Wine Steals

Great spot that I first went to in Hillcrest however this location is really great. Right across from the ocean with great outdoor seating. Great Happy Hour with wine specials and you cannot go wrong with the thin crust pizza or awesome meat and cheese boards. A great place to spend your late afternoon/​early evening!!!

To start– You have to go up to the bar to order, there’s no table service. The wine selection is good but they didn’t have what I ordered so I had to pick something else, it’s a Saturday– stock up. We ordered the large cheese plate that was $ 19, decent amount of cheese but we got charged an extra $ 8 on our bill for extra bread and some honey. Wasn’t expecting that. Thought it was kind of odd that the extra bread they brought out was mostly pita… Not what originally came on the cheese plate. Mediocre spot. Won’t be going back, there’s better places to go for what you are paying.

Just a quick update to my previous reviews. I saw online that Wine Steals offers a wine tasting on Saturdays from 4 to 6. I had planned my birthday dinner next door at Cicciotti’s so I decided to get together with my friends for a cocktail hour before dinner at Wine Steals with the intention of trying the wine tasting. However, when we arrived, we discovered that it wasn’t what we pictured.
It seemed that the wine tasting was relegated to the small bar at the back of the restaurant and there was no way that we could all huddle around the bar the entire time. It would be nice if they handed out tickets like most wineries so we could mix and mingle and then go back to the counter for the next wine. It just seemed very unorganized the way it was set up. A couple of my friends participated in the wine tasting and the bartender kept asking them which pour they were on so it seemed he couldn’t keep track either.
I also wasn’t a fan that it seemed that there was no choices in the wine tasting. It seemed that the wine was pre-​selected and as a white wine drinker, I wouldn’t have enjoyed sampling the reds.
I do like the atmosphere of Wine Steals, however. And a few of my friends raved about the red sangria.

Love wine steals! Chill vibe, good food and great wine. Cheese plate and pizza you can’t go wrong

I came here for one of their art lessons. It’s not a bad place, but I found it to be a bit small and underwhelming. My opinion: there are a handful of better choices with more wine selections and a better atmosphere if I wanted wine in this neighborhood.

Just had one of the rudest experiences ever with a bartender who didn’t want to be here. He overcharged by $ 20. I questioned the bill. Recalculated the menu and items listed on my check to be $ 15 less with the other bartender. I left $ 50.00 cash, which included a $ 5 tip, way more than he deserved. He chased me out the drive to insult me. I’m a person who appreciates good service. I certainly don’t need to screw a rude bartender having a bad night out of $ 10.00. This dude has issues. I won’t go back.

Great location. Hubby and I drove down from Huntington Beach and we love the vibe and ambiance here. The locals are extremely friendly and welcoming. Great wine choices, and even better pizza! There is a great selection of different types of food to choose from (pizza, sandwiches, salads, wraps, cheese plates). In addition to the great wine selection, they also get a pretty good selection of draft beer.
Huge plus, the patio is dog friendly! They even bring a water bowl out for your pup. Can’t wait to go back again soon.

What a great place to chill! Fantastic wine and beer, not to mention the menu. The quest blanco appetizer is a great taste sensation. No matter google says… they are open. 11:00 to 11:00 for great food and the bar stays open until midnight! Get Jessica and Jordan to help you. Great suggestions on amazing wine. Ask Jordan to share with you his pictures of cliff climbing while you are enjoying you food and wine. Ask Jessica to share her artwork and you are transfixed to some amazingly talented and creative art. Just come and enjoy!

I came here on a weeknight, and they had live music! That was cool.
My friends and I each ordered a glass of wine and food to share. We got vegetables with hummus and the Margherita pizza. You can have your pizza made with gluten-​free crust! It was so good… we were wondering if we’d be able to «tell the difference» by getting gluten-​free crust, but it tasted great.
I tried a glass of Tincho, which is wine served on the rocks. And it came with a straw! Apparently, it’s super popular in Argentina. We asked about the Tincho because we’d never heard of it before. They brought out samples for us to try, and they were generous with the size of their samples! I liked it so I got a glass.
We hung out on the outdoor patio, which was nice. All in all, I feel like I had a really nice experience and will be back!
PARKING:
We parked across the street on the dirt area and then walked over to Wine Steals.

I come here fairly regularly as it’s walking distance to my house. They have great wine and great pizza. Wednesday night is trivia night which is a blast if you can last through the two hours. Thursday night is live music night. My only complaint about Wine Steals is that I wish they had more food options. I get that it’s a wine bar and because of it they are probably more limited on food than a full size restaurant but I wish they would mix it up and offer less variety of sandwiches in turn for maybe some mac and cheese or some other delicious choice… or maybe they have mac and cheese and I haven’t seen it? The view though… the view is to die for as you can almost perfectly see the sunset. It has to be one of my favorite local spots to enjoy a relaxing glass of wine and yummy food after a day at work.

We were here last night for Painting & Vino (I’ll post my review for this class shortly). We ordered a Riesling Wrap, Slightly Smoky Ciabatta, Sangria and LOliveto Pinot Noir that cost us about $ 50. The food was good and service was excellent in that there were only 2 servers working that night. However, Wine Steals isn’t a place that I would be dying to come back just for food alone. It was good, but not great.

I like this place. Went there with a group and had a lot of fun. The service was good and the crowd seemed pretty mellow. Got there during happy hour and food and drinks deals were pretty good. I like the outdoor patio area a lot.

Great place for enjoying a relaxing glass of wine. Fairly large place, with outside seating. Their selection has a great range of wines from all over, and you can even buy bottle to enjoy at home. I give it 4 stars because as we were enjoying our glass of wine, they started mopping and sweeping which smelled not so great. It was only 10pm and they said they were open until midnight but we got the feeling they wanted to close up early. They were even collecting the chairs that were outside. Two other couples were still enjoying glasses outside but I think everyone got the feeling they wanted us to leave early. I would totally go back and recommend to anyone who wants to try some new wines. The prices are a steal too!

Happy Hours are the best! Met some girlfriends for HH on Wednesday and am happy to report that wines by the glass are $ 2 off and they have a wine tasting at 5:30 that’s only $ 5! The appetizers are great, the seating is cute, and they have an outdoor patio area as well. Trivia begins at 7:30pm on Wednesday too, although I didn’t get to stay to see how good it is.
They have other specials during their weekly HH that, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to check out sooner rather than later. While there are other great places to HH around Cardiff/​Encinitas, this place is an oldie but a goodie to me! Keep it up Wine Steals :)

My boyfriend and I went to dinner with his co-​worker and his wife on the Sunday before Memorial Day and they suggested Wine Steals. I’m surprised I had never been here before, but I really liked it. It is pricey, but not your run of the mill wine bar (at least not this location) and I think the ambiance, location and quality were well worth it.
There is an underground parking lot which a lot of people do not know about because it can be easy to miss when driving by. We ended up parking on the third floor, but it had at least another level down so there were plenty of spaces. The best part is that it is free to park there! You don’t even have to get a ticket validated.
Wine: We ended up drinking 4 bottles of wine between the four of us…0₀. We had two reds and two whites. I really enjoyed the chardonnay best. Sometimes chardonnay is a little too dry for me, I much prefer sweet wines like Reislings or Moscatos, but this chardonnay was great. Two at our table preferred red wines, one liked more dry white wines and then me with my sweet tooth and the chardonnay ended up being a perfect middle ground for everyone to start out with. There was not one complaint.
Food: We ordered the Pinot Grigio pizza (pesto, spinach basil, bell pepper, red onion, parm., mozzarella and red sauce) and the Pinot Noir pizza (garlic sauce, prosciutto, bell pepper, asagio, mozzarella, arugula, and white truffle oil). I do not eat pork so I could not eat the Pinot Noir, but I fell in love with the Pinot Grigio. It was absolutely delicious. Their pizzas are very thin which is great because you are really able to taste the ingredients itself instead of a mouthful of bread. I had left overs for lunch the following day and they heated up really well. My boyfriend tried both and though the liked the Pinot Noir as well, he agreed that the Pinot Grigio was mouth-​watering.
My only complaint is that they do not have enough outdoor heaters. We loved the ambiance outside and sat there for most of our meal, but as the sun started to go down it got very chilly and all of the heaters were taken so we had to go inside. I think a restaurant should have enough heaters to reach every outdoor table.
I’d definitely like to come back sometime, maybe even try a different location.

One can not drink all day unless one starts in the morning. Following my post-​run pre lube, we decided to head on over to Wine Steals to shift our sights from barely pop to vino. I had the opportunity to share some good cheer and a couple glasses of wine a few months ago, but I did not have a chance to partake in any culinary offerings.
In an attempt to keep it light, we ordered a mushroom pizza to accompany our libations. Although I generally like to try a new pizza with the three essentials– crust, cheese and sauce– I also wanted to see my girlfriend smile while on a pizza excursion with me. In the past, I have been let down by food offerings at various breweries and wine tasting rooms so I was not expecting a great deal from this pie. Wine Steals, i am sorry I underestimated your pizza making skills. Piping hot with the perfect crust, sauce, cheese, mushroom ratio, the pizza deserves high honors. It was gone in no time flat!
Service was extremely friendly and attentive both times I have been here. Considering the five month gap between visits, this speaks volumes for consistency. Now that Summer is on its way and I will be in the water more frequently, I am sure I will make my way here for some post surf refueling.

Steal my heart they did! Great location. Love the tables outside to watch the sunset. There was a lively crowd on the patio from a table of 12 to small tables of 2. Or, if you want inside, their is a cozy room with the bar, and a few big chairs to make one feel like they are in their living room. The chairs are cozy. I mean just bring me my wine, a pillow, my book, and I could just settle in for a bit reading a way. At several points in the night there were lines to order drinks. It was a very orderly line I must say; like you would see at a grocery store, single file. Rather than bar like where people scatter in front of the bar, and try to get the bartenders attention one at a time. Lines? Well, good for Wine Steals, this is a very nice problem to have.
I had the Gainey Pinot Noir and slurped it down. I didn’t get to try any of the apps, but did try the Reisling pizza. It was thin, crispy and sounded like this «crunch» with every bite. They had table trivia going (every Wednesday). While I didn’t know this was going down when I went there, I think many of the clientele did. Customers were there to play fo’sho! These patrons were in to it. The team names were funny, peeps were hooting and hollering, more so as the night progressed (funny how alcohol helps with shyness). I enjoyed trying a new place which I have heard all great things. The service was good, and parking was very easy. I will definitely be back and will share the love with my friends.

This is an awesome little restaurant with a great view. I didn’t actually get any food from here but it looked and smelled delicious! The wine selection was great and I love the outdoor patio-​very cute! I went here for a wine and painting night which was in the back room, which was a very nice venue for it with good service if you wanted a drink during the class.

Great place to spend a loungy afternoon on the coast. There’s a really nice patio area which is great for the warmer months, which is pretty much every month in San Diego. The gentle Cardiff breezes roll gently off the coast, up cliffs, ant to the patio area. It’s nice.
There’s a simple but good menu with cheese plates, salads, artisan pizzas, and a variety of sandwiches. And, of course, it’s a wine grotto so there’s plenty of choice.

Back for a quick glass of vino. The staff is very well knowledgeable of their wines and will let you sample until you find one that sings to your palate. A great selection of beers to be had here also. Cold and in the fridge. The wine selection is ever changing so if you find something you like, you may want to grab a bottle. I think they rotate too because one will disappear and then return. The HH prices are fantastic. 5 $ wines, $ 2 the other wines not on the HH board for $ 5. 4@ slices of crunchy thin pizza topped with just enough meats and cheeses, unless you like it piled on. (They are pretty lightly topped)
Great wraps. The zin is great, everyone loves the chardonnay wraps and pizza. The blush sauce is so good!
Music, indoor and outdoor seating. Wine tasting on Wednesdays. Across from the beach so nice intimate vibe with a great view. Can get loud though!
Very local.