Verve Wine Bar & Cellar

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed Verve yet! We love this place for weekend brunch. The benedicts are fantastic and everything is always cooked perfectly. My husband is really, really picky about his eggs (over medium, apparently hard to get right), and he wants to eat here every day. They have a great selection of mimosas to go with your brunch.
The staff is also friendly and attentive. The owner is fantastic.
We came in for dinner one night and found it to be just as delicious as brunch. I got the burger and it was AMAZING. I think they make it with a little bit of heaven.
Seriously, stop waiting in line for Geraldine’s and go to Verve. Wait, no, don’t — I like getting an awesome brunch and not waiting in in line!

The staff was friendly and the food was amazing. Both the hash with duck confit and pork belly benedict was amazing. I will definately be back to try everything else that I wished I could try.
I am a big fan of Portage Bay, but for anyone that doesn’t want an hour and half wait, come to VERVE! You will not be disappointed.

There wasn’t someone to greet us at the door but we were told we can sit anywhere. Our server was polite and came to our table shortly after we sat down but again there was was only 3 other tables. I didn’t get why it was so empty and on my way out i wanted to tell everyone waiting in line at Geraldines they are a fool because this place is awesome and has no wait!
The drink menu was beyond fairly priced and had a generous selection. Our food came out quickly after we ordered. It was a tough decision but …
I ordered the pork belly Benedict. Perfectly seasoned and delicious! The egg were big and get this my egg was perfectly poached (hate many places over poach the egg like it hard boiled). The hash doesn’t give you the oily weighted feeling but yet it is still crispy.
My friend ordered the Kale, Potatoes, Duck Confit & Eggs dish. Also delicious. We never have had kale and it is one of my new favorite veggies. You can have the eggs how ever you like it. I suggest getting it sunny side that way you can make your own benedict with the toast :)
We left full and satisfied and didn’t leave with a hefty portage bay price tag.

YAYYY!
I am sadly remiss in updating this review.
We went back for brunch a good month or so ago, and everything was fantastic. Food, service, atmosphere, all back to great! I am still a tiny bit nervous — once bitten, twice shy and all that — but we are planning on another brunch there this weekend, and if that goes well, perhaps a dinner sometime in the near future. Really hope we can add Verve back into our regular rotation and list of recommended spots!

Dear Verve,
We had a great relationship, bu I feel like it’s time we broke up. It’s not me, it’s you. You made me feel like a high maintenance customer for wanting hot food and cooked eggs. We sent food back to the kitchen the last 3 times we’ve been there, and we NEVER do this anywhere else. I know that our relationship was based on proximity, but I really loved you at one point.

Verve is a great wine bar for the neighborhood. The wine list is constantly changing and interesting, and I love the option for flights or a 6 or 3 ounce pour. I like coming in just for a drink, but we also enjoy the food… I personally love the servers and the service that I have received here, great overall.
I love Brunch at Verve. I greatly prefer the food and service at brunch to it’s neighbor… Great breakfast food, elevated from your normal
diner food. Brilliant Hollandaise, crispy hash browns and often a welcome side salad. A good poached egg is hard to come by, but a welcome find at Verve.
Dinner also is quite enjoyable as well almost every dish I have tasted is delish. I don’t usually bother ordering dessert in a restaurant, more of a savory person but the chocolate torte with peanut butter Carmel, and the bread pudding with homemade butterscotch were outstanding.
Two minuses keeping it from a 5 star: The kitchen appears to not have a proper vent, which I understand is the building owner’s issue, not the restaurants issue. But on a busy night you may step out smelling a bit like kitchen.
Also, the only thing I have disliked on the menu was billed as beef bourguignon. It was not in fact beef bourguignon, but a greasy beef stew… It seemed to have cooked for too long, all the veggies had dissolved. It didn’t taste bad, per se but it sure wasn’t what I was looking for, or even enjoyable to eat.

I have to say I was not impressed with this quaint, little establishment in Columbia City. We attended our friends farewell dinner event and the atmosphere seemed to be very pleasant and had great ambiance.
We were at our table waiting about 15 or 20 minutes before a server came and asked us if we would like to order. I thought. do we even have a server? After ordering our food, this one very rude server started passing out small sharing plates. She started at my side of the table and deliberately skipped me. I had to try to get her attention three times that I didn’t get a plate, when she finally said I’ll be coming back around (which she never did). Someone else brought me a small plate later. I felt this way very rude behavior on her part.
The stew dish was nothing to rave about and the service leaves much to be desired. My husband are I ordered ice tea and not once did they refill our glasses. I have to say for a place that has such nice ambiance and great atmosphere, I wouldn’t make my way back to this little wine bar.

Came here one Thursday night with my friend Margaret L for a bit of wine. Its hidden off the main street in Columbia City. Inside the atmosphere feels more like a café than a wine bar.
Customer service here is very welcoming, helpful and cheerful… a must have for a night out. 5 cheese platter includes chocolate and nuts and was quite tastey. Balsamic mixed brussell sprouts was also a excellent must have!
For me, the atmosphere and selections of wines offered gave this spot for me a «okay» rating… if I am looking for a daytime chill place I might return especially with the great customer service, but for a night out I want a spicyer feel to mix with my wine.

Lovely brunch spot. I headed to Columbia City to try one of the CC breakfast «institutions» and didn’t care to wait that long, so popped into Verve instead.
My over medium eggs were a tad greasy for my taste, but cooked perfectly over medium, and with an unexpected, delicious hint of coriander… it appeared not directly intentional, since the coriander was visible (but less noticeable) in the hash browns. Perfectly crispy on one side; almost creamy on the other, the shredded potatoes qualify as #nomnom and just right in size… not too big, not too little. Just right.
The wild greens with a light vinaigrette are a lovely, unexpected touch.
My perfectly cooked bacon arrived late, after a little bit of confusion… but oh my, the bacon for dessert was just splendid. Crispy all the way from first bite to last, but not overcooked.
Overall, I really enjoyed this brunch, and will be back.

Oh verve. So I did enjoy the atmosphere. It was big classy meets structural feeling. I love that there was a big table for us since our party was pretty large. And the service started out very very pleasant.
I had the flight of 6 wines for only $ 12?! It was very delicious and I learned that pinot noirs can be white too! I love hearing and experiencing new wines and I’m ever grateful that I had Ms Clover to help me out with some.
I think that there was a slight mis-​communication in my order. Liz and I wanted to split one flight, but instead they charged us for 2 so no biggie, but just my bad on the explanation part. I think that perhaps we might have even overwhelmed the lady as people from our group trickled in…
And yet I still don’t give that a legitimate reason to be as annoyed with our group as she gave off. No worries though, this was only number one of our big adventure.
In the end i enjoyed the presence, and the great deal! I will come back with a smaller group (less then 20. haha) to really see how they are service wise.

If you’re looking for a warm, friendly, sophisticated, delicious… you get the point! For a great experience eating out, this is as good as it gets The wine selection made this appealing for newcomers and advanced drinkers alike.
The food was 5 star quality, and the wine tasting on Tuesday night exceeded our expectations. While the meal felt like $ 100+, it ended being half of that. If you have are looking for local restaurant, with 5 star appeal, this place is for you.

I hate to give less than a lot of love for places in my hood, especially those clearly trying to make it a greater place to live but this place just isn’t really my thing. I’ve been here for breakfast sometime earlier this year– sloooooooow service and meh food– and last night for Flat Girls Columbia City Happy Hour Crawl.
Here are my reasons for less than full love.
1. Pork belly for breakfast. This is too fussy for me. I have written about this before, and I understand about bacon and ham and whatever so don’t lecture me, I still think it’s too precious for breakfast.
2. As JL so eloquently explains, we were out of place there– cut to me yelling ‘BUT l ALREADY HAVE BRASS BALLS, KlRA” when handed some Zen meditation balls, as I clearly missed the family eating right behind her, needless to say, they shot me the look of death and called the waitress over and began pointing at me in a very animated fashion.
I will admit that the 6 wines for $ 12 (which I missed out on other than a few stray sips) were great and a fantastic deal. So, if I get snobbier in my old age, I may love it here, but for now, this place just doesn’t fit my larger-​than-​life persona in with its wine flights and pork bellies.

How do I love thee, let me count the ways…
1) Superb service
2) Mind blowing food
3) No better wine list ANYWHERE in the city of SEATTLE!
4) pOrK Bellies to DIE FOR!!!
~heavy breathing… I have just returned from this spot. We where a group of nine, accomodated immediately with a smile and warmth.
I need to move in here.
I am now an official stalker of Verve…

Two words: MASCARPONE GRITS!
No corkage fee on wednesdays. Happy hour wine flights and delicious menu that’s always changing including 4 different eggs benedicts.

I’ve been visiting Verve since I moved into the neighborhood. I can’t tell you how much of my time at Verve has contributed to me feeling like I had made the right choice to move into the neighborhood. Kate and the staff are incredible. The selection of wine is great. They do such a good job of getting in new stuff and maintaining the favorites. Then there’s the food. Wow. I get to eat out a lot because of my job and we usually hit some quality places that also happen to be pricey. I think that Verve is on par or better than many of the downtown «picks,» while keeping the pricepoint very low. But it’s all the elements working in harmony that keep me coming in.
The last thing that I’ll add is that almost every friend that I’ve introduced to Verve has gone home and tried to replicate their «Blasted Brussel Sprouts,» to no luck. Verve has the best!

My latest communal Unilocal centers on Verve’s outstanding brunch. 7 of my foodie friends + Phin, baby foodie-​in-​training, hit Verve to try out their brunch and share our thoughts regarding it. All together our table ordered 3 orders of Dungeness Crab Cake Benedict, 2 orders of the Gingerbread Waffle, a Pork Belly Benedict, a Chicken Fried Steak, and a B.L.A.T. I grabbed a few sentences from each attendee, so here goes…
Chavi (self-​proclaimed Hollandaise Fanatic) — «As close to brunch heaven as one can get. The crispiness of the pork belly and the light fluffiness of the hollandaise was perfection. The pickling spices on the potatoes was a nice touch.»
Kim C. — «The tarragon hollandaise was perfection. Great flavor of crab cakes, would have liked them a little less moist. The English muffins were perfectly crisp, not hard. Love that the dishes come with a bit of hashbrowns and a nice salad.»
Tim (the regular) — «I come here every other day.»
Isaak — «I love, love, love the grits. They were seasoned well with great texture, taste, and fluffy. I wasn’t a fan of the chicken fried steak. It was dry and I didn’t like the consistency of the meat.»
Kim D. — «Perfectly gingered waffle would like more crispiness.»
Casey (loves run on sentences) — «Any brunch place that doesn’t have a line on a beautiful Saturday morning and gives you quality food and is family friendly and has grits and serves wine is worth points before even diving into the food details.»
Jen — «The crab cakes were perfection. The crispiness of the English muffins topped it all off!»
Communal opinions of Verve include…
1. Impeccable service.
2. We love Dan!
3. Portions are generous.
4. Prices are great.
Extra bit of information: the herb blend of the day (on eggs, etc.) was fresh thyme, sage, tarragon, and parsley. Yum!

3 ½!
My hubby and I have been meaning to check this place out for a while now. We arrived during happy hour and enjoyed somewhat discounted oysters (not a power hour or anything) and $ 2 off the wine flights. I tried the WA Reds which I really enjoyed the selection.
I also liked that you had options to purchase ½ glass, Full glass or bottles of wine to encourage a fun wine tasting experience. I do wish there were more selections on the menu for nibbles but they have to start somewhere.
The atmosphere is pretty nice, open kitchen view, local art on the walls, tall ceilings and I do like being surrounded by lots of wines!
I ordered the pork chop served with chanterelles on a bed of polenta which was very tasty indeed. However, my husband was not impressed with the raved about and overpriced burger option. My main complaint is the ventilation, they NEED a kitchen fan vent. When I left my jacket and clothes absolutely reaked of burger smoke. bummer minus ½ star from 4 for that cleaning. ;)
All in all a great little spot in Columbia City!

Whoa.
Amazing.

A solid 4-​star, but minus 0.25 star for the online menu not matching the actual, and minus 0.75 star for being slow with the check. More on that later.
Our monthly brunch club went here at my urging. We had wandered here a year ago, in the evening, and shared 2 bottles of wine with a couple good friends. I thought of this cute little place often and then found it again after reading some Unilocal reviews. Yes!
We made reservations but they weren’t needed when we showed up. The space is pretty small, about the size of a conference room and seats maybe 25 people. At a more popular time, I’m sure you’d appreciate reservations.
The menu, though small, had a lot of things we wanted to try. We wound up with a couple orders of grits, griddle cakes, bacon, duck confit benedict, the daily scramble made with duck eggs (for extra surcharge). The menu changes often though, so what you currently see online, such as the fig and ricotta stuffed french toast. was replaced by some kind of cherry french toast. I don’t like cherry. :(
The benedict was amazing! It was probably the best benedict I’ve had since over 1.5yrs ago while I was in Portland. The grits were mixed with mascarpone but I honestly couldn’t tell, and it just looked really greasy and not terribly flavored. The bacon were good, substantial pieces that stood up, rather than wilting. The griddle cakes were really tasty, and I can’t put my finger on it. but just different and better than pancakes or even crepes. The daily scramble was nice and fresh and the substitution of duck eggs made it better said my hub, but I couldn’t tell.
So it was a splurgy brunch, that’s for sure. Our half of the tab was $ 50, but we tried so many things. Service was good in the beginning, my coffee/​our waters kept full, we were checked up on. but then it kind of fell off. Maybe they are used to people just lingering and wanting to be left alone to digest, after they are done eating and all. But we checked the time and it was within reason that we’d make it to a movie 30mins later.
Decided to go and ask the server if we could have our check now and explained how we wanted it split. He said okay.
FIFTEEN minutes later he comes by, and no, he doesn’t have our check. but he asks us to remind him how we wanted it split. We were like: Really? So we explained and several more minutes pass and we get our checks. He just didn’t get the urgency, we were standing and waiting and followed him back to the register to pay. Ugh.
That really put a tarnish on that brunch, which food-​wise was awesome. but I felt really burned that it took so long to get our check. If a customer comes up to you and asks you for their check (nicely), it means they want to go. And they want to go now. It doesn’t mean come by their table 15mins later to ask clarification on the check and then make the check. There was another gal serving and maybe 3 – 4 other tables occupied, so it wasn’t crazy busy to honor a check request at that time.
We were late to the movie and they don’t let people in late, so then we were annoyed and just went home. Very blah end to what could have been a great rest of Sunday.
I would like to go back, but hub doesn’t want to. So if I did, I’d have to keep in mind that it takes about 20mins to get the check after you specifically ask for it and I wonder when/​if the fig/​ricotta french toast will actually be served…

If you know me at all, I’m very challenged with my sense of direction. I had a rough idea where this place was but I drove up and down the street trying to find this place. I finally broke down and called my friend and waited for her to lead me to the Verve. (It’s in the alley!)
When we walked in, I was struck by the open atmosphere and the sound of the conversation of the patrons bouncing off the walls. It was a little overwhelming at first. The décor was a little spartan… but I overcame it quickly by looking at the huge glass windows framing one end of the place.
We ordered a couple of flights and a ton of food. Within each flight, I think there was one selection we each didn’t care for and one we liked. Law of averages, I guess.
A few of the plates disappointed… the duck was chewy and the panzanella salad was poor… pitiful hunks of bread within a normal salad. The foie gras and figs were very good though, as was the pork belly. I like sharing, so we were able to try a variety of things. I’m not sure how often the menu changes.
I would come here again because once you find it, it’s easy to get to for me.