Inner Fog

My new favorite wine bar. It was 85% full on a Monday night, always a good sign! The food is fantastic, and the variety on everything is wonderful (food, wine, and also beer). It’s cozy and has wonderful art from a local artist. Looking forward to a return trip.

My wife and I loved it!
We sat at the bar on a Thursday evening. The server at the bar wasn’t effusive or excited, but very attentive. We really appreciated how she really listened to what we like and how we wanted to explore new varietals. She offered an Odoardi blend from Italy that was fantastic. I wish that we had bought a couple for the road, but we had no room to take it back home (we were visiting SF). She also offered others that were dead on the money for us! Nicely done!!!
The food was surprisingly fantastic… especially after some of the comments of mediocre or poor fare. The kale was delicious along with the smoked duck flatbread!
It was a wonderful hour and a half… we never felt rushed. Thanks for the awesome experience. We will definitely return our next visit to SF!!!

Brought a date here around 8 and closed the place down. The bar tender was a beast; as the bar was emptying out I never felt like he was quietly judging my first date conversations or pressured to close my tab. The wine was great and so was the flatbread (its really pizza).
Drove my date home and got the first date kiss. Thanks Inner Fog!

Unfortunately it’s the only wine bar in my neighborhood. Wine is excellent. BUT a few key misses:
1. They are hit or miss with the staff friendliness. Some are awesome, a couple are chilly. Hopefully you get the «hit», otherwise forget it. The soup nazi is not what you want in a wine bar.
2. The pours are super small for the price (hi, we’re in the avenues not FIDI.)
3. They are very weird about the food service. You can’t get a cheese plate (or even some nuts /​olives) when they open for business, and they stop early. Seems like a wine bar (i.e., not your full kitchen) would have something to offer during business hours.
A little customer service please. How hard would it be to prep a little cheese plate in an empty bar between 4 and 5? You want some cheese? Some olives? Let me put that together for you!

I hadn’t really hung out with one of my long time girlfriends in a while. Since she’s by UCSF and I’m in outer Richmond, we decided to stop by InnerFog for drinks and to catch up. We arrived on Friday, May 13^th around 7:30pm. I arrived first and managed to find a two top along the wall.
Half Glasses:
*Olabisi — Petite Syrah — Suisun Valley, CA 2007 ($ 8)
*Wellington — Cabernet Sauvignon — Sonoma, CA 2011 ($ 8)
*Hawk&Hunter — Zinfandel — Russian River, CA 2013 ($ 7)
*Storrs — Merlot — San Ysidro, CA 2011 ($ 8)
*Portalupi — Barbera — Mendocino, CA 2014 ($ 8)
*Preston-​Syrah Sirah — Syrah/​Petite Sirah, Dry Creek CA 2013 ($ 8)
We both wanted a wine flight, so we decided to make our own with their half glasses. Both of us ended up liking the cab the best, so we ordered four full glasses of the Wellington Cabernet Sauvignon ($ 14). That lead to another bottle of the of the Wellington Cabernet Sauvignon ($ 56). We were there for a good 4.5 hours, so we ordered some food, the Charcuterie: Maestri Speck, San Daniele Prosciutto, Hot Italian Salami, Accompanied with Mustard, McQuade’s fruit chutney ($ 20) since we hadn’t had dinner. For some reason, our waiter totally spaced our food order as we were waiting for a while. He ended up comping a full glass of wine since he forgot about our charcuterie.
InnerFog was a fun place to drink wine, snack and catch up. It’s got a really nice mellow vibe. My gf and I actually closed out the place since we were there until midnight. Great place to enjoy good wine and good company.

Love this spot!
Irving plays host to so many eateries and local businesses that it is never-​ending with amazing options. I will, however, still complain that a lot of these don’t stay open late enough for night owls such as myself.
That being said, I love this spot! A nice and cozy lounge for those looking to catch up after a busy day in the office. They have a great list of wines as well as beers, and for those looking for a big bite to eat afterwards, there is a myriad of places to choose on the same block.
It gets a little packed so be patient if you run into overcrowding.

Wines are great. Flatbreads are great. Cheese plates could be way bigger/​better quality. The worst part is the televisions. Ambiance killer. Feels like a sports bar/​café that happens to have a lot of wine.

Great wine, great beer, great food, and great service. It’s a cozy place with a few choices between sitting at a bar, couches, tables. The noise level was ok. We came here with friends and tried the cheese plate, the duck pizza, and the chocolate cake. All delicious!

Nice enough bar, though probably a bit overpriced. Service was a bit scowly last night too — not sure what all that was about! We’ll probably go back though as it is quite a cozy post-​dinner space. Just think it could be done a bit better.

EXPENSIVE! A veggie «flatbread» is $ 18. It took over 30 min to get it, and it was basically the size of a kids pizza. Food was fine, but not amazing. super over priced.

Great selection of wine and beer. The only place I’ve found in this area that has a selection of sour beers as well. Order the Anderson valley sour beer! It’s the best! Have not tried the food but they have a small plates and flatbreads menu which looked great, will be back again!

A nice addition to the Inner Sunset neighborhood! A classy and cozy little wine bar. They have a great little happy hour and food menu (though keep in mind that this is to be paired with wine and not for a full meal)
Their wine selection is pretty extensive, the staff is always super friendly and they have a great little ambience. It is a bit small, but I’ve never had an issue of getting a table or finding space on the couch for dates or larger groups of five people.
Don’t wait to be seated at this place – just dive right in and find an open table and the server/​bartender will be at your table shortly with your menus :)
Keep in mind though that it is very dim and dark. If you’re looking for a brighter, more well lit place to catch up over wine, this might not be the place for you

I like this spot. Super cozy with couches and nice seating. Nothing much like it in the sunset which is why I go there.
Don’t order the cheese plate – 80% sure you’ll be disappointed with it. Not worth.
Good wine selection and I love that you can get half glasses.
Service is just ok or a complete miss.

Came here for happy hour with some colleagues and we found a cozy corner of couches to sit and chat. Their wine selection is good for happy hour and I really liked my Pinot noir. Very limited beer selection. Cheese plates look very disappointing as there were only two types of cheese that looked like it was bought from Safeway. Waitress got our order wrong as she brought out a pizza that we never ordered and didn’t want to take it back. Luckily the pizza was pretty good and we were still charged for it.
This place only really stands out because it’s probably the only upscale and grownup place in a neighborhood that largely caters to UCSF grad students on a budget.

WOW — happened by this spot by accident and loved it. Extra star because their beer selection was much better than expected for a wine bar. Seating for 30 – 40 people: ~10 at the bar, number of high top tables, small lounge area w. couches that seats about 6. Was pretty full the night I was there but it wasnt loud or crowded. Just 2 people working but service was sport on.
11 beers on tap (very nice selection of craft beers, large range from light to dark)
~10+ additional beers in bottles/​cans + a solid selection of Cider options
Large wine selection but didnt spend much time on the side list to provide any guidance. But a definite «must stop by» for both wine and beer fans.

Sweet and simple wine bar in the sunset. $ 6 glasses during happy hour.

I only had the wine but this place was just what i wanted for a friday night .
The interior is really cute and wasnt overly crowded or loud at all.
I didnt try their food but got wine and naturally got the one named julia :). Overall really enjoyed the place and the mood !

My sincerest apologies, Unilocal friends. This review, sadly… is incomplete.
While I had a wonderful time here and was able to enjoy a glass (or two) of a delicious red wine that my friends had picked out before I was able to arrive, I didn’t have the opportunity to scope out the menu myself. Of course, that’s not to say that I don’t trust my friends’ tastes; rather, I just wasn’t able to check out all that InnerFog has to offer.
As such, it’s unfortunate that I can’t give you the entire run down on all of InnerFog’s beers (bottle and tapped), reds, whites, and sparkling wines. Nor can I go on and on about how their wine selection is both budget friendly and varied, with a range of flavor profiles and characteristics to choose from (heavy, light, rounded, etc.).
Similarly, I can’t tell you about the different types of cheese plates, small dishes, and flabreads you can order to enjoy with your glasses of wine and beer. Especially in regards to just how delicious said dishes looked as they were being delivered to the tables surrounding ours.
For those reasons, as well as the fact that I didn’t even take a picture, please allow me to apologize again. However, fear not dear friends, as I pledge to work tirelessly to right this wrong. I will return to this cute, gem of a wine shop (which is perfect for dates) and when I do, I promise to eat and drink until I can write the proper review you all deserve.
Cheers!

This place has the vibes of an upscale wine lounge but casual enough that I did not feel like I didn’t belonged. I was hungry and wanted a salad for an early evening snack but my friend suggested coming here for happy hour wine and a cheese plate. Of course I will never say no to wine & cheese. Like are you serious?
We ordered the Burrata which was amazingly good and the beef tartare, which was okay. It was happy hour Friday so The place was packed which is to be expected. After all, the bloody week is over!
Price wise I thought it was inexpensive for the quality of the food and drinks. We hung out for quite a bit but no 1 rushed us either overtly or covertly. We like that.

This is a nice place.
I was particularly impressed with the selection of beers. I thought they would just have wine, but no!
It’s a classy restaurant feel. They have small plates as well. Table device as well as an actual bar.
I enjoyed my wine and would like to try more of their selections.

I remember feeling so baller the first time I came here after a long day at the library with a friend – I was in the midst of watching a medical kdrama in which the doctors went out to a classy wine bar. The fact that I was an undergrad applying to pharmacy school, and rapidly escalating to the ranks to seat myself at UCSF’s local wine bar felt like a living dream.
The ambiance of class and intimacy is very relaxing, and is my bar of choice to de-​stress, more so than the cray places that twentysomethings love (shh… don’t tell, makes me feel old, like a thirtysomething: P)
In the late afternoon, it is gently filled with soft natural lighting, which accentuates the elegance of the dark furniture and the stately wall display of wine bottles. At night, the full-​blown Inner Fog atmosphere rolls in: it’s shrouded in darkness except for islands of candlelight, and you feel as if you could forget all your obligations and responsibilities and just enjoy the wine and the company.
My favorite seat is the high tables against the wall. though I like to avoid the window seat which makes me feel like a living advertisement. It’s quieter compared to the rest of the bar, so it’s perfect for deep, profound conversations over wine.
Despite being situated against the wall, I’ve never had any problems flagging down servers, who are very attentive and check in often to ensure you are supplied with a constant infusion of wine. That’s some role model monitoring right there for dat narrow therapeutic range.
By now you’re probably wondering, when do I talk about the wine? I confess, I don’t know a whole lot about wine but I’ve tried enough of it during my post-​21yo career that I have an idea of what’s good and what’s bleh, and here it’s pretty good. (Sorry that’s the extent of my wine description vocabulary) The servers are also very knowledgeable, which is especially helpful for n00bs like me.
Bites are pricey, even for happy hour – enough complaints on Unilocal deterred me from the not-​so-​cost-​effective platters. Hence I recommend pre-​gaming food. Oh, the thrifty life of a grad student… one day I will finally reach the ranks of a grown-​up pharmacist and indulge in the fancy cheese and endless wine like a baller superstar doctor in a medical drama.