Vino Levantino
“Fantastic deal on wine and some appetizers (go for the eggplant crostini!)”
“My lamb chops were juicy and wel done
Not a fan of wine but I tried a couple of sips and they wuz good
I would go Again”
“Other favorites were the shish kebab, chicken kebabs, eggplant burekas, falafel and hummus plate.”
Vino Levantino
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Lovely, simply lovely!
The space is super cozy, rustic, and just delightful. The service was very friendly and personable. And the food, YUM! I had the half-roasted eggplant with ricotta and my friend ordered the meat/rice stuffed tomato. Both were DELICIOUS! And there were so many other tempting items on the menu. Looking forward to going back to try more :).
Yes. The service was THAT bad. Picture this:
Party of 4 + Saturday evening ; we're in the mood to catch up in a quiet quaint restaurant uptown. The place is EMPTY and we are seated immediately. "How lucky are we?!" All four of us eagerly say to each other….but we'd spoken way too soon. We're greeted by a waitress who takes our drink and food orders and minutes later, greeted by another waitress who asked us the same thing. We tell her that we had already placed the order with the one other waitress on staff. Half an hour goes by and our hummus and olives aren't out yet, another half hour goes by and we finally remind the waitresses (both) who grab the hummus (still no olives) and the entrees (which were all pretty good). We remind both waitresses again about the olives and don't get them until the END of the meal!
TL;DR?
It's too bad that the food is good, because the lack of communication and true incompetence of the waitresses made this one of the worst experiences I had with service to date. Two stars for the sole reason that the food was decent and you may get lucky and not have those two…
** brunch review **
Jen S. recommended Levantino for a low-key and tasty brunch, and she was right on the money. The restaurant was pretty empty for Saturday brunch, which was relieving. (No wait!) The menu was on the smaller side and had equal sweet and savory items. I opted for the basic eggs ($9), but they came with perfect potatoes and a really nice salad, which included light dressing and beets. I could even eat that salad alone and be satisfied.
Jen also got the Malawach, which had a great green sauce of sorts (sechug). She got an extra hard boiled egg, too, which was good for the surface area of the puffed pastry. Anyway, it was unique and delicious. Eat it as you wish!
Also I want to call out the really nice, chill nature of the people working here. They were attentive, funny, and pleasant. Their demeanor really stood out to me.
I would definitely come back for brunch, and I'd love to come try their dinner.
Brunch
Started with a cappuccino which was nicely done. They had a brunch special called jachnun which is essentially fried rolled dough made with the same batter as malawach. It came with a tomato dip, a boiled egg and green skhug (peppery sauce that tasted very cardamom-y). The jachnun was kind of tough to cut but the waiter brought me steak knife after seeing me struggling with it (I grew up eating with chopsticks so maybe it was partially my problem…) But boy did I love that dish.!! I only ate half and saved the other half to go for my friend who lives a block away.. She loved it too!! The texture is like a french crepe/baumkuchen but better. Even though it was fried, the dough was moist and dense and not greasy at all. It was subtly sweet and worked very well with the sauces. I don't understand what the boiled egg does but apparently that's how Yemenites eat!! I also got the side salad which to my dismay had no greens, but I loved the avocado + chickpea + onion combination!
3 lovely people working there all came to me and checked to see if I liked the dishes. One of them explained to me what jachnun was and I promised him I would go back during happy hour/dinner. CANT WAIT.
What a wonderful wine bar! (They have beer too). Awesome location near the metro, suuuuper nice staff, and warm vibe.
Another great spot for Mediterranean. Specifically Israeli/Turkish. Great great Falafel! With the tahini.
I always get the bourekas, hummus, Baba Ganoush and leek patties.
Owner at the restaurant making sure everything is fine and always with a lovely mood.
My fiancée and I had the absolute worst dining experience of our lives at Vino Levantino thanks to the owner horrific Haim. We were completely baffled by the absolutely rude and unprofessional behavior of this small man. He's clearly incompetent and I truly feel sorry for the staff that have to deal with him on a daily basis because I can only imagine that he's a nightmare to work for.
Ok, so with all of that as the prelude, let me tell you about the night that my fiancée and I walked into Vino Levantino and met heinous Haim. It was a quiet evening with just a few diners enjoying their glasses of wine. We were seated at a table near the front. We perused the wine list and I settled on a red wine while my fiancée decided to have a glass of sparkling wine. Our server was perfectly nice and amiable and asked whether we wanted any food. We thought it would be nice to have something to munch on while we had our wine so we ordered the chickpea appetizer. This is where it gets interesting…
Our server brought out my glass of red wine immediately. She also explained that they had just run out of the sparkling wine that my fiancée ordered but they were getting another bottle from storage and her wine would be out momentarily. No problem we said. Some time passed and our chickpea appetizer came out. We started to munch on the food and it was tasty. Unfortunately, my fiancée didn't have her glass of wine yet so we asked our server again. She apologized and said she would check on it. More time passed. Meanwhile I was sipping on my red wine and was nearly finished. Not a huge deal, but when you go out to a wine bar with a date it's nice to drink together. That's kind of the point. More time passed. At this point I had finished my glass of wine and we had also finished our appetizer. Our server came over again and apologized again. She said she didn't know what the delay was with the person who was getting the bottle from storage. Over 30 minutes had passed, so we were understandably annoyed. We asked for the wine list again so that my fiancée could choose something else but at that moment the other server finally came back with the sparkling wine bottle we had originally ordered. Ok, great. About time. I ordered a second glass of wine so that my fiancée would not have to drink alone and the server finally brought over the glass of sparking wine for my fiancée. As any good server with some sense of customer service would do, our server graciously said that her glass of wine was on the house because she felt terrible about the delay. We said thank you and went back to our conversation.
This is where horrific Haim comes in. We noticed him speaking to our server and then he walked over to our table. We expected him to apologize for the delay once again. Instead he raised his voice menacingly and asked us why we were demanding a free glass of champagne. Huh?? We were puzzled and caught completely off guard. We explained the situation (see above) and noted that we didn't ask for a free glass of wine. Rather our server graciously offered us a complimentary glass of wine due to the long delay and we accepted. He said ok and then went to go speak to the server again.
My fiancée and I sat our tables absolutely flabbergasted. What just happened?! Did the owner of Vino Levantino just yell at us for no reason? Our server came over again and whispered to us that the owner didn't have much experience in the restaurant industry and he really didn't know how to run a bar or restaurant. She said he had no concept of what good customer service was and apologized to us for him. We said we understood but asked for the check anyway.
Horrible Haim brought over the check and there was no complimentary glass of wine. I explained again that the server told us that the wine was free due to the delay and asked why we had been charged. Horrendous Haim then began yelling at us again stating that he was the owner and only he decided who would get free wine. Hold up Haim. Are you joking? (no). Are you clueless (yes). At this point, the server came over again. She was visibly upset and embarrassed. She apologized and told Haim that she was going to pay for the wine herself because she felt so bad. At this point, my fiancée started crying because she was so upset at horrendous Haim's unprofessional behavior. This got me upset because you never want to see your loved one crying in public, so I told him he should apologize to my fiancee for making her cry. He refused and said it was our fault. Wow. Who does this guy think he is? Screw it. He's not worth it. We paid our server in full, made sure to tip her generously since none of this was her fault and she tried her best to make things right, and advised her she should quit and then walked out.
Heed my advice Yelpers and stay away from Vino Levantino or else you too may be a victim of horrible Haim and his heinous and horrific behavior.
Vino Levantino is a delightful spot. Charming decor and ambiance, friendly service, and authentic food. My favorite thing is to attend during happy hour to get half price on a bottle of wine and a couple of appetizers and then to order entrees. A big, delicious meal and warm experience–perfect for a date or a quiet meal with a friend. A delightful gem as it is a little hidden away, the food is always flavorful and rich, and the vibe feels less trendy and more welcoming but upscale casual.