Wine Republic’s outdoor terrace
Wine Republic is an interesting place to have a glass of wine or two however, the food is so-so and I would suggest it is better to go elsewhere to dine. They do not have a proper wine list, and customers must go to a display shelf and pick out their own wine, which frankly is a pain, although granted they do have sommeliers to help you make your choice. Bottle pricing is alright, but the only two choices for wine by the glass are a glass of red or white plonk.
UPDATE: I have revisited Wine Republic since the piece above was written and unfortunately, the following is the result:
Usually, I like to keep this blog as positive as I can, although I just can’t overlook blatant inefficiency. Yes, it is true that they now have 8 wines by the glass (6 in a preserving machine and 2 house wines) but how can they put a bottle of wine on the machine without noticing the color, or smelling it to find out if it is “off” or not. I wanted to order a Sauvignon Blanc that they had on offer by the glass, but it was out of stock. I then chose a Chardonnay which when delivered I noticed immediately, even in the low-lighting, that the color was darker than it should be, and one sniff was all it took to find it totally undrinkable. How can the staff in charge of this operation, not inspect the bottle before putting it onto the machine. A preserving machine can only preserve what is put onto it! But even worse, after it was pointed out to the female manager on duty that the bottle was bad she still allowed it to remain on the machine, most likely so that some other sucker who knew less about wines would then innocently drink it. I am certain that this is not the policy of the restaurant, but just the gross inefficiency and deviousness of this particular manager and/or her staff.
Wines by the bottle selections are numerous from the shelves above, although by the glass they only have one ordinary white, and one ordinary red. This very limited selection may have been alright thirty years ago, but in 2011!
Bandon Alaska, Allora’s delicious version of Baked Alaska…….cake, homemade hazelnut ice cream, cranberries (grown & harvested locally), chocolate and sugared mint leaves
Hiroo 5-7-11, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo
