If you want to hit on women who travel in packs, this could be the place for you. There were lots of women there.
If you're a woman who wants to be hit on by men, this is likely not the place for you. The only other men I saw there were 1/2 of a couple.
If you're a smoker, this is the place for you. You even get your own room for smoking.
If you're a non-smoker, this is not the place for you. The room for smoking is wide open to the rest of the place.
The wine list was long but not much longer than some I've seen at places that don't claim to be wine bars. Also, they lack moscato and only had one riesling. No fancy fruity wines either. At $8 a glass, I'm going elsewhere next time.
But, the waitress was friendly. Really. She was.
Went here last night for dinner and it was great. Â We all ordered different wines (mine was tasty) and small plates. Â Everything tasted nice and fresh. Â My scallops were cooked perfectly and the sweet potato gnocchi with brussel sprouts was unique and delicious. Â I'd recommend going here if you're looking for an extensive wine menu (of course) and tasty small plates!
Review Source:I've gone here many times over the past four years. I like the atmosphere, the menu, and the food is consistently good. I've experienced a few rude/annoyed/unhelpful waiters which really brings down the rating. The smoking room is cool if you don't mind something like that, but it does spill into the dining room a bit and changes the feeling of the place. The value of the food is about right, maybe on the high side.
Review Source:Well my wealthy friends and I frequent the wine bar because we like to be around only people of our social status. Excuse me while I attempt to pull my head out of my ass.
I do believe it is inextricably stuck there at the moment.
Please........BIOYA winies. The place is about as 'high end' as the rear ends of the managers who run it. You have got to be kidding. It's one thing to be pretentious but when you have nothing to be pretentious about ?
Such joints would never survive in a real city. Let's face it Saratoga is in unsophisticated upstate NY.
My wife and I meandered into The Wine Bar on a cold and blustery April evening. Â We had been once before and decided to stick around for dinner. Â Thankfully we were seated downstairs (basically the 1st floor - there is a walk-up to get in) by a roaring fire. Â (Also "thankfully" because of the smokers zone in the back on the 1st floor. YUCK YUCK YUCK. Â I would not have stayed if we HAD TO sit up there. Â Once again, YUCK.)
Michael was our server - great! Â Amy was in the mix too - Wonderful! Â Now the food.
Truly awesome! Â (And I don't use that word lightly.) Â We knew that the portions are smaller than other restaurants but that the quality is much higher. Â I had the filet mignon ($15 option) and my wife had the scallops ($15 option). Â There is a larger portion/price, but you don't really need it. Â Beer was $4/bottle which was fine and wine was $8.
We also had the humus which was very good.
This is a great place to eat.
Summary- A place better suited to a quick visit than a real meal based on limited menu and lack of bang for the buck. Imaginative and at times awesome little plates but for some reason The Wine Bar doesn't scream nice meal out to me.
Food- 3 Stars
We started with the Hummus plate and Med Olive plate. The Hummus my wife makes better at home by a long shot, but the pita as nice and warm. The Med Olives were also warm, but there were two maybe three types of olives. Again, I can do better at the price chopper olive bar. Low score on course 1.
We then got a salad, the duck prosciutto, and a filet to split. Both the salad and the duck were examples of when The Wine Bar hits well. The Duck prosciutto itself was excellent and had some awesome pairing items (fig paste & walnuts yum) on the plate with it, we fought over the end of it. The salad was simple but perfect. Â The Filet dish overall as meh. Nothing wrong with it, but it certainly didn't have anything memorable either, steak slightly overdone and not the greatest single piece of tenderloin either.
Overall I was much more impressed with the items they had out at the previous networking event I had been to then I was sitting down and eating off their menu. It's missing something... like specials would have been nice to add to a pretty basic menu.
Atmosphere- 4 Stars
Still like the inside, nothing changed there. I haven't experienced any issues with the smoking room but I have also never sat close.
Drinks- 2 Stars
I just think their selection and variety are kinda blah. Especially going back again and seeing many of the same exact everything (I think the menu was exactly the same). The first glass I got was just an awful red blend called Flirt.. at least I didn't care for it. A place called The Wine Bar should do better.
Service- 4 Stars
Waiter was good enough and no timing issues or anything like that.
Value- 2.5 Stars
Pretty much where it belongs, maybe a shade high ($9 super simple salad)
I would give this joke of a "whine bar" a half star if it was an option. The owner is a troll and her minions were unattractive, unkempt and classless. I'll get to the clueless part later. I don't think any of the staff had teeth because not one person cracked a smile or greeted us as we entered. Their unbecoming black outfits were fitting because they were all acting like they were going to be attending a funeral. Now for the clueless part. You can't make money if you don't offer a wine menu or open your mouth to ask for an order!!!!!! After waiting 15 minutes to be served on a slow night, I received a lip stick rimmed glass (fuchsia is not my color) of watery Cabernet. If I could have gotten anyone's attention, I would have sent it back. I love other big city venues that have the vibe that this place doesn't even attempt to achieve. You guys so need to get a grip and realize that you are NOT high end so knock off your pretentious airs! Better yet, keep doing just what your doing so you can go out of business as soon as possible. When you go up for a fire sale, I'll be there to pick up the pieces and run it properly. Until then, me, my husband and friends won't step foot back in the "whine" bar. I highly recommend that no one else go in there and pay money to deal with your drama!
Review Source:Had the prosecco: very good, a bit soft, but thoroughly enjoyable. Â Then had the Sauvignon Blanc, the petit Chablis and a San Giovese. Â They were all worth drinking. Â We had the happy hour burgers and mac and cheese. Â The sliders were very good and the first bites of the mac and cheese were great. Â Then it dropped a notch. Â In all, it was a pleasant place with slightly uninteresting wines and cigar smoke from the back room.
Low was the room and the smoke.
High was the burger and prosecco.
Truly attentive waiter from Virginia.
Loved, loved this place on my weekend getaway. It was definitely a good place to just relax grab a bite and get to sample a few different wines. I chose to go the sampling route. I had wines from South Africa and Australia which definitely were great, and also awakened the taste buds. We were only passing for a drink but opted to stay and eat there since we got a nice window seat to watch the passersby.
I had a burger, yeah burger and wine but it hit the spot perfectly, and since I did a glance around to see what others had, I went there. My friend had scallops, which we enjoyed as well.
The only disappointment was our dessert which was a molten lava cake, was a bit burnt. But otherwise I was definitely happy.
unless you want to spend more money than its worth, for an average meal, avoid the place. apparently the owners have "Nantucket disease", which means an average place, that starts to believe otherwise, because people feel good about themselves when they waste money, but go to a place with undeserved cache!!!! Tiny portions, seriously, a carrot for 10$ made to look like a fancy salad, with nothing extraordinary to justify prices. Manager never responded to complaints. Staff is fine. Seems to be an ownership problem. we wont be going back. many other fine choices in the area!!!
Review Source:I ate at the Wine Bar a few years ago, long before I knew there was such a thing as Yelp. My memory of that meal is that it was good. Inventive.
Our meal tonight was neither good or inventive. It's restaurant week so I took advantage of the restaurant week menu, 3 courses for 20.11. One would think that during restaurant week, the restaurant would want to put it's best foot forward to entice patrons into returning. One would be wrong in this case.
My appetizer of brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes with spicy chili sauce was spicy but that's it. Other than the heat of spice it was bland and badly need salt, which as per today's custom, was not on the table (I HATE that trend)
My entree of braised pork over lemony rice with scallions was not much better. Despite it being an understandably small restaurant week portion, I didn't finish it. The pork was really dry and like the appetizer, bland. My boyfriend ordered off of the regular menu and his food was a little bit better. His beef dish was tender but it was served on a bed of beans that resembled canned pork and beans. It didn't taste like canned pork and beans because like everything else, it was bland. It didn't taste like anything. Odd.
We decided to quit while we were ahead and not order dessert other than my included dessert. We each took a bite, put down our forks and asked for the check. I can not even tell you what the dessert was but I can tell you that it tasted like infant rice cereal and did not end the meal on a good note.
What a disappointing experience. The service was OK. Oddly formal and stiff while being inattentive. Not sure how they accomplished that.
Sadly, despite living within walking distance, we won't be back.
Almost forgot- despite the separate smoking room, you can smell the cigar smoke while you dine and it's quite gross.
This is a fantastic establishment. Small with a lounge atmosphere. Great modern winelist. Expect a continually updated list with interesting wines by the glass. The food comes with beautiful presentation and wonderful flavor mixes. In general this is one of my favorites in the area. I suspect that some of the poor reviews may be from tourists who visit us from New York City or Boston or other major metropolitan areas. The point I am making is that you cannot compare restaurants in a tourism based economy (where the staff doubles and the money to support the restaurant for the year is made during racing season) with restaurants in a year-round, high competition dinning environment. Therefore, Saratoga will never hold up to the newest and best priced happenings in New York City. Yet, for the area, the Wine Bar does a fantastic job and is one of the finest here.
Review Source:We really enjoyed the malbec and cabernet wines that were suggested to our party. Â Our server was attentive and knowledgeable about the wines offered. Everyone enjoyed their meals. Â I had shrimp with cous cous that was fabulous followed by chocolate cake with salted caramel ice cream. Â It was a fabulous meal in an ambient setting. Â I will come back next time I am in town.
Review Source:The hostess who was working on the night I visited was as clueless, obstructive and FOS as they come. Â I visit plenty of similar establishments in far bigger cities and am used to the "culture" of a wine establishment. Â THe wine list, when I was allowed to look at it, seemed impressive. Â And the clientele who were there, presumably having a more pleasant experience, was a welcome break from the typical loud crowd at the nearby bar. Â But this hostess wanted to make us wait 30+ minutes for a table, downstairs, on a late sunday night..even though there was a perfectly open table there near the bar area. Â WHich, by the way, was still unoccupied when my party and I left 13 minutes later.
Review Source:We stopped in here this past weekend (10/11/09) for a couple drinks while we were waiting for clients to meet us for dinner while in Saratoga for a convention. The decor is really cool and the staff was attentive and helpful. I can't speak for the food, but this is a cool place to come for drinks if you have a little time to kill.
Review Source:First off, what a coincidence that Bobby C gave this place 5 stars especially considering HE IS THE BARTENDER AT THIS PLACE. Â Really professional alright.
Next, I'll say that if you come to this place, your best bet is to stick with what they do best. Â Namely wine and cheese. Â The cheese plate, while a bit pricey, was delicious and a great app to share with a group.
Their mixed drinks, however, left a lot to be desired. Â For the record, a hendricks gimlet is NOT simply a glass full of hendricks witih ice. Â While I appreciate you not skimping on the liquor, I did miss the taste of a well crafted cocktail.
So, if you go, stay within their wheelhouse and I'm sure you'll be fine.
I ate The Wine Bar after much anticipation on 8/19. I will never return. We ordered the cheese plate and wine to start with, but our server was very neglectful. I hate when I go to a restaurant and notice people around me being served while my table is neglected. I hate having to ask for anything when I dine out; it should be offered. Our server was nice, but inattentive. I noticed her serving other tables around us promptly. We were there for hours before we finished up.
The food was okay. I had the Halibut, which was over cooked. The corn chutney it was served with was actually delicious. Another diner I was with had the chicken livers, which she loved. My husband ordered the scallops, which you could smell the second they were served. Not a good sign. You shouldn't be able to smell fish; not if it's fresh anyway. He sent them back and ordered the pizza, which was bland. He left hungry and upset about the experience.
If the service had been better or the food consistent, then I think I'd return and give the place another chance. However, the food was not consistently good (or fresh) nor was the service. I feel like we wasted 3 hours of our life and over $100 at a place that didn't care to see us happy or return. So, we won't.
Where do I begin. Â First of all let me start with a little background, it's Wed night during track season. Â Granted any day during track season will be busy, but I would expect that Wed. would be one of the slowest days of the week regardless. Â Now everything started off great, we had dinner reservations for 3 at 7pm and when we arrived we had no waiting time getting into our seats, and we had water very shortly after sitting down. Â We had a small delay in ordering our wine due to the groups inability to decide on a bottle or individual glasses of wine. Â This is where the experience began to fall apart. Â Slowly but surely the place began to fill up and soon it was very apparent that our server was overwhelmed. Â To her credit she seemed nice, but we saw her so infrequently that we sat for about 30 minutes until we were able to order an appetizer and a couple of us ran out of water for quite some time. Â Often times one of us was out of wine or water and I began noticing that everyone else around us who had arrived after we had already had food, appetizers and even dinners in some cases. Â It seems our server had much more of an interest in helping the folks outside rather than the ones near the bar. Â Dinner was yet to come, but it was certainly nothing to brag about. Â My scallops arrived about 8:30pm (let me remind you we had 7pm reservations on a Wed.), and were fishy and metallic in taste. Â I promptly returned them and ordered a pizza which arrived well after 9pm burnt and bland. Â Now I understand that my server had nothing to do with my poor food quality, and do not hold that against her. Â However, the even poorer service made my overall experience extremely disappointing. Â I have lived in the area for over 3 years now and this place has always been held in high regard by many people. Â Perhaps I had and isolated case, but I can say with absolute certainty, that I could have spent my $100+ at any number of other great establishments and would not return home almost 3 hours later still hungry and very disappointed. Â There are a number of very comparable places I would recommend over this one including Brindisi's, 51 Front St. Wine Bar (in Ballston Spa), Chianti's, or the Grey Gelding. Â There are so many other options to spend your money in Saratoga Springs and I have to say that although the wine was quite good, I did not care much for dinner. Â As I returned my second dinner due to it's lack of edibility, my server says that she will take it off the bill. Â As if this place had the notion that I was going to pay for it after waiting for over 2 hours for my old scallops. Â That really was the straw that broke the camels back for me. Â I have never taken the time to write any review on here before until now. Â This restaurant is not interested in my experience or happiness, clearly only my money. Â Which I can say it will never see again. Â I also need to add that our food was served to us by one of the managers, and water from another random worker both of whom clearly saw how neglected our table was unlike our server whom we had to flag down constantly to get her attention when we had some kind of need. Â Look don't look at other reviews and say that I am just bitter. Â Take it from someone who lives in the area and has eaten at just about every food establishment in the area so I do have some frame of reference. Â Hope this helps you make a better choice, good luck.
Review Source:I love to sit at the bar and enjoy small plate items while having a few glasses of various wines. Â Nice atmosphere, good food, good wine, and a friendly staff. Â That said, here is my issues with Wine Bar.
 1. Its become a business man hang out with boisterous conversations in front of the fire about how paperclip sales were up this quarter.
 2. I wish there was a larger wine selection and feel most of the wines are too "safe" and extremely similar to one another.
 3. They have 1 red flight and 1 white flight.
In the end I look past these things and have a great time. Â The wines are appropriately priced, the food delicious, and sitting at the bar is a good time. Â I wish a place like this existed only with a younger mid 30's - 40's crowd instead of the older business man crowd that it is.
A classy dive filled with metropolitanites seeking down time after a long day at the racetrack. Either reveling from complimentary champagne or reeling from losing horse bets, these polished sophisticates still need a place to roam after the sun sets.
Cuban cigar smoking women in the isolated glass room lounge casually sprawled all over the fine leather furniture clinching half empty martini stem glasses...bachelorette party from out of town or just local blue-blooded socialites? The vertigo was slowly creeping in, so I spiraled my way to the downstairs lounge where I am comforted by a Barry Manilowy melodist at the piano. Â
That best sums up my experience here. It's the work of good wine, endless tapas, and being surrounded by a well dressed happy crowd. I had a great time here!
Wine bar located in downtown Saratoga Springs. I just went here for drinks after dinner one night. Â I think they also serve dinner. Â The wine was great. Â I would agree with the other reviews the selection is extensive. Â Great place to hang out with friends/co-workers or good date place.
Review Source:By far the best food you'll find in Saratoga Springs (yes, it's better than One Caroline). Â The ahi tuna and the quail are DElicious, as is the cheese platter (natch). Â A bit pricey, but most definitely worth it.
Also a great spot to hang out and split a bottle of vino with friends. Â Don't forget to check out the cigar lounge too!
And if the fantastic food and lovely atmosphere aren't reason enough for you to go, keep an ear out for the musical stylings of Carl Landa (he plays downstairs on occasion). Â If you haven't been fortunate enough to hear him play before, you should know that he is the best... THE BEST, I say!
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