Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar

Came here with a group of 8 a few days ago. We sat outside, it was a lovely day and their outside seating was pleasant. Staff were nice and accomodating, and we ordered a few mixed drinks and 2 bottles of wine. All in all, the food was tasty, but a bit too expensive for the size plates. The live music was good, if not a bit too loud for the small area we were in. My friends and I were shouting to talk to each other over the Spanish guitar. All in all, I’d come back, because the chocolate pizza was just too good :)

Had a wonderful pre-​Madison Square dinner here. Great service (Arnaud was wonderful, super friendly and gave great recommendations)! Finally found a neighborhood favorite! See you soon, Ayza!

This is an excellent, elegant and casual place, perfect for a date or with a group. Excellent service, spot on food, top notch all around.

i love coming here for lunch. They serve just enough food with the lunch special. The hummus is delicious. I normally never have an issue when I go exfept yesterday we had to wait over 40 minutes for the food to come. But other than that I will definitely go back.

The service and management here tonight was amazing! Went here with my friend and even though she drank half of a happy hour glass of wine she didn’t like the staff (Arrnaud) went above and beyond to get her a glass of something on the menu that she did like at no extra charge and not from the list of happy hour wines! They really take pride in making their customers happy! Love that they have happy hour from 3 – 6 now and the food was delicious as always especially the coconut chocolate!

Such a great place! I highly recommend the shrimp dumplings and the steak. And then finish your meal off with the chocolate fondue. A must!
Our host and server Arnold (Hope I got his name right) was the absolute best. Enjoy a evening or night here. Wish I had something to say about the sangria or wine but I don’t drink. My friends kept ordering though so it must have been good!

I have been a regular customer of Ayza since their openning in 2008.
The reason why? There are several, but overall I find in Ayza a good and rare balance between all ingredients I wish to find in such a place: good food, very good choice of wines, nice atmosphere and good staff.
In addition the place is classy, however welcoming and unpretentious.
So this definitely makes Ayza one of my fav spot in town!

Visited last night with a groupon, we sat outside and our server came by, she was wonderful. I explained the groupon and she explained all it came with:
2 chocolate martinis
3 appetizers/​salads
5 meats & cheeses
Well worth your money ! They also bring bread and serve cucumber water as their standard.
The food was all delicious 5 stars as well as our waitress (the polite red haired Russian girl) we wish she never left. The problem arose when our waitress told us she was off and let the shorter bus boy take over who was very unprofessional and it was all downhill from there.
1. We asked what the orange jelly substance was served with the meat and cheese board and he said «guava». My friend replies «Oh I was going to say that!» And the busboy now waiters response was «you were gonna… but you didn’t» We both looked at each other astounded at how rude he was. Then we asked what the similar substance was in the salad and was it the same? He replied uh I don’t think so, I don’t know, I’m not sure … Then go check .
2. I felt more like he was hitting on us than doing his job when he waited for my friend to go to the bathroom to ask me «where we’re from because we don’t look like we’re from around here, everyone around here is stuck up and has their nose in the air» and proceeded to tell us about how he used to work at their other location that closed down but they could wear jeans and hats and give out shots and shi*”. Maybe he was drunk ?
3. Very eager to get us up even though I could clearly see a table of people who were sat before we arrived still seated trying to enjoy their night as well. Took the checkbook without a thank you while clearing the table we uncomfortably made our way the the bathroom and while I’m waiting for her …
4. He processed to bash the other table and how long they’ve been there and «he doesn’t care if they tip just get the f**k out». But wait why was ours mandatorily calculated in? I felt judged and uncomfortable.
I will re-​visit because the food, environment and first waitress were so good but definitely avoid this guy as his level of professionalism doesn’t seem to match the environment or class they are striving for here.

We went here with a groupon. Six appetizers, four chocolate cocktails, and a cheese plate (10 cheeses). We bought more wine as well. Service was pretty good. The chocolate cocktails were really good (I had a chocolate almond martini). The cheese plate was really good as well. They gave us multiple types of bread. We also tried the beet and goat cheese salad (my favorite) and the other food you can see in my picture.
NB: Warning about Groupon, you do pay the full tax and tip (18%) on the «value» which makes it more expensive.

I’m in love!!! I always past this place and I finally arranged dinner here for a girls night! The staff were extremely accommodating and polite. We ordered an array of food, chicken lollipops, avocado fries and the most delicious of them all… The white truffle pizza — YOU MUST ORDER THIS! The cocktail menu has a cool twist which I thought was so fitting. We orders several drinks — chocolate martini, cucumber cooler, bohemian pear, sangria and the blackberry bramble which were all made to perfection! Can’t wait for my next visit.

First off — I would have to say this is the best service I have obtained as a customer here. I don’t know if it was due to the fact that there were little customers around the mid-​day action. But I’ll take it. Right off the bat, my colleagues and I got seated and obtained a shot of Sangria. Pretty neat gesture and ordered mostly wine/​drinks for the cohort. Short stop during the mid-​day work grind. It was a nice and cozy spot. Would highly recommend. I had a sweet tooth at that time, and ordered the molten cake with vanilla ice cream. Service was fast/​quick and a great experience. Highly recommend for everyone to try.

Great time, delicious drinks with a unique twist. Our waiter, Arnaud, was great. He is also the chef & recommend some great dishes that we enjoyed. Definitely need to come back again. Atmosphere is romantic.
For three our total bill for appetizers, 2 rounds of drinks & entre came to $ 143.

Three things.
1. Perfect place for a girls night out.
2. Great selection of wine & chocolates.
3. Get the sangria… LOTS OF IT!
Thank you Ayza for a great experience, see you again soon!
(I also have to add that I also had a lunch date here recently with a coworker. Their prefixed courses were very tasteful (good selection of soups, appetizers and entrees) so I guess that’s the fourth item added to my list. Ayza is a great place to have lunch if you’re in NYC!)

This was a great girls night dinner! We arrived to the restaurant with reservations and noticed the great outdoor seating. We asked the hostess if we could sit outside, but the wait would be too long so we settled for the table inside. The waitress immediately presented us with complementary mulled wine to make up for the seating, which was incredibly thoughtful and very delicious!
We were all vegetarian, and the options were really plentiful. We began with three dip appetizer of hummus, tzatziki, and smoked eggplant. This came with a large quantity of grilled pita. All three were very flavorful! We then ordered the wild mushroom tart, which was very well cooked and had a nice blend of flavors. We continued with the spicy eggplant open faced sandwich which was SO GOOD! We definitely recommend this robust dish.
Of course, we had to end with a dessert. We all decided on the chocolate pizza which was the perfect cap to the meal. It was fresh, warm, and the toasted hazelnuts added a great crunch.
With the check, we were served complementary spicy chocolate and coconut covered pretzels! Awesome, unique, and very unexpected taste.
Overall, this was a great spot to share a meal with friends. I think our meal was so affordable because we decided against splurging on drinks (all were on the pricier side). Come on a weeknight to enjoy the free wine with appetizer deal!

Would have been a great place except…
We got there at 2:30.
Ordered a few apps and told the waitress we’d like to hold on to the menu as we will probably order more.
Around 3 we see the waitress again and we tell her we will order more… she replies
«sorry kitchen is closed»
Wait what?
We told you we were going to order more — maybe you should have told us the kitchen closes at 3?
We beg her for more warm pita for our left over hummus and smoked eggplant. Reluctantly she brings us more.
We ask her for the check because at this time she’s pacing to leave her lunch shift.
She give us 2 «complimentary make up and kiss» chocolate covered strawberries (which i’m sure everyone gets when they get the check)
Ok would have been great right?
The dinner shift comes in around 3:30 and starts to prep the tables. She openly sprays lemon pledge on the tables — lemon scent flying all over the air — landing on what ever food we have left on the table — including our «complimentary» strawberries.
Food was great
Service was awful and stupid

The wine and cheese tasting was a disappointment. I came with a large group for a bachelorette party early in the afternoon. The place was cute although small and cramped. The background music was a mellow playlist of Regina Spektor and Lily Allen which was okay for a while but got boring fast. We arrived 10 minutes early and were seated in front of a large window. The sun was beating down on us, making it extremely hot and hard to see. We asked if there were blinds that could be pulled and the instructor for the tasting told us the blinds were broken last week and couldn’t be drawn. The other side of the restaurant was empty with tables that were just as large to accommodate our group. We asked if we could be switched to the other side of the restaurant but she ignored us and started the tasting. We had to sit with our sunglasses on the entire tasting!
The class started and the instructor wasn’t as engaging as we hoped. She attempted to memorize all of our names, although she could only remember a few, but then didn’t refer to us by name the rest of the class. She didn’t show any interest in the bride, was dry in explaining the wines, and didn’t engage with us while we were talking, laughing, and participating in the tasting.
As for the actual wine and cheese, the experience also fell way below our expectations. The class was $ 40 a person, but we only received 3 small glasses, and 3 pieces of bread with the tiniest sliver of cheese on each. As we went to taste the wine, we realized the price stickers were still on the bottoms of all of the wine glasses (from Crate and Barrel if you were wondering) and looked intact, which made us wonder whether the glasses were even washed before they were set on the table. They did give us a taste of mulled wine in addition to the tasting, although I’m not a big fan of it. We ordered additional cheese and bread to pick on since we got very little food in the tasting, but there still was not enough bread in the basket of our additional order for us to snack on.
Our experience of the wine and cheese tasting was a waste of money and disappointing. I’ve had much better experiences with wine tasting before and I would recommend going elsewhere.

I’ve been here twice in the past week. and I’ve just got so much love for Ayza already, I have to write about it now. «Love» is definitely the operative word, not just because that’s what I feel for Ayza’s entire ambiance, its food, its drinks, its presentation — you go to Ayza to FALL in love, because everything is so lovely and cozy and warm. Case in point, when I arrived last night to meet a friend, after being seated at a tall table for two inside a server immediately came by to romance me with a free sample of delicious warm mulled wine. Served in a dainty mini ceramic wine tumbler, it was a seductive start to last night’s experience. My friend and I both used the Unilocal check-​in deal, with a hot artichoke heart dip appetizer and white wine for me, and the baby shrimp dumplings and sangria for her. The dip came with warm, crisp pita triangles, and was almost ridiculously good, with just the right amount of Irish cheddar to make it tasty but not heavy, and the white wine was a perfect accompaniment for it. My friend loved the shrimp dumplings, though not the sangria. We had another friend join us a bit later in the evening, who ordered and thoroughly enjoyed the white truffle pizza, which he had with a free glass of white wine too thanks to Unilocal.Dessert last night was the famous 20-​Layer Crêpe Cake Brulee, which was really excellent.
When I was here last week, it was with a larger party, of 6, and that was a bit of a squeeze. We got a sidewalk table right under a warming lamp, which was great given how cold it was that night. Two of my friends got the chocolate wine, which they described as very sweet but still good, and my husband got the Nero D’Avola (I think that’s the house red), and then he got it again, so he clearly liked it. I got the sangria, which is how I knew NOT to get it again last night — my friend last night described it as «Kool Aid water with a little alcohol and fruit,» which was about right. Most of my friends last week got dinner, (I waited for dinner at home that night) and there was approval all around for the Honey Maple Turkey Panini, the Goat Cheese Brulee salad with grilled chicken, and the Mini Cheeseburgers. Also, I can’t fail to mention the bread basket that arrived at the start of both evenings, which came with a steel sauce cup of whipped ricotta, which everybody was astonished by it was that good.
So takeaways: definitely good on the appetizers and dinner options. The house wines are surprisingly good, but don’t get the sangria! Chocolate martinis are next on my list to try for when I go again. I already know that I like their Jacques Torres chocolate, which is the main chocolatier selection, but I might try the Tumbador or Cioccolada at some point. Also, DEFINITELY get a reservation. The service is so attentive it’s almost overwhelming, and I have to give the servers a lot of credit, because by 6:30 it’s already pretty packed but last night my water glass was constantly being refilled and our requests were attended to with lightning speed. The experience is best with a smaller party, I’d say no more than 4, thought they can accommodate larger parties too. It’s really meant as a cozy, intimate space, especially if you’re sitting inside. Yes, the prices are a little on the higher side, and there’s no happy hour, but the Unilocal check-​in deal is a steal (Sunday to Thursday only), and for the overall experience, the extra cost is worth it.

Super cute date night place — everything from lighting and décor screams date date date! But the lighting was horrible for pictures. But it’s super small, tables are super cramped, seats are right next to each other. The amount of food we ordered, we couldn’t even fit it on the table.
Service was excellent! Our waiter was attentive and once the table next to us left, offered to move our table a bit over so we had more space to sit since we were so squished.
The chocolate martini was DISGUSTING. The raspberry tasted like cough medicine and the almond had an extremely bad aftertaste. It comes with 2 complimentary truffles, one dark chocolate and one super sweet white chocolate.
Cheese was well worth it for the price, and comes with enough bread. Food overall was good and in bigger portions than I expected. The only thing we didn’t like was the artichoke dip. Not only was it not dippable but it came out barely warm. Not what I expect from a dip.

A– for the meat and cheese board.
A for the service
A for the wine
B for the size of the place
Nice place for an intimate gathering. I will be back to indulge in some chocolate.

Pretty pricey, especially for the minuscule portions. Nevertheless, it’s a cool dessert spot.
Ordered an infamous chocolate martini which was scrumptious. I enjoyed the pieces of shredded chocolate on the bottom of the glass. Ordered the chocolate pizza which was good, but it was not Nutella unfortunately. It’s a nice place to check out once, don’t think I’ll be heading back there again. Nothing wowed me for the price.

Alors que dire sur le Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar…
Probablement l’une de mes meilleurs surprises et de loin l’une des meilleurs expériences nord-​américaine en matière de bar-​restaurant.
Choisi un peu par hasard, nous avons été happé par le cadre et l’ambiance de l’établissement. Un service et une carte à notre attente.
Plusieurs formules sont proposées pour les tapas, ce qui permet de gouter un large choix de produits tous très bons.
Pour ceux qui auraient une grosse faim, laissez-​vous tenter par la pizza. Une pâte très fine des ingrédients délectables. Un de mes meilleurs souvenirs en matière de pizza.
La carte de vins est acceptable.
Bref si vous errez dans le secteur, engouffrez-​vous dedans (où même dehors si le temps vous le permet!)

Lugar super aconchegante, com poucas mesinhas na rua e aquecedores. Uma boa opção para tomar um vinho! Infelizmente não tem opção de garrafa de vinho, apenas taças. Pedimos tartine de appetizers e vieram muito bem apresentadas! O preço é um pouco alto mas vale a pena.

Supercoole after-​work-​location mit wechselnden events. Ich weiß gar nicht, was ich besonders empfehlen sollte, da hier einfach alles schmeckt! Einfach öfter hingehen und sich durch die verschiedenen platters probieren. Man kann sich cheese platters, chocolate platters usw. zusammenstellen. Preise gestaffelt je nach größe der Portion. Für einen cheese platter mit 3 verschiedenen Käsesorten bezahlt man z.b. $ 14,-. Es lohnt sich aber denn allein das Ambiente ist der Hit. Gleich kommen Carrie und Co um die Ecke.