Wine Bar and Bistro

Great food. Great menu (especially for vegetarians). Would be perfect for a date night but only if you already know the person!! Do not, I repeat, do not come here for a first date. They are leisurely with the service. We thought maybe they were doing the whole European thing but decided that was not the case since it was well over half an hour between us sitting down and them coming to take out drink order. More attentive service would definitely bump this review up to a four or five. But two hours start to end for just apps and dinner is longer than I prefer.

Came up here just a couple of days ago for a Friday night dinner. We wanted to sit in the backyard but it was all full! The night was super beautiful. But they seated us close to the outside area lol in a 2 person booth. The food was FANTASTIC. Everything we had was just flavors exploded in our mouth, but I think we were also starving! The lamb in the entree is a must order item on the menu. It was just so delicious and the black garlic cous cous underneath makes it a complete circle along with the sumac yogurt. The charred beet salad is amazing... the chimichurri vinaigrette... yumm... and the slices of oranges you get just adds a splash of brightness in your mouth. We also had the pan seared pork belly... the sunchoke relish was what makes it! We also had the crab cakes, The tomato and cucumber salad that goes along with it was delightful. We need to go back there and try other items soon. Only reason it's a 4 because the seat was a little bit uncomfortable... Feel like the booth was too tall and when I wanted to cross my leg it would hit the table and slam into my boyfriend's legs... and also the food came out really really slow... wish we had gotten the bread as soon as we sat down so we are not drooling over hunger. But overall, it was a really delicious and enjoyable dinner.

The sauteéd calamari appetizer was generally tasteless and maybe two dozen-or-so seconds overcooked---I think the red sauce with which it was served is the only redeeming factor of the dish; it'd do much better with lightly-battered-and-fried calamari, which would not only combat the blandness, but it would also serve as a superior vehicle for the sauce, which was actually pretty good.

The beef tartare wasn't bad, though I much preferred the unadvertised Kalamata olive tapenade that seemed to be thrown on the side of the dish as an afterthought. The bread served before the meal, and with the tartare, was very good---much better than most in the Capital Region.

The fried "rack of lamb" entrée was OK---not great, and not really even very close to the best I've had in this region at a restaurant---that honor goes to the now-deceased Tosca Grill, and I've even had better at Grappa '72. I was given three fairly small pieces of lamb, despite being labeled as a "rack." The lamb slices had a nice-looking crust, though it didn't contribute much in the way of texture or flavor---the curst, and the lamb itself was generally bland. I stuck with the default doneness of medium-rare, though I think lamb should be a little less-done than what they served. The black garlic couscous, upon which the lamb laid, was actually the most interesting part of the dish, though that's not at all a testament to the couscous.

The pan-seared duck dish fared a bit better with regard to flavor, though it still suffered from the stingy plating of proteins apparent at the Wine Bar---I'd imagine for a restaurant that makes most of its revenue from the markup on its wine they could afford to serve larger portions. While eating the duck, I also smelled a mildly-fishy odor from my compadre's scallops---not a good sign.

The waitress was helpful and friendly, though it was odd that no one checked-in after the entrées were served---it wasn't until after the plates were ready to be cleared (long after it was apparent that no more wine was to be ordered) that anyone asked how if the meal was satisfactory.

Overall, the Wine Bar and Bistro is the highest-rated restaurant in this region to which I'll likely never return. If the portions were slightly larger, I'd probably give them three stars (the food quality is good-enough for that), though it still wouldn't warrant a return visit from me.