An international menu with a Mediterranean slant, a community mall location, a walk-in cellar—D’Vine has all the hallmarks of your usual, mediocre wine bistro. The reality is a bit more complex. Despite failings typical of these restaurants (sub-par produce, sweet sauces), the genuinely lovely service make D’Vine a lot more tolerable than some of its counterparts. But the reason trendy families flock here is probably more down to the exposed brick and checkerboard floors which combine with white panel walls and opulent leather chairs to provide a setting that’s part Victorian gentleman’s club, part medieval banquet hall. The refreshingly brief menu is categorized as tapas, pastas and mains. We’ve had zero luck with the tapas, though (D’Vine tapas platter, B300). The crab cake, despite a pleasant texture, is too light on flavor—one for the kids, really. The potato skin is heaped with cheese—yawn. And the shrimps weren’t even fresh on our last visit. However, they do slightly better on the pasta front; or at least they cook it al dente. The squid ink spaghetti with seafood (B230) has a nice salty flavor (even if, here too, the freshness is not stellar). The ravioli stuffed with (a tiny drop of) foie gras (B270) would actually be pretty tasty were they not doused in a sauce that’s too thick, too salty and too buttery. Prices are pretty low, though, such as the grilled Australian beef tenderloin for B590. But you’re getting rather bland meat which is, once again, completely overpowered by its rich pepper sauce. As is typical of this kind of restaurant, there are also some Thai dishes, which can actually turn out to be a safer option. The nam tok kha moo (pork hock in spicy herbal sauce, B250), for example, is deep-fried to a nice crisp and comes with a pleasant herbal sauce. Overall, though, the food here is clearly overshadowed by the décor. As there’s nothing too inspiring about the menu, D’Vine is just another eatery that sells patrons on the glamorous idea of sitting and sipping wine in a polished décor, without costing five-star hotel prices. Corkage B500.