Annata Wine Bar

I loved the Annatta wine bar it was cozy inside&great selections of wines very relaxing atmosphere!!Can.t wait to go again!!

I wish Yelp had a half star option, because this place is definitely  a 4.5.  Had to round it up, because it's almost perfect.

The tapas were all good, but the oyster appetizer was a little too Italian influenced.  They had an essentially Oysters Rockefeller they threw some sausage into, which wasn't the best idea.  It was good, but a little weird.  Creative, but it didn't ultimately work.  

The service needs a little work.  They seem to have runners who take your initial order, then a dedicated server who takes your order again.  The runner took our order for two glasses of Tomasello's Blueberry Champagne (delicious) and a cheese platter, and served the platter to us without telling us either the price ($12) nor the cheeses included.  Luckily the cheeses were all delicious (especially the smokehouse cheddar) and the price was reasonable.  After we'd eaten half the cheese, our server came around to ask us how it was and asked pointedly if the runner had told us what cheeses were on the board.  We told her, "No", and she then named the cheeses for us.

Our server was quick to recognize our wine choices - all we had to say was "We'd like the Stag's Leap..." and she said, "You want two glasses of the Artemis?"  We did.  We'd had the leather bound wine list open and it was on the cabs page.  It was $22 a glass and worth it.  We should have bought the entire bottle for $80, but we were going to see a show at the nearby theater (Urinetown - it was great!  The theater was rinky dink, but the performance was as good as any live theater performances I've seen in Philadelphia), so we didn't have time to linger.  That sounds like an overpriced wine, but a different, lesser year's vintage of the same wine is $50 a bottle at  local liquor retailer Joe Canals, so the markup is impressively lower than average.  And it's a dry and soft and wonderful wine that made the yummy blueberry champagne taste like a wine cooler.  I would definitely pay $80 for a bottle of it in a lovely, comfortable restaurant like Annata Wine Bar.  Not every weekend.  Maybe once a year.  

They had an excellent wine list, overall.  Lots of very good choices from the best wine regions, with many different prices.  

Their shrimp ceviche was disappointing.  It was filled with very fresh ingredients and served with super crisp, delicious vegetable chips (carrot and spinach - the chips were better than the ceviche), but it desperately needed a splash of vinegar or at least lemon.

The best was a special tapas plate of sweet pulled pork served on a sweet pancake.  It was the second cheapest thing we'd ordered, maybe $13, and it was delicious and amazingly filling.  

While we ate, a jazz trio played in the corner.  They looked like retired music teachers and they were really good.  

You could sit all night in their overstuffed dining chairs, slowly drinking a bottle of wine.  Next time I go there (and I will definitely go there again), dinner will last two hours instead of one.

I was happy and excited to make the trek to Hammonton to try a restaurant that I had heard such great things about. I was not disappointed.

One of the best parts about the meal here was the interesting collection of dishes. One of the specials I had, squid ink pasta (yes the pasta was made with actual squid ink, making it black) was delicious.

Of course this being a wine bar, the meal would be incomplete without a delicious Italian wine.

I was happy to try this little gem in the middle of the state and will make the trip again.