Bar Veloce

I visited Bar Veloce last night at 176 7^th Ave. It is very, very popular! I actually had trouble finding a seat when I walked in. Clearly this must be a great place, right? We shall see…after checking in on foursquare, I found that for every third check in at Bar Veloce you get a free glass of Prosecco! Sweet :)

The bar was decorated nicely and had an old black and white film playing on a tv in the back of the bar. Wine bottles are on display behind the bar in a seemingly endless neck rack along the wall. The walls are exposed brick and one wall was lined with mirrors. It looks like it could be a chic place.

I can’t say much for the service because all of the tables were bar service only, as indicated by a friendly card placed on each of the tables. So, you have to go to the bartender to order your wine. This is the first time I’ve been to a wine bar that didn’t have any wait staff. Not quite as relaxing as I would have hoped.

I grabbed a menu from the bar and took a look at what wines they had to offer. I have to say that while the selection was small, all of the wines were from Italy and they were very unique. Many of the wines I hadn’t heard of or had never tried before. Each of the wines also has a description of its body, flavors, and tannins which I thought was a really great touch, especially if you’re not familiar with wine. Glasses started at $9 with the most expensive being $17 and bottles were on average between $40 and $50 and up to $120.

After reviewing the menu, I decided that I wanted a white wine on the sweeter side, so I tried to order the Moscato, but they were sold out. The bartender recommended the Müller-Thurgau that they had on special. I asked how it compared to the Moscato and he told me that it was a little less sweet, but very aromatic and floral. He really seemed to know what he was talking about. I chose the Müller-Thurgau and headed back to my table. The wine smelled grassy and fresh. It had a great acidity and tasted pleasantly of apricot and had a touch of a white pepper, but it had a short finish. It was a good way to cool off on a muggy evening.

Overall, Bar Veloce isn’t anything to go crazy over. I felt that because it was bar service only it took away from what should be a relaxing wine bar experience and turned it into a no frills, potentially standy, midtown after-work bar. Adding to the bar’s “midtowny” atmosphere, the bathroom was gross and the toilet wouldn’t flush. Lovely and sanitary!

I wasn’t very impressed with Bar Veloce, nor was I appalled except for the bathroom situation. But, in all honesty, I’ve had better. I don’t really even want to come back here two more times to get that free glass of Prosecco. I give Bar Veloce a rating of 2.5 out of 5 glasses.

Cool wine bottle display

Getting standy...

Müller-Thurgau

This stick man will not be coming to your table.

Felice

I stopped by Felice at 1166 1^st Ave tonight and I have to say, sadly, that I was not impressed with this wine bar. I really wanted to love this place and I had such high hopes for it.

Without further ado, here goes my first negative review in Clint Eastwood style; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

I’ll start with the Good. The décor was awesome with a great Old World feel to it. The bar was rustic and felt like a mix of an Italian café and the captain’s quarters of a ship (I should tell you that I have this fascination with pirates…). You’ll see what I mean from the pictures. The seats were very comfortable tan tufted leather and the tables were all made of hefty wood and adorned with candles. Wine bottles lined both walls up to the ceiling and in the center of the room hung a very cool fixture that consisted of glass jugs suspended from the ceiling. I imagine it would be quite romantic later in the evening with softer lighting and candles lit. Like I said, very high hopes for this place!

Felice had a huge selection of unique Italian wines, which were very reasonably priced. Glasses of wine were between $8 and $18 and bottles started at $34 up to an average of $120. There was one expensive bottle that caught my attention, since I love Nebbiolo. It was a 2001 Angelo Gaja Sori San Lorenzo for $360. Someday, Nebbiolo, someday…

Felice seems to be a neighborhood haunt, as the customer base was pretty casual and the age groups varied quite a bit. There were couples in their late 20s, late 40s/early 50s, and even a mother with her little tyke, who was adorable and quite a social little dude (he was running around the bar).

I didn't order any of their appetizers, but the scents wafting from the kitchen were heavenly. If I do return to Felice, perhaps I'll try the food.

Now, on to the Bad. This is partially my fault because I made a poor selection for my wine. I always like to try a wine I’ve never had before at each wine bar, so at Felice I selected a Schiava. The first sip tasted like fermented NyQuil. Seriously. After a couple sips I did get used to it, but the wine was heavy on the tannins and very astringent. It would probably be better as a food wine rather than by itself. Regardless of this fact, I have never had a wine that I disliked by itself, aside from Port. My not liking the wine shouldn’t necessarily be attached to Felice, but the next category absolutely should be.

You know what comes next – The Ugly. The staff gave me a warm greeting as I entered the bar. “Great!” I thought to myself, “this is going to be a pleasant experience”. And then I sat down. I was one of only 4 customers in the bar and once I reviewed the menu for a while, not one of the many waiters and waitresses on duty came to my table to take my order or help me with any wine selections until about 5 minutes had passed. They were a bit unprofessional and were hanging out next to the bar area talking loudly and goofing off. I happened to have a table right by the bar, so I was awkwardly (I love that word, don’t I?) amidst it all. This place was very small, so it’s not as if they were out of sight or earshot of the customers. They did start moving around and checking on tables once more groups of customers arrived, but they would still congregate at the end of the bar and continue their banter after they made their brief stops at the tables. It's perfectly fine to have fun at work, but not directly in front of the customers to that extent. This really ruined the experience for me and I was very disappointed. At least it looks like a fun place to work.

Maybe it was just my seat, maybe it was because I was alone and there was no one to distract me from the rowdy staff, but I rate this place 2.9 out of 5 glasses. Sorry, Felice! I wanted so badly to love you, but it just wouldn’t have worked out between us.

Outside of Felice

See what I mean? Italian cafe/Ship. Love it!

Fermented Nyquil or Schiava?