Vino 313

I visited Vino 313, which is cleverly named for its location at 31^st and 3^rd. I was impressed with this place right away. The service was very prompt and as soon as I removed my layers of cold weather garb and sat down, the waitress arrived at my table. Once I finished looking over the menu, there she was! The attention was noticed and certainly appreciated.

The place was pretty empty when I arrived, but it started to pick up around 7 and was about half full. The people here seem to mostly be on the south side of 30 and some were here with friends and I did notice some couples on dates.

At first glance the wines look a little expensive for what they are: I recognized a Pinot Noir from the list because I buy it on occasion. It's $13 a glass here and while it is good, I know a bottle of it retails for a touch less than that. So, with that being my guide I decided to avoid the less expensive wines thinking they would be a bit sub-par. Glasses are between $9 and $14 and bottles ranged from $34 to $250. There were quite a few US wines from California, Oregon, and Washington. Lots of French wines, some wines were from Italy, and a small selection from other European countries.

After being disappointed with the reds that I've had at wine bars lately, I decided to be a big spender to order the $13 glass of 2007 Patrick Lesec Syrah from the Rhone Valley in hopes that I could enjoy a delicious glass of wine. Sigh....disappointed by a wine again. The Syrah smelled ok; like chocolate and I seemed to notice a hint of olive-like scents...hmm. It tasted like blackberry and had a touch of that olive flavor. It was very rich and medium bodied. It would have been better with food.

They even had a nice looking, albeit, overpriced list of fortified and dessert wines. Glasses were $10 to $25. I've had enjoyable sherrys that were less than the price of one glass here, same goes for the Port. Le sigh. My husband was out finishing up some Christmas shopping so I would have had time to enjoy a little glass of sweet wine, but honestly with these prices I wasn't tempted in the least. Maybe I'll just pick up a bottle on my way home instead.

The atmosphere at Vino 313 is nice and feels like your average Murray hill cafe. Upbeat, jazzy music was playing. The decor was nothing special: orangey walls, some tall booths, and standard wooden cafe tables.

I like the friendly atmosphere and service of Vino 313, but their wines aren't quite the value I would have expected. This would be a great place to enjoy some lunch with a side of wine, but from my experience there, judged solely as a wine bar I would give this place a rating of 3.4 out of 5 glasses.

The cafe vibe of the bar



The Other Room

I visited The Other Room last week at 143 Perry St in the West Village, completing my “Room” series. One of my best friend’s was visiting me along with her hubby, so we had ourselves a little double date here after dinner.

The Other Room is on a quiet street, which was so calm and silent that I wasn’t even sure that I had the correct address for the bar. But alas, as we made our way down the block, I spotted its sign and when we approached the unassuming exterior of the bar, we saw that it was actually really busy inside! It’s a bit far from the subways, so when people venture out to go to a bar, it’s very telling of how great the place should be.

I have to say, that this is my favorite of the “Room” wine bars. The atmosphere is just perfect; the music isn’t loud at all, the place is somewhat spacious, it's dimly lit and romantic, and just all around very friendly. If The Room and Anotheroom had a baby wine bar, it would be this place. The best features of the other two were used to create The Other Room: most of the walls were brick, they used the same dark colors that added to the cave-like environment in Anotheroom, and the lighting was very cozy. There was even enough space for us to grab some seats in the corner and have room to move around a bit. Similar to the layout of The Room, there was a seating area in the back of the bar with low profile leather couches surrounding a little coffee table. It would be a great space for a party. However, the place did have a gross factor - the bathroom smelled like a litter box that hadn't been cleaned in weeks.

The wines fell into a similar price range as the other bars with glasses being between $10 and $15. There was a pretty good variety of wines and we decided to order a bottle of easy to drink red wine. The Ribera del Duero sounded good, since it’s hard not to like the Tempranillo grape, which is the most widely used grape in Spain. This one, however, was a little disappointing. It smelled like currant and blackberry and a little earthy. It was on the sweeter side and tasted like berries and was a bit herbaceous as well. The wine was good with the first couple of sips, but meh…it wasn’t anything special. I’m a huge fan of Spanish wine and this just wasn’t what I would have expected.

I have noticed, unfortunately, that the “Rooms” all have one thing in common; underwhelming wine. While the atmosphere is very pleasant and relaxing, the wine list leaves something to be desired. I tried a different red wine at each of the bars and neither was a good example of what that style of wine should taste like. Maybe their selection of white wines is better. Despite this, the atmosphere at The Other Room was just so wonderful aside from the stinky bathroom that I really would like to go back and give the wines a second try. I give this place a rating of 4 out of 5 glasses.

Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood

Dark and cozy (and busy!)

Cheers!