Barrel Thief Wine Shop & Café

Wonderful! The food was amazing and the service couldn’t have been better. Very low key vibe with high-​end eats. Love it and can’t wait to go back.

Richmond’s best kept secret. Jazz on Saturdays is always worth the trip. Friendly staff who are all extremely knowledgeable and helpful! Chorizo bruschetta – when on the menu – are killer.

Saturday’s they have low-​key, live music. Nice atmosphere.
You can look through TONS of wine with useful descriptions, start a bottle over a plate of cheese or what-​have-​you, and, if you don’t finish it, no problem, cork your bottle and head out with it. They close at 10pm on Saturday night, that was the only thing I wished was different, 11pm would have been perfect!

I’ve lived by Barrel Thief for years now and have purchased wine there many times, but I just finally tried their restaurant about a month ago. I am so happy I did, as I found a new place that is walkable from my house. My roommate and went and had some fantastic food and wine. The server, Kelley, was incredibly friendly and really understood my preferences and selected something that would appeal to me. I had the crab dip and dessert panini. Growing up on the Eastern Shore, I’ve had crab dip a million times and I have high expectations and this did not disappoint. It was filled with crab and the bread served with it was perfect. The chocolate panini came out a bit different from the menu description, but was still decent. Instead of a brittle as advertised, it had just a few scattered nuts and a caramel drizzled on the bottom. All in all, I thought it was a great value for the price we paid. I will absolutely come back and I will continue to buy wine from here!

Barrel Thief is the number one wine bar in Richmond in terms of quality, selection, price, and customer service. It is also one of the top three retail wine shops in the Greater Richmond metro area. Why you ask? Because the manager (Booth Hardy) is one of the most knowledgeable wine experts in Richmond. He is actually studying to be a Master Sommelier and has an amazing palette. This knowledge and experience translates into an amazing selection of wines at very reasonable price points. The food is also very good and the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. We are never disappointed and always look forward to our next visit for fantastic food and wine!

What a great place to have a glass of wine and catch up with an old friend!
I went last night and it is the perfect place for us near-​West Enders to enjoy a unique wine bar experience. They have a great variety of wine to choose from and they even have a rosé of the day… which we both settled on that after an enthusiastic recommendation from our server. We also indulged in the artichoke and gruyère dip, which is served warm with soft, toasted bread. It is to. die. for. It has a delicious flavor with caramelized onions and of course, cheese.
I highly recommend Barrel Thief for a casual wine bar outing with especially knowledgeable and friendly servers and easy parking. They have tasting events on Fridays and the shop has a great selection of wine to purchase!

This place is walking distance to our house and we never go — we’ll definitely be back after last night.
Food: The food was really good but probably a bit over priced. We shared VA crab dip, I had the Hanover tomato, house made ricotta & bacon bit bruschetta as a meal (would be a great appetizer to share) & my husband had a smoked chicken sandwich. The crab dip could have had a bit more crab but the flavors were AMAZING, and the bruschetta could have had more ricotta but was also delicious (tomatoes were from the farm stand that sets up in the back parking lot — love that!)
Wine: We told our server what kind of wine we were looking for & he picked a totally reasonably priced $ 16 bottle that was delicious & paired really well with the dip. They also have a beer selection up front where you can just pick your bottle
Service: A+
The best part is the wine bottle prices are wine shop prices NOT restaurant prices, so you can get an awesome bottle of wine for a third of what it would cost in another restaurant. I have seen our $ 16 bottle for $ 40.
It was ~$ 70 with tip, including 2 beers and all mentioned above

My wife and I love this place! The wine selection is great and the food is amazing. On top of it all the staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Great for happy hour, a light dinner, shopping to stock up or a special occasion.

My (adult) daughter and I wanted to go out for a glass of wine together over the holidays, before she headed back to her home. We found Barrel Thief and it was perfect – we each had a lovely glass of wine, and shared a couple of appetizers. The staff was friendly yet professional, and very knowledgeable of the offerings. We were pleasantly surprised at the large servings of both the Castelvetrano olives (delicious, and a new treat for us both!) and almonds. It was a Saturday evening and there was live accoustic music – perfect for conversation. Barrel Thief is cozy and attractive, easily accessible on Patterson Ave. in the West End, with off-​street parking at the door. Great for a couple or small group who wants to be able to converse!

I went in here a couple times and didn’t find the staff to be very friendly. One employee was downright rude. I don’t think the prices are the best either.

Lots of wine to choose from makes me a happy girl!
I’ve only been to Barrel Thief for meetings and events (so I suppose this could win stars for that alone), but I’ve had pleasant visits each time. I can’t really speak to the food options, although I hear they’re solid, but the wine selections are right up my alley. White, red, rosé, they’ve got it all. And I supposed you should expect that from a wine store. But where I’m impressed is with the staff. They are all clearly well educated in the realm of wine, and each person with whom I’ve interacted has been able to easily recommend wines based on my tastes and questions. I love me some wine, but I don’t pretend to know what I’m talking about, so any direction I can get, I quickly accept!
Prices definitely range from affordable to pricey, so I like that I can scoop a nicer bottle as a gift or score a cheaper bottle for my own home cabinet. Oh, and they have adorable wine bags for sale! You know, like the canvas tote bags you can buy from Ellwood Thompson, except in wine bottle form! They aren’t cheap, but they’r super adorbs… I totally bought a white wine one during my last visit and don’t regret it one bit. Barrel Thief is a great go-​to for a solid wine selection.

This is a great place for a date night and an economical way to see jazz. We stopped here after dinner on a Saturday so didn’t try the food (wish we did, it smelled good). The atmosphere is casual and relaxed. The jazz was great and free. Because I was driving only my fiancé had a glass of wine and there was no pressure from our waitress to spend more. We will definitely be back.

More exhaustive review to come, but must say that this is my go-​to spot for wine. Hands-​down. Their staff is incredibly knowledgeable, passionate and without pretense.
Not as in-​love with their café menu, but typically the charcuterie and cheese selection is good.
Fun place to people-​watch, as well. I’m quite sure I’ve been on the receiving end of that activity!

Jazz on Saturday nights.
This wide open store is wine store in the front, restaurant in the back. It’s very casual and welcoming despite the number of couples that come for dinner. The walls are covered with colorful modern art. I had the soup of the day: prosciutto and fall vegetable soup ($ 5) with the lamb sausage sandwich ($ 10). The soup was unexpectedly hearty and the lamb sausage, while simple, finished with the sweetness of sauteed red onions. Neither of these dishes were complicated, but both had an unexpected richness of flavors. The bottle of wine was picked out by one in our group. At $ 16.99, it was a steal for splitting between three people. Total: $ 25.
Ambiance and Service ⁵⁄₅
Food ⁴⁄₅
Value ⁴⁄₅

Lovely place to meet friends, listen to some delicate jazz, enjoy some good wine (with good guidance from the staff) and a light meal. Conversation could be enjoyed and comfortable, setting and seating, to make you want to linger.

A friend and I went on a Saturday evening for the live jazz. The music was delightful. We shared a bottle of Argentinean Malbec ($ 30.00 well worth it) which had a lovely pungent start and finished with a lightness. We shared 2 appetizers and 1 entrée. All the food was made with fresh ingredients and was delightful. The service was acceptable. Returned this evening with another friend. The whole bill with with tip was around $ 60.00.

Great place to try interesting wines at the best price in town!

5 stars for the wine
5 for the knowledgeable & attentive service
2 for a bowl of tasty mixed greens (only) very lightly dressed, but priced at $ 8
1 for a portabello sandwich with two teeny weeny pieces of mushroom lost in the bread priced at $ 12
4 for the tomato pesto purée bruschetta
3 for a tomato based crab soup
Stick to wine & snacks here

This is one of my favorite spots for snacks and wine. Along with a standard by-​the-​glass wine menu, this wine bar/​store offers a rotating wine focus with special varieties each month or so. If you go to eat, you can pick up to two by-​the-​glass wines to taste before you commit to buying anything. I think this is a fun way to taste new things and see what you like before you buy a glass. The menu includes cheeses, meats, appetizers, paninis, a few entrees and dessert. I really like the white bean and roasted garlic dip with crostini. It’s big, flavorful and elegant, but simple enough to please most eaters.
Along with a restaurant, Barrel Thief also has a store portion (in fact, the store is open on Monday, but wine/​food service isn’t available). There’s a good selection of wines, and if you want to drink any in the store, you can get whatever you want and drink it there without a corkage fee. Check the web site calendar for wine tastings, live music and other special events. The atmosphere is modern, simple and dimly lit. Great for good conversation and great wine.

Very cool décor, super cool employees who actually know their wines & great customer service. They are able to recommend wines based on what I drink & are usually right on the mark. I love that there is a wide range of prices – everything from $ 10 bottles & up. I can’t comment on their food as I’ve yet to eat there.

OKAY.
I like barrel’s food. They also have a really nice wine selection with decent wine prices. I will also say the peeps that work here are SUPER cool and nice.
HOWEVER. BIG HOWEVER I have eaten there 4 or 5 times and feel ripped off every time. The 10 dollar crab quesadilla has very little crab or for that matter even cheese in it. WHY? Your patrons will not come back if you don’t put any ingredients in there. After the second time I ordered this and it was almost empty I stopped coming here. The panini’s have a PATHETIC amount of meat and cheese. I’m not expecting a double decker or anything, I just want some of what you told me would be in there to actually cover the bread, and enough of it to actually taste it!
Please read this and change things.
I went with a group of five people and we all had an entrée (some even had apps as an entrée), a bowl of olives, a cheese plate, three mediocre truffles, 2 bottles of really cheap wine and it was 260 dollars not including tip!!! WTF.
This is not some super nice restaurant… it’s a café/​wine bar!!!
Seriously. Stop skimping your customers! This is awful b/​c I really like your salads, and the flavors in your food are verging on excellent. But I just won’t go back again until you make your portions equal your prices. It’s just not right. I’m in the food industry, I know what things cost, and this is highly overpriced… tapas are tapas… tapas should have tapas prices. Don’t advertise something if it’s not what you say it is. I hate feeling this ripped off. I really want to give you two stars but I really like the people that work here. So three for you nice folks.
I HAVE ALWAYS, ALWAYS HAD GOOD SERVICE HERE.

My husband and I walked over to their new location on Patterson the other night and we had a great time! The service was great and we enjoyed our two complimentary wine tastings with appetizers and dinner. The sun dried tomato and artichoke dip was delicious and I enjoyed my smoked salmon panini. It is definitely a great place for a fun, casual dinner. Go for dinner or just for some wine and cheese!