A Perfect Finish

The below was from a visit in 2012. Glad this place closed.
One pompous staff member ruined the experience for us. The place wasn’t even busy and when someone finally came over to us he was rude. When we asked about particulars of the wines in a flight he proceeded to put down the fact that I even asked. Yes, I know that’s what a flight is about but I want to know what I’m getting into before I try something. Do you just not know the answer yourself or are you that pretentious? I will never go back.

The «Not-​So» Perfect Finish, I will tell you what the perfect finish was… the hot dog stand we hit up across the street after leaving The Perfect Finish.
They need to change their name to «keep steppin’» or «don’t step in.» It’s more suitable.
The service was Horrible! Not to mention the high end prices with low budget wine. I really felt the staff was more knowledgeable in their beers then their wines and if that is the case, it should be a beer house, not a wine and sprits lounge. This place would be a «perfect finish» if we would have stuck with beer and not jumped around trying to find a decent glass of wine.
One good thing they have going for them is their Spirit Selection. If you are a Spirit Sipper, then I might encourage you to stop in. Their selections are outrageous! Everything from Vodka’s to Bourbons. *Reminds me of the George Thorogood song — One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer* and they have great flight options. A little on the pricey end, but great for comparing different grades of spirits… but if you do go, one tip:
DON’T GO W/​O A GIFT CERTIFICATE FROM
If you don’t do this, you will feel very disappointed on the money you spent. With being in Downtown San Jose, I will make sure this place never crosses my mind again. The only reason I feel, OKAY, about spending the night at this venue is bc I had a $ 25 gift certificate from
. If it wasn’t for that, I would have found myself complaining a lot more…

I was there a little before Christmas just as they were restocking after the remodel. The place looks great; definitely an upgrade from before.
Worst part about this place? The markup on the wines by the glass is ridiculous. I’m familiar with typical wine bar markups, but this is far worse. Example: a glass of Cupcake Prosecco is $ 12. A full bottle at a store? $ 10. Casillero Del Diablo Carmenere is $ 9.90 for a glass; bottle price at stores is around $ 11.
Markups on full bottles are high too, but more in line with what I’d expect from this sort of wine bar.

They’re closed for remodeling, website says they’re expected to reopen in late October.
Message me when they’ve reopened, and I’ll delete this and hopefully write a new review soon.

Love this place!
Every time I come here I ALWAYS have a good time. Especially because of the live music they have every time that I go. It’s a pretty spacious place with lots of seating. They even have couches on one side!
Service is always SO very friendly here. Love all the workers!
What I’ve tried:
Artisan Tasting Platter (Assorted domestic and imported cheeses, fruit, nuts and crackers) — pretty self-​explanatory. Good cheese :) I could careless for the fruits.
Italian Toasts (Crispy Garlic Toasts with Proscuitto and Asiago) — This is SUPER good. The toasts are too die for. so much flavor.
A Taste of Italy Cheese and Antipasti Plate (An assortment of Italian cheeses with sliced prosciutto and salami) — Self-​explanatory as well. GOOD GOOD.
I just love munching on cheese while sippin’ wine. It’s my absolute favorite thing to do in the world! It’s perfect too because it’s windows from ceiling to floor, so you can people watch all the belligerent drunk people walking by. Good scene I suppose.
If you’d like a bottle of wine, ask for the bottle menu, because the one they give you is only by the glass. First time I came here I didn’t think they had bottles for sale :(
Highly recommend!

Came here on a Thursday night and it was A Perfect Finish. First time here and i’ll be back. The location is perfect and it’s a great place to relax after dinner. They have karaōke every Thursday night and we caught them on one of their slow evenings. There were maybe about 10 people in there but the party got started as soon as we walked in of course.
Great selection of local wines and the Almond Crème Cake was amazing. I ended up ordering a second piece because it was so good.
The staff is very friendly and the guy running karoke opened up his computer to us. It was a Nickleback, Animals — to — Divinyls, I Touch Myself — to– Shaggy It Wasn’t Me kind of evening.
Not sure how the food ranks since we just had drinks and dessert.

I was introduced to this venue via a cocktail evening event with a group of friends. What struck me was the variety of wine and liquor stocked. Very convenient location if you happen to be bar hopping downtown. The availability of tables for larger groups was very helpful for our event; couches also to one side for a more kick-​back experience.
What really impressed many of my group at the end was the wait staff running out after us after we had stepped out of the establishment, as one of my friends had very accidentally left his laptop bag at the table. Now such service – definitely a perfect finish in my book.

While I’ve had some good times here (so good that I can’t remember much…), this is not a place that jumps into my mind when friends suggest, «let’s go to a wine bar!»
The wine bar is nested in downtown San Jose, which could turn really crazy late at night, and parking is a pain. However, the good part about A Perfect Finish is that if you want to hang out in a closer, more intimate environment, they have a cozy corner for those who wish to carry out a meaningful conversation. They also have an open area with tables and chairs for larger gatherings and private events.
They have a large selection of wine, and the price is reasonable for a wine bar. They have different tasting flights for different palates, and I heard they have great tapas here, but I have never tried any to say if they are good. Maybe next time, if I can remember!

Divine crème brûlée, tasty wine, relaxed atmosphere. What’s not to love?

Very nice. I came here with a friend to have a couple drinks. Bartender is friendly, attentive, and I had an excellent martini and Tom Collins. I don’t remember what gin I had in there. Two drinks made me feel really good, and I enjoyed them. *hint: try a Bols Genever Tom Collins. The Bols is savory and really balances well with the normally sweet Tom Collins*
Kind of expensive, but the tradeoff is that you won’t see any rowdy college kids in here. The crowd tends to be older, a little more upscale, and everything is more mellow. Nice place to just chill, although the people watching is kind of blah. You’re facing Temple, and that crowd is mostly non existent.
The staff is really nice and engaging.
Pros:
— upscale, but laid back
— won’t see noisy annoying young college kids
— better drinks
— older, smaller crowd
— bartender is attentive
Cons:
— Expensive
— older, smaller crowd
— not too good if you’re in a mood to dance
— you see Temple across the street

Came here last night as a little break to «wine» down from the busy schedule my bf and I had the past months.
We had the
coupon which we had to order $ 35 minimum in order to get the $ 25 put to use. In the end, I ended up having to pay $ 18 because 18% gratuity was automatically included into the bill so POO YOU!
I must admit that they have good late night hours everyday, which is practical for those who work late hours. Also, they have a very wide selections of wines, beers, and spirits, which accomodates any type of person’s alcoholic choide. Appetizers and desserts are available at reasonable prices. Perfect for a late night dessert and wine spot if you are looking into something different.
I ordered some wine flights, where the Cab Premium and Ultimate, was enjoyable. I love their wine dispensers! I want one in my house now!
CON: Service was at first very friendly but it turned very slow! I guess the bartenders had their friends come over and so they were just on one side with them the whole time, making it hard for us to order more or even pay the bill!!! We had to keep waiting around and towards the end I had to chase after someone. This is where I can see everyone else complaining about their service… Do they bring their FRIENDS that often!!! That was just annoying!
Not bad of a place but not sure if I want to come back again but since they are open late and if I am ever in the area, why not! There are better wine bars out there though!

This is a nerd bar. Not surprising since it’s San Jose, and my friend who brought me he is a big nerd who discovered it with her nerd friends.
It was really funny because when we walked in around 6PM, it was scattered with nothing but nerdy men watching the Sharks game on the TV. Except a single female at the bar.
My friend, her mom and I situated ourselves in the back near the fireplace and comfy couches. I got the toasted almond creame cake and paired it with amaretto like they suggested. Despite being full of nerds, the bar really knows their drinks. I had a great time just hanging out and drinking.
Sure, the crowd picked up and diversified (read: more females showed up) around 9. But it still seemed like a nerd bar.
Being a nerd myself, I’ll probably end up coming back.

Wine, I likes. 4 Stars.
Inequitable service, no like. 3 Stars.
That being said, A Perfect Finish has a wine list that represents a good cross section of California vintners as well as some int’l selections. The tasting flights are my preferred way to sample the menu, though the difference in price between tiers (particularly from Premium to Ultimate) feels inflated. In the same vein of thought, I suspect the «per glass» price is meant to encourage purchasing wine by the bottle, which we’ve done a few times after discovering a stand out vintage.
The Small Plates and Dessert menu provide some tasty accompaniments for exploring a flight or three of wine. Rich and contrasting flavors of sharp cheeses and cured meats do well to highlight tones of many of the wines that we’d selected. Though the platings seem small (er) than expected, the slow and deliberate pace of the experience ends up being rather satisfying.
At the end of an evening, what was originally going to be a precursor drink and snack before dinner proper, Sarah and I had enjoyed a flight each, a plethora of delectable treats both savory and sweet, and then a glass each of our choice vintages. It was a fantastic time.
And I’d normally be very enthused to retrace our steps and do it again…
Unfortunately, my affinity for this establishment has started to slip.
Actually, no.
I still appreciate the comfortable and lush environment much, it being one of only a handful of notable wine bars south of San Francisco, but I do grow weary of the condescending and dismissive attitude I/we’ve started to notice.
On more than one occasion I’ve come in from off the street, enticed by a pleasant première experience and a burgeoning appreciation of wine and the like. On more than one occasion (beyond that first evening), I’ve encountered an air of… disdain (?)… from one of the staff. Granted, I don’t look accomplished nor affluent, I’m not soft voiced or sophisticatedly mannered.
I’m a slouch’d posture and knuckle-​drag away from being a Neanderthal, sure, and I look like «Hooligan #2» in any given Asian crime film, but I do like learning about the nuances of wine beyond a primal «this gets me crunk’d» response.
I’m civil, if a little rambunctious, and I’m resourceful, if not wealthy. And in a valley where every third CEO is a slipper and shorts wearing tree-​hugger, my Nikes and tilted brim shouldn’t really take credence should it?
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Disclaimer: This review takes into consideration events that happened long before 3 dozen of us walked in tipsy from another barcrawl. Yeah, you know who you are.

I want to like this place more than just 3 stars, but alas, I cannot.
It’s downtown SJ (bleh) — and while there’s a parking lot RIGHT next door, it doesn’t validate.
I enjoy wine and have a decent knowledge of vineyards — but I recognized very few labels. So deciding between the Cab Premium flight and the Cab Ultimate flight was made easy because of the $ 15 difference in price. $ 8 or $ 23 for 3 glasses of 1oz pours. And I swear those were measured out precisely. Whet my mouth already. My tongue is good, but not that good. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll drop coin if something is good, I’m not a cheapskate by any means, however
I also had an italian plate which was alright. 1 piece of serrano ham, some toast points, some sort of sliced hard cheese (I don’t remember what kind), 1 olive, 1 marinated mozarella ball, and some dijon. Interesting, right? Thanks for the garnish guys. That was $ 11. At least I wasn’t slided w/​the toast points.
There are some comfy couches and chairs — but should you have a larger party, don’t expect to be able to move the bigger chairs from the wall. Apparently they’re just for decoration.
On the upside, (or perhaps more poignantly a response to the above mentioned) the place was pretty empty on a Friday night so we had the place to ourselves. The guy serving us was pretty good about coming around to collect the empty glasses.
It’d be ideal if you came here with a small group (under 4).

It’s a 2.5, with a 3 star bump for good effort!
I’m soo happy downtown San Jose is sustaining life. For years Downtown has failed to have a diverse and long lasting collection of places to eat, drink and relax. A Perfect Finish fills a great niche for a non-​hotel bar wine bar location. The large space feels even larger with the wrap around floor-​to-​ceiling windows. So large in fact the space looses all intimacy and feels extra cold on a winter night. The bar is large and well stocked with a great assortment of Whiskey and Scotch, and an impressive array of temperature controlled pouring spouts. The owner is very friendly and chatty and the flights menu is a great value for the selection.
The night we went was not to busy (no live music) and they had only one bartender taking car of everything and everyone. He seemed very overwhelmed. We sat at the bar and it still took him some time to get around to helping us (he was putting some time and care into people’s cocktails… a good thing)! We had some wine (Italian Cab and Red Zin) both good; but we decided to move on for some cocktails since the service was so slow.
This place could use some retractable, dark curtains to make the space warmer and more intimate, more high tables to use the space better, and extend their lounge/​couch section in the back. I’ll deff be back, hopefully on a day with live music and more help staff… I hope A Perfect Finish sticks around and starts a trend in downtown!

Finally had the chance to visit this place. A kind of romantic atmosphere. Nice place to take your date or SO. It was like 1 or 2 am in the morning and they were still open. We stayed till closing time like 3am.
Prosecco ($ ⁷⁄₈) — nice and bubbly.
Artisan cheese plate ($ 14) — nicely designed platter of cheese, nuts, fresh apples and raspberry, dried fruits, and 2 – 3 different kinds of crackers. Nice selection of cheeses.
Service– drinks and food came in a nice timing. One of the bartenders came to warn us that they were closing soon and that we needed to finish our drinks, but we could take our time on the cheese plate.
I’m already dreaming of the cheese plate and prosecco…

Amazing selection of wines and hard alcohol.
Really friendly and knowledgeable staff. Very capable of handling a large tipsy crowd.
Most amazing panna cotta w/​berry compote dessert EVER. No seriously, I could have eaten a bucket of it.
Loved the acoustic duo that played guitar and bass and sang fun tunes like «hotel california» and other pop/​rock classics in a fun and harmonious way. They were enthused at our «sing along» approach to their performance. They even sang happy birthday for our birthday girl in the party. Super fun and laid back! It was surreal having such a genuinely good time and watching the club goers outside peacock around; trying to be important.
There are also some killer discounts available out there, like $ 50 off a purchase of $ 100! Our large party ate and drank lavishly for only around $ 13 a person!
I will go back for whiskey and panna cotta any day!

I came here late one night after some bar hopping for my birthday. Looking to just calm the night down I tried their sparkling flight which was reasonably priced but none that left a lasting memory. My friend had a flight of their reds and by what I heard, it was good but again, not that great of a selection. He saved what he thought would be the best for last, left him quite disappointed.
We got to order their panna cotta which was AMAZING! It was probably the best panna cotta I’ve had in a very VERY long time. It was nice and warm and melted in my tummy. The décor was really nice and homey. I felt bad for them because they had a lot of drunken idiots try to come in and use the bathroom. I will probably come back if I’m looking for somewhere to just chill and relax with friends. Oh and probably for that panna cotta too! ;)

I had been sitting on a
coupon for A Perfect Finish for about 4 months, waiting for sometime when I didn’t feel like heading anywhere cooler than downtown San Jose on a Friday night.
Yesterday, I was in a particularly blasé mood, so downtown I went. After dinner, my wife and I headed to A Perfect Finish. She’d been looking forward to finding a hip wine bar that dispensed wine by the ounce like the wine bar we hit during our visit to Hong Kong last year. I had no clue what to expect, but I had my hopes up, as always.
Even though I had the address nailed on my GPS, they had such a tiny, nondescript sign for their establishment we drove by twice without seeing it. So, we parked to pursue it on foot. I suppose the one big positive about downtown San Jose is the abundance of cheap/​free parking even when the entire population of Love-​Line fanatics were out to see Adam Corolla at the Improv.
We finally saw the sign when we literally walked right up to it. The place looked quite presentable, if oddly empty for 9pm on a Friday night. When we got in, some old guy in a dinner jacket and a club t-​shirt gave us some sort of acknowledgment. I thought he was the host, but then he picked up his green canvas bag and left. Apparently, we had to seat ourselves and the choices were tough.
At the long, deserted bar a few ladies sat alone with their glasses of wine, trying not to be conspicuous with their loneliness. Several cocktail tables lined the windows where two forty-​somethings made valiant efforts to pitch each other. In the middle was a row of dinner tables occupied by a retired couple working on crossword puzzles. Finally, towards the back was a seedy-​looking lounge where several couples occupied themselves in each other’s eager embrace. We settled with a seat by the window, which was close enough to the door for a quick exit.
While we sat there, we weren’t sure what to do. With such a variety of seating arrangements, were we to wait for table service or did we have to bother the bartender? We saw their wine dispensary by the wall and thought of trying that, but upon inspection, we passed on the small and uninspiring selection. I might as well have sampled my own wine collection. Eventually, a tall, lanky server came by to drop off some menus. Thankfully, their menus were extensive enough to keep me sane.
Oddly though, their wine offerings were no better on the menu than their wall dispensary. So, we checked out their appetizers, desserts, liquors, beers, and ports. I ended up with a Chimay Blue and a tiramisu and my wife had a promising cabernet sauvignon port and a dark chocolate sampler. To my good luck, the Chimay and tiramisu made for an unexpectedly amazing combination. The round bite of the Chimay and the creamy and bitter hints of the tiramisu mirrored each other perfectly. Meanwhile, the cab port gave the familiar tannic cab attack and a sweet port finish. The chocolates were adequate, if you don’t mind paying $ 7 for 6 fava bean looking pieces of chocolate.
I thoroughly enjoyed my beer and dessert, letting the indulgence wash away a mundane week. Meanwhile, I did my best to ignore the live entertainment, which was a hippy lounge singer with a sitar player. The singing was impassioned but not that pleasant. I would have much preferred more music from the sitar player.
Overall, it was a mixed experience. The whole time I couldn’t decide if I would ever want to return or what this place was trying to be. The live entertainment would have been a far better fit at the hookah lounge down the street. The garish plasma screen with the sports channel blasting belonged more at Gordon Biersch. The lounge in the back looked like a club hangout and the tables with the crossword fans? That’s beyond me.
We hit the $ 35 minimum requirement exactly for the $ 25 coupon. Still, we tabbed out at $ 20.78 with tax and an 18% non-​negotiable tip. I guess I might return with a similar offer as the high prices and slow service were a huge disconnect for me. We took 30 minutes just to get our check and I had to track down our wayward server twice with the bartender.

Are you looking for a romantic spot to take your girl?
A perfect finish might just be what you’re looking for because this place is a classy spot where they have a decent selection of wines by glass, flights or bottle and not only that but they’ve got various desserts and small plates.
So we came here on a Wednesday on Martini night and I was glad that the couch in front of the fireplace (fake but still nice) was vacant so we seated ourselves there. There seemed to be only one person working that night behind that bar but he was quite attentive and started us off with 2 martini’s that were well made. After wetting our lips with those, I decided to get a bottle. While my first choice wasn’t available, the bartender suggested the Cabernet from Firestone vineyards and I was happy with his suggestion.
The venue itself isn’t large but it has a nice setup and only one flat screen TV and the location is right off 1^st across from Koji’s and Temple bar. All in all, a classy spot so if you got a classy girl to match. bring her here and you might score some points.
Van The Man Must Try: Cabernet from the Firestone vineyards while sitting in front of the electric fireplace with your lady.