K & L Wine Merchants

I love this place because they have some really great wines at really good prices! Amarone, Barolos and a bunch of hard to find wines. Love seeing the collection in person and picking them out myself.

K&L is great! I don’t know what those 1 star review clowns were on when they wrote this place up, but they’re dead wrong. They have by far the most comprehensive (and well curated) selection that I could find in a single shop — not to mention the fact that I’ve seen several of the same wines at different SF shops with higher prices than K&L.
In my opinion the best way to enjoy K&L is to create an account and set up your order online. That way, if you want to cross check prices or reviews you can. Afterwards you can either have it shipped to you or drive and park in their luxuriously large parking lot (rare for San Francisco!) to pick it up.
Since discovering K&L, it’s been hard to justify buying wine from other merchants.

Good selection of liquor in addition to wines. Their bitter and specialty liquor could be bigger for me, but it is still pretty impressive. Pricing was good. For example, Redemption Rye 8 year was $ 89.99 which I usually see for $ 99.99 at other reasonably priced places.
For wine, you can go to the Wine Club (no membership required) and K&L both on Harrison.
I live in Menlo Park but work in the SOMA area — close to this store. With Beltramo’s in Menlo Park closing, K&L wine & liquor superstore in the city is going to get more of my business for liquor.

HI I just called to ask if a wine store would sell me empty wine boxes for a client of mine. The person referred me to a 3^rd party and when I tried to explain to him that I didn’t want a storage service and that I just wanted to purchase, not even asking for items for FREE, empty wine boxes, he said they were for customers only and hung up on me. Great way to treat someone who purchases wine from here all the time. I won’t be going back.

Fabulous store; knowledgeable staff; excellent wine club.

Great new location is spacious with lots of parking. The staff picks here are consistently pleasant surprises — I have found a number of my favorites from them! Downside is that the prices are not always the best — check out Costco or Kermit Lynch for better deals on high end wines.

For the online store.
The selection is fabulous and the prices are below average. It’s weird that their prices on the highly sought after bottles, like Lagavulin 16 year old are discounted when they could easily charge MSRP. They also carry obscure bottles, like the Lot 40 Rye I just bought. Best of all, they don’t sit on your online orders like some places do. So, if you buy on Monday, it will likely ship on Tuesday, not Friday.

AVOID — if you are looking for a place that has some of the worst customer service — this place is for you — went in yesterday — only one salesperson on the floor to help everyone — when I went up to counter to ask for help they told me to wait — while the wine prices are cheap and they push their staff picks like they are pushing candy — AVOID — walked out and went down the street to the wine club where they bend over backwards to help you — answer questions and even help you out to the car with your wine — I don’t need attitude from a company where I am buying from and ultimately drinking from — AVOID

Amazing wine picks at a range of prices. We can’t even claim to be all that adventurous because the descriptions from the newsletter/​email/​Staff Pick label thingies are pretty spot on.
Their selection of hard alcohol is quite nice as well. There’s a particular brand of gin that I can only seem to find here — and for that, I’m super grateful.
We often order online and have our purchases delivered. Super handy because it’s hard enough finding time in the day to buy groceries, do laundry, supervise the cleaning of Legos from the floor, and remind our dear child about which toys to keep out of the bath.
Recently, we had the rare joy of going to K&L in person. The new location on Harrison is amazing. Mostly because of the ample parking (free parking! Woo hoo!) but also because of the space.
As always, the people are amazing. Lovely mix of friendly, helpful, and just all around cool.

Reasonable, exceptional selection of wines. I can never go to BevMo for wine again.
Just went and picked up some Lambrusco I like.
If something you want is out of stock, you can ask at the front if you can put in an order.
Staff are knowledgeable and mostly very nice.

Good selection at decent prices. If you are browsing and/​or ordering online, your experience will be excellent as well. The staff knows wine — I would recommend making use of their knowledge if you have any questions! The new space on Harrison is an improvement as more inventory is visible. Parking is good, too. Cheers!

May be fine if buying for yourself, but don’t send the wine club as a gift. I haven’t received the wine yet, but have received an email showing exactly what will be coming, the price of the wine, and the note to be included — even though I am the gift recipient! When I emailed customer service expecting it was a mistake in their process, I was assured it was purposely sent — in case I want to buy more wine so I’ll know how much it costs! In my opinion, the whole intention of sending a gift is to have it be a surprise and to not be burdened with the price. The whole experience left such a distaste that I would NEVER recommend using K&L. Apparently, marketing in the hopes of gaining future sales is more valuable than acting on behalf of the gift giver. Hope the experience of the wine itself compensates for an already disappointed experience.

This new location is fantastic. It’s huge so it has a nice, spacious vibe. All of the great curation by the K&L staff is still here, but now with much more space and parking!

Very disappointed… I came here with a list of what to buy. The salesman talked me out of many of them instead to buy the wines prominently displayed at the
head of each isle (that should have been a warning sign). Instead of tried an true wines… I took a chance and bought his recommendations … I bought hundreds of dollars of wine based on his suggestions, and I had to pour out many of them out …(I won’t drink wine I don’t dig) …It seems the sales people are more concerned with selling wines they have to push, then wines the consumer enjoys … I even explained exactly what I liked… and what he recommended wasn’t even close to what I told him… great selection… a little expensive (unless your comparing it to Vendome)… But do your research or buy known entities… DO NOT listen to the sales staff… they obviously have an agenda

Love this store. They have an awesome selection, will try to find things for you if you ask, and the staff really knows their stuff. Only thing better is the incredible new space.

K&L is better than ever in its new location. This is a local favorite and worth a drive across town. They’ve now taken over the former TJ Maxx /​Office Depot and they’re making use of the space with a much larger space. They have a bigger selection in the front, including 3x the amount of spirits available, plus huge amounts of storage in the back for will-​call and mail-​order. As always, they have a great selection of California and international wines, plus incredibly friendly and helpful service.

as good as a wine store can get. they have a wide selection representing wines & spirits from all over the world and always staff knowledgeable in what they carry. they also have an excellent newsletter. all 3 stores have tastings which are always done well. additionally they put on various wine & food events that are fantastic. prices are fair, selection big, service always good.

All my experiences purchasing wine from this store were negative. (I bought a bottle of aged rum from them: flor de caña, 18 year; I had it delivered to a friend as a gift.) It took me several calls to complete this purchase, With each person I spoke to providing different information. One of the pieces of information that change was the shipping cost, which ultimately cost more than I expected, but I had already spent too much time with them to start over with another store.
In the end, the people at this store directed me to use their website Because of that, they put me on their mailing list. To unsubscribe, I first need to create an account, Which requires providing more personal information, not to mention spending more time on the issue. I think this is a bad way to treat your customers.
Note: I posted this review previously and it was taken down because I suspect the store complained about it. I wonder if they often complain about negative reviews and that is why their ratings are so high. I have never had a review taken down previously.

Great selection and friendly knowledgeable staff. We were headed to a dinner party on the new side of the bay and used Unilocal to find a wine shop. On arrival wines were clearly laid out and selection was pretty massive. We needed a nice Cotes du Rhone around 30 – 40 $ and John on their staff helped us narrow the picks to something we truly enjoyed.
Highly recommended;-)

Walked in knowing it was going to take some time to find a good match. Nope not the case at all. The lost look on our faces must have cued a staff member because he came to the rescue within minutes. The customer service is excellent and the knowledge is vast. It was so refreshing to have this experience that I’m writing a Unilocal review. I rarely encounter this type of customer service these days. It’s like a lost art that should be everyday behavior. We walked out happy and excited to try our new tasty beverages. It’s not even remotely close to my home, but I’ll be back without a doubt. Thank you!!! AND they have a private parking lot. :)

Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch…
For an amazing selection and prices that absolutely shames BevMo, go to K&L. The website is easy to navigate, and with the Will Call option, you have full access to their army of warehouses in CA without dealing with shipping/​handling.
I am an absolute fan and will always check here first for anything I need.
Examples:
$ 42.99 Highland Park 12
$ 79.99 Glendronach 15 Revival
$ 64.99 Aberlour — A’Bunadh
P. S. Not a wine guy… no idea how they stack up, but from looking around the store, it looks like there is probably a much larger variety here than anywhere else I’ve been in the city.

I heard many good things about this place and finally went to check it out one night on my way to dinner in the area. K&L is a dreamland of wine! I was so impressed with the selection and range of prices to fit every budget. Sections are marked by type of wine and I gravitated to the reds, Malbecs, cabs, Italian and Latin varieties — mmm! I didn’t buy anything this time, but next time I will be more mentally prepared — I was just so overwhelmed and delighted! They have tastings too, which I would like to try someday very soon.

Excellent customer service.
Knowledgable staff.
Great selection and interesting finds.
Convenient parking.
They have had what I wanted every time I have gone.
I will be returning.

A very knowledgeable and helpful staff, great selection and reasonable prices make this my go-​to shop for wine in the city.
The best part of this store is the staff. They are always willing to spend time helping you find what you are looking for and educating you about the different options. It is also great that they never try to push a bottle that is out of your price range on you. Often times they will even highly recommend something that is lower than the range you gave them over another bottle on the higher end.
I always leave with bottles that I am excited to open and try out. They don’t have very much run of the mill wine. All of the major wine regions and varieties are covered, and quite a few smaller and more esoteric ones as well.
Pro-​tip: most of their stock has tasting notes and staff reviews on their website.

+ pretty good prices
+ small parking lot (free is free, but it does get full)
+ staff friendly
— difficult to walk around, narrow aisles, if customers have shopping carts, forget about it…
— small cab franc and meritage selection
tip 1: you may want to stay away from the bottles that are marked ‘from a private collection’ i purchased a bottle of williams selyem pinot noir, one of my favorite pinots … i think it was past it’s prime to drink… it wasn’t bad/​sour, but it also wasn’t good (way too thick for a pinot noir, more of an older cab consistency)
tip 2: bitters is kept behind the counter, ask sales person for help

Not exactly my favorite part of San Francisco, but at least they have a parking lot. Lots of fancy wine without being too pretentious — in fact the staff was really friendly and helpful.
I picked up a bottle of port (was OK, I’ve had better). Also an OK selection of beer, but nothing you can’t find anywhere else. However, if wine and spirits are your thing, this is definitely the spot. And check out the train!

I absolutely love this place! (obviously from my 5 stars)
Everyone is super friendly here and they are one of maybe three places in the city that sell my favorite wine. They also have tastings although I’ve never made it to one since I work too late. Prices are usually pretty good here too. I’ve actually seen some wines and spirits cheaper here than BevMo which is nice since I try to support smaller companies when I can.

I like to drink wine, don’t get me wrong, but I’m far from a wine connoisseur by any means. However, my good friend is quite the burgeoning authority when it comes to wine.
And its because of his interest in wanting to add vintages to his rapidly growing collection that we found ourselves at K & L. This location has vast selection from different regions of the world, and surely one will find a vintage that is favorable.
SERVICE: Outstanding. My friend had researched their inventory on the website so he knew what he was looking for during our visit. He wasn’t able to locate the last bottle on his list so he asked the help of one of the staff. The male staff member that assisted was very helpful, patient, and quite knowledgeable. I appreciated that he took the time and did not rush when looking thru the inventory via their computer system. After he confirmed there was 1 bottle in stock, he gladly went to retrieve it for my friend.
PARKING: Thankfully this location has its own (albeit meager) parking lot for customers. Street parking is also available.
Bottom Line: Great selection. Helpful and knowledgeable service.