Gotham Wines & Liquors

Located on Broadway and 94^th street, Gotham Wines & Liquors is a block away from the 96^th street IRT subway stop. By the way, it’s also near the legendary Super Tacos food truck located over on 96^th street. Gotham Wines & Liquor is well-​known for its excellent selection of wines, specifically Kosher wines. People travel from all over NYC to go here. The selection & prices are competitive for the area. It looks like they run a high-​volume business because all of the items I’ve purchased here look brand new & super fresh like they were just unpacked & placed on the shelf new. That’s worth considering since there are shops where the inventory sits on the shelves for a long long time. No dusty bottle caps here. The shop attracts a nice crowd too. Classy not trashy. Nice friendly staff.

Hey you have to pay a top price ($ 5.36) more for the same liquor you can get 3 blocks away. Never back again.

I’ve been coming to this store for years. Still do. Always will. This store has a great assortment for every budget. They suggest wines that they know are good and delicious and worth the value. In the past 20 years I can’t think of ever getting a bad bottle or a bad recommendation. Jason is such a fantastic wine enthusiast! His descriptions of wines are always 100% accurate. This is one of the last stores in NYC where you can get a great product, a good price, a knowledgeable sales team and a taste and a kibbitz. It’s hard to find a better wine store, anywhere.

I met a person at this store who quickly understood my taste and typically gives me suggestions that are right on the money. Helpful, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable, but also unpretentious about discussing wine. I can’t guarantee that every staff member is that good, or that they will understand what you like in particular, but I do think that the store as a whole is well-​run and well-​staffed. What may be at least as important as good advice is not having to walk through a minefield to explore on your own. What I mean is, Gotham puts real effort into curating their wines such that it probably won’t be on the shelf if you shouldn’t be buying it. There’s a lot of good product for experimenting and learning, along with helpful staff and daily tastings.

Wouldn’t let me use the Unilocal ‘checkin’ 15% offer code. Said it wasn’t valid. Maybe too dumb or didn’t care. Won’t go back. Spend your money at another shop.

I love this place. Even though I live up in Harlem, I come down here to buy what I need. Being both Greek and Jewish, I appreciate that they have a wide selection of kosher wines (from Israel and elsewhere), and was happy to notice they stock a bunch of Greek wine and spirits too. The manager Kostas will go above and beyond to help you find what you need, and most of their employees are knowledgeable and happy to help as well. Even the ladies working the register are warm and helpful. While the liquor prices are average (except when there’s a good sale, as there is now), the kosher wine prices are better than anyplace else in the city I’ve seen.

Worst place ever!!! They have a ridiculous rule in which everyone has to show id whether or not you are purshasing liquor. My boyfriend was buying a bottle of circoc accompanied by myself and a friend and he could not purchase the bottle if we didnt show id too. I personally believe it is a stupid rule because you cannot stop a person from buying alcohol simply because he is around minors. If he were buying the alcohol for a minor the perdon can just stand outside so they aren’t preventing anything.

Really like shopping here, great selection of kosher wine. NYC prices for sure but not as high as I’ve seen elsewhere. Very helpful and knowledgable staff. I also like their single malt selection though they’re a bit more pricey than Astor wines (who offers free delivery to uws) but great for window shopping and when you’ve had a long day and are looking to catch a buzz. Overall, a way above average local liquor store with great selection and decent prices.

Used to go here when I lived in the neighborhood. Some very helpful employees, some who could not be bothered. They do not stock Fireball Whiskey which is antiquated.
Though, I recommend purchasing in cash. The only two times I went here and used credit, my card number was stolen within a week.

Gotham is a great local liquor store. The staff have been quite helpful recommending various wines, single malt scotches & other spirits whenever I have sought their advice. Their selection of products is eclectic & informed. Also, during most weeks, tastings of champagne, wine & spirits take place & discounts are provided if a customer chooses to purchase such products.

Although they might not know the true taste of all their wine, they certainly have a solid selection to choose from. Unlike most wine stores, since this is located on the UWS the kosher selection is outstanding, and the prices more or less match other stores in the area.

Service here is consistently sulky and rude. I have lived around the corner from them for over ten years, and frequently stop in just because it’s convenient. I can be the only customer in the store, and the women behind the cashier counter chat on their cellphones, or to each other, or enter numbers onto sheets of paper and do their best to ignore the customer standing in front of them with her credit card out. I’ve never had a smile or polite word from any of them.
Plus, the prices are higher than other liquor stores in the neighborhood.

It’s all about customer service and what I experienced was poor at best. I called to see if we could have a case delivered for an event the same afternoon. Unfortunately I was 3 blocks out of the delivery zone. Really? B/​c that’s a TINY delivery zone. You’re going to put a case of wine on a truck for a delivery that is 8 blocks away for NEXT day delivery? Way to waste gas.
But anyway, they wouldn’t deliver but my company has done plenty of business with them before so over I went. I mentioned my bosses name, my organization name and was greeted with nothing. I told them what I needed and when we said we were purchasing a case the person asked if I would like it delivered. I said yes but that he said he wouldn’t go the extra 3 blocks. Turns out he was the guy I spoke to and stood his ground. Ok, fine. I’ll just carry it. Why not? I’m a girl who can haul 12 bottles on my back but your delivery guy (of which there were several just standing around) can’t take a handtruck 3 extra blocks? Whatever.
I go up to pay and hand them my tax-​exempt certificate. The cashier starts to process it and the same guy who was helping me comes over and asks if I’m paying cash. I said no. He then asked if I had a credit card with the company’s name on it. I did not. I said no — that i was going to pay with my own card and have the company reimburse me. He said «then you can’t use the tax exempt certificate.» Really? Come on. Do you know how many places I’ve done this? No org would let you make a $ 100+ purchase with petty cash and if I was using my bosses credit card you wouldn’t have let me use it b/​c it didn’t have my name on it.
So, no help on the delivery. Made me pay tax that I won’t get back in expenses b/​c we are not supposed to pay tax and overall gave me poor customer service. I felt like he was annoyed that we were there in the first place. So from now on we’ll just stick with the closer options that will deliver to us same day, that will take my tax exempt certificate and that actually don’t mind when you’re shopping in their store. Gotham won’t mind. I’m sure they’ll have plenty of business that isn’t mine.

Great selection and really helpful staff!

There are some knowledgeable people in this shop, and they have a fairly good selection of all types of wine. Convenient location as well. Their selection is lacking in the higher end product (both red and whites). I ran in there this evening to pick up a bottle to give as a present to the host of a holiday party I am going to this evening. I quickly found a couple nice bottles, went to the checkout counter, told the person this was going to be a gift, and asked if the bottles could be gift wraps. To my surprise, she handed me the foil bags and tie-​strings and said I would need to wrap them myself. Really? REALLY??? Every other wine shop I have ever been to is happy to bag up /​wrap bottles when they are to be given as gifts…

UM HI, didn’t know asking you to scooch over all little so i could see the bourbon behind the counter WAS A PROBLEM.
excuuuuuuse me for wanting some makers mark! dang, a hello and thank you, or any kind of recognition as a customer would be nice. thanks.
nice booze selection, so ill be back. but a little smile never hurt anyone. maybe my cashier was having a bad day– her name started with an I. OOPS.

Huge selection of both every day and hard to find spirits/​wines, and very good pricing. You can also order online which is a nice feature and the staff is very helpful.
On the downside, I kind of dislike that they keep some of their spirits (like their Cognac’s) behind the counter. I’m always forgetting my glasses and can’t make out what some of he labels say because it’s too far back to make out. Saying «I’ll have that bottle of brownish amber stuff» lacks a certain pizzazz. and makes it a bit of a pain to shop there. But otherwise, great place.

This is my favorite wine shop. The staff are friendly and super helpful, even when I’m super indecisive. They have just about everything, including my current favorite Greek wine, which I’ve only seen on two Greek restaurant menus and no other retailers. I can’t speak to their liquor selection, but if it’s anything like their wine selection, it’s gotta be great!

I’m a big fan of Gotham Wine and Liquors. I don’t know much of anything about wine. I try to learn little trivia types of things so that I can fake it. For instance, did you know that the grapes used to make pinot noir and pinot grigio were named «pinot» because someone thought that the way that the grapes bunched together resembled a pine cone? Did you know that most white wines are made from red grapes? If you’re reading reviews of a wine store, you probably did. Anyway, beyond knowing a couple of trivial facts, and knowing what I like, I know virtually nothing about wine.
The problem is that I must look a lot like the type of guy that enjoys being told how stupid he is, because most of the time when I go to wine stores, I tell them things like «I’ve found that I like Italian pinot nero better than California pinot noir,» and then the employees of whatever wine store I am in proceed to tell me about how Italy doesn’t make much pinot, and it really isn’t that good. That’s an awesome fact for me. I really wanted to know whether the employee of the wine store agreed with my taste in wine. Now that I know that he doesn’t, I can go kill myself.
Anyway, the reason that I like Gotham Wines and Liquors is because they don’t feel the need to tell me why I’m stupid. (They must realize that I already know why I’m stupid.) They have a woman working there who generally walks around and seems to just try to gauge when someone like me has become frustrated with the search for a good wine. (I appreciate this, because I can’t stand when places have a sales person who just pounces on you as soon as you walk in trying to sell you something. Maybe I already know what I want. Did you ever think about that?)
So once you start to appear confused or frustrated, the woman will generally approach you, but generally not in an aggressive manner. If you tell her what you want, she will help you find it. If what you want is stupid, she may suggest something less stupid, but only as an alternate option after helping you find what you want. For example, the first time that I went to GW&L, I went there looking for either half sized or single serving sized bottles of wine. My logic was that I live alone, and red wine doesn’t taste too good on day two. Instead of telling me that I was stupid, she took me to where they kept their selection of half sized bottles of wine, admitting that it was not a wide array of wines, and suggested two wines. She pointed out one in particular which she said was exquisite. When someone breaks out a word like exquisite, you know that they’re not F-​ing around.
Anyway, after showing me the half bottles of wine, she explained that the reason that they didn’t have a very large selection of half bottles was that there wasn’t a big cost differential, and that it basically made as much sense to buy a full bottle of wine for less money and just dump what you don’t drink.
I ended up taking her recommendation on a $ 10-​$ 12 full sized bottle of wine. It was actually quite good. So I figured that if her recommendation on a cheap wine was that good, I’d have to try the half bottle for $ 18 that she said was exquisite. I did, and it was.
Lately, I have been on an environmental kick. So there are two ways to do the whole eco-​wine thing. The first (and probably best for the environment) is boxed wine. I have tried Bandit. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s terrible. So I have moved on and started drinking local wines in bottles. Shockingly, the woman at GW&L was able to recommend a local red for me which was also very good. …and she did this without ever feeling the need to tell me that Long Island is really known for their whites.
Anyway, if what you’re looking for in a wine store is knowledge without judgment, I would definitely recommend Gotham Wines and Liquors.

While strolling in the hood on a mid-​summer, my former love and I encountered Gotham Wines and Liquors. I purchased a wine stopper as we browsed and inquired about Piper Heidsieck which none were avail. Customer service is fair to middlin’.