Bodega Wine Bar

06/29/08

Dear Bodega

by lanemeyer1970 at Citysearch

When I show up with my girlfriend to grab a bite to eat and a few glasses of wine (and yes, at least the pizza was good), please don't ask me to hold a credit card. It makes me feel like I am Cabo. It would also be nice if you did not charge me for a cheese plate that I neither ordered nor got. Stay classy.

• Pros: really good pizza
• Cons: slow, inaccurate service.

11/28/09

Words Cannot Express This Experience

by thrine13 at Citysearch

I've never had an experience like this one. We had been looking for a good wine bar in Santa Monica, and came across this one on Citysearch. It seemed decent, so we figured we'd try it out. When we drove by it, we almost thought they weren't open because it was so empty - on a Saturday night! But we parked and walked by again, saw a few people in there, so we thought "eh, we'll go ahead and give them the business." We walked in, and straight to the bar area where there was a whole group of servers/hosts/bartenders chatting with each other. It was clear that we were standing there and not sure if they should seat us or what... Every single one of them stopped, looked at us, and then went back to their chat. I did a little wave like "hi, uh, should we sit down?" Mind you, we were standing in the middle of a virtually empty place. Not a single person acknowledged us, so we literally had no choice but to walk out and go to Swingers next door. Wow.

• Pros: Your choice of any seat in the house
• Cons: Staff who acts like they're on their day off

09/22/09

Save yourself - much better wine bars in the area!

by katiemarie3 at Citysearch

If I could give Bodega less than one star, I would. I'm not really into complaining about places online, but the way we were treated at this place was so appalling, I feel I need to warn other people before they make the mistake of having an event here.

My sweet fiance reserved the Lido Deck at Bodega for my birthday this past weekend. We arrived to an absolutely dead wine bar. By 10 PM, my group of 20 in the corner was the only reason this place wasn't the saddest scene in Santa Monica. We had a minimum to meet of course, and our friends were drinking up. I won't get into the details but due to seriously poor service, we got to the end of the evening and were accused of not meeting our minimum. When my fiance tried to find a manager to reason with, he was presented with a shady bartender who told him, and I quote: "I don't care what your mother f*%^ing problem is, your card is f$#%ing getting charged." I was shocked. That is the way you speak to a paying customer? And not only a paying customer but someone who kept you from having a completely dead Saturday night? In order to avoid making a scene, my fiance quickly bought a few bottles of wine to cover what was "left" on our tab and we departed.

Not only was the service here completely unacceptable, but the wine was a disgrace. When a Santa Barbara Winery wine is your finest offering, you're kind of giving wine bars a bad name.

I recommend you avoid this place at all costs and definitely don't let them ruin your birthday.

• Pros: None.
• Cons: Appalling service, poor wine selection

04/09/09

Great place to grab wine & apps with friends

by DenaG at Citysearch

Went to Bodega on a Tuesday night with a date and it was a perfect place to meet. The wines are all $8 a glass and there was a great selection. The appitizer menu also offered a good selection and we tried the brushetta which was tasty. I'll definately go back to Bodega again. Scene was relaxed and friendly.

• Pros: Good inexpensive wine list
• Cons: Valet parking costs $5

07/29/08

Wine Bar meets laid-back Bar

by kiercemartin at Citysearch

So we checked out Bodega on a whim after tiring of the line outside Father's Office. I was pretty skeptical going in, but Bodega is by far more laid-back and less pretentious than even Father's Office. While you may think this is kind of comparing apples to oranges. Bodega offers just as many wines just as cheap during happy hour as Father's Office does beers, and all the wine at Bodega is the same price no matter what you order and bottles of wine are only 20 bucks. Do the math and you're coming out better than a lot of bars around Santa Monica. Not to mention $3 beer during happy hour and their food is great too. While it's definitely not a place to club, it's a great place to get a drink.

06/24/08

Wonderful for wine, but not for partying

by jenheidir at Citysearch

I feel like Bodega doesn?t know what type of wine bar it wants to be. At least that?s the impression I got when I went there one Saturday night. There was a DJ playing up-tempo music, but the venue doesn?t have any space for dancing. The place bills itself as a wine bar, but there?s hardly enough table or counter space for people to put down their glasses, let alone bottles. My recommendation -- come here NOT on a weekend night, or if you do, show up before 10 o?clock. Check out this place for its appropriately-priced wines, not for a place to party.

04/27/08

Stay away!

by HelenRo at Citysearch

Uninspired wine list. No flights period- forget about flights paired with food or dessert. Truly some of the worst food that I have ever eaten. The only plus is the creative use of the space- nice, contemporary atmosphere.

01/16/08

Fun place on Tuesday nights!

by tiffanym6 at Citysearch

Went there last night for the first time and really enjoyed it. My boyfriend and I had an awesome waitress, and she let us sample a few of the wines before committing to a bottle (only $20 on Tuesdays!). She was very knowledgeable and helped us pick out a great wine and the delicious grilled cheese (so gluttonous but worth it). I think we got lucky because it was a slow-ish night, but the service was great and our waitress even brought us free shots! Overall fun, laidback atmosphere and I'll definitely be back soon. My only complaint was the overhead lighting is a little weird (when are people going to realize that this is the most unflattering lighting ever?). Thanks again Kelly S.!

• Pros: Food, Service, Location
• Cons: A little pricey, can get crowded on Tuesdays and Fridays

12/13/07

Events at Bodega Wine Bar.

by fanofcs at Citysearch

Great place to host events! They took care of everything, I didn't have to worry a thing the entire night. Great service!

• Pros: Atmosphere
• Cons: Parking

03/09/07

Horrible service, Avoid at all costs

by tpierson33 at Citysearch

I live really close to this place so I thought it would be a good idea to go there on a Friday night to just have afew drinks with some friends. Unfortunately, this turned out to be areally bad idea. The waiters/bar tenders were extremely arrogant and it took well over 20 minutes for the waiter to bring the wine I had ordered (it didn't even seem busy in there).

• Pros: walking distance from where I live
• Cons: Service, Parking, Atmosphere