Winebar Kensington

I love love love this little wine bar. It’s honestly adorable and you really do feel like you are underground. It’s quiet which I appreciated as we were able to carry on a lovely conversation with our wonderful friends. The selection of charcuterie and cheeses is absolutely fantastic and we had a great time picking out things to munch on for our board. The wine selection is also wonderful and on Sunday’s they have half priced vino! This is a great place to meet with friend and it’s also a great date night! Kensington is one of my favorite places and this is one of the reasons why!

Amazing wines and cheeses. The only down side is the waitress refused to split the bill up. She said it was policy. It was just me and my friend that night. I could understand if there was lots of people with us but it was just the two of us.

Excellent service, great atmosphere, high quality foods. Pricing is high for small portions but still a good experience.

My default «go to» place now in Kensington apart from Container bar for a drink or shared plates meals with friends. Love the addition of the patio which is a much needed addition to the street scape.
Great wine selection, but more importantly, great cheese pairings. The servers do a pretty good job helping you pair wine with cheese and I have personally never been disappointed with the selection.
The curried lentil and the potato gnocchi are great full-​size meals for when you are hungry. The food does tend to be a bit on the blander side for me but the portions are really good.
Great place to meet up with friends and grab a drink for a chill night

Great wine selection by the glass or bottle, with very good cheese platter options and other dishes. Good amount of bread and excellent condiments with the platter.
This cellar restaurant /​bar with high windows at sidewalk level is well set up and the atmosphere mid-​week and at weekends is good.
Battery powered candles on the tables and cheese platters served on a cheap plastic tray is a bit naff and doesn’t match the other good aspects of the venue.

Visited Winebar for my girlfriend’s birthday and had the most fantastic time! We are far from wine connoisseurs but definitely wanted to include it on our girls/​child free day. Our server made recommendations for us and hit the nail on the head with every glass. The food was amazing, the service was fabulous and the wine was delicious. I will definitely be back!

Winebar in Kensington is everything you could ask for in a winebar.
Great wine selection, cheese and appetizers selection… friendly and helpful staff, and great location!
I like!

We had a wonderful dinner here last night. tapas style with an extensive wine list (as one would expect), knowledgeable servers, and classy yet unpretentious ambiance.
We started with a glass of Italian white paired with our half dozen west coast (cocktail) and half dozen east coast (pacific lambitini) oysters. They were well shucked minus some small shell fragments in two oysters and served with lemon, pineapple mignonette (a little overpowering) and fresh shaved horseradish. The oysters were definitely fresh and were two varieties neither of us had tried.
Next, on server recommendation we had the truffled deviled eggs and the beef carpaccio. We loved the deviled eggs. The carpaccio was tasty but a little heavy handed on the salt and the dish could have used a little more acid.
Finally we split a charcuterie board with three semi-​soft/​hard cheeses, two meat choices and accompaniments of various breads/​crackers, pickled vegetables, mustard, and a delicious mango chutney. With this, we had a glass of the Mourvedre and the Malbec. Both were nicely representative of their varietals.
Overall we had a wonderful time and would certainly return with friends.

Veronica the server/​bartender was very fun informative in a fun way. They know there stuff. And the chicken club was the most amazing moist delicious club sandwich I have ever had !! Def coming back !

Great owners. Cool staff. Fresh oysters. The cheese selection is divine. Oh — and the wine is well priced, it’s dark and romantic, and I can walk home.

There’s something I like about drinking wine in cozy underground spaces with great food. If this sounds this sounds like something you might also enjoy, you should hang out at Winebar… And you should bring me with you. :)
They’ve got a great selection of charcuterie and cheese to pair with your vino and the staff to help you do it well. They’ve also got a talented crew working in the kitchen if you’re looking for something more substantial.
It’s classy, casual and comfortable, making it a great place for a date night or over the wonder that is fermented grape juice. It’s got that social vibe like classy night café that serves wine instead of coffee. So I guess that makes it more like a bar that serves wine, or maybe even a «Winebar», if you will.

Great ambience… The appetizers are just ok. But the wine is very good… The waiter recommended the octopus as the best appetizer (honestly, it was not that good… Maybe my expectations were too high) … The duck fat fries were ok. All other appetizers were not bad, but nothing really awesome… The wine is definitely the best thing this place has.

I really REALLY wanted to give five stars because I was super excited to come here. However, we were on a bit of a tight deadline (theatre tickets at 7:30 and my dining companion wasn’t able to meet me until just after 6), so I’ll have to return and re-​evaluate when I have time to sit back and really luxuriate in the experience! I will say that when I mentioned to our server that we needed the bill because we had theatre tickets, they jumped on it IMMEDIATELY and we were all paid up and on our way within 3 minutes.
We had just enough time for two drinks and some cheese/​charcuterie (which is one of our favourite things to do). The cheese list was super easy to navigate and helpful for making our decisions — and I loved that when the cheese tray came, the cheeses were labelled! I always forget which cheese is which after the rundown.
I do wish that the wine list had decsriptions on it the same way that the cheese list does. At least for the wines by the glass. I know you can always talk with your server and ours certainly was knowledgable, but due to our time crunch I found myself needing to make decisions between server visits. Grumpy Boyfriend™ started with a Manhattan, his go-​to cocktail, and he thought it was a little bland. Not enough sweet vermouth, most likely… but it didn’t affect the drink enough to stop him from enjoying it so it couldn’t have been that bad!

The selection here is okay, the décor modern and hip, although if we’re the only people in the place and we’re trying to have a conversation; I’m not sure loud thumpa-​thumpa was the best choice for the stereo. The noisy music versus the otherwise relaxed atmosphere, made it feel a bit disjointed.
We showed up on a Thursday evening at around 10:30 PM, and even though they close at 1 AM, kitchen staff was long gone. Apparently, according to the waitress, without informing anyone that they had left, so she took my order and had to come back and explain why she was empty handed.
Also, if I’m paying $ 4 for tea, I would at least like the water to be boiling hot rather than room temperature, so that by the time I refill it with the pretty glass pot you gave me, the tea isn’t ice cold and not even properly steeped.
Still, it’s not bad, I guess. I wouldn’t seek it out, but I wouldn’t mind coming back.

Going on a walk-​about to explore Kensington has evolved into one of our greatest dining experiences since we moved to Calgary!
Fresh food — yes!
Amazing servers who want to enhance your dining experience, being attentive without hovering — yes! We love you L and A!
A general manager who comes over, introduces himself and appreciates your business — yes! Thanks M!
We took a seat at the bar of this cozy, cavernous, lower level, clean as a whistle wine bar and were wowed for about 3 hours (it was hard to leave!) The chef, C, knows his stuff and his passion is apparent. As a foodie, I sure had a lot to talk about and he was all for it! I loved watching him work focusing on FRESH ingredients. The care he took to make sure his station was wiped down and everything organized was there. Every 10 minutes an amazing new creation would waft over from the cook tops, teasing us to order more.
We tried one platter with deliciously thin sliced meat, homemade potato chips with aioli and homemade pickles that were to die for!
We also indulged in one of the best mushroom flat breads with a white sauce I have ever had. No soggy centers here! It was covered in greens (arugula?) and freshly grated parm cheese so it was like having a salad at the same time as the flat bread = less guilt!
We also tried the house made truffles — so good, you have to close your eyes for a few minutes when noshing on them –as well as the chili passion fruit sorbet! Really? This would be what I would taste like if I were a sorbet in another life — it was heaven! The freedom the chef has to shop, create and please his guests was truly inspiring!
No silly water charges here and our glasses never went empty. We really enjoyed the wine and beer where we just gave our server carte blanche to surprise us!
I would indulge here 7 days a week if I could with this ever-​changing menu (seasonal, as local as possible) and remarkable attitudes in this place.
There is nothing I could even suggest to make this place better — it was perfect. Even the washrooms. There is even a fireplace for those chilly winter evenings.
I want to keep this place a secret in a way — I do not want anyone to steal my fave bar seat but something this amazing in Calgary has to be shared amongst other foodies!
5 delicious stars!

Winebar is my perfect kind of lounge-​meets-​tapas-​bar. It’s intimate, local, has an interesting menu and a good wine list.
Tucked away under a building on Kensington Road and 10^th Street NW, a little restaurant sits that serves the best unbaked basil cheesecake this side of, well, anywhere.
The staff are very friendly and Winebar has made it’s name on being a loungey type spot for drinks and small bites. Don’t expect large American-​dinner-​sized portions but more like small, finger bites and tapas. The menu frequently changes except for a few all-​time favorites that have been around since it’s inception some 6 years ago.
As well as the food, pleasantly, the chairs are really really comfy making it very easy to settle in and slowly morph into a Nighthawk.
I would recommend Winebar for anyone wanting to treat their mother to a nice glass of wine, their partner to a nice glass of wine, their friends to a nice glass of wine or me, to a slice of unbaked basil cheesecake.
T.

Tapa’s at it finest fresh food. Great service!!!
Love the oysters and the tomato balsamic tomato salad, soups
Menu changes

I really liked this cozy downstairs winebar. If I lived in Calgary I would definitely be a regular. (Well, as my budget would allow) A tasty glass of white wine, Blasted Church Pinot Gris from the Okanagan Valley, was not served ice cold, thank you very much! Next was a plate of Serrano Ham, manchego, delicious Turkish olives, and oil. It was sort of piled into a salad/​mixture and came with some nice bread and garlicky croutons.
I had a very good California Cabernet (Noble Tree), because much to my dismay, there were no Canadian reds available by the glass. Tsk tsk… I was meeting up with a friend later, so I took away a bottle of Coyote’s Run Pinot Noir, which was pretty nice too. (The Blasted Church wins, however)
The kicker, by far, was the absolutely delicious dessert — a caramelized pear bread pudding, with mascarpone ice cream. It tasted even better than it sounds and was worth the price of admission.
If I’m in Calgary again, I’ll certainly be back.

I hate downgrading a review. I need 19 ounces of scotch to give me the courage. I’ve loved the service at this location every time. This time was no different. It was the food that made me cry. The lobster risotto tasted great, but I know fake lobster when I see and eat it. What a shame. If you want to stay on top, bring in tails and use fresh ingredients. I’ll upgrade again soon, hopefully.

Months & Miles behind on my reviews I am trying to get a few done today!
I have been to Winebar Kensington a couple of times. Both with girlfriends (poor hubs)! The second most recent was with my Italian BFF who was visiting from out of town.
Following a wander through Kensington and some pampering of our toes at Swizzlesticks we decided to stop into the Winebar for a quick glass and bite before racing home to get ready for a wine tasting later that evening.
It was shortly after 5pm on a Saturday when we wandered in and we were able to grab a couple stools at the counter. Awesome. Love watching the chefs at work.
We decided on only 1 appy since we really didn’t have a lot of time as our pedicure ran late. We shared the fresh baguette, appenzeller «fondue» with cracked black pepper (my 2^nd time having this delight). and it was as tasty as the first time I tried it. I wish we would have had more time to indulge in some additional appetizer’s but it wasn’t in the cards for us today. A glass of wine and delicious fondue left us feeling happy when we left.
I know there is a third time in my future… hopefully it’s soon!