights were ok, but the chocolate wines stood out. A Kiss of Coffee was delicious and would purchase a bottle of that. The food was mediocre and would not get again. Overall, not my favorite winery. read more

Thornton Winery - Cafe Champagne Salad & Wine Flights - Wineries Near Me - Temecula, California