Vie de Boheme

We only had a couple glasses of wine but the bartender was very friendly. We were the only people there because it was early. The place is funny. Huge space with mismatched chairs and tables like you are at your aunts house… over and over again. I’d go back if there were more people there. I’d like to see more wine by the glass. I don’t want to commit to a bottle.

Liked all the strings of ceiling lights and the displays of wine inspired a wine tasting party mentality. Food needs garlic. Had a champagne drink; needs a pretty garnish– for example, «The Persephone» needs a sprig and a few pomegranate seeds to make the drink festive. Or a fresh blackberry and a mint sprig for the Blackberry… you get the idea. We appreciated the portions — we were able to eat the entire plates because they were reasonably sized. Friendly wait staff and owner on premise.

I chose Vie de Boheme as my first stop on my Halloween bar hop last night. It was a bad choice. I expected a cover charge, but the $ 12 cover at LVB was higher than I anticipated. It would have been all right with the price but once we got inside we were not allowed to sit down. There were several empty tables that said they were reserved for apparently ghosts (It was Halloween after all). Anyway, my friend and I finally found a place to sit and then we were told that the table we were sitting at was also reserved. When I started talking about paying $ 12 and not being able to sit down, the guy (whoever he was) backed off.
There were about 5 different people tending bar and waiting tables, but when we went to the bar, we couldn’t get service. It was not like it was all that busy either. Remember tables occupied by ghosts.
My friend stood on one end of the bar, and I stood on the other and no one would acknowledge us. Finally I asked a bartender with a knife through his head (I think fake, but hard to tell) if I could get some help. He walked up to me and stuck his face like 3 inches from mine and said, «Everybody wants help.» Then he turned around and walked away. By that time, my friend was disgusted and wanted to leave, so then I changed my tactic and started asking every employee I could see if they would get my credit card for me. That too was ignored. Finally, the only nice thing about the place, a bartender named Paul, came over and asked if we needed another drink (He had given us our original drink when we first came in). We told him the service sucked. He was trying his best to help us and several other people. He went to get us our drinks and about that time a man walked up to the bar and stood next to us and one of the nasty female bartenders who would not acknowledge my friend or I (we are both female too) hustled right over to the man and asked him what he needed. That pretty much sealed it for me.
I rarely write reviews, but LVB sucked so badly that I will never go again and I will be sure to tell everybody I know about how bad the service was with the exception of Paul, who was very nice.

We just spent a lovely couple of hours at Vie de Boheme. The Portland Guitar Trio played and the venue was perfect for their music. Service was great and the intimacy of the venue was just what we were looking for. We realize it’s more of a wine and cocktail kind of place, but were hoping for a nice selection of beers – the ones they had available weren’t exactly to our taste. Other than that, great place to relax and have a drink. We’ll be back.

Great wine selection… try the spinach and artichoke dip! Love the look of this place; wonderful lighting and music.

Interesting place! The wine tasting with cheese was enjoyable. They did a good job of paring wines with comparable cheeses. Service was super friendly but a bit slow.

Used to be a favorite wine place. L
Bought a flight on groupon and went in to experience our wine tasting. The server before was great but the last one made our experience lousy. He began complaining about how many glasses he would have to wash. It’s a tasting for two to sample about five wines. Never had a wine shop expect you to use the same glass.
Anyway, we will not be returning. What a shame. We’ve been buying bottles all year for parties, family and friends. One lousy server can really effect a business.

I have been to VdB probably 5 – 6 times over the last couple of years. Always love it. Romantic, stylish, good food, good wine. Love the setting and the music. Perfect for an evening for two!

Romantic Vie de Boheme 5 course food and wine flight for Mother’s Day was like celebrating Valentine’s Day all over again.
My guy gave me three choices. I picked Jazz, wine, and food at Vie de Boheme. Anandi’s sultry and smooth vocals of Jazz standards with Dan Balmer’s creative guitar work was perfect setting for the evening. Vie de Boheme has twinkling lights up year round, and when the sun goes down, the lovely wine bar and restaurant take on a more intimate feel.
This was my second visit and few more for my partner. All times for wine flights and Jazz. This time, we tried the food. The kitchen staff’s execution of the wine/​food flight was perfection. Our favorite was the Wine Braised Short Rib with Pascual Toso Malbec from Argentina. Every little bite was flavor explosion. We also ordered the roasted tomato soup and the quiche. They were fantastic too! Looking forward to returning to Vie de Boheme for another romantic evening with my honey.

Great cheese and bread plates– the artichoke dip is the very best I’ve ever had. Service is prompt and very friendly, even on busy nights. Great ambiance for a romantic evening. If you enjoy low-​key live music, possible dancing, and delicious wine, this place is for you!

Id say four stars if only buying bottles to go. There is a retail price and there’s a price for consuming the bottle on the premises. It’s a difference of about $ 12 bucks or so for the wine we consumed. Service was good.

I wish there was a way to delete my original review when it seems to have just been a result ofcrossed wires and miscommunication… And Internet-​yelp trolls! I’m updating this with a neutral review since I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the establishment again to make a more appropriate evaluation.

Update — we’ve been back to Vie de Boheme several times, and found it to be a great venue for a wide variety of entertainment — music, comedy, dancing, and wine. It’s interesting to see how much musical variety there is in Portland, and Vie de Boheme shows it off in a comfortable space with nice acoustics, and room to dance. It’s a wonderful date night location, and we’ve found some bands there that we go back to hear again and again. Despite being fairly old, (actually, really old by Portland standards these days), Vie de Boheme makes us feel grown up.

I’ve come here a few times to see a friend play piano and harp, and I enjoy myself every time. Good sound system. Great wines. Servers who know their menu well enough to make sure you get exactly what you want. And an ambience that is a little romantic, yet comfortable.

Some people I know were talking about this place so me and my partner decided to test it. And so far I have been here a couple times, with different friends, the main reason why I end choosing Vie De Boheme is mostly for the good live music, it seems they have different music each week, very good music, they also have wine classes which I might actually check out, and now they also have Salsa dancing classes! They have a good selection of drinks and wines, however it is not that impressive as others have described it, the Bohème ambiance could be improved and made more like a 19^th-​century Parisian bar.
But it is a cool environment. the food is very good though, snacks the salami and cold cuts snacks, the cheeses, the pâté dish. Something that I do not think is clear enough though and can be very misleading, and should be improved, is the wines price list pricing, the «to go» price per wine bottle is half the price while if you drink it there, it
cost double, and is not very well pointed in the menu, but eventually you will find out when you pay and get the unpleasant surprise

I love going there! The wine is good and sometimes they even have dance instruction! Or live music.
Mark and Lynn are great instructors and friendly and cracking jokes and if you choose not to dance, you can grab a drink. Perfect to bring along non dancing friends.
Very romantic place.

I did the wine flight and snack Groupon with a friend and it was really good. This month they are doing a «wine fight» — comparing the same kind of wine from two different regions. There were wines from Spain, France, California, Washington, and Chile. Both my friend and I preferred the California wines, although the Chilean wine had a nice spiciness. It was good!
We also ordered the baguette with chevre and fruit jam, and a gluten free chocolate cake. The baguette and chevre was respectable; the fruit jam was a bit sour for my taste (I think it might have been a sour cherry jam). But it was a good complement to the creamy chevre. The chocolate cake was really tasty, but a little on the small side for $ 6. I know gluten-​free ingredients are expensive, though, so I don’t think it was overpriced.

Vie de Bohème is a sweet space. It’s quite roomy but manages to capture a warm and cozy vibe at the same time. The seating in the main space is bi-​level which gives everyone a good view of the live band.
Speaking of live music, I am usually not a big fan of live music. When me and my friend were there on Saturday for a wine tasting the band arrived and started setting up and doing its sound check. Wow, were they ever loud. Way too loud. My friend Jeannie and I could not even have a conversation with each other because they were so damn loud. We had to text each other from across the table. I was so grateful when they went away.
There are also a couple of rooms that can be arranged for private events. On my recent visit, there was a writing group meeting in the Wine Library. I checked it out after they left and it had a couple of tables in there with around 10 chairs and it looked like it had the capacity to hold about 20 more. The room itself was beautiful. A gorgeous chandelier softly illuminates the room and the walls are adorned with shelves of wines from regions all over the world.
Jeannie had a Groupon for the wine tasting that included a cheese platter. The gentleman and the gal behind the bar pouring our wines, they were both a delight. We chatted with the fella about the wines and he definitely knew a great deal about all the wines featured on the tasting list. The pours of the wines were generous as well. They don’t use those wine portioning spouts either. I hate those things. Our cheese platters were delivered to our comfortable little table but we decided to order from the menu as well. I decided upon the Ham & Melted Brie Tartine on Toasted Baguette with Green Salad. It was awesome and it was very filling. I had to take half of it home with me.
Also coming home with me; the Sauvion Vouvray 2012, France. It was the favorite for both me and Jeannie. At only $ 10.00, are you kidding me? It was a helluva bargain.
My only criticism is about that damn band. They were uncomfortably loud and that just irritates the hell out of me. There is just no way in hades that I would go to Vie de Bohème during a time when a band is playing.
2014 — Review # 51

We went here with a Groupon for a wine flight. It was 5 pours for two people plus snacks for something like $ 20.
The décor was very relaxed but cozy. Lots of mismatched chairs and twinkle lights. They also sell bottles to go.
The server said they have live music every night. We saw Arthur Something who played blues and harmonica.
Oddly enough, this place was predominantly the over-​40 set.
But then flight was a nice way to try their wines (apparently la Vie Boheme bottles?). I know nothing about wine so this wasn’t really a place I could compare to other wine bars but I liked the prosecco and $ 11 seemed reasonable for a bottle to-​go.
Cool little place.

I love this cozy wine bar!
When we visited on a Friday evening, they had very romantic dim lighting to add a touch of warmth to the wine tasting flight we ordered. There is a cute little table with antique chairs and a charming chandelier to boot, with a Port vase and candles on each table. The other tables are situated in a way that everyone can enjoy the live music they offer.
The only oddity was that I didn’t know how things worked when walking in to the wine bar. Do we sit down? Wait to be seated? Order from the bar? It turns out you order from the bar and take a seat.
We used the Groupon for the tasting of 5 wines and an appetizer plate. We started with a bubbly white wine, then a white, two reds, and ended nicely with a dessert wine. I enjoyed all of the flavors, some more than others. And the plates included olives, a variety of crackers, mixed nuts, grapes, and brie. For $ 19 each without the Groupon, I’d do it again. $ 15 sounds a little more reasonable for the product, but the ambiance makes up for the extra few dollars.
They also have a decent amount of various bottles in house for purchasing and provide for events as well.
For food, you can also get hummus plates, cheese plates, salads, soup… Plenty to fill the tummy during a nice wine-​and-​dine.
We could always use more bohemians in this world…