West End Wine Bar

Cool place… very eclectic decorating. Wine list was nice, but the services was only okay… Place was empty, but it felt like we were bothering them. Okay for a quick drink… but may not go back.

Wow, where do I begin. We came in around 8:49 this weekend and the bartender ignored us for a full 7 minutes. He was apparently doing some counting work or something? I’ve worked at a bar for 8 years and even I know better.
When he finally got to us, he only rang up half my order and then went to help someone else. Really?! He didn’t even take my girlfriends order who had been sitting next to me before the other two people came. I was appalled. Then he had to find receipt paper and etc. He kept skipping over to new customers and trying to do everything at once.
The food was good, a little over priced, but decent. 9 dollars for corndogs was a bit much. The service was really what was atrocious. Later two other bartenders came in to help but one girl kept flipping her hair. There was one shaggy haired bartender who was great, but where was he when the bar was opening?
I wouldn’t recommend this place other than a nice atmosphere. Drinks were good but yeesh, the service was so horrible. I still can’t believe the kid ignored us for so long, forgot half my order (there was only two things) and then just went to help someone else who came after us.

Awesome place to unwind after dinner and be able to enjoy a nice drink while listening to live music! A good mix of tables and couches.
We came here last Saturday night and got to listen to a guy singing and playing on keyboard. Great voice. He even played my request for Piano Man. Apparently he’s there every Saturday from 8−11pm.
Will definitely have to go back.

On a Saturday night, it was not busy which made this place very enjoyable. There were just enough people enjoying some wine/​beers and some really great one man musician/​singer. The wine selection is great and the beer selection seems decent. It’s really a cute little hang out. It’s just enough for a pre or post dinner beverage. The red wine selection is great. I wish I could remember the type I had, because it was one of the better red wines I have had in a while. I really recommend this place if you are looking for a place to have a little conversation over some satisfying wine.

I love this place because it has plenty of comfortable seating and a great selection! Unlike a lot of bars in Chapel Hill, you can sit here comfortably and chat with friends. I always enjoy visiting West End!

Really love the atmosphere here, especially when there is live music. I’ve been here a few times now and for the most part enjoy the vibe. Not a big fan of the sparse drink choices and the service. It has never been super crowded when I was here, yet they make you wait before they ask you what you want to drink or even greet you for that matter.
Overall this is a good place to start your night out before moving onto dancing or another bar. Chill atmosphere and there will usually be seats for you and your friends to sit and chat!

A nice local place with a great atmosphere. Come for the interesting wine choices, reasonably priced.

An old favorite college date spot. It’s changed a little over the years, but a trip to West End always makes me nostalgic for my undergrad years. I never loved the wine selection compared to other wine bars in the triangle, but I can always find something enjoyable. Worth a trip.

Good wines, great location, rooftop deck. Nothing spectacular, but a nice place to meet friends for a glass of wine.

After dinner we decided to stay out for a little longer and talk over a drink, and we thought wine not?
West End was right in front of the place we had dinner, and when we arrived the place was calm, there wasn’t so many people — mostly couples. The bartenders are nice and can help you choose your wine if you’d like.
Not really the place if you are looking for meeting people (in that case you should go downstairs to The Cellar).
It could be a good choice if you are on a date, and thinking about a place to go after having dinner. The atmosphere is nice and cozy, the lights are low. perfect to fire up some feelings.

Didn’t eat so this review is for the bar only– come here with a group of friends, the bartender was extremely friendly, attentive, and knowledgable about the wine. He also let us sample quite a few of the wines, which was a nice touch, especially since some of them are not cheap. Lastly, the upstairs area is a nice touch, it’s great to relax out on the patio on a warm day.

Came here for a date recently on a Friday night and was turned off by the sound and the poor table service. In addition to music blaring at 8 pm, they also had a huge TV tuned to ABC with the sound blaring on that, contrasting with the music. There was no big game on, just regular TV on in the background for no reason. It was really distracting and lame. I found a somewhat quieter and cozy spot in the back and suggested to my date that we move back there. The waitress, who was wearing a bandeau top under some flimsy number (are you working at a wine bar or are you at Lollapalooza?), never came to our table. So we ordered at the bar, and the bartender was pretty cool. I tried all 3 of the reds offered that night by the glass, but I only really liked the tempranillo. I also ordered the bean cassoulet, which was fine but overpriced.
Comparing this to the other location, I much prefer the one in Durham. It is more sophisticated and feels more like a proper wine bar to me.

West End Wine Bar vs. The Cellar:
Girl bar upstairs. Boy bar downstairs. Trust me. Fellas, bring your ladies, but come in a big group, so that way nobody will be upset when you find the women dancing on the small floor to «What Makes You Beautiful» by One Direction holding white wine spritzers while you and the gents rack up some billiards downstairs to 90s hip hop standards in a dank basement and cheap pints of PBR on tap.

Drinks are ok. Bartenders were friendly and came back to make sure I was pleased with my drink even though they were busy. Gets crowded and loud after 12.

You go the Wine Bar to relaaaaaaaax not to party. Lay back with a glass of red in the super cozy leather couches on a winter’s night, or go upstairs to the roofed patio and enjoy a hot summer evening with a nice chilled glass of white. They always have at least one red and white on special, or you can choose a glass or bottle from their large selection. And despite the name, they have several good beers on tap (Bell’s Two-​Hearted Ale and Fat Tire are the regular highlights).
The food is gourmet and expensive, but tasty. I’ll usually just go for the small nibbling sides, such as pita/​hummus, almonds or olives. The pizzas are decent but rather overpriced.

Great rooftop for groups! The mood is really chill and usually you can hear the bands playing at Hell next door.
One downside, the bartenders are total snobs. They rarely look you in the eye and don’t even think about ordering something sparkling!

I’m probably not in a position to judge, since we popped in for a 20-​minute pre-​dinner drink. But judge I shall, for Unilocal allows me to do so. We liked what we saw here — funky décor, reasonably priced wine list, and exactly the right level of lighting for such a joint.
We massively enjoyed the rose Cava — a steal at $ 7 a glass. And we perched at the end of the bar which is covered in mosaics, admiring the bold artwork, the unusual lamps and the overall vibe.
Only negatives were
— the overwhelming smell of dish detergent as we were ordering. I know it’s unavoidable but it threw me off.
— the lack of high-​end wines. Most expensive wine I could find on the list was $ 70. Not that I don’t love the cheap stuff and get excited about trying value– and mid-​priced wines. This just felt like a place where, once in a while, you might want to get a little decadent.
At any rate, we’ll be back to take down a flight or two and tackle the tapas — for now, it looks very promising.

So there I am, walking down Franklin Street thinking «man, you know what would be great? If one of these places gave me a bunch of free wine to drink.» Within moments, I basically tripped over a sign on the sidewalk — «Free Wine tasting 5−7PM»
I entered with my crew of colleagues and we were treated to some wine. Sure, it wasn’t the most amazing wine in the world, but they were liberal with giving it away and I wasn’t complaining.
West End is a place of dual identities. On the ground level, it is a nicely decorated wine bar that you bring a date because it is a charming, comfortable atmosphere. It is clean and the service is extremely attentive. The bartender, Michael, is happy to talk to patrons about the area.
Go downstairs to The Cellar and you are in your buddy’s basement in college. A full bar, low ceiling, and pool table will greet you as you pound beers. I have to give huge props to the designers of this place for putting a railing on the shelf near the pool table so that there’s no chance in hell that a thrown elbow or misstep will cause any drink spillage. As a violent renegade who follows «no rules but his own,» thrown elbows, missteps, and booze spillage are frequent events when I go out… unless I’m at West End Wine Bar. Here, there is no spillage.

West End Wine Bar is much more chill than its downstairs brethren, The Cellar. It’s one part cool wine bar with nice couches and the like, and one part upstairs that’s covered and outside.
The upstairs portion of West End is really nice and comfy. The chairs are nice upstairs, and it’s easy to pull a bunch together for a particularly large group. It can get a little warm if it is a particularly warm evening, but overall it’s nice.
Downstairs, the bar is nice, and the prices are okay, though not remarkable. They have a lot of nice seating for people to just chill (lots of couches and whatnot) and also have a Pac-​Man machine, which is cool.
It’s a nice comfortable place for a nice Saturday evening out. It’s also not as crazy as, say, many other places on Franklin, which helps greatly.

Wine bar is a fun place to come drink wine with friends, but only on a less popular night. It has a layout that’s good for group conversation (sections of comfy couches or grouped tables) during less busy times, but on weekends when it’s crowded, that leaves lots of people standing around, with wine glasses and maybe a bottle, but no table space. I also think it’s a good wine selection for casual wine drinkers, but don’t expect the staff to be experts, or to get any kind of presentation or nice wine glasses.
One thing I especially like about it is you won’t feel out of place if you’re over 24 — it seems to be mostly populated by grad students, young professionals, and townies. Good for a date.