Cellar & Loft

Checked out Cellar and Loft with a LivingSocial deal.  Knowing that often times LS events are harder to book, I reserved my tasting about 3 weeks in advance with no problem (it was the last weekend before it expired).  

My friend and I were so pleasantly surprised.  Walking down the stairs into the wine cellar is the coolest thing ever!  It's such a great environment and the subtle live music was a great touch.  The meat and cheese tray was elementary, but fine for what we were there for.  

We had such a good time that we ordered a bottle of wine to enjoy for the evening.  We even got to sit outside for a little while before it got too chilly.

I was so impressed I went and ahead and joined their wine club!  I am anxiously awaiting my frist delivery in February.  My boyfriend and I are going in on Friday for their First Friday tasting and are looking forward to it!

I wanted to like Cellar and Loft a lot, I really did. But after a less than stellar experience with a Living Social deal, I don't know that I'll be back to support this business very often.

Basically, I had the same experience as Brian S. - when I contacted Cellar & Loft last week to see when I could use my voucher for the wine tasting with cheese, meat, and chocolate, I was told that I had waited too long (even though the voucher was good for another 11 days at that point), and that I could utilize my voucher as a gift certificate, but that was pretty much it. Now, other places that had similar vouchers in the past actually made an effort to schedule more tastings for people, but apparently that was just too much to ask from Cellar & Loft. Sigh. So much for my date night with the husband!

When we went in last weekend to use our "gift certificate", we were greeted immediately and offered a tour, which was cool. The employee showed us around the entire store, and then gave us some info on their wine club. We ended up picking out a somewhat more expensive bottle of wine than we'd usually purchase, but figured it was worth it since we now had a "gift certificate". While our purchase was being rung up, another employee (or maybe one of the owners?) gave us a suggestion on how long we should decant the wine before drinking it, which was appreciated. So the staff were definitely friendly, and the wine selection was good - hence the 2 stars.

After we paid for our wine and left, I noticed that we had not been credited for the full amount of our Living Social "gift certificate". Yes, it was only a couple of dollars of a difference, but still. I was disappointed enough that we weren't able to do our tasting, and just felt ripped off overall.

I think that there are other similar places that do things better, so unless the wine we bought ends up being the BEST WINE EVER, I don't think I'll be back to Cellar & Loft very often.

We bought a Living Social deal that was a for a wine tasting with a meat and cheese platter and a chocolate tasting.

Earlier today, we called to see if they were open, and they said we were. We asked about coming into to do a tasting, and they told us that was great, to come on down. However, as soon as we mentioned the Living Social deal, they told us that their tasting schedule suddenly (and suspiciously) full. The voucher expires in a couple of weeks, so we asked about scheduling another date and time, and they told us that it was impossible. They would not have another spot to have THAT tasting until after the coupon expired. We were out of luck.

I smelled bullshit, and pushed them, so they offered to convert the voucher into a $25 gift  card. That might seem fair, but upon visiting their store, we found that their wine selection was pretty limited and overpriced, focusing on the higher end. Their bargain wines were $35+ per bottle.

Their "beer cellar" was basically empty, and the few bottles they did have were comparable to the HyVee liquor section selection; nothing special and available less expensively elsewhere.  

So what was going to be a fun date ended up being a disappointing shopping trip as we spent an hour trying to find some product that would allow us to get our money back out of the gift card, without spending MORE above and beyond it.

I'm not sure if they mismanaged the Living Social deal, or underestimated its cost to them when setting it up, but I was really disappointed with how they handled it. They have a cool space, and I probably would have enjoyed hanging out there, but this experience ruined it. It made them seem like shady people who were perfectly OK blowing expectations.