Bin Wine Cafe

Wine bars are usually associated with a degree of expensive snobbery. And at other places in the city, that relation holds true. But when you plunk your wine bar down on Milwaukee Ave., strange things can happen. You might have a good time sipping libations without a single fur coat in sight. You might feel emboldened to ask the bartender (opposed to the sommelier) about what your drinking. You might experience much that you weren’t expecting. This Bin offshoot is easy to recommend.

Went here last night before a show at Double Door. The service was good and the food was great. Three of us shared the meat platter with the three cheeses. So yummy, but I wish the meat was a bit more plentiful and/​or thickly sliced. Paper thin was disappointing. The cheese was awesome (a gouda, a buttery batara and a mozzarella). We then split the tempura green beans and those were fantastic. For our shared entrees we split the mac n cheese, the burger, and coq au vin. It was way too much food for us, so when the chicken got there I only had one bite. Of the three, I liked the chicken the least. I think it needed salt at the very least. The mac n cheese was so creamy and yummy and the burger melted in my mouth. The fries on the side of the burger were also delicious. I would recommend going with a hearty appetite in order to try a whole bunch of items!
As for the wines, I had the bordeaux flight and was very happy with it. I love that they have the wines on their own little placemat telling you which is which. I also had the Hemingway cocktail for an after dinner drink. It was amazing and a perfect end to the dinner.
My one complaint has nothing to do with Bin. It has everything to do with the clients. I know everyone deserves to have a nice night out, but please, at 8:30 p.m. leave the crying babies at home. Get a babysitter.

Great spot!
I think this place, like Francesca’s Forno, is another underrated gem of the neighborhood. It never seems overly packed, but the food and service are both great.
We started with the calamari and and the «Around the World» cheese plate. I’m not a huge calamari girl so I don’t have a particular opinion on that, but the ol’ ball and chain said it was the best he had ever had. The cheese plate was most excellent. It included Casatica, Julianna, Keens and L’amuse.
For the entrees (which are way out of date on the website btw) I split the trout and the chicken. The chicken was super tender, and didn’t need a knife. I guess I forgot that trout was pretty fishy, but it was cooked amazingly! Crispy skin, tender meat.
We were helped by the amazingly sweet and attentive Jonathan and as I was waiting for the ladies room I spoke with one of the chef’s behind the counter who was very friendly as well, even though he was in the middle of breaking down the kitchen. Friendly service makes a world of difference!
As an aside, they sell wine by the bottle even if you’re not dining there. They’re really nice about helping you choose something (even if you’re wine-​tarded like me) and the price point is very reasonable.

We stopped in for a late dinner on a Friday night, and were pleasantly surprised to see a table was available for us without a wait. Our waitress was very helpful in explaining the wine and food menus.
The wine list is quite extensive, which is to be expected for a wine café! We both settled on two different flights, which equated to about two glasses each. They were a lot of fun to drink, and included an informational sheet about each different wine. We enjoyed trying to see if we could taste the unique flavors in each glass.
The food was delicious, and served at a good pace. I really enjoyed the endive salad and the blue cheese that was on it. We both ordered burgers, and were surprised at how large they were! Not only were they large, but they were quite delicious! The best burger I’ve had at a wine café.

I was here a while ago with one of my gal-​pals who lives in the area. She recommended coming here to have our usual once-​every-​two-​months gab session. I was exceedingly happy with our decision to come here. The food here was delicious and the wine flights are awesome. There were plenty to choose from and we left the café feeling completely satisfied with our wine choices.
While I haven’t been here for anything other than wine flights and dinner, I will definitely come back to try everything else… I just have to move back to the area… :)

Ohhh Bin Wine Café… how I heart thee. Stopped by early on date night with the new manfriend and proceeded to order a bottle of Shiraz for two. While I’m definitely not one for wine knowledge and know-​how, I am one for consuming it in large quantities and our choice that night was superb. We also ordered the fried green beans as a quick eat before heading to dinner and they were delightfully crisp, but not overly battered — perfection. Although some may not care for this, an added bonus was the tv at the end of the quaint, little bar that happened to be playing Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls… all in all, I was happy as a clam.
I will definitely be back for an actual meal one of these days and of course, the wonderful wine experience!

Brunch service today — pretty slow and service was absolutely inexcusable. Toast came at the end of the meal and was completely forgotten — when it came they brought absolutely burnt toast and the runner had no remorse. The server who also took a long time to get things going throughout the meal immediately recognized that it was burnt, when she finally got back to us and took it away.
Seeing that one of the entrees came with toast and an extra was ordered I thought it was a bit crazy at how inept they were in the whole process, toast takes maybe 2 mins to make and if it doesnt make sense that it would take 10 mins to bring it after it was requested again and then brought totally black. It seemed pretty disrespectful to a certain point.
Hot sauce was requested and took over 15 mins to receive, when asked again it took another 5 minutes which was finally taken from another table.
I am REALLY disappointed by the lack of service especially with the number of staff in house. From someone who knows the industry very well, I would suggest less staff and better training. Only redemption factor, is that the server had some wherewithal to take $ 5 off the bill for the mishap, but I will not be returning.

If it weren’t for the host this place wouldn’t receive a star from me at all.
My first trip back home to Chicago in 6 years for my sister’s birthday we go to this place and we got treated like SHIT plain and simple.
The day of my arrival I walked past this place, and saw how packed it was, and considering that I have been to my fair share of wine bars in NYC I really wanted to experience one in my hometown, so I made the decision to take my sisters for my older sister’s birthday the following night.
Upon arriving the next night, we met a nice host, who explained to us that the menu was tappas style, we looked over the food portion of the menu, and my sister loved it so we decided to stay.
While looking over the menu our server arrive «Joceline» aka the red-​haired girl with the stank attitude or something like that.
My sister being the one who isn’t really a wine enthusiast simply asked a question about what the fruitier wine was and immediately the server got irritated by us.
She went ahead and explained the wine flights to us, resisting the urge to throw in as well:
«If you are on a budget here are some less expensive wines that I am sure you can afford if you don’t want to spend too much.»
Then she walks away…
We all just looked at each other and shrugged it off.
She comes back and we simply ask about portion sizes to determine whether or not we will need to order more. She tells us don’t worry about portion size, she’s sure it’ll be enough for us.
*yes my sisters and I are thin, but not so thin that we would only enjoy one slice of cheese and a piece of apple to make us less hungry than we were*
We finally get to the order placing part and as I am ordering my other 2 sisters are confirming the food order. After ordering our wine, we tell her that we were ready to order food, and she tells us in not so many nice words that she wasn’t ready to take our food order and walks away from the table… o. O
She comes back with our wine, then takes our order, after taking our order we ask her, does she think that it’ll be enough.
She looks at us smirks and sarcastically says, «For you 3 I’m SUUURE it’ll be enough».
5 minutes later she speeds pass to slightly stop and ask
«How’s the wine»
My sister barely got out the words «fine thank y…»
before you verbally cut her off with an «mmhmm great» and breezed off again.
we got our cheese flight, and watched this girl walk to her other 3 tables and check on them and give them polite conversation but totally ignore our eye contact and body language suggesting we might want her attention, to order another cheese flight that she said would be enough…
The restaurant manager/​server in me couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to go ask the host if they had any comment cards. He told me they were all out, but cared enough to come and check on the table himself, and continued to ask if there was anything he could fix for us.
After 15 minutes of completely being ignored by our server and listening to her talk shit about us to other staff members. I got up and went to the manager and voiced my concerns as our server stood behind her defensively. When I went on to tell the manager about how we clearly heard her talking about us referring to me as «that bald chick»
she pretty much caused a scene as to where the manager had to shoo her away.
Manager offered to comp our whole meal,
I refused, because I didn’t come for my meal to be comped I came for my sister to enjoy her day, and paid for the cheese we ate and the wine we drank.
This was THE worst experience ever.
I was embarrassed for taking my sister to someplace that I spoke so highly about based on the reviews I read and the crowd I witnessed the night before.
I was more angry about the way that we clearly was stereotyped by this lady.
I know because I work in the restaurant business and it happens everyday.
I cannot say that I would never go back.
But I wouldn’t go if this particular server was working again.

Thank you, BWC, for getting me hooked on burrata cheese. This creamy, spreadable, sinfully rich cheese is $$$$.
A little teensy tiny portion at Whole Foods is like $ 14! (unlike). And while I do not mind splurging on high quality cheeses every so often, this one is entirely too addictive. Must.have.now!
When you try a bite of this super duper cheese, please remember to have someone nearby to spot you because you’ll surely faint. And their grilled sourdough bread. Holy cannoli… I need to stop. I feel light headed thinking about it. A seriously amazing, yet simple, dish.
love.love.love.love.love!

This pains me. Really! It does. I’ve been on the road for work for the last 8 months and have moved from Chicago a year ago. I have always made the trip back to go to Bin.
Yesterday will officially be the last time I patronize this place. I should have known something was up when I arrived on a Tuesday and it was EMPTY! I check the menus and sure enough, they got rid of their burger. The ONLY reason I really went there.
The worst was the waitress told us that we WEREN’T leaving. I feel bad for her, but why mess with something that’s was the best dish on your menu?
New Exectutive chef = burnt sliders, terrible service, and lack of customers.
What a shame.

This is such a fun place to go for a drink and a snack! I met my friend here on Friday around 5, before dinner elsewhere, and we really had a great time. The space is rustic, with brick walls and shelves full of wine bottles. We each ordered a flight, mine being the «Express Yourself» flight of versatile white wines.
When you get a flight, they give you a sort of wine-​placemat, with the description of each wine written on it. There’s a space for the glass to sit above its description; I think this is so helpful, because then we knew what to taste for, and if we loved one of the glasses we knew which one it was! I’ve had wine flights at other places without the description-​placemats, and I completely forgot which one was which. This is way better.
All the wines were lovely, though I really enjoyed the bin 14 (a pinot gris) and bin 16 (a Gewurtzraminer). We ordered some baked goat cheese as well, which was served in a ramekin with some sort of marinara sauce, and bread slathered with arugula pesto. It was very good, creamy cheese, and made for a perfect appetizer.
I think it’s a pretty good deal, to get a wine flight for $ 15 (it’s essentially two glasses worth of wine), and you get to try so many lovely kinds. I’ve never been for dinner, but I’d definitely recommend it for the lovely wine choices and the wide selection of cheese and charcuterie!

This review is just for brunch.
We arrived when it was not busy so we assumed we’d get our food fast which is good b/​c we were starving!
The couple next to us sat down after us — and you know how the story goes — they got their food, ate it, paid and left before we even got the old «your food is coming» line.
I got the mimosa flight and by this time was feeling buzzed.
I had the egg sandwich. The bread was really disappointing! Thin Italian bread, the kind they serve with cheese. It was not enough bread to support the eggs, sausage and cheese. BTW the cheese was American and the square slices that you get at Jewel. Shocking since we were at a place known for its cheeses! The house made chicken sausage had no flavor. I took it off.
But the potato and onion side. WOW that was good.
My boyfriend got the breakfast pizza. A regular sauce-​less cheese pizza with a little salad and 1 poached egg on top. The menu says bacon but when you ask «where’s the bacon» she says its a bacon vinaigrette. I know this because the other tables around us had the same reaction to it and asked the same thing. 1 egg for the whole pizza.
I like the food here for dinner but will likely not be back for brunch. It was a miss. My boyfriend is still mad about the missing bacon!

I stopped in here for drinks with friends and didn’t notice it was so big! It looks small from the front. We weren’t eating so I will have to comment on that sometime when I go back.
The drinks were great! We had some Champagne cocktails. There are so many choices on their drink menu and I think the wine flights were really a cool feature too!
Great spot for drinks!

Mimosa flights?! Why, yes please — and you don’t mind if I camp out here and stay awhile, do you? Luckily, service here is super relaxed and friendly, so you can pitch your tent for as long as you like. Umm… I’m still talking about camping, people.
Now to the important stuff. I came here knowing one thing — Mimosa flight + Me = #1 on My To-​Do List. And for those with little nuggets who are just awesome enough to dig a good brunch — there’s juice and milk flights for them, too. Anyways, after so much hemming and hawing (too much goodness on the menu), I went with the banana pancakes and a side of hash browns. The pancakes were fresh and delicious and light and fluffy, but… the hash browns were the best use of $ 2 in a long time. They came out looking like a big piece of pie, with an onion filling. Um, yes, I would come back for that alone.
Side Note: Check in on Foursquare and your first wine or cheese flight is only $ 10.
Yet Another Side Note: Oddly enough I did not leave with onion breath. That’s not a comment of much importance, but I’m just saying you can enjoy some hash brown heaven and get your kiss on afterwards.

Brunch, done well.
Good food, good company, a server that only interrupted the chatter when necessary.
A mimosa flight is a fantastic idea!
The mimosa flight was nice though adding a traditional one into the mix would be nice. If you are into apps and things like that then you get a small discount on flights for checking in on foursquare. A discount for nothing? Sure.
I had the apple ricotta pancakes and they were quite good. As in, I finished all of them. Many of the items on the menu looked really good so I will undoubtedly make a return trip to try something else and get another mimosa flight.

I was excited to check this place out since I am partial to Bin 36 in river north but to my surprise it didn’t live up to its expectations.
I had a the express yourself flight of whites which wasn’t too bad but the bruschetti and spread was awful.
First off the waiter didn’t explain the spreads which were not listed in the menu and secondly they tasted awful.
I believe that the first of three spreads was a sundried tomato/​hummus that lacked any real seasoning. The second tasted like a goat cheese and lemon zest spread that had too much lemon zest and the thirst was a cold white bean artichoke that tasted like it had been sitting out all day.
I wouldn’t recommend this place for more than a glass of wine and place to catch up with a friend.

An upgrade, indeed!
Several lovely brunching ladies and I decided to take our mimosa show on the road, and skipped on over to Bin Wine Café for a brunch-​cap.
What’s a brunch-​cap? Well, you know… like just «one more» before y’all head home. But, in the middle of the day. Typically Saturday or Sunday. Yes, I realize this may seem… irresponsible? Perhaps even borderline «problem,» but as it were, it was really quite remarkable. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it, breakfast champagne has healing powers!
Mimosa Flight (genius). x4
*Strawberry (clear winner) — several additional ordered.
*Pineapple
*Peach
*Orange
Cheese Plate
*excellent selection of hard, soft, stinky, mild, colorful, muted cheeses. With crackers.
Service:
EXCEPTIONAL, especially after what I can assume was a bzzzzy brunch period. She was simply lovely and attentive.
Bin Wine Café is a relaxed, cute, contemporary little spot in Wicker Park. Add to the brunching routine, pop in for a glass of vino before heading out on the town, dinner, etc… very well rounded, and they’ve certainly erased my initial experience off the board.
Mimosa? Why, of course! Make it 4. :)

The situation: 4 ladies post-​bottomless mimosa brunch in search of further champagne debauchery.
The solution: Bin Wine Café.
Having wrapped up brunch with my ladies at LOKal, but still feeling the need to keep the Sunday Funday going, we hop skippity jumped over to Bin Wine Café to keep the champers following.
And flowing it did! Enter the mimosa flight @ Bine Wine Café.
For $ 12.80 you get 4 pretty hearty (well, for a flight at least) pours of their pineapple, strawberry, pomegranate and peach mimosas. Fruity-​licious with a bubbly punch made them not only pretty but powerful. The clear winner, the strawberry flavor, warranted an additional glass after the flight was finished.
To accompany our bubbly, we went with one of the cheese flights. Cause nibbles and bubbles go hand-​in-​hand, you know! I recommend the Bin Wine Café Cheese Flight consisting of 6 cheeses they say you can’t live without. I’m a bit of a cheese neophyte, and let’s be honest, there was champagne involved, so I’m fuzzy on the exact names and origins of the selected cheeses, but suffice to say they were all yummy. We got a bleu, a brie, some hard and some semi-​soft cheeses with crunchy bread, apples glazed in honey and almonds and get this: wine flavored jello. Who thinks of this??? Bin Wine Café, that’s who!!!
Also important to note: There are some serious hotties working the kitchen. For real! I couldn’t help but gaze at the talent behind the scenes. Kudos to Bin for hiring cute men to prepare our food!
Sunday Funday success!

This was a nice little date night location that allowed for easy access due to how close it is to an elevated train, plus it is smack dab in the middle of Wicker Park and all the energy associated with that neighborhood.
This is a casual compared to its River North brother, but for Wicker Park that is perfect. For this visit, my first though certainly not my last, it was to be dinner. The bar up front was a buzz with activity as was the dining area. I hear the pizza here is very good, but that is for another night. Our entrees were very good as was the service. We also imbibed wine flights and were excellent as well, but that is to be expected for such an establishment.
Whether its official dating or casual hanging out, this wine bar/​restaurant is a great spot to check out.

Came here because we had $ 25 gift certificates and wanted an excuse to check it out.
It was Saturday night and the place was packed as expected. The music was good, but loud. I liked how the place was dimly lit with the outside, nightime glare coming in through the window. Pretty live crowd here and everyone seemed to be screaming.
We tried the flights which were reasonably priced and then we went ahead and ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio. For dessert we had the Crème Brelee which was delicious. The servers were pretty knowledgeable and accommodating, but the only problem I had was they did not give us napkins and we had food. Had a great time here and we wound up closing the place up as time went by without us noticing.
I also love their red pizza… Suprisingly it was some of the best brick oven pizza ever. Their mimosa flights are pretty good also… You get strawberry, peach, pineapple & pomegrante. Very good stuff.
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