Let me start with the positives, Vineyard Cafe has always served as our "neighborhood joint," I've loved going there over the years, and I hold it in very high regard.

The quality of the food is still consistently good, and the atmosphere is a huge draw, but over the past few months I've seen a worrying decline in the quality of service.

Perhaps it's because the Vineyard Cafe has set such high standards for service over the years that I notice these things more. In most Beijing restaurants, forgetting orders/drinks, waitstaff with couldn't-care-less expressions, not putting out plates or tableware, screwing up reservations, and inattentive service are part of the experience, you come to expect it. But the Vineyard has always been an oasis of civility in a desert of lackadaisical service and so it's a bit disappointing that some of these problems are starting to show at the Vineyard.

I have hopes they can turn it around, because I do really enjoy the food.