The Tasting Room

I love this place. The flights of wine are easy to choose from, using a descriptive name, and Reference describing the wines included. Oh, and the selection of infused alcohol is quite interesting. The view from the balcony is beautiful. Oh and the food is good too. Go on a weekday!

Closed?! Why!
So sad…

We went to The Tasting Room via Groupon Reserve. It was great! They have all sorts of flights with different themes (i.e. region, grape, varietal, etc.). We partook in several. We had an amazing cheese and Charcuterie plate that was just spectacular. There was a live band that was playing that evening as well that really added to the ambiance of the place, and there were great views of the city up on the second floor!

We considered The Tasting Room for our wedding ceremony and reception. They would provide a wine-​centric loft-​style space in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago. Their shelves of wine bottles, exposed brick walls, and unmatched furniture was sure to provide a memorable setting for our important occasion. The Tasting Room is eclectic and a wonderful venue for DIY-​lovers who want independence and quirkiness in an urban setting.
I enjoyed chatting on the phone with the owner and later we loved meeting with an employee who gave us a tour. They both did a phenomenal job of painting a realistic picture of what our wedding would be like. It would have open seating and there would either be a buffet dinner or stations that encourage mingling. Although there would be space for getting ready, it’s small and pushed us to think about preparing somewhere else.
Our turning point was after I spoke with the chef. We had a wonderful conversation about the food and our vision for the evening. I expressed that we were open to all kinds of food but that it was crucial that it be amazing. The chef told me that he was going on vacation for a week and that he would be back in touch with me upon his return. That was the last time either one of us heard from ANYBODY at The Tasting Room.
We already had an idea of the quality of their food and our wedding plans at The Tasting Room hung on this chef. We ate dinner there after our initial tour and tried many menu items. The food was good but unimpressive. Service was nice but casual. It matched the venue and we understood. Unfortunately, when it comes to our wedding, we really wanted delicious memories and we needed reliable people at the venue. The failure of following through on the promise of assembling a menu resulted in a poor impression of the service we could expect later on.

This is a cozy place to sit and sip, while out in the area. Went here on a Saturday night for a flight, it was delicious. If you like sweet wines, get the Cinderella flight, a beautiful display of white, blush and red. They have a bar rail, high top tables and sofas in their main lounge.

I don’t like wine so it’s basically absurd for me to come to a place like this. I don’t even care because I make up for my taste of alcohol in my love of cheese. And this didn’t disappoint.
We had no plans to come here but ended up chosing the perfect night because of a tasting plate and wine deal. My friend got to enjoy in ALL the wine (6 tastings) while I had a watermelon, basil, and jalapeño drink. Very delicious.
We had the tasting plate with French Istara Petite Basque Cheese, Wisconsin Eagle Cave White Cheddar, Country Pâté, House Spiced Olives, and White Truffle Tomato Bruschetta. All were amazing! And quite filling. Will definitely be back to try out more cheeses and pass off my wine to my gracious friends.

I was lucky enough to find a travelzoo for this gem last September. I took my significant other here for his birthday. When we walked in, the downstairs bar wasn’t very impressive, then the waiter took us upstairs and then I was impressed. I’ve noticed from other reviewers that the waiters were unfriendly to travelzoo goers. Which is what we experienced. The reason I’m giving four stars is my overall experience and our initially rude waiter became more friendly as the dinner went on.
The place was amazing, romantic and rustic. The view of the city is spectacular. We got two meat and cheese charcuteries with Sheeps cheese. Everyone in my party got a wine flight which the one i got I loved. We had a great time and made great memories!

Love this place. How we never knew it existed until we lived generally in the area, I have no idea. But now that we know, yay! I read some reviews before going over there and the bad ones, yeah, they are wrong. Yeah, I said it, wrong.
Everyone here is so nice. Kelly knows her stuff and is more than happy to help find the right wine. Plus she’s just cool in general. I’m not terribly knowledgeable about wines and occasionally my choices are questioned (by the husband, of course, who knows way more than me), but hey, she never makes me feel bad if I just want a glass of soccer mom wine. She has helped me learn and expand my tastes.
Cheeses and meats, while they may add up quickly, are all really phenomenal. By the time you order a few, you end up with a huge cutting board of cheese, meat, nuts, bread, and dried fruit. It’s seriously a meal in itself. The chocolate fondue, yep, do it. Their dining menu changes often, fyi.
The place is just off the beaten track which is perfect — no dealing with the over-​crowded, annoying Randolph St. restaurant row mess. It’s dimly lit, not silly loud, and yeah, a great place without being all wine-​snotty pretentious or whatever. We always sit at the bar but there’s a whole upstairs with live music and such plus a side room. Plus a small parking lot even. And they sell wines retail.
We’re sad to have moved further away, that’s for sure.

I’ve been here twice and the experience has not improved. The quality and selection of wines are average (at best) and there is no description on new wines you’d like to try. The menu is poorly organized and the quality of glass wear is just above IKEA quality. The wait staff does not know what is on the menu, both in terms of wine and what is at the bar. I guess if you have no one to impress you can go there for half price glass night and try something you’ve never had, but don’t expect much else.
There are other places around with better selection, better glass wear, and a more knowledgeable staff.

Wine bar on Randolph with great tasting options. We came for a birthday party that was on the second floor. The room was really comfortable and had a lot of leather chairs. Very cool. The flat breads ordered for the party were really good. Service was great and they were able to easily split our check in a big party which was so convenient. Parking was difficult and their lot was full, but we found street parking on Washington.
It would be cool to come and hang out on the second floor after work sometime, but they said they don’t open it on weekends, so fyi.
⁸⁴⁄₃₆₅

For my friend’s birthday, we came here as part of the festivities. Somehow, this place has slipped under my radar, but not anymore.
First of all, the place is very nice. It has the old exposed brick thing going on and looks cozy and romantic. For our «festivities,» we happened to go upstairs, which was very cool. I noticed more couches around, and they were the good kind of big leather chairs and couches. In our section, this is what we got, and it was very comfortable.
Their wine, beer, and liquour list is huge and impressive I thought. The food list is also rather good and has some great things on there. We had the grilled cheese & tomato soup, short rib croquettes, and the duck prosciutto. Overall, everything was good. Not amazing, but good. I thought the grilled cheese & tomato soup was actually pretty sizable and there were a number of croquettes. Not a lot of duck prosciutto, but if you know anything about this, you know how expensive it actually is. So the price was fair for what we got. I also tried a slice of the margherita flatbread, which was also pretty good. Pair that with a small handful of beers/​wines, and the entire price of $ 50 after tax and tip was fair.
Overall, this is a nice place. The food is pretty good and the drink list is nice. The décor is also real nice in here, with the whole dark candlelit thing going on with exposed brick, and comfortable couch thing going on. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of anything I mentioned above.

I loved this place !
I had the three wine taster and the smores desert, and what a delight !
The place is moderately romantic, the out door seating is in a busy are with a lot of disturbances so not the best ambiance, they were also fertilizing the plants next doors so that kinda ruined the mood a lil more. So no for the outdoor dining experience
The experience itself is enticing ! wine tasting, and then you get to make your own smores! They bring it out on a little coal oven, you get to tast your marshmallows and heat up your chocolate (dont get burned !!) I wish they explained what were supposed to do a lil more but i still loved it !
Aside from the fertilizer use, and out door noise, this is definitely a place to impress your date ! and a lot of fun with your friends (like a high class mini camping lol)

There’s two kinds of people in this world. Those who prefer good service and ambiance. And those who prefer good food.
Ha I lied all over your face it’s not that simple or binary. Luckily places like this exist. While I’d state it’s more of a date spot it’s also very much a friends night out place. What I love is the more sedate downstairs for dinner. But upstairs offers fantastic views and cozy couches. Yup.
We ordered:
Red Wine (he ordered it, but the list is good)
Cheese platter
Generous and filling. I liked the toasts too. They were perfect with the wine.
Dark Chocolate Fondue
So sexy or just fun to share with others, even pals. It was rich so bring your sweet tooth! I like fondue because it makes me feel like a cook. You have control. And tastes good.
The server was friendly and informative.
This place really incorporates the two sides of good service/​ambiance with great food. So it’s clear why it’s be a great romantic or friendly pick for a night out.

The Tasting Room is one of those places on my list that I had heard of often and was curious about for awhile. So, when I stepped into this place I sorta expected something a bit different than what I got. Let me explain…
They have the main level that has different rooms for people to hang out in. This is where you will find the bar. Then, there’s the upstairs. Now, this space is odd. Layout, design, lighting, and overall feng shui is off. You can choose between leather couch seating with a coffee table perhaps to cozy up with a date. Or, if you want to just eat, taste, and view the skyline… there are cocktail tables situated by the only windows with views of Sears/​Willi Tower/​Hancock. Warning: the tables and the windows don’t exactly line up so really only ONE person in you party can take advantage of the view. Sorta takes the fun out of it a bit. There’s 2 canvas paintings, an imitation plant in another corner, an interesting 70s-​type bar, and can lighting. Ok, I know, this is a wine bar so… let me move on to the wine/​food…
Wine flights offered here aren’t bad — ²⁄₃ are from the same region or country though. Not sure if they change their flights from time to time. You can opt to pair their vino with their cheese flights for extra moola or choose to share one of its small plates or apps. I had the Italian flight. I know there’s more to Italy… We shared the flatbread pizza and scallops. Medium-​sized pizza had spinach, carmelized onion, crimini mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes. A step above the scallops that are served on a risotto pancake. Probably the risotto was what let me down a bit.
If you don’t want wine, they have other stuff you can imbibe in for sure. Outdoor patio seating might be nice one a cooler Summer or Fall day in Chicago.
Just not sure when or what I’d come back for.

This is a meta review cos I’m here now, hanging out and drinking wine. The owner is gorgeous, the exec chef is a hottie and all the servers are cute and friendly. Half price wine on Monday and Tuesday, what?!
I may move in.
The pizza is yummy. I had the pulled pork cone at the Taste of Randolph where they had a tent and, ohh my gawd. Savory and spicy deliciousness.
Go here with a hot date. It’s hot!

I’m not the biggest fan of this area and the places I go nearby consist of Cobra Lounge or Bottom Lounge… so imagine my surprise when my friend says to meet her and a friend here. Fine. She has some buy one, get one things and I have nothing better to do, so drinks it is!
Well, I was pleasantly surprised by how kind and attentive the staff was. The bartender knew her wine and after talking to us for a bit, she really was able to figure out what it was we’d like.
I think part of why I really enjoyed this place was because even though I was convinced it wasn’t a place for me, all sorts of people were here. There was a laid back vibe and it was nice. We ended up coming on a day when their flatbreads were half price, so we shared a couple. Leaving full and tipsy, works for me.

Came over for a drink after a nice dinner @ Girl & The Goat this past Monday night.
We were about to have a seat in the nice, intimate front bar area until one of the waitresses told us we could sit in the library. The library is a back area full of empty wine bottles (actually looks like a library), but it has plush, intimate, comfy seating. We had champagne and wine until we were to too drunk to drink anymore.
Our server was really nice and he was very helpful in picking the right drinks for the evening. Def must come back to this chill spot!

Myself and 3 of my lady co-​workers came here for wine and snacks on a Thursday evening. We had a fabulous time!
We ordered the sampler of 10 cheeses and mussels 2 ways and could not believe how fabulous the food was. The cheese sampler was much more interesting than any I have ever had before. From goat cheese stuffed peppers to a cheese smothered in jam — all of us were loving every bite.
I started with a sparkling wine flight and ended with a Bordeaux flight. The waitress was very helpful and informative when any of us had questions about what to try next.
The atmosphere here is wonderful as well. With exposed brick wall and large leather couches you feel comfortable immediately. The downstairs is very quiet and tame, however the upstairs seems to be a bit more «happening». The music is a bit louder and the energy is more upbeat.
I also loved the music. Any place that place 2 Cake songs during the night is awesome to me!

A lovely evening of cheese and wine? Well, of course.
The Tasting Room deserves more than a fleeting glance, it’s perfectly understated, mostly free of tourists (they flock eastward on Randolph) and settled sweetly into a nice, soft routine of good music, conversation… and ya know, impeccable wine and cheese.
Cheese flight: $ 25 seems steep, but it’s probably a good investment if you enjoy things that knock your cheese-​lovin’ socks off. We selected 5 outstanding cheeses… aided by our very cheese-​tuned server. Copious bread to match, nuts to garnish… and nary a speck left.
Jellies wine flight: oh, the cheeky names amuse me. The wine washes over me in waves of delight, a flight… if you will. I will.
*2005 Mount Eden ‘Saratoga Cuvee’ Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz, California
*2007 Château Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California
*2006 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla, Washington State
By the glass, these selections would cost approximately $ 68 (for 3). The flight? $ 23. Just enough to tickle the wine lover, while pleasing the pocketbook keeper.
Open 10 years on the oft forgotten stretch of Randolph… well, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Add this wine bar to your list, peeps.

This review is for the bar area only, we never made it up to the main dining or any other rooms (not even the bathroom, sorry, no notes there). It’s tucked away on the very quiet end of Randolph, well away from the rest of Restaurant Row, a bit isolated, but worth a visit. Especially as parking is a bit easier to find.
The menu changes often, so don’t expect to get what I took pics of below and won’t bother listing (and this is a really late review too), suffice it to say everything was simply delicious. The wine flights we chose were very nice and quite interesting. We all really enjoyed the dimly lit and quiet ambiance, the rough-​hewn dark benches and tables. Service was friendly and prompt.