The Wine Gallery

Wonderful wine, food and people. An excellent place! Their flights are the best in Dayton, hands down.

Just came for an afternoon wind down. I’m having the monet flight it’s chardonnay and delicious flavors and my friend is drinking the pinto portfolio flight. The staff is very friendly too

I would like to give 5 stars because I have eaten here previously and have had fair service with very good wine and excellent cuisine; however, this current visit was so bad that I don’t think I will ever be back. That is a shame too because Downtown Dayton lacks in quality restaurants and this place is unique. I had booked a reservation three weeks in advance for Friday, Aug 21^st for five girls to celebrate several birthdays. I knew there was a show going on at Schuster Center which is why I booked three weeks in advance but apparently the restaurant does not plan as well as I do. To say this place was in chaos is putting it mildly. I arrived and they insisted I did not have a reservation but they would accommodate me at a table outside which I felt would be fine since it was a pleasant August evening (unusual in Dayton Ohio). It quickly became apparent that they were extremely understaffed for a Friday evening. People were lined up outside the entrance waiting to get seated, they had one lady hostessing and only two servers and the place was busting at the seams. I walked outside to the table they had set up for me (big understatement since the waitress simply threw a pile of menus and wine lists on the table, provided water glasses and disappeared). The table next to me immediately informed me that the gnats were terrible… great. No less than 2 seconds after those guests provided me with that information, about a gazillion of the little buggers decided to join me for dinner. The second of my party arrived and we decided to wait on everyone to get there before we decided whether we could tolerate our additional dinner guests. I had one girl coming from Cincinnati and I did not want to interrupt her drive with a bad news phone call. All of us were gathered within 15 minutes of the reservation time and concurred that our additional dinner guests, along with the horrible service was not worth staying. We placed a phone call to Lily’s Bistro and happily they said we could be accommodated immediately. Our joy was quickly turned to more frustration and anger when we all attempted to exit the parking lot. BTW, this lot is not FREE!!! It is also very unclear as to what you should pay to make that damn mechanical arm raise to allow your vehicle to escape the madness. In this case, we had three vehicles lined up ready to make our escape. I was the first and tried to put $ 1 and then $ 3 in the little box… no luck! Apparently, it did not like my money because my friend in the last vehicle walked up with her crisp bills and fed the machine until all of us got out of purgatory. By the time we got to Lily’s, I was not in a great mood and definitely needed food and drink! Happily, we were not disappointed at Lily’s Bistro.

Nice atmosphere, beautiful décor. Nice location to just sit and visit with good friends. We will be back!

Loved this place! Received a 15% discount on an appetizer for posting on Unilocal!Will go back here again!

This is a must-​visit every time we are in Dayton. The atmosphere is relaxing and it’s super convenient with decent parking. The prices are very reasonable. We have happy with their wine selection and their menu. I especially enjoy their appetizer menu – it has a nice assortment to pick from and you can make a meal of them. The service has always been very good.

We came here back on October and were not impressed. However, we also knew they were a relatively new in their current business model (according to our waitress) so we were quite willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Glad we came back! Their service was excellent! The wines were very nice — of the two flights, we had one wine we didn’t care for and ended up ordering a glass from my flight and a glass from my husband’s flight.
The baked brie was delicious. I love mango chutney, love brie, so, well, there you go!
I had the wild mushroom pasta. Large chunks of mushroom in the pasta and in the sauce. Delicious and perfect. My husband had the linguine and it was nicely al dente with a unique and delicious alfredo sauce. I’ve never tasted anything like it and loved it.
Someone said this was a «terrible» part of town. That is clearly someone not accustomed to living in the city. This is an excellent part of town, easy walk to Riverscape. We will definitely be back!

Went there for wine and apps before a matinée at the Victoria Theater. Super close walk to theater. Nice selection of wines by the glass. Our group tried the cheese plate with prosciutto and spinach and artichoke dip — both delicious. Especially the mango chutney on the cheese plate.

Great place to sample wine 3 Oz at a time .we had shrimp cocktail (fought over the odd number) baked stuffed small peppers, and a gluten-​free veggie pizza. only complaints are presentation and the pizza crust was hard over coojed maybe? and too much cheese made it messy hard to eat. Our server Tara I think was her name was really good! I will take her advice on the pesto pizza and have it the next time! Will definitely go back had a great time there hope it’s as good on our second visit!

I was excited to try this place on a trip to dayton with my mom. We ordered wine, I loved mine but my moms was terribly sweet. She enjoys sweet wines but even this wine was too sweet for her to enjoy. We asked our waiter if we could swap out for another glass, we planned on having a few each, but he said we can’t do that but I’d be happy to get you another glass but I’ll have to charge you. We asked for the manager and asked him to comp the glass. He said he would but we don’t normally do that. We told him we were happy to swap for another glass, still thinking we would get a few glasses of wine, when he told us «we can’t have people in here swapping out glasses of wine all night because they don’t like it». At this point I was just furious because we weren’t trying to get anything for free, we just wanted to enjoy some wine!

I would say this place is OK. Absolutely nothing special. My mom and I went to have a glass of wine after work on a Friday. We arrived right before 5 with only one party sitting in the couch area in the front. She told us ALL of the tables were reserved and we could only sit at the bar. That started the experience off with a sour taste in my mouth. REALLY? All tables are reserved at 5 pm? I do not think so. So we sat down and we ordered two flights of wine and a cheese plate. The flights of wine were decent. The cheese platter sucked. The bartender did not know what the cheeses were and they were all in the same family. So we each had another glass of wine and only 2 or 3 tables had arrived, so the bar was more than half empty when we were leaving and were there for over an hour. As we were leaving, I saw them turn a couple away since their reservations were «full». That is just idiotic to turn business away especially when the restaurant is empty and in an awful area in Dayton. I cannot imagine they get that much business. I understand that they had reservations but clearly they did not know how to manage having walk-​ins and reservations that were like 2 hours out. The wait staff all just gathered around the bar area and chatted. It was pretty unprofessional and annoying.
I would definitely not to waste your time at this «wine bar» and try out other wine bars such as Taste of Wine or Unwind in Hyde Park (AWESOME!!). You will really get a wine bar experience and staff that is nice and welcoming.

My first time since this place opened 2 blocks from my front door, will not be back. While the atmosphere is really nice and the locations is awesome, the baked brie was delicious but over priced. The Menu says that the Crab cakes are LARGE and you get two (2) for about $ 9 they were actually very small. The seating throughout the establishment was not geared toward anyone over 5’10″ the chairs were really for short people only. I was most uncomfortable the entire visitation and in dismay at the size of the crab cakes. I left this establishment very dissatisfied and still hungry after spending $ 75 with only 1 glass of wine and 1 coke. I would have had more wine but was never offered another glass. 3 tiny crab cakes w/​medley of vegies $ 18 with only 2 items on the plate. WOW!!! This will never happen again…

I often drove past this place, and wondered just what it was. I enjoy a nice bottle of sake, myself, and was rather pleased to find this unique location. In addition to hosting a full fledged wine bar, with a casual yet sophisticated atmosphere, it has an annex in which you can buy various wines to suit your taste. As I mentioned, I enjoy sake, and I was delighted to see not only the top brands, but an actual SELECTION of rice wines. Cheers, Wine Gallery!

After driving past this store/​restaurant many, many times, we decided to grab some dinner on a Saturday night. While there were no tables available, we were offered seats at the bar (fine with us, as the service is usually great!). Lucky for us that we chose those seats – the bartender (owner?) was extremely knowledgeable about both the wine and the food. We ordered flights (mine rose, my husband chose a flight of pinots) and enjoyed them all. It’s a great way to try different wines without drinking an entire glass. Prices are quite reasonable, including policy that allows you to buy a bottle and pay an extra $ 5 corking fee. They’ll also re-​cork any wine you don’t drink with your meal.
We began with the cheese plate which was not bad. I prefer cheeses that are more aged (read stinky) but the selection was nice. Went very well with my rose wines. I then had the crab cake sandwich, which was loaded with crab and a spicy mayonnaise to go with it, as well as a VERY fresh salad with a house made vinagrette.
All in all, the prices were quite reasonable for decent food and great wine.
Our service was great! We went to look at the wine selection in the store and our server came to find us to let me know my salad was out.
We will be back for sure, especially to try a Wednesday flight night as well as any time we need wine.

The service is horrible, but decent food& wine.
The apps we had were good, although the cheese plate was skimpy and the waiter had NO idea what cheese we had, nor did he care when we asked.
This place could be so much nicer, w/​and get better business if they had a wait staff that cared about the customers. They are slow, and not knowledgeable, and spoke to us like we wer family in from out of town saying «you gonna order some food or what?»
My advice to management is hire new people and train them well!

My fiancé and I had dinner here this past Saturday before a show. From arrival to departure we had exceptional service. Our waiter, Kerry or Kelly, was very engaging with us throughout our meal. He showed us specials that are featured during the week and sold us on coming back for them. I received a discount on our appetizer for checking-​in on Unilocal!,which they kindly accepted. Our food came out hot and was very delicious. We had the Crab dip as an appetizer and our entrées were The Gallery BLT and Wild Mushroom Stuffed Ravioli. I HIGHLY recommend these dishes, especially the ravioli! We had a bottle of wine and cashed out in just enough time to make our show!
This was our second trip to this place and both times everything was superb and we always made our shows on time. If you are looking for something different give THE WINE GALLERY a try, you won’t regret it.

I went on a Saturday afternoon, the owners were the only servers there — so the service was on the slower end but still efficient. If you like to enjoy your glass of wine, the waiting time for your entrée and apps will mean nothing to you.
The wine and lunch/​dinner menu is pretty extensive; you’ll have a lot to choose from. I definitely recommend the baked brie for an appetizer. Before or after you finish dining you can shop in the actual wine gallery located in the restaurant.
Also, if you check-​in on Unilocal you’ll receive 15% of an appetizer. The restaurant is very spacious and inviting. Try this place out!

Eclectic menu and a nice mix of wine flights, but the service leaves a fair amount to be desired. The Magenta flight was fantastic, and the fact that the entire wine menu was sorted in groups of three wine flights was well appreciated. However, spacing of tables and attention of the staff was well below par for a place that should pride themselves on the comfort of the guests.

Stopped here for some dinner and wine while in town for a concert downtown. We were not disappointed. I personally enjoyed the warehouse like atmosphere. The staff was very courteous and attentive and the menu had a great selection even for the vegetarian in our group. The veggie pizza was delicious. We decided to stop back after the concert even, and sat up at the bar. Brian was most helpful behind the bar in helping us decide between bottles to take home with us. I’d recommend the Wine Gallery to anyone staying in Downtown Dayton who is looking for a great glass, or bottle, of wine.

Loved this place. It was not as snotty as I am when it comes to wine (OK I admit I am a wine jerk — you are too!) but I have to say that after being stuck in an airport this place made my introduction to Dayton well worth it.
The staff are nice and down to earth. Not always true of a «wine bar». They have Tuesday and Thursday $ 2 wine nights and 25% off appetisers so we had a nice Spanish wine (or two or three) and some great snacks. Now, could it have been better, yes, but I was happy as hell to drink some solid wine, have some snacks, and chill out at this place in an old warehouse space.
Now, the owners told me that they are moving to a place downtown near the river so I think things will move, but hopefully not change.