Hôtel Biron

I just moved back to SF after 10 years and I am so stoked that this place is still here and hasn’t changed much at all. Was and still is one of my favorite chilled out places to go for a good glass or bottle. Great prices too! Some very yummy, affordable wines. I usually go for the Malbec.

Nice but a bit pretentious and overpriced. There are a few very similar bars in the city & this is problems isn’t the best. Still, as I say, it’s nice.

Hôtel Biron is not a hotel at all. It’s a swank wine bar tucked away on a side street around the corner from Market Street. Unless somebody told you about, you probably didn’t know of its existence. Well. Now you know! Only tell your cool friends okay.
After a tough week… wait, who am I kidding? After any day, a glass of wine to kickstart your tastebuds, or fire up your nose with splendid aromas of berry, oak and spice is always a welcome reward. Dimly lit, Hôtel Biron forces you to use your inside voice as you leave the hustle of life at the threshold. It is not a place for your entire office, or gang of friends. So join a pal and leave the ‘group’ behind. The tables are for two and four, nothing more.
There’s no table service (sigh) so you’ll need to get up and place your next order. Credit cards and cash are accepted forms of payment. The menu offers a varied range of American, French and Argentinean wines. They may have Italian as well. Though I can’t recall. I was with my Argentinean friend so we focused on the other three. Champagne of course is also served.
If I could make one request, I would like more single glass options. My friend wanted to try a glass of the St. Émilion, which unfortunately was only by the bottle ($ 55). Aside from that, it is a very nice wine bar.

Even though service at the bar was overtly unfriendly and frazzled, I can still appreciate the specialness of Hotel Biron. It’s dark & cavern-​like. It’s casual but sexy. It feels very European, in that effortlessly cool kind of way. A true hidden gem.
You order everything at the bar (hence, the frazzled bartender). The wine list is divided by region, repping US, France, Italy, Germany, South America, Spain, New Zealand, etc. Over 20 wines offered by the glass, but bottles are definitely a better deal. I did the math: bottle price is 3x the glass price, and you definitely get at least 5 glasses in a bottle! After all, this is the kind of place you want to stay and lounge for a while, so bottles make sense.
Food is simple: build your own cheese & charcuterie plates. What more do you need? Nothing really.
The right spot for a laid back nightcap, pre-​dinner drinks, or simple catch-​up date with friends. Note, it’s cozy, so better for small groups (2 – 4) than large ones.

The perfect date spot. Nice ambiance, interesting, not crowded or empty, great wine (they have beer too). I never order a specific glass, I just describe what I like in a wine and they let you try a few before buying.

This is my favorite bar in the city. The wines are, without fail, excellent (and often organic/​sustainably harvested, if you care about that kind of thing). And the cheese/​charcuterie selections are also well chosen and affordable with generous portions.
(NB: they rotate about half the menu every couple of months, I think).
The bartenders (often the owner) are always very generous, offering tastes prior to large pours of wine by the glass, and they like to give information about the wine without being condescending.
There isn’t really table service (the complaints about negligent service are confusing), and I’m not sure why you’d need it for wine and cheese/​charcuterie (they do bring the food out to you and they bus the tables).
The atmosphere is cozy and laid back, and it maintains that vibe even when there’s a crowd. The art on the walls is sometimes questionable, but it’s for sale, so I assume they are supporting locals, and that’s good enough for me.

Cute, hidden date spot. Perfect for an intimate night.

I really like this place. It was small and cozy. The atmosphere is really lovely. There are a good amount of choice for wine to choose from. The bartender was super sweet and attentive. Perfect spot for a date or hanging out with friends

Love this place! It’s just like a quaint, casual European wine bar.
I dropped a star, because the service can be European, as well. The servers — while very friendly and polite — are not attentive to the tables. One has to walk up to the bar to get wine and order munchies. But don’t let that deter you!
The cheese, pâté, and riette were all VERY delicious and well worth the $ 7.
I tasted three wines: one champagne and two reds (all French). Absolutely rock star wines. It seems pricey at $ 13 per glass, but they really do pour a full glass of quality wine. Patrons are meant to show up with a friend or two and order a bottle, which is why there are so many bottles listed. Besides, that’s how it works in many places in Italy.
I added back the star I dropped at the beginning, because this place is open until 2am. It seems that so few wine bars do this! I found my new spot.

This was a nice place to meet up. It’s a wine bar. The space is kinda tight and small. I got a ginger beer and it was served in a nice glass. We sat outside because it was too loud and tight inside.

Do not go here unless you dig European-​style taverns with friendly, knowledgable bar staff, excellent girl/​guy ratios and supremely interesting and fun wine lists.
That said, the beer selection could be better, but I’ll be back for the wine.

Awesome little bar in a random spot in Hayes/​upper market, a block from Zuni. Great spot for meeting a few friends or a date. Good selection of wine by the glass and beers

guy behind bar seemed nice but we didn’t really interact with him except to place our order because there was no one servicing the tables.
Wines are ok
Not a fan of the cheeses they were serving
Service was non-​existent and it wasn’t that busy that night
It’s also very loud — not a place to have an easy conversation
will not be returning

If you want to meet really goal oriented, forward thinking, proactive people on the cutting edge of technology and innovation who have their finger on the pulse of the changing market and are the decision makers and leaders of today don’t come here. Then I’ll have to hear you talk about that shit and it will ruin an otherwise wonderful place.

What a cute hidden gem of a wine bar Hotel Biron is.
With a nondescript entrance on an alley just parallel to Market Street, it’s easy to miss it. Inside is a cosy little wine bar with quite a few comfy spots to lounge around. If you’re lucky, you can get one of the few couches here. Great for date night. We came here after my birthday dinner and shared a couple bottles of lovely wine and some cheese. Really loved the relaxed vibe of the place.
As a bonus, they have a small selection of bottled beers BUT they have my most favorite Belgian brew — Straffe Hendrik tripel. They ran out the night I was there (they did have the quad but I like the tripel more) but the sure fact that they offer it, plus the cosy atmosphere, are good enough reasons to return.

Hands down, my favorite wine bar in the city. Everything about it is what a wine bar should be. The selection of wine is extraordinary with knowledgeable bartenders assisting you. Additionally, they have a relatively fine selection of beer for the non-​wine drinkers.
What sets this place apart is the ambience. It just has an uplifting and grown up feel to it. One of my go to’s in the city and it never disappoints.

Adorable, quaint and perfect second date spot.
Get all that talkin’ outta the way on date 1, it can be a little noisy hard to hear, and awwwwkward when the bartender isn’t paying much attention.
BUT the ambiance is well worth date #2. Cozy, dim, hidden in an alley.

It’s taken me way too long to review this place, mostly because who reviews their favorite neighborhood bar? Well, this girl feels it’s worth a shout out.
The ambience is cozy and unpretentious, the wine selections are unique and priced at an incredibly reasonable 30−50ish per bottle, and the helpings of meats and cheeses (and good god, crusty french bread) can only be described as AMPLE. The bartenders are down to lecture you about the wine and food (or about your love life) and equally down to leave you alone.
It’s hands down my favorite low key place to meet a friend for drinks and (light) dinner in the area.
Please don’t ever change, Biron. You are a welcome respite from a crazy world.

Awesome wine bar! I’m on this perpetual pursuit of the perfect wine bar and have been frequenting a decent amount around SF.
Hotel Biron didn’t look like much from the outside. In fact, when I saw the small alley-​like street, the dark opening marked by a faded «B» right next to the rear kitchen entrance of a restaurant I thought I’d made a mistake.
Once you venture inside though, you’re met with a lot of dark brick and wood, dim lighting and sectioned off rooms. All in all, a perfect wine-​drinking evening environment.
There are a couple thick couches thrown around, and the menu is simple but expansive. This place could easily double as a coffee shop during the day that I would love to come read at.
Wish I lived closer!

I like that this place is a bit hidden and feels like it was probably a speakeasy back in the day. It is small though, and I can tell it would be awful if crowded.
I really appreciate their cheese selection (I might be a cheese-​aholic) and they serve an appropriate quantity of bread with it.
I don’t love that their wine selections start at $ 12/​glass or $ 39/​bottle, and I’ll hesitate to return because of it. I was looking for even one $ 7 – 9 option, but I had to drink beer for that.
Beyond the pricey wine, it’s hard to get between it and the rest of the city without some walking at least 3 city blocks from Van Ness Muni (not the place to break in your new stilettos) or taking a cab– all in all, an expensive night that’s really just OK.

In my head, and in the imagination of countless movie directors, the way you enter Hotel Biron is no different than walking into a Victorian London brothel… and Jack the Ripper is standing by and waiting to behead your whore ass.
But I sashayed my whore ass here like I was about to kill Jack the Ripper for like, giving me syphillis or something (I’m bad at this). The bread here was plentiful, enough to soak up all of Jack the Ripper’s bloody remains. The bar lady tender was a bitch, but this is Frisco, and I shouldn’t have called it that. Or wear a shirt that said «the City» with San Jose’s skyline depicted. However, I’m not in a wine bar not just for the attitude, I’m here for THAT and wine. And this place has a pretty good list of «New California» wines that would give Robert Parker gout.