13.5% Wine Bar

I kicked off my birthday weekend at 13.5% and I was not disappointed in the least. Wayne was extremely accommodating and set aside a special place for my guests. The happy hour specials were on point and our bartender was knowledgeable and pleasnt. I mostly drank wine, but a had a selection of cheese and a selection of meat. So good. I’m definitely a fan of their cheese varieties. I’m looking forward to coming back and sampling more of the menu.
Everyone had a fabulous time.

wine. beer. food. all good.
fries??? best fries in baltimore. don’t pass them up!

3.5
Honestly, my visit to 13.5% Wine Bar should have never occurred. See, what had happened was: date night was supposed to be at another location. At the last minute, we decided that we wanted to chill at a relaxing wine bar. I used my Unilocal powers and chose 13.5% Wine Bar as the spot for the night. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Hampden, so this was a needed visit to see what other things are happening in the neighborhood.
I need to give the waitress here a personal shout-​out (I can’t remember her name) for the chambourcin wine recommendation. Ever since, my lady has been addicted, no lie. I think I ordered some type of manly drink (might have been Jack Daniels). As far as the food, I ordered the Lamb Burger, which was OK at best. There were other food options I wanted to try out that were on the chalkboard, but we were told that some of the items were unavailable. Keep in mind, we came here late Friday night, so go figure.
I like the ambiance of 13.5% Wine Bar, and I would imagine that this spot is pretty populated during the Spring/​Summer due to the outside seating. There will be future visits, mainly to check out the other food and drink options.

Horrible. Bad prawns, service, atmosphere. Don’t waste your time. Bread pudding hard as a rock. Crème Brule runny. You should run.

Date: 2015-​06-​13
$ 89.5÷2 persons
Our very large party from New York had high expectations as this restaurant was recommended by the concierge desk at Ritz Carlton in downtown Baltimore. We arrived after a ballgame with quite an appetite, and was hugely disappointment by the food afterwards. We practically ordered almost every dish on the menu, including the popular items. We agree that the atmosphere was nice for a drink or two for folks on a date, and only for the drinks.

Went here due to high reviews on Unilocal.Disclaimer, I had pretty high expectations.
We walked in during happy hour and the place was pretty empty. We were seated. Surprisingly, we were asked by the hostess if we had a reservation. What a strange question to ask after we were seated. It was clear we were just walk-​ins. I did not like that treatment.
Then we got the drink menu. We had to ask what the happy hour special was. We were given a list of 4 drinks to choose from. Lame. Strike two. We both ordered the Sangria, prawns, and the tartar.
Sangria was watered down, did not have any fruit in it, it was only half the glass, and the glass was full of ice. Probably the worst sangria I’ve ever had.
I’m going to upload the prawn dish. It was exactly 3 prawns, 75% of the content of the dish was the prawns head and shell for $ 15. That’s absolutely ridiculous. On top of that, the tomatoe paste it was in was extremely salty.
The Tartar was OK at best. I didn’t like the quality of the meat. The sauce was ok. I was neutral about the fries.
I’m trying to understand how it’s possible it has such good reviews. Yes, the ambiance is nice, yes, the service is good but everything else was lame. We ended up leaving hungry and going somewhere else to eat.
I also don’t agree with the $$. The amount of food and drink for the money is ½ of what you get elsewhere. I’m giving this $$$.

Excellent service, very cool atmosphere, very good food and wine. We enjoyed each of the small plates we tried, especially the goat cheese ravioli and the pork belly spring rolls. The eggnog crème brûlée was also a very unique and tasty take on the original.

Classy wine bar with jazz band at hand, great ambiance and décor with yummy wines on demand. Dark woodsy textures and cozy leather seats, to sink into with good music — guaranteed to get you between the sheets.

The drink selection is great especially for wines and liquors. I had the ramen and it was truly great. The atmosphere is fun and friendly and so is the service. The food was much better than alot of other places i have eaten at in hampden. With an affordable variety of small medium and larger plates. I higly recommend dinner and drinks at 13.5 over other spots in hampden and will definitely be back.

Definitely a great place for a nice night out or a date night. The restaurant itself is beautiful! Located right in the heart of Hampden.
The wine and beer menu is very nice, easy to navigate, and a wonderful selection. The average glass range from 9 – 15 but my only small complaint was that the did not seem to pour that much wine (in comparison to other places). I’m not sure what was up with that. The glass was around ¼ full.
The food was delicious! I highly recommend the pizza pie. Classic menu item but absolutely delicious.
Overall, nice restaurnat! Be prepared to spend between 40 – 60 dollars for two people, if both get wine and food.

Had a great experience here awhile back. I’m kind of a novice when it comes to wine (it’s embarrassing really) and the staff were incredibly helpful with making suggestions. We ordered the cheese plate and several other small plates. Everything was delicious. I discovered my new favorite cheese (which I then promptly forgot the name of– an effect of making any new discovery while consuming wine). Ambiance was very nice and staff was great. Will return when I’m back in the old neighborhood.
P. S. I grew up in Hampden and am still in disbelief that there is now a WINE BAR. Anyone who lived there in the 80’s and 90’s will understand.

The ambience here is very nice here. They have an array of wines to choose from and small plates. My fav is a dessert wine called Ca Bianca. The brisket burger was amazeballs and the brownie ice cream sandwich paired with taragon peach ice cream was phenomenal.
They have a new menu now and to be honest… I loved their previous menu better. If you do not eat pork… avoid the burger because it is made with bacon.
The staff is very friendly and they give great recommendations on wine selections. They play music all night. Its great for date night or a night out with your girlfriends.

This place is awesome, especially the service!
Ate here tonight to celebrate my birthday (A bulbous 34) and everything was great from the time we sat down. Had a cheese plate (the point reyes blue was incredible) and the pit bacon sandwich which was as awesome as it sounds. My girlfriend had the goat cheese dumplings, which were great as well.
The staff were the real stars as they were very attentive and went above and beyond in helping us choose what to eat.
If you’re in Hampden, this place is a must try.

I really love the look of this place as well as the wine and new small plates. Even the happy hour wines are awesome ($ 5). But my goodness, the music is absolutely horrible. 80’s music and wine just don’t go together. I would totally lounge here and keep drinking if it weren’t for the music. Such a small fix would go a long way for a place that should be promoting long stays by their customers! Not scaring them away with rock ballads…
Other than that, great drinks and very friendly service! Unfortunately, three stars because the music honestly just ruins the ambience.

My friend and I went here yesterday around 5PM to catch up on a few things. We got there early, and besides a few happy hour people seated at the bar, we were almost the only ones in the restaurant. One of the employees told us we could sit wherever we wanted. Service was prompt and friendly. We had a Groupon, which I don’t like to do much for restaurants because a lot of times it changes the level of service. In this case the server was actually interested in us and asked us if it was our first time there. She stated that Groupons bring in a lot of new people.
Our food and wine came out quickly. We both got the Bacon Cheddar Flat Iron Steaks. My friend was in love with hers. I thought mine was very good but would have liked a little bit less salt. Otherwise the food was cooked to temperature and the fries were very good. I would recommend and would not be afraid to use another discount here in the future.

This hip and trendy spot is perfect when you are craving a glass of wine and some great food. What is great is they have about 40 bottles of wine by the glass and an entire wall of bottles you can take to go or split at dinner.
We stopped in on a Thursday night and they were busy, but we found plenty of seats at the bar. The bartender was incredibly friendly and helped us each choose a wine that we loved; I had a bold and light tannin Malbec from Argentina.
Foodwise — this place is perfect for sharing a bunch of plates.
We went with the charred squid. The calamari is good, not Birroteca good, but way better than John Stevens. It’s not fried — hence the charred verb on the menu. But comes perfectly cooked — not chewy or slimy. The chef here tops it with some lotus root and a sweet soy vinaigrette. I liked the combo of the slightly sweet with the salty squid.
Our next small plate was a «fried» cauliflower. It’s not deep-​fried, but more of a broiled with butter and bread crumbs to give the veggie a nice golden brown and crunch crust. They have a slight lemon garnish, which highlights all the flavor.
Our larger plate was a gorgeous flat bread pizza. We went with the caramelized onions, but had a difficulty choosing because they all sounded so great. This is a crunchy, but thin crust flat bread topped with marscapone cheese, caramelized onions, and bacon. Mmmm… bacon.
This was not enough food for the three of us, considering, we were loving the wine. Please try for at least two plates for the group for each round of glasses.
Visited March 2015

Looking for a wine bar? If so, come to Hamden. It’s right down the street from the famous Café Hon.
All in all, with more than 50 wines by the glass, over 100 by the bottle and an impressive yet affordable menu, 13.5% is a good neighborhood favorite.
Tip– Try the funnel cake. Parking is a challenge.

We went here on a Friday night without a reservation and had a great time. We had to wait for a table and although there was barely standing room at the bar, we didn’t have to wait long and it wasn’t a terrible place to hang out. When we did get our table, it was very cozy with comfy chairs, and the place was set up so that we didn’t feel cramped against other diners.
We ordered a bottle of wine, a salad, flatbread and charcuterie board. The salad was tiny — but the flatbread was pretty huge. The charcuterie was amazing, and the service was impeccable. I can’t wait to come back here for more wine and cheese!

This was a great spot to grab a bite with friends after going to see the lights on 34^th Street last night. The food was delicious, and I thought it was reasonably priced for what we received. Four of us split the tomato mozzarella flatbread, an order of the jerk wings, mac and cheese and the roasted cauliflower over polenta. A burger and a snack order of bread were also ordered. Everyone enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. With four glasses of wine, a Baileys and coffee and a Coke the check was under $ 120. Not bad. The service was a little slow but everyone working was pleasant, and we were very well looked after.
On a side note, they really could use another ladies room stall; for such a big room there was a line at the door which came out into the bar area. And it was really cold in the restaurant too.
All in all it was definitely a good experience, I would stop here again for sure.

This is fine! I have no complaints except that the waiter didn’t know when the last light rail was (but then again, I am the last person on earth who doesn’t have a smart phone, so I couldn’t look it up). No big deal. But, we probably would have stayed here later but we didn’t worry about having to catch a cab.
You sit at little tables and chairs, which is nice, but I kind of feel like it would be awesome as a lounge full of couches. Wine is a couch drink to me. And people could just sit and talk, and so on. Lazily. That would be nice. The tables make it more formal, though.
Glad they serve food pretty late; we didn’t order any (it was a long night with many restaurants and bars in between) but I was thinking about it!