Best Bottles

We stopped in here after picking up picnic supplies at Zabar’s. We were so pleasantly surprised. The wine supply is very curated, so not tons of options, but the signage and limited selection make picking out a bottle of wine way less intimidating.
The staff was awesome– they gave us samples, provided guidance & knew we were drinking at the park, so they gave us chilled wine and to go cups.
Such a great little wine shop! Totally recommend for those looking for a cheap, but really good bottle of wine– or looking to learn a bit about the wines. :)

Pretty well curated wine selection of under $ 20 bottles. That being said, not every bottle is a winner. Ask for help – the staff is awesome and they’ll give you some solid recommendations.

I like this place. It’s organized very tastefully with all bottles in a pleasant array. They have wine tastings every day so go to the back and ask. Their prices aren’t bad. I got a very good Merlot for $ 13. When I go back to this area and need to pick up wine, I’ll come here. It’s got that lovely upper west side local flavor.

Great local shop with fantastic wine and liquor selections. The team is always personable, generous and helpful. My go-​to spot.

Very helpful in selecting a good bottle of tequila for margaritas. Nice customer service.

It’s awkward being the one to say the emperor has no clothes, but this wine store is buck naked. Why this hasn’t been pointed out sooner perplexes me. The main idea of the place is carefully curated bottles of $ 15-​ish wine that are perfect to grab for dinner on the way home (the prime display space and most of the store real estate is devoted to this). I expressed this to one of the proprietors who said «that’s the idea» with all the enthusiasm of someone who’s half-​heartedly lying. The staff in general is passionless.
I gave it three tries and discovered I was getting a lot of oddball or mediocre wines. There are actually many very enjoyable wines on the market for $ 15-​ish, but these are not them. What I most often got was, at best, bottles of $ 10 wine being sold at a premium, and at worst stuff that wine distributors are probably relieved to be able to sell at all. Imagine a bottle of pinot noir so cloying that it tastes like someone added a heaping teaspoon of sugar to your glass. For the price, there are countless better casual wines to accompany your hamburger. It goes to show that if you are good enough at writing misleading wine descriptions and your store is near the Apthorp, you can command huge markups on questionable wine.

I stopped in on a whim to pick up a bottle of wine to bring to a dinner. I found the staff in general to be very snobby, but not necessarily in a bad way. The man who gave me a quick orientation when I walked in was super helpful, and I really love how they’ve arranged the store and focused on affordable ($ 20 and under) wine. They seem to emphasize careful selection of the individual wines and have good descriptions posted. I picked out a bottle based on the description (and cute label), and it turned out to be delicious. I would absolutely return to try out their other selections. Minus one star for the guy at the register who was kind of rude, he seemed dead set on paying as little attention to me as humanly possible.

Love this place. Staff is so friendly, laid back and cool. They have such an eclectic mix of wines. I honestly can’t go anywhere else for my wine. I have tried other wine shops in the Upper West Side and they do not compare.

I needed a bottle of wine for a dinner party last night and came across this place after I bought my cookie from next door. Selection is limited but given I am not a connoisseur of wine, my decision making process became a lot easier. However I needed a little assistance but the person working there wasn’t very knowledgeable just reading out the description to me, then when I asked what does it mean he said it tasted better (?). Anyways I picked something on my own and it was great, and relatively cheap too. I would recommend but don’t ask for help.

Unfriendly. Unhelpful. Bad attitude. Perhaps this place might work if you know exactly what you want.

I’m not a winesnob and this place works for me. Wines I am pleased with. Friendly and helpful staff. I like the ambience better than the other two local wine stores. But you will be the judge of that.

Hey this is a great stop. I was at an UWS BYOB that I needed to grab a bottle of wine quick. Carlin and Michael were very helpful and got me out fast with a great selection that saved the day. Unfortunately they didn’t pick the BYOB ! Next time I’ll ask about the restaurant while I’m purchasing the wine. Maybe I would have had good wine and good food. Thanks guys

Super cute wine store with quirky staff. They usually have tastings in the afternoon/​evenings. I really love the explanations they have next to each wine, I find them totally helpful. The wines are a bit over priced but they do have some hard to finds. I love the jam jar, a fruity red wine. I do sense some judgements from the staff when I purchase it but it could be worse, I could be hitting up 7 – 11 for bartles and james…

Definitely a stop-​by whenever I visit UWS. First of all, yes I’m a sucker for interior design! Place looks awesome and it has a good selection of wine to choose from. Not too many selection of wines which suits me because I get overwhelmed with too many selections.
They don’t package it so if u have a wine carrier then perhaps taking it will be wise.

I like their will to continue their tradition of exposing different wines for tasting, even though I feel that the selection is not that varied. Prices are very reasonable, though. The staff is helpful, but their attention tends to decrease as the store gets more and more crowded during the weekend. Sometimes I feel I’m bothering them when I enter their shop to taste their wines.

They are good for what they are, an accessible, fair priced wine shop that gets you in and out fast and can give you good suggestion about what would pair well with your meal.
Probably wouldn’t come here if I needed something ultra special, but for my weekday bottle of wine this is the place to go.

I like this place. It makes wine very accessible — and it included some [small] tastes of wine [that we didn’t like, but oh well. Can’t complain.] A wine connoisseur might find this place too trendy or transparent, but the prices and the thoughtful descriptions make buying wine for any occasion easy and, in some ways, fun!

Where do I begin? This place is one of the best accidents that I’ve made in a long time.
After getting off of the bus on a very hot day in the middle of June, I ran in here to see what I could find that was alcoholic and cold.
White wine instantly became the plan.
Looking up I found that they had the different types of white wine divided easily for the «everyman» to find what they want. Instant zoom in on some Sauv Blanc. I then found a bottle that I really wanted… only then to find out that it was only $ 9. I bring it up to the front, thinking of just plopping in some ice to make it cold once I get home. As I’m scanning my debit card for the bottle, she comes back from going to the back with an ice cold, refrigerated bottle of the same wine. My jaw dropped. I never asked… I never thought to ask… and my expectations of this place were more than met.
Bravo Best Cellars. I’ll see you again very, very soon.

I like Best Cellars. They’re on my way home, they give free tastings, they’re friendly and helpful, they organize their wines by flavor and body, they have cute descriptions of the wines along with recommended food pairings, they have a decent and reliable selection of wines in the $ 15-​$ 25 range, and they frequently offer discounts on their wine (if you go before noon, you can get the early bird discount– helpful if you are planning ahead for dinner)
Some things that keep our relationship from being a «love» instead of just a «like»:
–the store is a little bit cramped
–they rotate their selection frequently, so sometimes if you like something, it’s gone by the next time you go
–they don’t go out of their way to make wine buying easy (no customer loyalty program, no helpful take-​home cards or stickers, no system to help you remember what you’ve previously bought)

I’m not a wine-​tard; in fact, I’m fairly knowledgeable regarding regions/​varietals/​grape blends/​etc that I like. However, even when I’m shopping for something specific, I still like to be edjumacated on other similar wines, because this is how I expand my palate; through suggestions.
Yet all this Best Cellars did when I walked in was point me to the shelf that contained the Lambrusco I was after for a gift; no greeting, no offer of the wine tasting of the day, NADA. In stark contrast to the 86^th & Lex location, this store is cramped, crowded, and the staff is not as helpful. I don’t care if the majority of the bottles are $ 15 or less — if the customer service is shitty, then your store qualifies as a BOOZE FAIL.