Villa Roma & Bodega Navarro Correas Malbec

Dr Desert Flower and I were exploring our local restaurant offerings here in Orange County last month, when we stumbled upon Villa Roma, just a mile or so from our home.  It bills itself as Italian & Argentinian cuisine... but inside, the staff all speaks Spanish, they serve empanadas as appetizers, and it's an Argentinian restaurant that also serves Italian food.  We ate there; the service was attentive, the food was good, and the prices were reasonable.

We got there early on a weekend night, around 530pm, but we'd skipped lunch.  DDF asked for a booth of course, and they sat us Way in the Back, near the kitchen, which I thought was weird, being the 2nd set of diners there that night.  Turns out, all of the other booths were reserved, as were several of the large 12+ person tables.  By the time we
left, the place was rapidly filling up.  They have live music and dancing, after 8pm, and I think many of the diners were intending on staying for the entertainment.

I spied a Bodeg Navarro Correas Coleccion Privada Malbec, 2011, on the wine list for just $20.  This Mendoza Argentinian wine was a wonderful Malbec, and paired nicely with both DDF's pasta and my meat dish.  We had 2 large glasses each, and brought the rest of the bottle home to finish it.  In the stores (if you can find it) it is probably a $10 or $12 bottle, so Villa Roma's mark-up was not steep.

Both Villa Roma and the Navarro Correas Malbec, good choices.