Whole Foods Arroyo Wine Lounge

Grab your food from the vegan bar or deli (they make great sandwiches) and head over to the wine bar where the practitioners of wine tasting will match your meal to a taste of some of the finest local, organic and vegan wines available. The barkeeps know their wines and you’ll get to enjoy and experience what you might otherwise have to drink a bottle of to enjoy.

Love the weekly specials too… fun trying different wines from different regions of the world. and grab tasty grub to go with it too

I would like to emphasize that the wine bar recently under went a minor renovation. Specifically, previously, there were many small tables (each would seat 2 – 4 people) and the tables to could be moved if larger groups appeared, creating a very flexible space. Now, there are 3 small tables (each seating 2 people), and one very large bar-​height table which cuts across the middle of the restaurant (plus the actual bar). This change is a huge problem and is responsible for the Wine Lounge going from a 5 star to a 1 star in our opinion.
Basically, while the food and the wine are still great (as indicated in previous reviews), because of the seating change, the wine lounge is not an enjoyable experience anymore. There are several issues, which I’ve outlined below.
1) Because the large bar table cuts through the middle of the lounge, if you decide to sit at a small table, getting service is extremely difficult (aka it simply isn’t going to happen). This isn’t surprising — the waiters/​waitresses spend most of their time on the far side of the table behind the bar and literally can’t see the tables. Moreover it is hard for them to walk around the bar table to serve the three tables. In fact, even the most basic understanding of restaurant design tells you to put the higher tables on the periphery of the space and the lower tables in the middle, not the reverse (as whole foods did).
2) The bar table is very wide. This means that people either sit next to each other and talk at a normal volume level (which typically doesn’t happen) or they sit across from each other and talk very loudly. Once one couple starts talking loudly, the adjacent couple does as well (in order to hear each other), and so forth. And not all conversations are meant to be heard.
I would like to emphasize that it is extremely confusing why the management would make this change. The total number of seats has increased by maybe 2. However, the effectiveness of the waitstaff and the enjoy-​ability of the dining experience has decreased by several orders of magnitude — so the overall profitability is going to decrease.
If Whole Foods was really trying to increase the profitability of the spot and willing to invest in the space, there were many other things they could have done. For example — make the space more inviting (change the lighting so it is more uniform throughout the space — perhaps change from direct overhead lights to wall sconces), expand the special nights to include a wider variety (sushi and saki, wine/​beer and cheese pairing, chocolate and wine, sausage and beer, etc).
My husband and I are truly disappointed because this was one of our favorite places to hang out, to have a great steak and wine, and to try some new cheeses. And now, it is just an awkwardly designed bar with poor service. We truly hope they revert back to the previous design.

My boyfriend and I love going to the wine lounge inside Wholefoods. They have great deal for steak and wine/​beer dinner. I can also purchase any bottle of wine or beer and enjoy without any corkage fees along with my food either ordered at the lounge and/​or purchased at the food court. It is a great casual place to hang out and doing grocery shopping before or after.
The one and only complain I have now is that the lounge gets so popular, it is hard to get a seat or a table during dinner time now. But, that is hardly a complain. We love this place.