Checkered Past Winery

Love the atmosphere and the owners! Great location, can’t wait to go back to try the new flat breads. Get the chocolate cake-​to die for!

My husband and I spent New Years Eve here and we had so much fun! For $ 30 a person, we had a reserved table with party favors, one free drink each, plus a champagne toast at midnight, 2 appetizers brought to our table, plus ample hors d’oeuvres passed around throughout the night. There was a really awesome live band, too. The atmosphere was fun and festive and we had the most friendly, attentive server ever. We plan to return, often!

Superb atmosphere, staff, wine & food. A beacon of light in South Dallas! I WILL make this place a mainstay.

Everything was tasty! Great wine selection, as well as the local selections. But how about that warm double chocolate cake! Price is just right.

Firstly, don’t try to walk through South Side on Lamar to get here because Checkered Past has their own entrance on the side of the building that is much easier to use.
They have a huge selection of wine as you would expect with many originating from Texas, but they also have a surprisingly wide variety of beers. The beautifully presented food pairs perfectly with the wine and having tried most of their menu, I thought the smoked salmon and cream cheese on focaccia was the best. The bread was toasted just the right amount to warm and crisp the outside but leave the inside satisfyingly chewy. I also loved the composition of cheese board with four completely different cheeses, fig jam, mango chutney, dried fruit, and candied pecans. The giant pretzel looked really good too but I didn’t have room for all those carbs.
The décor is simple and clean with butcher block tables, concrete floors, metal chairs, and a few black leather couches. Old Vespa bodies and signs add character. The warm lighting around the bar area is inviting and feels like the place to be. The staff was particularly warm and friendly. 4-​stars!

Had a GREAT Texas Red and an insanely good Antipasto Italiano plate. Service was perfect. Music was as good as the atmosphere… Both spot on.

We were invited to their pre-​opening practice session. Thank you for that. We tried almost everything on the menu, which included a cheese platter, an Italian antipasto platter with salami, prosciutto, grilled artichokes, and more, a smoked salmon on crostini platter, a pork shoulder ham on crostini platter, a goat cheese/​dill dip, and a plate of small red pepper skewers. Everything was very tasty, but the salmon and pork shoulder crostinis were the best and most popular at our able of four. All plates were cold, as they should be, and in a twist of the normal (hot entrees, cold desserts), the dessert we all had was a hot chocolate volcano with whipped cream, gluten-​free. Excellent. They have a fair selection of wines, with the emphasis on Texas wines. They offered only a limited quantity of wines by the glass, whose quality was just okay, but the wines you could purchase by the bottle seemed to be of higher quality, and the prices very reasonable. They also had a good selection of beers of all types, all for $ 6. The atmosphere is very eclectic and relaxed, in the old Absinthe location in the cellar of Southside on Lamar, so the bare walls and cement floor are in the spirit of this old landmark building. The service was very friendly and attentive, although the food was quite slow coming out considering there is no cooking involved. But I’m sure that it had to do with the pre-​opening training going on in the kitchen, and I would not hold that against them until another visit after the official opening. All in all, a pleasant evening and worth another visit.