The Crush Bistro & Wine Bar

Nice chill spot, vending wine machine is fun.
The owner is pretty nice and friendly.
Shall I return???
YES!
Nice!

Cute little hidden gem! Cash on card and you go and fill your glass at those machines and the prices depend if you want a taste. Half glass or full. Really good tapas. Must try!

Nice environment. The Calamari was delicious! Love the chill atmosphere. Sad, my first time here and it’s closing on the 19^th of June.

If you like wine, what are you doing with your life if you haven’t been here?! Came here with some coworkers for a post-​work drink with appetizers & they were truly great at handling large groups & splitting checks!!! That is one of the first things I look for when I put together large happy hours for work functions.
16-​Bottle Wine Dispenser feature: 5 stars
The Crush is tucked away along Main Street in El Segundo — easy to miss — but has a fantastic wine selection. Their most exciting feature is a 16 bottle self serve wine dispenser! Yep, you heard right. You go up to the bartender and open a ‘wine debit card,’ you can load as much money as you would like, grab a glass, and help yourself to the ‘tap’ in the back. You slide your card into the machine and choose which wine you would like, and how large a pour you want. Viola! No lines, no hassle with paying. You can choose 3 different pours from the machine: a taster ($ 1 – 2), half glass ($ 3 – 5), or a full glass ($ 7 – 12). The machine will automatically deduct whatever you choose from your balance, and inform you of how much you have left.
Food: 3 stars
Everything on the menu is under $ 10!!! Tapas, and dinner sized plates!
Okay, now that you know they have great wine and cheap food, the only downside? The food is alright. Its pretty average, nothing too hard to mess up but nothing mind blowing. I would recommend the Loco Moco salad (dressing on the side) and the caprese salad.
One last tip: El Segundo Farmer’s market happens on Main St right in front of The Crush on Thursday evenings, so you’ll have to search for parking/​walk a little further away. But, as this is El Segundo and not SaMo, you’ll still find plenty of parking!
FYI: Their website says they open at 3pm, but Unilocal is correct, they actually open at 5pm.

Cute little place in downtown El Segundo. I have never been to this area before, I felt I was no longer in Los Angeles but who am I kidding, you can never escape LA haha. Anywhoo, met up the girlfriend for a meal after work, this place is primary focus is on wine. They had wine dispenser which I’ve never seen before. At first, I wasn’t too fond of it, wine should be sipped on glass, not plastic hence wine should be poured from a bottle, not a dispenser. But I guess after a glass or two, the dispenser started to seem fascinating to me haha. I kinda wish I got the wine card so I can sample different kinds of wine.
Price was very reasonable. $ 3 – 4 per half fill, $ 6 – 10 per full fill. The food was alright. This place is good for drinking wine and when you want to have small bites to eat. I guess dtes closes early because the place cleared out by 9 but the wine place is open until 10. We were the only ones left, I felt so bad but we were enjoying each other’s company and catching up so time just went on by. The owners were very patient and kind to us so thank you.
Should I be in the area again, I shall stop in :)

Came here because I heard of the awesome wine dispensing mechanism… But my friends didn’t anat to indulge so I didn’t actually get to try it out but you get a wine glass and can go fill up the wine of your choice– pretty cool.
We got the nachos — really good!!!
I got the burger with the sweet potato fries and I can’t complain, pretty great.
Service was good… But considering we were one of 2 sets of people there, that was a given haha but the server (possibly owner?) was very nice!
Will definitely come back to try the wine if I’m in the area

For those of you who don’t want to read a whole review: bottom line — a great find for anyone looking for a well-​priced, relaxing, and/​or romantic experience. Definitely date night friendly, small enough to feel intimate, and on the quieter side so you can actually hear yourself think and enjoy your company, especially at one of the two couch lounge areas they have.
I’m giving this place four stars, only because I reserve five stars for truly spectacular experiences. Too many times I think the scale is movable and so you never really know if a place is crazy outrageously good, or just basically great and a lot of people are just overly enthusiastic. So to be clear, this place isn’t going to blow your mind, and they’re not redefining the meaning of wine and good food. Having said that as my personal disclaimer I also want to say that, for me, four stars is a huge recommendation.
Crush was a perfectly appropriate experience, which is something you find less and less with wine bars in LA. What I mean by that is, I came here for a relaxing glass of excellent wine that I could enjoy without distractions, and that is exactly what I got, plus a great dish of nicely priced, perfectly portioned mushroom ravioli that was good enough to raise my eyebrows and put a smile on my face despite only being $ 6.
What I didn’t get was blaring faux-​trendy music and headache-​inducing loud conversations between people yelling at each other to be heard. I also didn’t get bustling, harassed waiters who were turning over tables as fast as possible — instead I was greeted and seated leisurely at one of their two comfortable couch lounge areas by a very personable host I suspect may be the owner. He also was very helpful in selecting the best wine on the menu, but for anyone wanting to explore on their own, Crush has a very cool self service wine bar in the rear.
In other words, this place is everything a wine bar should be and I would encourage anyone in the El Segundo area to try it out.

Husband and I stopped by last Friday night. I thought it was just a wine bar, but as we sat down we were told they served food as well. The bartender was very nice. He explained how the wine cards worked and pointed us to the machine. So you load a card with $$, walk on over to the wine selections and select a taste, half pour or full pour. We liked this idea because we get to taste at our convenience. We each decided on one we liked (Cab for him; Pinot Noir for me) and sat down for some eats.
We shared the bruschetta and a cheese plate. The bruschetta came out with 3 pieces. I know its small plate style eating, but a total of 4 would have been nice. We ended up splitting the last one and it kind of fell apart. The cheese plate came out with 3 different kinds of cheese, some apricots and a few crackers. Again I wish it were a little bigger. I don’t mind paying more for bigger options.
Great service. Clean. Great service. I’m only giving it a 3 because I’ve only been here once. Will reevaluate when I visit again.

Crush wine bistro was a nice get away for a double couples’ date. Although, it’d be just as nice to go with a friend and grab some food and wine. I would recommend this place to my friends or family that’s in town visiting.
Service was OK, but the ambiance and wine made up for it.

Extremely satisfied with everything about this place. The ambiance is very nice and it’s a perfect setting for a date night or a night out with friends. My favorite part was the wine dispensers! I had never seen something like this before. You pre-​load your card and can choose between either a taste, half glass, or full glass of whatever they have available during your visit. Along with the wine they have a wide variety of small orders you can share or keep to yourself — all reasonably priced!
The service was great, we didn’t have to wait long for anything at all. Food came out promptly and there was always someone around to help clear the table or get us something we needed. This is definitely going to become a go-​to spot for me. If you’re ever in the area check it out!

I felt like going to a wine bar on a Friday after work with my best friend so I Unilocal’d and found Crush. They have a self-​serve wine bar area which I’ve never done so I thought it would be cool to try. You don’t have to order like that though. They have some behind the «bar» and also beers on tap, which I totally would have tried but I keep telling myself I’m on a diet. They have a limited food menu. We ordered the Caprese Bruschetta and Cheese Platter. Nothing special. I think I might get the Bruschetta again. Overall the staff was very friendly and helped us out because we didn’t know what we were doing lol. It was actually pretty busy too. Wines were reasonably priced, about $ 5 – 7 per glass. The place didn’t blow me away but it was cute and close to home so I’d probably come back to relax and chat with gf’s :)

The bartender is quite amazing. Fast, friendly, and goes the extra mile. Drinks come out quickly and the FRESH food comes out quickly too. I think it’s all because of him.
His name is Alvin. Take good care of him because he’ll naturally take good care of you.

Ambience is nice. Cool live music on the weekends. Wine dispensers is a cool idea be nice to have this setup in my house.
Place is small but doesn’t get too packed.
Service is quick but Food is just ok and wine is just ok. Need to chill your selections and offer a few better tasting options.
Tried just about everything (12 different types) and really only one was really good. I’d definitely come back though. Solid spot perfect for date night or older crowd.

I agree with other reviewers that this is a perfect venue for a date night or a moms night out. The wine dispensers are really cool. The servers are very knowledgeable and will find a wine that suits your needs if you go the bottle route. The menu has some great options. We tried the baked caprese, ceviche, chicken satay and calamari. All were yummy!
The ambience is great. They close at 10 or 11 so it’s not a late night place. Parking on the street is usually plentiful.
Support El Segundo!

I’m a little stunned by all these great reviews.
My husband and I stopped by for a drink after dinner a few weekends ago. We live in the area and wanted to support a local business. Should have known when we walked in around 8 on a Friday night and the place was more than half empty that we should have kept walking.
First, the place smells awful. Damp and mildewy. It was so bad that I can’t imagine eating in there. Yuck.
Second, the wines were terrible and served from vending machines. We put $ 20 on a card, poured a taste apiece, poured them out, tried again, and ended up getting the balance of our money back.
Not recommended.

Great wine bar to kill time at before your flight.
They use the space really well and even though they didn’t have an updated menu and some of the wines were out, they had a great selection of tasty brands I hadn’t heard of before. It’s really affordable about $ 1 – 2 for a taste, $ 3.25 for a half and about $ 6ish for a full glass.
We didn’t get to try the food but the menu looked tasty.

I enjoy going here for a glass or wine or a few tapas. I have found that the wines they serve from the bottle behind the bar to be better than those in the auto-​pour machine (which is fun to use if you want to sample a number of different wines). Nice place, casual atmosphere which can be enjoyed solo or in larger groups. Hope you give it a try.

Great place for a casual evening out. The food is tapas mostly so don’t go looking for a sit down dinner. The food was enjoyable, but nothing remarkable. I’m not going to have cravings for the food. This is a wine bar so I really just went for the wine, which I will be going back for!
The vibe is classy and comfortable. The bartender really earns his keep by making sure you are ordering the wine you will be happy with. He really took his time to get me the perfect glass of pinot grigio — to my taste.
The self-​help wine dispenser is wonderful. You can choose from a taste, a half glass or a full glass. You set your limit on a card before you start drinking, so you can be a responsible drinker. :-)
This place would be nice for a pre-​date activity or just to enjoy company with a friend. Wouldn’t recommend it for groups of more than four… the seating is intimate.

This place has so much potential!
My boyfriend and I came here to unwind after a tough week. He asked me what I wanted. I said, «Wine.» He delivered. What a great guy. We parked in the residential area about a block away from Crush. It was our first time here so we were a little lost when we first came in.
A waitress seated us and handed us food menus. She didn’t give us any further instruction regarding how the wine bar worked. We could see that people were walking up to this wall of wine dispensers and seemingly pressed a button and were given wine. It’s like an adult self serve soft drink machine. We sat for a while and no one really gave us any attention until we caught the eye of a guy that worked there. He seems to be the owner because he was flitting around helping everyone, refilling the wine machines, and graciously making sure everyone was having a great experience.
Once he took us under his wing, our experience was great. We received a wine card and put some money on it. We managed to get about 6 half glasses of wine with about $ 20 on our card.
The downside to this place is their food. The food isn’t exciting. It is standard «bar» food, that doesn’t really get your juices flowing. If they considered having a menu similar to Bacaro LA that would be fantastic! Give the chef some freedom to create new things, and maybe have suggested wine pairings to drive people to order particular dishes or wines. Something to think about.
The owner (we only assume he is the owner) was ridiculously nice and we saw the passion he had for the place. With a more innovative menu, this place could really take off.

I shall forever remember Crush as the place that convinced me that I can love bleu cheese! I’m talking about the Humbolt Fog. If you see that on the cheese platter, GET IT and hoard a huge chunk on your plate so you can’t share it. The platter ($ 9) also comes with brie, gouda, and some surprisingly good guava jelly thing that helps cleanse your palate.
The wine bar is electronic with 12 different wines (4 whites) if I remember correctly. You can choose to have tastings (~$ 1.50), or half glass (~$ 3-​$ 4.75) or full glass (don’t remember the prices but prob double the half glass). There weren’t enough international wines but enough solid reds from Napa to keep me very happy =) They also have a list with more wines but by the bottle.
The wine and cheese were all that I had here but convinced me enough so that I will be back (particularly for the humbolt and those sliders that every other table seem to have that looked delish!).
Also before you come, go to
to get a gift certificate at a deal! (make sure you look at the minimum purchase amount in the detail)