4th & Vine Wine Bar & Bistro

I really miss what 4^th used to be… Used to have great service, food, and a real zeal for great wine. Unfortunately none of this is true any more and this place is just an overpriced waste of your money. Go elsewhere — you can be insulted for less.

I loved 4^th and vine! The wine selection was great and the food was delicious! I love how little the restaurant is, it makes you feel very at home! The bf and I tried the wine selection where you get 3 wines each around 2 – 3 oz each and it was a great way to try new wines and figure out which ones you like! I would definitely recommend this place as a great date venue!

I love the wine selection, for me they need more sweet white wine. I have to say it, I hate the tannings in red wine. The tannings personal give me migraines.

This is fine if you’re just in the mood for a glass of wine. Although, you’ll be lucky if the wine you want is in stock.
I’ve been here a couple times. Once with my husband (a few years ago), and once with my mother (a few months ago).
The first time I went with my husband, we left disappointed and sick. The first two wines we ordered were not in stock. We ordered a meats and cheese platter which was so disappointing. There were TONS of pickled items (peppers, olives, asparagus), and barely any meats or cheeses. The pickled items looked like they were just tossed out of the jar/​can, and the meats and cheeses were boring (cheddar, havarti, ham, yawn). So we hoped our main courses would be better.
It took almost an hour for our entrees to come. I had a chicken dish and my husband had a pork tenderloin dish. My dish came piping hot, but my husband’s was barely luke warm. I’m guessing they screwed up, or forgot about, my dish, while my husband’s dish was completed and sitting around.
Needless to say when we left, my husband got extremely sick and spent the night throwing up.
When I went with my mother, we just had a glass of wine. But again, my mother’s first three choices were out of stock. Mine luckily hasn’t.
I see they’ve changed their menu since I was last there. Hopefully the kitchen staff has improved, and their menu has as well. But I won’t be back as there are tons of other, and better, wine bars in the city.

Vegetarians: Do not shy away from this place simply because they do not have a vegetarian entrée on the menu. There are several delicious small plates you can combine for an exceptional meal!
Last night was our first visit to 4^th and Vine. And we left extremely satisfied. My partner and I shared several dishes: the cheese plate, mushroom tart, gnocchi, and halibut (though we mostly eat vegetarian, we do eat fish on occasion, and we figured our anniversary was an occasion).
When you go to 4^th and Vine, don’t skip the cheese plate! It’s a lot of fun, with several different outstanding cheeses, fruit, a delicious fondue, and a baguette. We ended up needing a second baguette, and enjoyed every bite on the plate. I don’t remember the cheeses served, but all were quite remarkable. And the flavours complimented each other well.
We also ordered the gnocchi and asked them to hold the pancetta, which they gladly did. The sauce was amazing. The menu doesn’t say, but I am pretty sure the tomatoes are roasted. The snap peas were crisp and flavourful. The only let-​down with this dish was the gnocchi itself, which I found a bit soft for my taste. Now, I am no gnocchi expert, and maybe gnocchi is supposed to melt in your mouth, but I prefer my gnocchi with a bit more bite.
The halibut was served atop Israeli couscous (the big kind) with shaved fennel as a garnish. The flavours of this went really nicely; I love fennel. Honestly, though the halibut was nicely prepared with a lovely seared crust, the dish would have been complete without it. The menu stated that is was to be an Israeli couscous risotto, but it was too brothy to be a risotto. Not that I minded. The broth was the best part of the dish, so savoury and delicious that I wished for a spoon just to eat it like a soup (as it was, the additional baguette came in handy).
The mushroom tart was, by far, the highlight of the meal. The cheesy puff-​pastry crust was overflowing with mushrooms in a delectable cream sauce. I think I am going to have dreams about that tart. And when we go back, there will be no sharing. I want my own tart!
For dessert, they offer crème brûlée, molten lava cake, and fresh fruit crumble. The flavour of the crème brûlée changes weekly, and the fruit changes with the season. We ordered the lave cake and the crumble. The lava cake, with a whiff of chipotle and a hint of espresso, was outstanding. The crumble, however, despite the rave reviews of our server, was a let-​down. The mango was not as ripe as it should have been and thus is was harder than cooked fruit should be. The crumble is the one thing keeping this review from getting 5 stars. It was «my» dessert, and I could only eat a few bites. (My Sweetie finished mine up)
My partner ordered the wine flight special and enjoyed all three wines (California Zinfandel, Argentinian Malbec, and a Spanish variety I can’t recall). He said that all were very good and was unable to choose a favourite.
Our server was attentive, helpful, and friendly, and contributed to an overall great dining experience. We’ll be back.

I love this place but the service kind of marred my experience. But good things first.
Food was great. Ordered the cheese plate to share with my boyfriend. They had manchego (my current favourite), smoked gouda, fontina (I really like this — kind of like oka but not smelly), caraway seed havarti (sooooo good — creamy in the way havarti is, but was reminiscent of kimmel bread), and peppercorn romanello (reminded me a bit of edam). It was a decent size platter with enough baguette, but we needed more and for a dollar you get another 10 slices or so of baguette. Good assortment of fruit but a little sparse. They did have these dried blueberries which were awesome.
My boyfriend ordered the coq au vin, which he liked so much that I didn’t even get to try any save for some delicious smoky boar bacon bits. I had the oxtail ragout, which was shredded oxtail with chanterelles and with perfectly al dente rigatoni. This dish was so rich and decadent; I would eat it all the time if I could.
The wines we had were a Tempus Alba Tempranillo (loved it — we have actually visited the winery in Mendoza), and a white called Esmeralda something which I believe was a blend of Gewurtztraminer (sp?) grapes and something else. Really liked it.
The bad. The waitress, although very nice, was soooo hard to flag down. Mostly because she wouldn’t look our way and often had her back to us at the bar. One of the other waitresses was kind enough to refill our wine glasses (when we had the red at the table first) but our own waitress really slacked off on that.
The cheese plate didn’t arrive for a very long time. After finally flagging down our waitress, it turned out that our order had accidentally been marked as completed, so they had to prepare a plate for us right away. The waitress was kind enough to take it off our bill though. However, we had wanted to keep some of our tempranillo for the main courses, so we told the waitress our plan and ordered our white when we each had a glass of red left. Unfortunately, the white wasn’t chilled for some reason! And then, our main courses arrived before we were done with the cheese plate. That was annoying.
Anyway, overall I guess it was a good experience. There was a nice ambiance — the place was still busy when we left at 10pm (love that). And maybe it was just an off night for the waitress. Would go back there again for sure.

We went there on a night when our favourite (Bibo) was closed. The wine flights are a great way to try some new flavours for a reasonable price. I recommend the old world flight, it had several very good wines.
The menu was not inspiring, we stuck to wine and shared a dessert. Clearly not memorable enough to find something to write about (it was only a month ago). The music was very good (we spend the evening with Ella Fitzgerald).
An OK spot if you can’t get to Bibo, MRKT or Sommervilles…
I love there are so many choices in this category!

This small wine bar, tucked away beside larger bars and businesses in the north downtown area, is an Edmonton gem.
A massive selection of wines, and a very friendly staff that will help you pick a wine to suit your tastes, or challenge you to step outside your wine boundaries a bit!
Food here was deelish, too. The cheese plate was a great treat, although I wish 4&V’s menu was more specific about the ingredients in each dish. I was unaware that the cheese plate would come with kiwi fruit, which I’m mega-​allergic to. I couldn’t enjoy any of the cheeses next to that delicious but devilish fruit! Still a very enjoyable outing overall!

Went here tonight and was relatively impressed. Room was nice and mellow, great ambiance and my inner swing dancer appreciated all the background jazz. It would have been nice if there’d been a few more booths — I’m not the biggest fan of trying to stay balanced on a chair while drinking, I have to admit.
I shared the wine flight of the week with my date and it was ok — I really didn’t find any of the wines particularly good (and the last red was far too tart), and I wouldn’t have bothered buying any of them by the glass. I understand it’s a tasting menu, but expected a bit better quality since it was supposed to lure you into buying more of those specific wines.
Our waitress was good, but a bit of a pest — we were only there for just over an hour, and she came by A LOT. I’d have appreciated the level of service more if she hadn’t specifically asked each time if we’d like to order something else — I understand that her take home for the night will be low from the lack of customers, but didn’t appreciate the implication that we should be who boosted it, as each time she came round, she had another ‘suggestion’ of what we should purchase!
That said, I enjoyed my time there and probably will go again. I’ve heard good things so I hope to be more impressed next time I head in there!

Upon my last review, which was filtered, for what reason I do not know. I was contacted by a manager. Who DID make an ATTEMPT to resolve my concerns, as I did email them that I had posted a review on Unilocal.
However, the attempt was somewhat inadequate. Considering I spent $ 80, and was completely unsatisfied, and felt insulted by the server, the $ 25 gift certificate offer felt trivial. In my opinion, thats what I felt it should have cost them in the first place, the night of the incident. (by promo-​ing something I voiced a complaint about) Having gone through the effort of dealing with the situation, that felt like the standard «Customer acquisition cost». Many dining venues offer Free appetizers with meals or free drinks with appetizers as a way to GET a new customer. To repair a damaged impression gone worse, should be a little more costly, and a little more valuable.
Even in her e-​mail, rather than clamming up her personal frustration, she showed resentment towards me for complaining, even discrediting some of my concerns. Rather than apologizing, making my complaints feel validated, showing that my business has value, and making me an offer. Had the response not been filled with belittling dissent, I probably would have accepted the $ 25 gift certificate. Instead once again I was left angry and unsatisfied and requested them to double the offer and we would have a deal, and to not fill the next email with corrections to my complaints and just say «Sorry you were unhappy» but that was met with no answer whatsoever.
I hope this review is not filtered because I have been to this place many times, and feel so insulted I will never go back. I may only be one of many customers but that is still about $ 2000 that will go to another venue. It really is a pity since my girl and I have so many fond memories of this place.

With the growing popularity of wines in North America you’d think there’d be a few more wine bars around in a major city like Edmonton. 4^th & Vine is a nice break from the bar scene if you want to go out and sample wines and a good selection of international beers in a more classy, subdued environment. Music is ambient, often jazz. The restaurant features weekly wine «flights,» a 2 oz. each sampling of a selection of wines with a common theme like «Canadian,» «Southern Hemisphere or «Latin.» Wine by the glass ranges from $ 7 to $ 11 and there are pages of bottled wines to choose from. I still haven’t exhausted the list of reds. I keep getting stuck on their Pinot Noir and Malbec. There’s also a good selection of whiskeys, ports and cognacs. The menu has lots of variety and my favourites include the flatbread, mussels in white wine and garlic cream sauce, the cheese plate for two and baked brie. I’ve never ordered from the entrees but there’s everything from veal, chicken and beef to primavera and salmon. All have suggested wine pairings. Expect to pay between $ 16 and $ 26 for an entrée. For dessert, the crème brûlée is wonderful and so is the Callebaut Chocolate Mousse. Sunday night is movie night. They set up a projector and serve popcorn. It’s busy, depending on the movie. Check the website weekly for what they’re showing and a list of upcoming wine tasting sessions. If you’re a wine lover, or want to learn more about wine, this is a weekend stop you’ll want to make.