Napa East Wine Lounge & Shop

LOVE Napa East! Hidden gem in an industrial area. Once you walk in you feel like you have left Nashua! Nice atmosphere and the service is friendly.

There are many options for wine and you can choose between a sip, half, and full glass. The food is tasty and can be a bit pricey, so I would say it's great for a date night or a special event.

There comes a time in every person's life when they ask themselves, am I making the right choices? Did I do the right thing? What if I had done it differently?

Well, my friends, I can honestly say that I believe I made the right choice in bringing my family here to celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday night. While it may take a skilled GPS to find the place (the 3 year old system in my car did NOT recognize the address but the one on my phone did), it is absolutely worth it.

I decided to try this place after our go-to special occasion restaurant was totally booked and I had seen it featured on the Phantom Gourmet just a week earlier. We arrived about 10 minutes before our reservation and were seated immediately. I will say that the number of tables in the place is small compared to the amount of space, however the chairs are cushioned and supremely comfortable, as are the booths (which my bro pointed out, are upholstered in red, faux crocodile... so hot), and the tables offer plenty of room for apps, sharing plates and many, MANY wine glasses at once.

I can honestly say I didn't taste anything here I didn't like. Although my brother's linguine pesto was somewhat bland for a pesto, everything else was superb. Since it was Mother's Day, and there was an insane amount of wine being sampled, we tried a vast majority of the menu, save for a pizza selection. The cheese platter, crab cakes, chicken meatballs, french onion soup, lobster mac and cheese and chowder were shared and devoured, while my haddock was cooked TO PERFECTION and dad's brined pork chop was incredibly juicy and flavorful.

Alas, my favorite thing here is the wine selection. I am a professionally trained wine specialist and their selection (while heart-breakingly lacking in any French offerings, although understandably considering it's called NAPA East) is unmatched. A few too many Cab Sav's and Pinot Noirs, not enough Shiraz and Zinfandels, AND ONLY ONE MALBEC! WHAAAATTT???  But those we tried, we liked. I loved being able to make custom flights, which really helped when teaching my brother the finer points of a CA vs. NZ Pinot. All in all, a win for the S. fam...

This may become a go-to yet.... as long as they consider scaling back the Cabs...

Ah, Napa East... where do I begin with you?  So much to talk about.

First of all, I'll say that if you need a nice date night spot, this place isn't bad.  The location is strange... it's in this industrial area that's kinda hard to find.  You are not going to just run into this place - it's a little out of the way and off the beaten path.  

Once you're inside, the industrial theme continues.  The tall ceilings make it feel nice and open, and the lighting is somewhat muted.  So it makes a good date night spot.  Now lets talk about the wines, which is what you really want to know about.  I have to admit that for southern NH, I was impressed with the selection.  Lots of good choices here.  But do expect to pay for it, as the wines don't come cheap.  They do offer different sizes, ranging from sips (good for tasters), up to full glasses, and the bottle itself.  

The food left a little to be desired.  At this price point, I expect the meals to not only taste delicious, but also to be presented accordingly.  I watched the meals arrive at the table next to us, and the salads look like something you'd get at Chili's.  Not that I'm knocking Chilis, but at least they price their salads accordingly.  The salads I saw didn't look that great.  As for my meal, I ordered the Kobe beef sliders and paella.  The paella was good, although the chicken was a little on the dry side.  The sliders were just "ok"... i thought that the beef was a little charred, but the meat itself was good quality.  Could've used a bit more flavor.

So, three stars from me today.  It's nice to see trendy restaurants in this area.  I like the concept, and our service was excellent.  But the food was just "ok", which is not ok when you're spending $100 for some wine and a few appetizers.