The Wine Lover

I am ‘The Wine Lover’ so it was a treat to try this place. Nick Chablé, one of the owners of this tasty establishment, was incredibly attentive and thoughtful. We came for dinner with the pup and asked if we could sit outside. Nick followed us out to help us pick a sturdy table and turn on a corresponding heat lamp. The al fresco dining experience was romantic and quiet, as the patio is tucked away in the back yard.
The wine list has something for everyone. But even better still are the wine flights. One can choose between, red flights, white flights and a combo. Of course I went all red all in. The red flight costs $ 15. The wines were a good mix of French and Italian — bold and some more subtle. Really an excellent selection. After a heavy pour, the flights end up being about the equivalent of 2.5 glasses of wine, which makes the flight option a steal (and a lot of fun)!
We chose the large cheese and meat board which was perfect for two hungry ladies. The large comes with 4 selections of cheese and 1 meat. The board is dressed up by olives, nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, mustard and bread. Nick did us the honor of handcrafting our board with his recommendations. Everything on this treasured board was fantastic! We ate every last bite.
Nick made sure we had everything we needed throughout the meal despite being the only one managing orders and serving. He did a phenomenal job and was a pleasure to meet. I look forward to returning to The Wine Lover as this is truly a unique and atmospheric establishment.

I went to the Wine Lover this week. Although, this place could be nice, I had to give it one star. The situation was intolerable with the smoking outside. Several people complained about the smoking and the bartender said, «Oh, she will be done soon.» I asked another person, and he said the exact same thing. However, it was close quarters, and the smoke overwhelmed several people at our table. This was way to small to have a smoking section outside that was only a few feet from the door. Unfortunately, I will not be going back. Several people who were there also said the same thing. Smoking is supposed to be at least 25 feet from the restaurant… not right in front of the door or tables where people are trying to eat and drink a nice glass of wine.

So awesome. Tuesday night is bbq night. The proprietor lights up the bbq and makes an awesome filet minion with roasted potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms.
Pair with a bottle of wine from a great selection and for 50 bucks, you have nirvana

Great place. Good atmosphere and very friendly staff. It wasn’t terribly crowded in a Friday night, and good for a keeping conversation. Would come here again.

A cosy little spot with a great wine selection, and really nice intimate atmosphere. Friendly staff and owners. They have a wine club, and events such as tastings also. Recommended.

I Love this cute & quaint place! Great, friendly service and they offer a wonderful selection of wines to buy and enjoy or their Happy Hour specialty wines

Wine Lovers Stay Away. Happy hour is a joke. Only two «HH» reds and whites. We tried about 5 samples before settling for an ok red. Sorry. I dont get this place. Service was great. Location is cute but Uhhhh wines? Not good.

Very nice and accomodating little spot, it has it all: Great Wine selection, great customer service, and great food.
Perfect for girls night out…
We’re definitely coming back :)

Wine lovers, this place is for you. Lol!
My husband & I are wine lovers & came here randomly on a Saturday night. Intimate & perfect for a chill night. They have a great selection of wines including happy hour wines for $ 6 & select wine bottles for $ 20. & their happy hour is from open to close! I highly recommend getting their Flying Blind wine flight, which is only $ 15! You get 2 white wines & 2 red wines. We had fun guessing which wines they were & they give good size wine tasters.
Service was amazing! The place is owned by 2 brothers who were attentive & fun.
FYI! There’s street parking & garage parking on the same street.

I LOVE wine and so the name of this little joint called to me like a temptress and I was helpless to resist. The place is small and intimate — but there is great outside space that makes it nice to enjoy a glass (or four) and watch the people. A pastime of mine. The owner was extremely kind and knowledgable. The wine selection was good. Not too extensive — but enough to offer a variety from around the globe. I was a happy camper. NOTE: This would make a great DATE joint. It has that kinda vibe. I was there for a business meeting, but I may take myself on a date there and enjoy a bottle. Don’t judge.

My friend Laura and I were in need of a place to sit and grab a drink and chat after a long day of work. We stumbled by the Wine Lover after dinner and couldn’t resist the outside charm, so we popped in for a quick drink. Little did we know we would be there for quite some time! The place was just too cute and quant to leave. The interior was cozy, cute and quiet. It was the perfect place to sit, relax and have a drink.
Nick was friendly, funny and knowledge about all of the offerings and made us feel right at home! We decided to each try the White Wine Flight for $ 15. I can honestly say this was the best white wine flight I’ve had! It’s hard to find four wines that you truly love in a flight… but somehow we both did! The pours were very large which only added to the charm of this place.
As we were paying we saw Nick preparing a Cheese Plate which actually looked like heaven on earth! We’ve already made Wine Lover the destination for our next ladies night in the upcoming week! And you can bet we are saving room for the cheese plate this time! If you’re looking for a great place to grab a drink, ladies night or date night, this is it!

I have been to this place a few times and love it! Their customer service is excellent and so is the wine selection. Prices are very reasonable. The owners are brothers and couldn’t be nicer.
They are very generous with tastings and want you to be happy with your final choice!
The ambiance is great and the place has so much character!!!
Favorite wine bar is San Diego. Highly recommend!

Been here about 3 times. Never made it on a night there was music. The service was a bit slow the first time when I sat on the patio, but OK, and indoors the other two times was good. The HH wine was less satisfying than I was hoping… not terrible but just not good either. Friend ordered a cab and we couldn’t tell the difference between that and the highly recommended pinot (which I struggled to finish). One time we ordered the tasting from a rep who was there at the time — didn’t like any of them.
I’m not a fan of dairy so I can’t say anything about the cheese plates. It would be great if they also served coffee and some cookies or something… a little more variety to snack on, hopefully dairy/​gluten free.

Excellent classic Hillcrest Classy Wine Bar!
These guys set the standard on excellence and overall great value.
I love their earth friendly paper disposable plates and accompaniments to their wine.
A five star experience BRAVO!

Great selection of wines, great service, and awesome seats on a warm August, Saturday night in San Diego.
Husband and I will definitely be back to try the other wines! And also try their other appetizer selections. We had the olives which paired up nicely with my Malbec and husband’s Pinot Noir.

Stopped in here a month ago with friends and was unimpressed. We ordered several tastings and a couple of wine flights, along with a cheese board. Service was extremely slow, and I was not impressed with the paper plates and plastic utensils that came with our food.
Will probably not be back. We can get a better experience elsewhere.

I do like the location of this place. Parking has always been an issue for me when I have gone there and the service has been very disappointing, far too slow for my liking. The place is very small and gets quite crowded.

I came here a while ago, but I had a really bad experience here overall! Food and wine were below average, and the service was really slow and rude.
They need to treat customers better! Not much else to it. I’d avoid this if you are in the area, I’m sure there are much better places around.

I love living in Hillcrest. Hillcrest is absolutely peppered with wine bars, restaurants, more bars…
The biggest draw for this particular wine bar was the live music. When you own a business that relies so heavily on the ambiance, it wouldn’t do to stiff and abuse the musicians you invite to play at your venue, after agreeing to pay them for their services.
It’s wine. It’s cheese plates. Hell, either of those things don’t take a lot of prep and time, and you’ve decided to really air your dirty laundry to what you thought was just a city filled with 1.3 million people. 1.3 million people still make a community, and social media helps with that.
Piece of advice Wine Lover, don’t nix the music, especially when that’s what you mostly have going for you. If artists are still willing to provide entertainment to your venue, treat them with genuine kindness, and pray this whole thing blows over.
You’ve lost more than just one life-​long customer by failing to provide common courtesy to another human being.

We came here specifically because some buddies had a gig here.
I already look forward to going back, buddies or no buddies. The location is fun, right on the street with an excellent vantage point of what else is going on in the neighborhood. If people watching isn’t your thang, you’re welcome to sit at one of the many other more intimate seats around the bar.
The wine selection varies and they also have beer! I didn’t get a chance to eat so no comment on the food, but the place was intimate, the owners friendly and the location is amazing.
I would love to live closer so i could spend more evenings on the patio!