Lou on Vine

»Lou on Vine Soaks Every Last Nickel

I had been eagerly anticipating a visit to Lou's Wine Bar after hearing about it for months on KCRW's Good Food program but what a disappointment! From start to finish, it tries to maximize its profit without making the slightest effort to provide customers with a pleasant dining or drinking experience. Although a wine bar is supposed to be about wine, the wine at Lou's is the least appealing...+READ I had been eagerly anticipating a visit to Lou's Wine Bar after hearing about it for months on KCRW's Good Food program but what a disappointment! From start to finish, it tries to maximize its profit without making the slightest effort to provide customers with a pleasant dining or drinking experience. Although a wine bar is supposed to be about wine, the wine at Lou's is the least appealing part of the menu. The cheap wines from unusual regions made with unusual grapes that are featured suggest the possibility of new and exciting wine discoveries. However, the wines served are neither neither cheap (for the customer) nor good to drink though I bet they are cheap for Lou. Rather, they are lousy wines commanding prices higher than what is charged at fine restaurants in the same area. The food is decent, made with fresh ingredients, but served without any attention to appearance or finesse. The service and decor are also lacking. After we were seated, we waited an inordinately long time to receive menus, and almost as soon as we ordered, the servers tried to snatch the menus away even though we ordered only a couple of starters. First one waiter tried to take my menu but I resisted because we wanted to take our time sipping our wine before ordering more. Apparently that was not what the management wanted us to do because a few minutes later another waiter removed my husband's menu while apologizing for "stealing" it before he could stop the waiter. Then, just as we finished our dessert, a waiter brought us a check without even asking us if we wanted either a coffee or one of what I imagine are overpriced dessert wines, and all that with New York seating. In short, too many rough edges, very poor value!-COLLAPSE (by JClaudia, created August 14, 2010)