Thirst and Vine

Thirst and Vine is a great place to stop by for a great bottle of wine and an appetizer. The food menu has some very nice items including pâtés, charcuterie and cheese plates. These are the kind of items you don’t always find in Wisconsin restaurants and bars. What Thirst and Vine doesn’t have, is as big of wine selection as Thief Wine down the street in Shorewood, but Thief doesn’t really have a dining menu either. I think if your looking for some decent food and wine, you’ll like this place. I’m told they have live music several nights a week.

We went in just for a glass of wine and conversation. We couldn’t decide from the list by the glass. Many were «unavailable». Bartender offered that we try a couple. So we did and agreed on one which was, coincidentally, the cheaper of the ones we tasted. Bartender was reticent to let us read the bottles while considering each wine. In the end, somehow, the Bartender didn’t pour what we asked for but the most expensive of several we tasted. Got sniped with a bait n switch. Another overpriced Shorewood business.

Pretty awesome food and incredible wine selection. Some live music on weekends. Casual environment and small tables. Not much seating, but also not too busy to seat you. Nice blend of great food, drink and available tables.

Think about venturing outside of your normal brunch spot and visit Thirst & Vine one Sunday. With a traditional menu made to perfection, you will not be disappointed. As an added benefit, if you need to pick up a bottle of wine for a Sunday dinner that night, the staff can help you with that as well. This restaurant is very family-​friendly – I even saw some high chairs there for the little ones. For a total of about $ 16 per person, this restaurant is worth the trip. Be prepared for street parking, but since it’s Shorewood, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a spot.
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Love the intimate, informal atmosphere. Excellent wine selection, all sold at retail price plus corkage fee. Delightful food by Andy O. Menu changes weekly with a few returning favs like Lobster Mac & Cheese. Jobie behind the bar always has great wine reccos.

This is the kind of place I absolutely LOVE to review. My experience there was everything a dining experience should be and more. Naturally because of this, I love to gush about how awesome it was, so here I go:
Obviously being a retail wine store and wine bar, the beverage selection is going to be above par. I found their wine lists to be exciting, inventive and alluring. I wanted to try every wine on the list. Their list is also well-​priced and well rounded. I was lucky enough to have stopped in on a Sunday and got to take advantage of some of their wine specials. On Sundays and Tuesdays there is no corkage fee (awesome!) and on Sundays, if you order a glass of wine from an already opened bottle, it’s half off. What more could you want? We tasted a delicious Sauv blanc and a Rose with notes of grapefruit and strawberries. I already want to go back and dive into their red wine list.
The food is similarly awesome. We stopped by for brunch and tried their eggs benedict and their lox plate. Both were scrumptious and delectable. One observation: the portions are normal human size, not carnivorous Midwestern size so if you have a huge appetite, you might need to order something extra. My dining partner wasn’t filled up by the lox so we decided to order to the truffle fries with prosciutto and a fried egg. Now, the truffle fries alone could make me week in the knees, but the combination with the meat and egg made me melt on the floor. It was also served with delicious dipping sauces including a balsamic aioli and blue cheese dressing. I might be completely biased because I love french fries and fried egg, but their take on this dish was excellent and is certainly one I’ll be coming back for in the future.
Another reason why Thirst and Vine might surprise you, especially being a wine bar, is their cocktail list. I was just as enticed by their cocktails as I was there wine. I ordered a Peach Sunburst and it was the perfect brunch cocktail! The combination of sweetness from the peach combined with the crisp bite of the sauv blanc and seltzer was surprisingly disarming. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is fond of mimosas or bellinis.
Thirst and Vine, I have to commend you. You captured my heart and stomach simultaneously. I cannot wait until my next visit.

Stopped here on a beautiful Sunday night to have dinner and drinks with some friends. Couldn’t have been more satisfied with the service. Very friendly. The beer selection was pretty good too-​considering their specialty is wine. And the Mac n Cheese I had for dinner… one of the best I’ve ever had. Ample options for vegetarians if you like pasta and the common tomato and fresh cheese sandwich. Their online menu and website were up to date which also made deciding on Thirst and Vine a great choice. Totally going back!

Lunch visit. Food was good, dont order the fish fry. I would think in WI you better have this one nailed if its on the menu… LOL. Panini sandwich was flavorful but was really salty with the trio of salt heavy Italian cured meats. Wine selection is amazing was introduced to some really nice French Rose wines as it was a beautiful day out. Young servers that are still learning the industry so fair warning on service.

This is a cute Shorewood restaurant-​bar with a wine store add-​on that’s open during the daytime. Popular with the boomer set, but certainly worth a try for anyone.
My first time here was generally positive. The drink menu is pretty wide for all tastes and price ranges. They offer a very cheap 2 oz taste pour if you want to taste a wine before buying an entire bottle. The truffle salt french fries are as good as they sounds. The panini was just okay, but the vegetable tart was great. Service was spectacular.
Take a chance here, odds are there’s something on the menu you’ll love.

Stopped in here last night as a third option when the other places we wanted to go were closed. I was apprehensive about coming here based on the reviews I had read. I ended up being pleasantly surprised.
I must note that we only had wine, so I can’t comment on the food. We sat in a booth because the bar area was full. Our server came by immediately and was really friendly and accommodating. Some would say the menu is a tad difficult to absorb. It’s color-​coded and quite lengthy, so you can get lost between the wine list, cheese list and actual food items. Still, I enjoyed reading through the lengthy descriptions of some of their cheeses.
We didn’t see any rosé on the wine list, so the server went through the store and brought back 4 bottles to choose from and explained what each one was like. I’m definitely not picky when it comes to my wines, so I felt this was a nice gesture. We picked out a bottle and the server brought out an ice bucket and chilled it for us in about 5 minutes.
We also decided to buy a bottle to go and he packed it up and brought it along with the check. I must say that I was very pleased to find a close place to have some wine and will definitely try some of their cheese plates next time.

Fresh, fun, and fucktastic! Great date place or or with a group. Two dudes on the other hand would be bad. Not there’s anytimg wrong with it!

The food here was good, but a little on the pricey side. The wine selection is great, though, and Jenna, who works behind the bar, knows her stuff when it comes to wine. My girlfriend had the mahi mahi dinner special with coucous and a Grenache Blanc. I had a beef fillet with homestyle mashed potatoes and a nice Cabernet. Live music every night after 7:30, which adds great atmosphere.

Great service, cheeses and wine. They also have lovely live music! Didn’t love my dinner of tuna but would definitely come back for the crowd, music, small plates and wine! The prices are good!

I have been to Thirst for the last three Thursday evenings for dinner and GREAT wine. I love their «stronger cheeses.» They have a great variety of wine, AND I love their new fall menu. It has some of my old favorites and some great seasonal additions. I read some of the other reviews and I really don’t agree with any of the negative reviews that I’ve read.
This 5 star rating is for great service, friendly staff, amazing food and wine! I think it’s good for all ages and types of people. I also seem to meet «good people» while sitting at the bar.
I also love the fact that you can get a great bottle of wine that you’d pay at least double at other restaurants for inexpensive because they have the wine store!!! GREAT PRICE ON GREAT WINE!

I have visited Thirst and Vine on several occasions. The menu is delicious. Surprisingly, I have had more luck with the menu than the daily specials. The Gourmet Mac n Cheese is to die for. Great wine. Friendly staff. And such a convenient location!

Half price glasses of wine on Sunday! Wine flights, cheese flights, kid friendly, non smoking & friendly staff. I gotta say this is a rather cool place to stop for a quality glass of vino. I don’t know if the other reviewer caught them on a bad day or he just wasn’t in the joking mood because the staff was really friendly and courteous. The selection of wines is great and you can find something to fit your palate and budget. I would recommend it to any wine aficionado in the north shore area.

This is a relatively new place. It is a combination retail wine store, bistro and wine bar operation that serves simple paninos, pizza and some entrees. The draw is the ability to buy, by the glass, almost any bottle in the store. All you have to do is have two glasses from the bottle. There is also a long list of wines by the glass and the owner or bartender may open a favorite just because.
This place is in the former home of a french brasserie and is owned by John Nehring who runs and owns the Sendicks on Oakland. He also owned the old place.
I did not try the wine because I was on my lunch hour, but I did have a Monte Cristo panino and it was fairly good. Chicken, ham, asparagus with some sweet and hot mustard.
The wine looked rather unique, small batch varieties. I have tasted a couple in the past at other place and the selection appears to be quite good.
We will have to see how this place goes. The track record has not been too good for eateries at this location, but this concept is very unique and should cater to the north shore, east side crowd.
Three stars for now. This is only because Unilocal won’t allow for just a review without stars and I really can not grade it yet. I want to give the place some time and revisit it later. Good luck to them!