Nectar Wine Lounge

Great food, small menu to choose from. Bonus was the Monday evening tasting of wines from a boutique Napa winery. And don’t miss their chocolate dessert!

we had such a great time there…
…and now it’s closed.
bummer

CRAP!!! They’re closed!!! Aww man! I loved this place! The food was awesome and so was the wine. If I put up this posthumous 5-​star rating, maybe they’ll come back? A girl can dream… :(

WTF?! Are you guys closed too? This place was 5 star worthy. Enjoyed the wine and cheese plates both times I was here.
All the good places are closing down… redonkulous

oh no, I heard that this wine lounge is going to close and I guess it is true based on this other review that I just read.
I really like the one in Burlingame but not the one in Marina.
love the décor, the wine and the food.

Extensive wine list, great selection of beer too, 50% off wine/​glass Monday-​Friday until 6:30pm, on weekends some bottles are discounted. Great place to go on a sunny day, the pizza and ravioli were delicious, a bit pricy but the discounted prices of the wine made up for it. They have a few selection of cheese and they are amazing, must try the Tomme Dulce and Savarin. And for dessert, get the chocolate fondant if you love chocolate like I do, sooo good. The servers were really friendly and knowlegeable. I think I might have found my favorite wine lounge close to home. :)

Last stop for our $ 200 date day was on our way home at Nectar Wine Lounge the next morning for brunch. My husband’s favorite meal of the day is breakfast, so I looked long and hard for a nice brunch spot to take him to… well, not really, I had a groupon, so I wanted to use it. :)
It was mother’s day, so I thought the spot would be packed, but we got there at 2pm and only 2 tables were occupied. The restaurant looks nice and bright inside, but their lighting is weird, and after a night of partying, it hurt my eyes to look directly at it.
We ordered a total of 3 wine flights and a champagne flight, along with ½ dozen kushi oysters with frozen pureed apple mignonette, a pizza with green garlic purée, chorizo, and I think arugula, and the open faced egg sandwich with pork belly and stewed tomatoes.
The pizza was delicious. It was very thin, like a cracker, and stayed crispy the entire time. I would go back again just for the pizza.
The egg sandwich was a different story. My husband is a bloodhound when it comes to rotten food, and I’m the total «Asian mom». If there’s a little mold on cheese, I’ll just cut away the moldy part and still try to use the cheese… if the tofu smells a little rotten, I’ll try to use extra soy sauce and black bean garlic sauce to hide the smell. But EVERY single time I do, my husband can tell as soon as he walks into the kitchen, and he’ll refuse to touch the food. Being a sushi chef at Google, I guess I can understand, though it drives the North-​Vietnamese-​never-​waste-​a-​thing in me CRAZY.
So when the egg sandwich came to the table, I felt like something smelled a little off, but I didn’t want to say anything. But immediately my husband said something smelled rotten on his plate. I asked if he wanted to return it, but he said not yet, he wanted to figure out which part was rotten. So he took apart his sandwich and it turned out the stewed tomatoes were rotten. It smelled pretty horrible actually, so we had to return the dish. They made it for us again with grilled tomatoes instead of stewed, and it turned out great. I think if they had a sauce over the whole thing, it would have put it over the top.
Their wines were all really good, and they gave free desserts on mother’s day for mothers. And being I stayed up until 4am last week for my doggy’s ear infection, I would say I’m as much of a momma as anyone else is… so I got my free Chai Cake with gelato and apples. The cake was so moist and flavorful.
I would come back here again if I was in the area, and I was happy to be able to use my Groupon. paying $ 25 for $ 50 worth of food.
I forgot how much the total of the bill was after that many flights of wine, but whatever it was, it seemed worth it.
Another date day come and gone, and I still love my husband more than I love air. It’s not easy finding the perfect mate in life. I’m so glad I found someone who is able to be my best friend, and enjoy the journey we call life right alongside with me. Until the next date day!

Nectar separates itself as a sophisticated urbanite in the main drag of downtown Burlingame restaurants. It looks positively inviting with its rich brown color palette, spacious lounge area and outside patio. The honeycomb structure is randomly present throughout the space.
I scored a groupon deal online and decided to try this place for brunch. Although the wine list is commendable and brunch sips like mimosas, red wine and champagne flight are available, I can’t comment on any of the drinks as I didn’t imbibe on any. I know, shocking, isn’t it?
You know what’s MIA on the brunch menu? pancakes. Although there is french toast listed for your carb cravings, it’s not the same thing. The menu focuses more on savory rather than sweet items for brunch which is a nice change if you’re bored with the usual offerings at other places.
The grilled shrimp salad with chicories, tangerine and grapefruit segments tossed in a warm olive oil vinaigrette was quite the opposite of what I expected. I was prepared to see a bowl of greens with shrimp but instead, I got a nicely laid out presentation of juicy shrimp on a bed of greens. Quite lovely but not a huge portion.
The crispy smoked salmon flatbread dotted with bits of kunmquats, paper thin slices of red onions and drizzled horseradish crème fraîche had LOTS of salty smoked salmon and roasted caperberries. What the heck are caperberries?! these tasted slightly vinegar-​like and have a grainy texture. It was interesting as I’ve never had it before, but paired well with the salmon.
The soft set eggs atop juicy dungeness crab claws and potatoes came with a chiffonade of cucumber salad and tomatoes on the side. Again, thoughtful presentation but not very filling. If you’re starving, please go to Stacks instead.
Service was very casual and unrushed. What a change from some of the brunch places in the city.
Nectar Wine Lounge fits the bill if you’re in the mood for light brunch fare and perhaps a bubbly in a relaxed atmosphere. We’ll all be smiling and looking forward to Monday if all weekend mornings start like this.

My husband and I went on a mini-​romantic getaway/​vacation, and our dinner at Nectar Wine Lounge was my FAVORITE part of the whole trip!
We stayed in SF (Union Square), and allotted an hour to get there for our 8pm, Saturday night reservations. We got there in half an hour, so we strolled around the neighborhood for a bit – very cool looking stores. I wish we had more time to just browse the area.
The service was Top Notch. Waiter, wine sommelier, everyone who came by our table was friendly and helpful. We’re not savvy wine drinkers, and we loved everything they suggested.
The food was blow your mind, ‘I’m not hungry anymore, but I have to eat this ambrosia’ delicious. I attached pictures of a few of our dishes, but the one thing I forgot to take a picture of, but truly enjoyed was the gnocchi. The salumi and charcuterie plate was beautifully presented, and even the pickled vegetables were notable. My FAVORITE item was the homemade pappardelle noodles.
Dessert gets a paragraph all to herself. We got the goat cheese semifreddo and the chai cake with cinnamon gelato. The semifreddo was really unique, and I like how the peppercorn meringue complimented the sweet fruits (yes, I said «peppercorn meringue»). I ate the entire chai cake, and the gelato, that heavenly cinnamon gelato, I owned that.
Writing this review has made me extremely hungry. I wished that we lived closer, so that we could go to Nectar regularly. I can see us planning our next romantic getaway around this area.

Very cute, adorable restaurant/​wine lounge. I’m loving the honeycomb theme.
Had dinner here recently and was impressed with the food, but so much the wine selection. Don’t take my word for it though, because I’m not a wine connoisseur.
I had the roasted chicken dish, which was cooked to perfection. The meat was juicy and tender, and the skin was crispy and infused with a sweet, tangy, soy-​sauce like flavor. The greens complemented the chicken, but I was hoping for something a little more filling like mashed potatoes. I ordered the wine pairing with dinner and was served with one white wine and three reds. Perhaps that’s where we went wrong because I prefer white wine over red. Our server was kind enough to give me a glass of riesling on the house — it made up for the three glasses of reds that I barely drank.
Excellent service, cute theme, worth going back to.

Love, love this place. Warm and relaxing. Wonderful wine selection and excellent menu, small but every dish we had was perfect. Please see my pics, we’ll being dining here again.
Waiter was fantastic.
Every dish was great but my favorite was:
nectar wine lounge’s beet & pear salad
roasted baby beets in a creamy avocado and coconut vinaigrette with wild pears & brown rice
The creamy avocado and coconut vinaigrette was amazing!

Drinks half off before 6:30? Sign me up.
If you don’t want to get caught in traffic heading up to the city, take a detour here. Good wine, good food, good service. All around a good experience.
I recommend: their steak, red wine flight, and cheese plate.

I have not tried the food at Nectar, but we recently took my CEO, who was visiting from Boulder, here for drinks. My wife had the dog with her, and the hostess gave her a table on the sidewalk, brought a water bowl, and filled it with a water bottle and ice cubes. The waitress, who was studying for her sommeliers exam, made exceptional recommendations for the wine, offering a free taster before we committed, and being quite patient and making it all about the experience. Fantastic.
My wife had a few glasses of Pinot Grigio, I enjoyed a nice Pinot Noir, and my CEO tried a Belgian brown stout that he can’t stop raving about. After his fourth (this guy never has more than one) exclaimed, «I have found my new favorite beer. I will return for this.» We also shared a plate of the roasted peppers with sea salt. Very nice.

I’d never been to Nectar previously but had seen it on several occasions so last night seemed like a perfect opportunity to try it out with fellow Unilocaler Vy N. before heading out to the YEE at the Chabot.
Nectar is located on Lorton Ave, along the main Burlingame drag of restaurants, with ample parking (both on-​street and parking lots). I lucked out and found a parking meter right outside the restaurant.
~ 4 stars for parking and location/​accessibility
I arrived first and waited for a while at the bar where I was mightily ignored for about 10 minutes until I decided to move to a table near the street and wait. The waiter did come on over with water and some menus at that time. Service overall was a little sketchy — had to gesture several times to catch the waiter’s attention and the restaurant was not even a quarter full. Well, it was a slow Sunday night but still, service left a bit to be desired — including waiting for almost 15 minutes for our check to arrive (which was aggravating since we were on our way to an event and were getting late! — Grrrr!!)
~ 2 stars for service
I had a glass of the 2005 HdV, Belle Cousine (Cabernet/​Merlot) Hyde Vineyard from Napa, California. At $ 16 a glass, this was pricey but it was really excellent — from the menu, here is the description…
«a perfect morsel of sage and tarragon braised pork belly nestled in a warm earthen bowl of smoked dashi, sprinkled with aromatic rose-​petals and punchy pomegranate pips»
Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking! ;p
~ 5 stars for the wine — excellent wine, pricey but good value
Ah, the food! Since we knew there would be food at the Unilocal event, we decided to get an appetizer to share — the mozzarella/​tomato salad sounded rather good. It was good. Not excellent, not different, just good. Their online menu describes it as: Heirlooms and Burratta — heirloom tomatoes and melons tossed with cucumbers, epazote and sea salt served with burratta cheese and a dash of fresh gazpacho. I could have sworn that the menu we saw had mozzarella on it — I doubt both of us misread it!!!
But the presentation was horrendous!!! It’s been described adequately in Vy’s review so I will not attempt to relive that again LOL. Needless to say, this was one ugly salad but it tasted quite good. Maybe the consistency of the tomatoes and the cheese cause them to be runny but I wish the chef had come up with a creative solution to that (if that was indeed the problem) rather than plonking it down on a plate and sending it out! Personally, I’d have liked some more fresh basil (but I’m a basil freak so that does not necessarily mean it was lacking in that!!!)
And the quantity was measly — check out the picture. For $ 15, you’d expect a bit more — perhaps the heirloom tomatoes are expensive, I don’t know. As it turned out, it was the right size since we didn’t want to eat too much but I’d question the value of this appetizer ordinarily.
~ 3 stars for the food — mainly for taste.
~ 1 star for presentation and quantity!!!
Overall charming place, nice décor, easy to carry on a conversation in privacy even with tables next to each other. Decent wine selection (some of the bottle selections were actually quite impressive) and some creative wine flight options. Nice leisurely service can make it a fun place for a nice quiet evening but don’t go here if you’re on a tight schedule!
~ 3 stars overall.
# 140

I had a good experience here. I take off one star because the salad I had was no good at all.
I came here without a big appetite but I was looking forward to some complementing wine and food. My eating partner and I shared one prix fixed menu ($ 29) and had a custom wine flight to go with the three course meal.
From the prix fixed menu, the customer is allowed to choose between two dishes for each court.
We ordered:
1) Salad (as opposed to the soup)
2) Fish (as opposed to the steak)
3) Peaches & Cream (I forgot what the other choice was)
The salad, was TERRIBLE. The small tomatoes in it were very good but it seemed that there was too much sea salt on the salad leaves. They were unbearable. I couldn’t eat them, I felt like I was getting hypertension.
The salmon was cooked very well. The skin was crunchy and tasty. The actual meat melting in your mouth. It was served with spinach and some good brown sauce.
Lastly, the Peaches & Cream was incredible. I highly recommend getting it. It’s small, but it’s a good presentation and the taste is spectacular.
The fixed price menu didn’t have complementary wines listed, but we inquired to the expert wine person at the restaurant and he helped us out. He wrote out three different wines on «wine-​flight-​paper» and it was a good presentation. The wines definitely complemented our meal. Too bad that salad was awful. The first dish should be at least edible.
I’m not sure if it was pricey since my eating partner paid the bill! =D
Great atmosphere and location! Worth checking out at least once.

Cute and inviting during happy hour especially on a nice day … tables outside for the people watching. Decent selection of wine and 4 different flights to chose from for the flighty and indecisive. I had the all but chards flight and enjoyed the entire selection. Munched on some ahi poke and shared a pizza … not bad for a place that markets itself as a wine lounge.
Service was great and I was there for several hours making a new friend and I never felt rushed or ignored. Ample seating and looks like there are some big tables in the back for larger groups. Table service, bar service or lounging on the coaches in the middle.

I have never been to this restaurant and my review is more about their customer service.
My boss asked me at 430, to make reservations for 6 people in the private dining room, with a catch. He called them and the private dining room was already booked. DOH!
I called and spoke to the host and he was very helpful and accommodating. He was able to figure out how to tell the party who reserved the room, to have dinner in the main dining room, called me back within 15 minutes of our phone conversation and booked the private room for my boss.
I know, I know, some of you are saying «you asshole! what do you want, the entire world to stop and do whatever you want, when you want??» Fair question and I will answer emphatically NO, I don’t expect the world to stop just for me. BUT I am always grateful when a restaurant pulls rabbit out of a hat and I get to deliver good news to people, especially good news to the boss.
Thank you again

Trendified wine bar that makes you feel like a bumblebee… or Winnie the Pooh.
Cost to worth it ratio: 3
Highlights:
— Unique theme: honeycomb theme all around. Seriously
hexagons everywhere – even the pillar seats close to the floor.
— Wine list: nicely segmented so easy to choose by the type you like. Has flights as well as glasses which I always appreciate. Had a good Hess cab.
— Beer available: there’s something for your dudes who may not be into the wine revolution.
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— Can be pretty crowded and hard to grab a spot.
I didn’t immediately feel the place, but I didn’t spend too much time here. I may be back to try some more wines and hang out a bit more.

Sorry you guys… despite the fact that you offered my roommate a job, I’m going to have to give you three stars.
Don’t get me wrong! I love your fromage blanc dessert, that wonderful pizza with the goat cheese on top, and you’re a wino-​alcoholic in the making’s DREAM, but it takes you TOO LONG to get the food out. Do I really want to sit there and wait for a ridiculous amount of time for my food? Not really.
Your ceaser salad was «mer». There was an anchovy at the top (???), and the dressing was bland. Was the fish supposed to make up for that? Because it didn’t.
I wanted wine. That’s why I went to a WINE LOUNGE, and drained my bank account with the bill (I had just gone shopping). So my roommate was able to get some wine, but you didn’t ask me if I wanted any. Do I look pregnant to you, or something? Do I look like I just came out of AA? Why didn’t you ask me if I wanted any? I MADE EYE CONTACT WITH YOU. *cries*
The other times I came here (I was duped into a first date… I thought we were only going wine tasting, but NOOOOOOO), the food was fine. Granted, a tad bland but I can tell you’re trying. The other time after that I was just there for wine and dessert, and the sommeiler was an absolute gentleman for helping me pick out a comparable wine to a temperanillo I was craving.
The table setting was a litte strange. I felt sunken in the booths, which is crazy because I’m taller than the average female by 3 inches, and my dinner partner was too far away, so all conversations involving inappropriate (but our favourite) matters resorted us to reading lips. Granted, we aren’t that shy about it anyways, but for the sake of other patrons we kept our noise level down, and stuck to the topic of her telling me their future son’s name (Anthony Ray Schoore), and discussing whether or not her first name went with her boyfriend’s last name. (PS: This conversation was all about her. I SWEAR AMANDERS, I DON’T WANT CHILDREN RIGHT NOW)
Your hostess is fabulous, by the way… but I won’t be back…
If I have to pay again.

Having been a fan of its Marina location for years last night I walked into Nectar in Burlingame for the 1^st time. I was pleasantly surprised by the different experience between the locations. First of all, it is a size of a stadium compared to it’s sister location in SF… the ambiance much more lively and warm. Don’t get me wrong – I love Nectar on Steiner. but I wouldn’t feel comfortable using my «loud talking voice» there.
We only stayed long enough for a pre-​dinner drink, and our Champaign selection was delicious. I watched as other patrons devour into mouth watering dishes such as mushroom pot pie, beef carpaccio, and almost regretted that we didn’t have dinner plans there. Oh well. there is alway a next time.