The Wine Cellar Houston

The wine by glass is truly awful. I’d rather drink gasoline… though I imagine it would be similar. My friend and I ordered a 3 wine flight. We had a few sips from each glass and left the rest.

Food was okay. Typical Italian Menu, nothing special. Service was great. Pay attention to your receipt, there were only four of us and they included a 19% gratuity in our bill. I didn’t see it and ended up giving another 20% tip. The server basically got a $ 45 tip. Not a place I’d come back to.

A rather pretentious feeling place that charges $ 10 for a glass of wine. This just isn’t my scene.

Excellent service, nice interior, but menu prices were about double what I would consider reasonable, especially considering that the food was middling.
The pizza crust not bad, but the pizza, overall was over salted. Pasta sauce had a strange celery taste to it. Sangria was nothing special in flavor and had very little alcohol in it — more like punch. We appreciated that the server brought complimentary side salads, which were not bad. Focaccia was a little heavy, especially to be served with olive oil.
Wine Cellar and Little Napoli are two names for, essentially, the same restaurant.

I’m 99% sure no one ever comes here twice… I think the only reason this place is still here is because they get a subsidy from some underground drug cartel to launder money. Please, as the other reviews say… Don’t show up here.
1. The beer comes out with particles in it
2. The garlic bread might be bread… Who knows
3. The spinach sauté appitizer… Just don’t do that. The plate comes out looking like a 3 yr olds after school snack
4. The chicken Alfredo was cold. Literally it was frozen chicken. And the rest of the plate was cold
5. Egg plant parm,… Looks like dinosaur skin. We took two bites… I’m not sure why I tried it.
6. Skipped dessert because I already feel the barf coming,…
7. The fact that all the menu items are 20 dollars and up scared me. It’s the illusion of a «decent» place. But everything should be on the dollar menu at the local fast food place.

What a joke! We like others had a groupon «mystery date» and walked in tonight at 9:25pm after leaving the Rockets game a little earlier. Open signs and lights were on but it was empty, except the two waitresses standing at the bar. They were chatting and I waited about 45 seconds before one of them approached me. I told her we needed a table for two and she turned around to ask the other something. That’s when she informed me they were closed. I told her that it said 12pm online and she responded «well that’s what the kitchen said». I told her that her front light still said open and she said «oh okay then, you can eat.» I laughed and said no thank and started to walk out and they both followed me to the door basically begging I stay. I told her no thanks that I should have paid attention to the reviews and the other one yelled out «well that’s not our fault» and proceeded to follow me out the door. Weird. The owner should really get things together over there. My first visit was a few months ago and I waited almost an hour for our food but having worked in the industry before and I was understanding.

This place ranks at the very bottom of any restaurant experience I’ve had… EVER! Groupon users beware not only is this a «mystery date» it’s also mystery meat.
First of all this place and «Napoli» are one in the same. It’s billed as a wine bar, but the wines are all from the HEB sale rack. We did a «flight» quotes are used because they didn’t really know how wine flights work and one of the three flights was completely Undrinkable. The «fresh bread» consisted of store bought garlic bread sticks and the salad was bagged lettuce with bottles dressing.
Because we were feeling particularly stupid we decided to order crab cakes which consisted of fishy tasting crabmeat in a mealy batter with about a cup of vodka marinara poured on top.
My date ordered «grilled jumbo» shrimp from their wood-​fire grill. The shrimp was neither grilled nor jumbo. It was, however, extremely salty.
I ordered veal scallopini. I don’t know what the sad piece of grey meat that came on my plate was… monkey thigh? The flesh of a human sacrifice? Definitely not veal. The sauce was horrific. I took one bite and that was that.
The dessert menu had pictures of the desserts of it. Pictures! Like, Denny’s style! We declined to order and got the heck out of there!
If you bought your mystery date and are thinking, hey, it can’t be that bad! It’s already paid for and its a heck of a deal… don’t. Save yourself. Save your palate. Burn the groupon and go to Olive Garden if your just in the mood for crappy italian. Or some other mediocre chain. But for the love of pasta, don’t go here!

We, like many others, came here on a Groupon «Mystery Date.» We came on a Monday at 8pm, had no problem finding free parking a block away. The lights in the Wine Cellar were off, but we knew from reading other reviews to just go to the Little Napoli next door (we asked and they accepted the Groupon, so that was good). There were only 2 other couples that we could see, it was fairly quiet. We opted to sit outside as it was a pleasant 70 °F evening (yay Houston winters).
We had the crab cakes as appetizers, and they were excellent. We had a very friendly server, although the food seemed to take a very long time. It wasn’t that bad, we had plenty of time to talk, but we were glad when the food finally did arrive. The sauce over the crab cakes was tasty, and it was served with a side of crusty bread, perfect for sopping up the excess sauce.
I ordered the filet mignon and my wife had the salmon, both nicely prepared. I ordered mine with sautéed mushrooms and onions and garlic mashed potatoes. They nailed it. It’s been a long time since I’ve had garlic mashed potatoes, they’re so simple but so good.
For dessert we had tiramisu. It was very good, and our server even put a little strawberry heart on the plate (as we had told him this was our early Valentine’s date). I also ordered a shot of espresso but it never came, so that cost a star.
All in all, we enjoyed this place.

This review is based off of the dining experience with the connected restaurant, Little Napoli, not necessarily for the Wine Cellar. We had gotten a Groupon for an appetizer, two entrees and dessert for the «mystery date» for a great price, and so we headed over with empty stomachs and high expectations.
We had gotten there at 6:00 on a weekday, and were surprised to see it pretty empty. We were kind of confused because although The Wine Cellar and Little Napoli are connected, they have separate entrances, but no greeter at TWC. We stood at the entrance of Little Napoli for several minutes before a waiter finally greeted us and told us we could sit anywhere we wanted. We got seated, and after a short while the waiter came to take our order. It took a long time before we got our meal, and it looked pretty pedestrian, but the flavor was surprising and quite delicious. Their portions were also huge and we happily took our leftovers home, enough to feed two more meals.
Overall the service was meh and the place stayed as empty as a desert, pretty much. The food was pretty good, but looked like someone prepared it at home and not an expensive restaurant… not really worth driving all the way downtown and looking for free street parking.
I wouldn’t really choose to come here unless I had another Groupon deal with heavily discounted pricing.

Well. Here we go…
When the wife and I arrived for a lovely mystery «winery date» she had purchased off Groupon… we were quite literally greeted by no one. Not a soul. In fact, there was another couple who arrived at the same time we did whom we briefly quipped with about the lack of ANYTHING service oriented going on.
I attempted to talk to 2 waiters in the Cellar, both of which promptly ignored me, and turned around and walked away. Finally, I cornered another waitress and asked her what in the name of God we were supposed to be doing here. She pointed me to the host stand in the neighboring restaurant. Fair enough.
Upon making it to the «host» (and I use that term VERY loosely), no greeting, no salutation, we simply walked up and were asked «Reservation?» I responded in the negative and told the «host» that we were a walk in. I was promptly told that this evening was «Reservations only and we are not taking any more». Now… it was 8PM in the bloody evening and there were clearly empty tables in and outside as well as room at the bar… So the wife fired back that we had already paid for parking… which doing so was a farce… and that we really would like a table. The «host’s» voice apparently responds to women’s commands, as it said not a problem and that it would be about 45+ minutes… What!!! Not a few minutes ago I was told that no more reservations were being taken and now, all of a sudden, we are on a 45+ minute wait (mind you… tables are still rather empty at this point and there are plenty of seats open at the bar)?!?
Begrudgingly we said fine and that we would be at the bar waiting. The «host» opened his mouth again and said we would have to wait outside and that we could not be given any service until we were seated as the restaurant was busy… mind you… tables are still rather empty and there are plenty of seats open at the bar.
Seeing my temper was about to get the better of my judgment, the loving wife had the calmness to politely tell the «host» to sod off… we will go somewhere else… she just did it a Hell of a lot nicer than I was about to.
Do not go here. Do not consider this «restaurant» to eat at. Do not look at any other reviews. Go somewhere else and eat, drink, be merry… but under no circumstances should this abomination be considered. They could have the most amazing food at this hole… which I doubt… and I still wouldn’t eat here due to the deplorable demeanor that every employee we encountered showed us… paying patrons.
I would rather jump into a swimming pool full of rabid wolverines, naked, and covered in ketchup than consider giving this place one cent of my money.

We went to The Wine Cellar and were greeted promptly by one of the hostesses/​bartender/​server. We were seated in the Little Napoli section. I was very excited to go there ever since it was revealed to me through the mystery date Groupon. My initial reaction was of curiosity and excitement. After looking at the menu I was a bit taken aback by the appetizers. Everything on there was fried. We proceeded with the trio sampler. The calamari was stale. The fried ravioli was overly seasoned and stale. The cheese sticks were the only good thing. The marinara sauce tasted like it was from a can. The wine we ordered was amazing. It should get five stars for being so great. It was a highly recommended cabernet from our server. The olive oil dip with the assortment of left-​over bread was just awful. The bread was spongy but not because it was soft and moist but because it had been doused in some kind of oil prior to or after baking. It had the feeling of being used as a sponge to clean up the water from their counter tops. There was a weird dinner roll in there, one of which was burnt as if it was a piece of charcoal.
We ordered the salads. I had an unexpected fly in mine. The waitress was very polite and took care of that for us. I pretty much lost my appetite after that happened.
My guest ordered the veal cutlet parmigiana and I ordered the eggplant pomadoro. I tried the veal which was seasoned perfectly but there was something wrong with the texture. It was slightly tough which I thought was really odd. The cheese caused it to be even more rubbery. The last time I checked, veal was supposed to be soft not chewy! Moving on to my pomadoro … Yeah, let’s just move on from that subject because it was an overload of marinara sauce covering everything in sight. The pasta that was acting as the bed for all this madness was cold. The sauce was the same that was served with the sampler and by this time it reminded me of my first and last time in college that I tried Chef Boyardee.
For dessert we got the Italian cream cake. It looked like it came from a Sysco truck filled with the weekly shipment for NASA’s next shuttle. The way it was laid out was something akin to an Italian wannabe restaurant in San Antonio.
Every restaurant must maintain the same standards across the board whether it’s a great starter or a phenomenal dessert. They definitely maintained those standards with failing every step of the way.

Hey, we were leery due to a few bad reviews, but in the end we were pleased. The homemade bread with olive oil was delicious, and more was offered. Our server «Obay» was exceptional! We used the Groupon and they changed the policy of adding the tip. We were able to give what we wanted, which was 20% in this case based on the exceptional service. There was too much food, but that is what we want in Houston! The sampler appetizer platter was filling. I had the Red snapper — fantastic! My wife the linguini with seafood. We will return. The prices are high, but on par with other upscale downtown locations.

This review is based on their food and service, not on the wine since I did not drink any that night. I decided to use a mystery date groupon deal I purchased a while back. The service was good. Our waitress was very nice and helpful. Concerning the food my boyfriend and I liked the whole deal. Everything from the appetizer, two entrees, and dessert. We got the cheese sticks as an appetizer, he got the lamb chops and I got the shrimp caprese (pasta) for entrees, and Italian cream cake for dessert.
We would go back again! Next time we plan to try the wine.

My wife was able able to fine a Groupon for this restaurant which turned out to be both good and bad.
The food was really good with reasonable prices. We both enjoyed out entrees.
The bad was the service. The waiter was not very friendly or personable.
At least we can say we tried them.

My bf decided to take a chance on a mystery date Groupon. On the restaurant reveal, I obviously headed here to trusty Unilocal to take a gander at the reviews. Not great, but I went with an open mind. The Wine Cellar is in the Bayou Place and is connected to Little Napoli. The two restaurants share the same menu. We were sort of confused by this and initially sat on the LN side. Our server let us know we could use the Groupon on either side, so we went over to the actual wine part where it’s a bit quieter and more intimate.
We ordered a bottle of white wine. It was served room temperature. They put it on ice, so our second glasses were actually the right temp. We has the crab cake appetizer, which was smothered in sauce. Decent. I had lobster ravioli, my bf had lamb chops, I think. My dish was just not good. I barely ate any of it. My bf didn’t give his «this is really good» stamp of approval on his dish either, and trust me, he’s very liberal with those. For dessert we shared the Italian Cream cake. It was fine.
Also, I mentioned the room temp bottle of wine that was placed in an ice bucket next to the table. So the ice bucket was a plastic bucket sat in a metal stand. Well, obviously the bucket sweats, so when my sweet bf took the bottle out of the bucket, the bucket dropped and ice and water went all over the floor. Our server and another came over right away. The server put the plastic bucket back in the metal stand and put our wine bottle in there and guess what happened? The bucket, this time with wine fell back onto the floor. This was actually hilarious to us, but I share the story to warn you. Beware the ice buckets.
So the Groupon was a good value compared to the prices they were charging. If we’d paid full price, that meal would have been ripoff of the century given the quality. When the bill came, there was gratuity added. Our server mentioned in the beginning what was included in the deal we purchased and told us that tax and tip were not included in the price of the Groupon. No problem. I actually don’t even mind having gratuity added, but she didn’t mention it when she dropped the check, which is a pet peeve of mine. Overall, we had a nice time, and for the most part, our service wasn’t as bad as I feared based on the other reviews, but would I go back? Nope. The food was just not good and the prices were pretty outrageous.

I will keep this simple…
— Food, decent. (overpriced, however)
— Waiter forgot about us.
— If you are using a Groupon — WARNING: waiter added his own (undeserving) $ 15 tip on bill (For 2) and he will do it to YOU! Check your receipt people!
— Will not return.

A great place to relax after work downtown. They have a large selection of wines and a good outdoor patio for those nice weather days.

This review is based on their wine and service, so I can’t speak for their food. They have cheese on display in the front but it doesn’t look appetizing. Based on the food reviews, I wouldn’t order food from here.
My friends and I have been to this wine bar about 4 times. I LOVE their Mama mango wine. The wine is sweet and bubbly. You can ask for a glass or ask for the whole bottle! Also, they have their top selections/​best seller on the board at the front. I forgot which wine I had tried, but it tasted sweet and light; which might sound weird but it tasted close to a flat Sprite without the bubbles.
Service can be slow depending on how many people are present. But, you can always flag your waiter down because this wine bar is pretty small.
Crowd: The times I visited this place, the crowd was a bit on the older side during the week day. On the weekend, there’s a mix crowd.
Note: They run out of this mango wine pretty quick. I remember coming to this place to try the wine and had to come back twice before they were back in stock with Mamamango!

Wish I had read the reviews before eating here. This is the first time I have felt obliged to write a review. The food was appalling, please do not order the sampler platter (except for comedy value). When I complained to the waiter, he then said he would fetch his manager, before disappearing for the evening. Service appalling, food bad and drinks expensive.

I went here before catching a movie at Sundance and ordered the sampler appetizer plater. It came out with 4 pieces of calamari, 4 fried cheese sticks and 4 pieces of lettuce. A microwave frozen plate would have been more appealing. I couldn’t believe they served this to us in the first place and when we spoke to the waiter he didn’t care. Oh, and it was $ 17 dollars. Just don’t do any food here. Major, major disappointment.