Wine 121

My friends and I stopped in on a Friday night for some drinks. The place is pretty nice. It is very spacious, has a good-​sized bar, and a really nice seating area with couches and a fireplace. When we arrived, there were a handful of people at the bar (it seemed like mostly regulars) and a few people near the fireplace. There were several tables, so we grabbed one and perused the drink menu.
The wine menu is not very large, which seemed odd for a wine bar, but they definitely have a good range of options — several reds, three sweet whites, three dry whites, a couple sparking options, etc. The bartender greeted us promptly and took our order. I went with their riesling, which she warned me was very sweet. She wasn’t kidding — it was easily sweeter than any moscato I have ever tried and closely resembled apple juice. While it is bizarre to me that this is the only riesling they would have on the menu, I am not going to fault them because the bartender did try to warn me and I decided to go ahead anyway. The cheapest glass of wine was probably close to $ 10. I won’t pretend to know anything about wine, so I don’t know if this is reasonable or not for the quality of wine they serve. Since I had dinner plans I only stayed for the one glass of wine.
Another 8 or so people arrived while we were there (which consisted of another 3 tables), and as it started to fill up, the bartender seemed to get more annoyed about having to serve us. As the rest of our party arrived, she seemed irritated that people were not ready to order as soon as they sat down, and she was not very friendly throughout the visit.
My favorite part of my visit was the discounted wine they had at the front of the bar. They had a long table at the front that was full of 50% off bottles of wine, and they had a decent selection of lower-​price wines (my favorite kind!). My friend and I each got a couple bottles that were originally in the $ 15-​$ 30 range for half the cost, which is a great deal
I probably would not come back here again for a drink, but if I was in the area I would consider stopping in to check out their discounted wines.

Woody Allen allegedly said that 80% of life is just showing up. That’s the case here. I would love to give a thorough and detailed review of Wine 121. Unfortunately, I can’t, because they don’t ever appear to be open.
Their website and front door says they’re open between 11 am and 11 pm on Friday. I showed up at two o’clock and found a handwritten note on the door that said they’d be open at three instead (and «sorry for the inconvenience»). Fair enough. I killed time at the Dollar Tree for an hour and came back at three. About a dozen other patrons were standing outside waiting for them to open. I killed some time at the ridiculously overpriced boutique shop next door and eventually gave up at 3:20, when Wine 121 was still closed, locked, dark, and empty. The dozen or so other patrons gave up as well.
I’d called the store several times earlier and only got an answering machine telling me they were either on the phone or busy with another customer (or in this case, completely missing in action). I’d like to visit them again, but I’m not making the trip to 122^nd and Center without being darn sure they’re open when they say they are. Every single phone call I’ve made since then has been greeted with the same answering machine message.
Maybe there was some kind of family emergency that caused them to abandon ship. My cynical side, of course, thinks that they’re going to remain closed until all their Living Social coupons have expired (which will be in a few days). Every patron who was waiting outside seemed to be brandishing one. If I do get the chance to try their wine and cheese, I’ll come back and amend my review. In the meantime, though, don’t waste the time and gas to visit Wine 121 without giving them a call first to make sure they’re actually open when they say they are.

What an utter disappointment.
1) Came here during posted business hours, but the place was closed! I knocked for about 5 minutes, then 1 of the employees came out and said she just closed early because there were no customers for the past few hours. When I asked her if this information was listed anywhere (facebook, twitter, website, phone message), she said no. I’m pretty sure this is a great way to prevent potential customers from ever coming back. How can I ever be sure the place will be open or closed on a whim.
2) Came on a Sunday=Closed
3) Finally! I got here on my third try! I only tried this hard because I had a livingsocial coupon to use (and we all know their return policies stink). The deal came with 2 glasses of wine and a cheese plate. The wine was tasty, but that’s probably because Wine 121 had no part in it. On the other hand, they did have part in the cheese plate. All of the cheeses were absolutely tasteless. Might as well stop at the corner gas station and get something better.
Okay, I take that back. They had a blue cheese that was everything you’d expect. BUT no! Of course I couldn’t just revel in this one cheese that was tasty, because I bit into a piece of aluminum foil as I was eating it. When I told the waitress about the foil, she specifically said it was not her who was responsible and threw her hands in the air. When I asked who was responsible, she told it me it was the day time employee (will keep his name private), since he prepares the cheese plates. Now, I’m really okay with oopsies, since everyone makes mistakes. But really? Really? Did she just blame a fellow co-​worker for the issue? As someone who has worked as a waitress, I believe that employees should work as a team to help the business thrive. Not to start throwing blame on each other when a problem arises.
After this well-​rounded horrible experience at Wine 121, I’d say to save a few extra bucks and go to the nicer wine bar down the street at «Corkscrew Wine and Cheese»

Great place. I think it’s just the wrong location. We were there on a Friday night and when we left, there was only one guy left in there. Very great atmosphere, nice fire place. We decided to buy bottles and drink them there, because it seemed to expensive just to buy a glass at a time. Payed $ 5 for them to take the cork out and airate it. Not too bad. This is a great place to take someone out on a date. They only had one dessert to chose from though otherwise I would have gave it a 5 star.

The owner Tim really knows his wine. Some of the staff is knowledgable, some is not. I’m by no means a wine snob but I don’t even pick out my wine by the glass. I just ask Tim what he recommends. I’ve not been disappointed yet.
My tip if I have one is:
Guys: drink wine while your wife or girlfriend gets nails or hair done at One Drake and bring one over to her if you feel like being nice.
Chicks: order a glass of wine and bring it over to One Drake while getting maintenance done. Just tell the bartender and they’ll give you a lesser quality glass just incase it doesn’t come back. Just walk through the jewelry/​beed store in between. They don’t mind. I do it all the time.