Symposium Wine Bar

I loved this place! My review came late but I still feel like I should give this place props. If you open up again, let me know.

You were so conveniently located and open until 2 am. I could walk home from you if I needed to. The décor is a little bleh, but it’s owned by a blind man and his father… so, I have to let that go.

Fair wine selection. The fact that you can taste tequila, vodkas, cognac, etc., also, is unique.
The service is very very poor here. The deal breaker, however, is the bright fluorescent lighting and the harsh colors. Looks like warehouse industrial lighting, not at all what you expect in a wine bar.
This place was very busy on the weeknight I visited. So they’re not hurting at all.

I do like this place. Come here a ton — –because it’s really close to work. I’m a shiraz junkie, so I usually pop in there for a glass or two (I think they have two by the glass Australian vintages – which is good for me bc Cali shiraz doesn’t taste quite right). Wine in general is a little on the ‘eh’ side.
Ambience is a little off. The red chairs and fluorescent lights up front remind me of going in to an Aardvark’s store.
The crackers are money. usually land up getting three glassfuls (yup they come in a glass).
Overall, it’s a good place to chillax with buddies or BS with random girls, but that doesn’t really sound like a top flight wine bar does it?
EPILOGUE:
I gave it a 3 star and it yanked the overall down to 3.5. proof of concept.

I fell in love with their Australia’s 2008 Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato! I am a big fan of muscat wine because I have a sweet tooth, but this was probably the best muscat wine I’ve had thus far…
A bit pricey, but their «Wine Flights» are probably the best bargains.
Cute late night place with friendly staff, variety of wines, cheeses, and most importantly… chocolate desserts!
They are open everyday until 2AM!!!

A nice place to come here and enjoy some flights of wine with some nibbles, which is always a good combination, I love getting to taste wines I have not tried in the past.
I might be interested in coming here for some bourbon tastes, or possibly even single malt scotches, however, to be honest, I was not too impressed with the wines that we received on this visit, they were lacking body (especially for Reds) and tasted as though they had been opened for too long, which shouldn’t really be the case… and though you can try 3 wines for a reasonable price compared to buying the whole bottle of each wine, I felt there weren’t many deals going down here, you were paying a premium for the wines served and sold here, but I guess you do get to try a wider variety of wines than just ordering by the glass or a bottle.

Came here with a friend for drinks after dinner. I thought it was a really nice spot and it’s not far away from my home. It’s got a nice atmosphere and I liked the wine I had but probably because my friend is a wine connoisseur. He always seems to know what wines to order.

Fine, but wine isn’t really the main attraction here. It’s more of a snack and cocktail place than a wine bar in my view.
If you go with that in mind, it’s a decent little place.
If you’re going with the expectation that you’ll get a very wine-​centric experience, you’ll be disappointed.

Symposium Wine Bar isn’t bad, but it isn’t all that great either.
The good:
The servers are friendly and generally attentive.
They have some reasonably priced flights of wine – such as their dessert wine flight – which is only $ 15 or so and includes three different samples.
The atmosphere is clean and cozy, and the place is usually quiet enough where you could have a conversation (unless it’s a really busy night).
It is also open until 2 am – which in Irvine is virtually unheard of.
Now, the bad:
Their wines are pretty boring and pedestrian for the most part. A lot of their wines are available at Trader Joe’s for a lot cheaper. Their bottles tend to be way overpriced, and their individual glasses are quite expensive as well. Their selection of decent red wines are limited, and as Lauren J. mentioned, they lack wines from many new world regions such as Chile, Argentina, and Australia.
Their appetizers (cheese and chocolate plates) are a poor value and consists of cheap quality cheese and chocolate. Skip those.
Overall:
Symposium is not a bad place if you are in Irvine and are looking for a drink of wine in the late hours, but personally I’d rather go to Hi-​Time and buy a decent bottle of cab or dessert wine for the price I’ll be paying at Symposium.

I like wine.
I’m undecided about Symposium Wine Bar.
I was excited to read so many good reviews about a wine bar, in Irvine of all places, open until 2am nightly. How fantastic. I went with a friend during the week, and at 11pm, we almost had the place to ourselves.
I had the «French Kiss» flight — champagne, red wine, and white wine, all French, of course. I liked the champagne the best. My friend had a vodka soda (no wine for him) and it was alright. And the complimentary flatbread crackers were delish.
However, the atmosphere was horrible. It was virtually silent and the bartender ignored us, although we sat at the bar. We drank our drinks and left quickly.
I want to give Symposium another chance, but I’m just not sure.

I need to step up my wine game considering the amount of times I’ve ate out and didn’t have a clue as to what my preferences are when it came to wine. Thankfully, this place gave me a haven to be a bit more experimental and explore my palette in the wino world. I came here one night with Chris E., just to satisfy my curiosity after being in this place so many times (going to Sports Chalet, Ruth Chris, or Narano). With that said we were seated by one of the employees there (dressed up in a saloon bartender type of outfit and he provided us a few paper mats, and the wine orders on the card depending if we ordered white or red wine.
The orders were the following:
Group of Reds for Thanksgiving
–2005 Rutherford Vintners Merlot Napa Valley
(blend of plum, wild berry, cherry spice and oak flavors)
–2005 Matchbook Tinto Rey Dunnigan Hills
(blend of spicey black cherry, blueberry, and red apple fruit flavors)
–2004 Martin Ray Angeliine Zinfandel Dry Creek
(raspberry fruit, cola, vanilla, and spice)
–2006 Dry Creek Vineyard Fume (Sauvignon) Blanc Sonoma County
Grapefruit and lemon fruit flavors
Meat and Cheese Appetite plate
Robiola a Tres Latti ~ Luigi Guffanti
(Soft crème cheese made up of a culmination of cows, sheep, and goat’s milk)
Rhone Alpes ~ Tomme de Savoie
Semi-​firm cows milk cheese
Cypress grove ~ Midnight Moon
A dutch gouda, made from goat milk
(in addition served with prosciutto and salami, with hints of cranberry sprinkled all around)
Chris’s orders were
–2005 Hardys Nottage Hill Pinot Noir S.E. Australia
(Cherry fruit with a hint of spice)
–2006 Jekel Vineyards Pinot Noir Monterey
(Cherry and raspberry fruit, herbs and vanilla spice)
–2001 Nichols Pinot Noir Edna Valley
(Intoxicating cherry, pum, cola, and oak flavors)
–And a small chocolate cake (if I recall correctly)
For Chris E’s, opinion on his orders check his website otherwise, I cannot go into further detail what his opinions are of the pinots. But from my understanding of the cheese appetizer, everything went well with my wines. The Robiola and Cypress were my personal favorites and my rediscovery of prosciutto (well-​cured pig or should i say raw?) made it a hit. However as for the wines this is my order of favorites from best to worst: Rutherford, Matchbook, and Martin.
The reason for this is because the Rutherford was perfect, I love smooth wines and for me this is something I would want in my wine selection in the future (I believe the entire selection was medium). The Matchbook was the medium between the other two choices a little more spice but not excessive. Whereas, the Martin was a bit too strong and spicy for my taste but definitely appreciated. As for the Dry Creek, it wasn’t too bad again I believe this was a medium bodied white wine, and it satisfied me nicely.
The Chocolate cake, was also moist, somewhat of a brownie texture with a slab of ice cream. I believe the overall total came to, about roughly $ 85.00 that night with tax and tip. The service was well attentive for the most part and it did help that this is another gem of Irvine (considering the Irvine Lockdown at midnight with the exception of this place and a few others). The décor and overall ambiance was relaxing with a western parlor soundtrack to go to, too bad Billy the kid or John Wayne didn’t drop by it would have been a sight to see.
Why am I not giving this place a five? Perhaps I was expecting more of a vintage feel, seeing more my Irvinians wearing Cardigan Sweaters and hush puppy loafers? I don’t know or maybe I just don’t know jack when it comes to expecting a perfect wine place, but I do know this, it didn’t sway me just to hand it that’s for sure. Perhaps I’ll refine my review again, once I get to go to Sonoma and many more wineries in the future.

While some may feel that giving a bar a higher rating for staying open until 2am is appropriate, I do feel it should be an expectation even if it is in a socially inept city such as Irvine. Symposium has shallow, overpriced wine list consisting primarily of California and French wines 80% of which are sold only by the bottle. Ordering by the glass will set you back at least 10 bucks and if you are a bold red drinker as I am be prepared to settle on a choice of only 4 – 5 different wines.
A good wine bar will represent all wine regions with a wide variety of selections. Symposium has little to no representation from Chile which is a very well established wine region, Argentina, Australia, Israel, or South Africa whose pinotage completes any decent wine bar.
The absolute lack of this diversity goes along with the culture of the city of Irvine in that what is simple and «cookie cutter» is what is right.
They earn 2 stars from me for the décor and friendly atmosphere.
Oh and they serve quite a few way overpriced cold cut platters that I can almost guarantee someone picks up at albertsons on the way into work every so often and then turns around and makes 300% profit on.
GO IRVINE!

Pros: Ambiance, Service, Location, Open til 2AM!
Cons:
The atmosphere is very laid back. They have a decent selection of hard liquor and an intimate menu of Californian wines. I’m not much a fermented grape connoisseur (rather just one that likes to consume copious glasses of it!) but based on the many types of wines I have tried their choices are good.
The chocolate plate they have at Wine Symposium is GOOD. If you love chocolate it’s a MUST TRY. Also the mushroom quiche they have here are very tasty as well.
Like many others have pointed out, service here is AWESOME. I love James! He’s not the typical polite sommelier — this man has a dry sarcastic sense of humor. I love it when he starts talking about the types of wines he’s tried because his face literally lights up.
I recommend Wine Symposium for a very laid back chill night with a date or with a bunch of friends. It’s never gets crazy or overcrowded and the personalities I run into seems to be young to working professionals.

Went after dinner with my girlfriend on her birthday. I wanted to come here, grab a slice of their chocolate cake and order her a nice wine flight pairing. too bad they didn’t have any cake left! somehow, their shipment didn’t come in today (of all days…). When informed it was my girlfriend’s birthday, the Mustachioed man (whom I nicknamed monopoly man) brought out a complimentary chocolate plate with a lit candle. Now that’s what I call service!
Nice place to end the night. Very quiet bar (there was only one patron when we left) with a nice flashy décor. Good service, pretty decent wines. Now if only they had that chocolate cake!

I’d rate the Symposium a 4 star but the 2:00 AM closing in Irvine puts it over into the 5 star group.
Love the fact that there is really a wine bar in Irvine and not a wine store with a tasting booth. The ambiance is elegant and the crowd is mature (DOES NOT MEAN A ROOM OF SR CITIZENS). You just don’t have a regular crowd of early 20 something drunks.
Find what you like by trying a few of the tasting «flights» and then order a bottle (or three) of your favorites.
The service is excellent and if you are not into wine, they do serve beer and other drinks.

Symposium Symposium Symposium… hmmmm how do I rate thee when I’m just so torn?
It’s a small romantic bar with lots of red colors and words of «love» written everywhere (including the bathroom). It has that Valentines throw up feel which works for some but I tend to find it a bit tacky all year round. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perfect before dinner or after dinner date place. I would love to go back after a dinner and enjoy some of their ports and cheese.
Where I’m torn on Symposium is the selection. I really really like red wine and maybe one or two whites; which is where Symposium falls short. They have a lot of easy drinking wines but nothing too adventurous and complex. A lot of what they carry you can find at Trader Joe’s which is great, but just not for me when I go out to a wine bar.
I tasted the «critique of assess» — pinot flight and «threesome» — different reds. All 2oz of the 6 were very nice but no wow factor. I would have preferred more selections with different price complexity levels. I love Zin’s and they only had one or two to taste. Others they didn’t have which I would have liked to have tasted are Argentinean Malbec’s and some Barbera’s. In the white arena I would have liked to see less buttery/​oaky chards and more australian stainless steel varietals (chards, sav blancs). In addition, we also ordered the «meat my cheese» platter which was okay. Not a lot of cheese and not a lot of meat; nonetheless, they paired well with the wine.
It’s not that Symposium is bad it’s just that I’ve been to so much better wine bars and vineyards that I’ve become spoiled. What I like about Symposium is that it’s not crowed, the staff is very nice, it won’t break the bank, and it’s a great stepping stone for the aspiring oenophiles.
I will definitely go back because it appears they change up their wine menu often (come on Zin!) and I would like to give them another star.
I recommend to others to try Bacchus’ Secret Cellar. They are really good with many selections.

Nice wine selection. Very reasonable prices. Chill atmosphere. GREAT service — our server treated us as if we were old friends.
Try one of the «threesomes»…three 2 oz. glasses of different types of wine. I got a white wine sampler for only $ 11.
Note: If you’re hungry, this isn’t the place to go. Their appetizer selection is very limited (I think 5 things max… with one of the choices being a bowl of nuts).

I love this place. Besides being one of the only places in the area that is open late during the week, you cannot beat the service and selection.
James, the main waiter is not only amazing in his knowledge of wines, but he really makes you feel a part of the Symposium family. No matter where we start the night, we always end it here. The owners are realy personable as well.
The cozy and warm atmosphere makes any conversation comfortable. The wine selection is great. If you don’t know what you want they have a number of three set starters that allow you to try a number of wines and find a new favorite
The best part about the Symposium is that it is not pretentious and you feel like a regular on your first visit.
One note though, they don’t have a full menu. Not to fear though, there is a sandwich shop right next door that has the BEST sandwiches. They also don’t have a problem with you bringing in the food from next door.
You have to try this place out.
_​Iz

i don’t know anything about wine so don’t hate my sincere endeavor to Unilocal a wine bar.
i am not even going to try to talk about their wine selection, because i am clueless about it.
however, i know when i am treated well or not. my waiter was this older greek man with mustache. he was extremely helpful and friendly. he seemed to know the answers to all my dum questions about wine.
i ended up ordering «assess or critique” – a group of pinot noirs.
2005 Domaine du Château d’Eau Pinot Noir Burgundy
2004 Cardwell Hill Cellars Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
2001 Nichols Pinot Noir Edna valley Odyssey Thurlestone Vineyard.
this sampler was only $ 13 (as much as a bottle of soju)
the staff, the price, and the ambiance made my wine tasting experience much more pleasant and memorable. i am still not a wine lover but i am now a wine bar lover.
i have to agree with other Unilocalers. this isn’t one of those pretentious OC bars/​lounges. MUST GO~!!

Where do I start?
They have wine, beer and asian vodka. There isn’t any pretense about this wine bar, it is classy but welcoming. Come here knowing nothing about wine, and leave feeling like you have gained some experience. Everyone is nice and helpful. The prices are reasonable and the food matches well.
They offer monthly wine classes, you can join the newsletter through their website.
Oh and they are open until 2 am all week long!

When I worked at the Diedrich’s Coffee next door to this bar, it was relaxing and joyous to end the day with a glass of merlot or even a beer. They have an extensive collection, but in order for their staff to be able to best suit your tastes, one can simply offer up general, vague descriptions, such as fruity, nutty, etc; and a complimentary sample of a wine will be offered.
Their menu isn’t simply red/​white wine. They have a decent selection of champagne (both the real, French variety, and the «sparkling-​champagne-​esque sort), more than half a dozen beers (The Hop-​Rod Rye is this reviewers favorite) a selection of desserts (chocolates and cakes) as well as nibbley items (nuts, stuffed mushrooms, etc). Their staff is exceedingly friendly, just watch out for the mustachioed James, who is friendly, but just can be rough around the edges with his wit.
The owner, Don Katz, is friendly, and in spite of his blindness, will frequently mingle with the patrons, asking if he can help in anyway, and to ensure they are enjoying the beverages they have selected. Both bar, tables, and half-​booths are available, and they can accommodate quite a few people at once, including parties of up to a dozen or more. They can be reserved for a private party. Closed on Sundays.