The Ten Bells
“Awesome wine bar with good small plates and that killer oyster happy hour special.”
“The setting is intimate, great service with excellent recommendations, a sprawling wine menu and scrumptious tapas offering.”
“If I have one complaint, it is that the menus on the chalkboard are really hard to read since it is so dim.”
The Ten Bells
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I came here for happy hour with a few friends. Ordered the happy hour special red and white wine, the cheese and meat platter and a dozen oysters.
Both wines weren't anything amazing. They were only $15, so it is what it is! Very affordable!
The meat and cheese platter was enjoyable to share!
The oysters weren't the best I've tried. I like the fact that they had $1 oysters until 7pm (allthough I found the oysters a little too briny for me)
It's a pleasant place for happy hour. They have a nice seating area in the back if the front gets too packed.
In spite of the fact that I mis-ordered initially and ended up with a syrupy, sweet rose, I really enjoyed Ten Bells and hope to return asap, ideally for happy hour. This place is bigger than it looks but it really fills up on a Friday night. However, the busy servers did their best to keep our drinks replenished. I was there with two French people and for what it's worth they both said the vibe was tres Parisian. Definitely should be on your hit list if you're into wine, wine bars, and the food that goes along with them.
I came here because of their oyster happy hour. The spot was bustling with people during their early happy hour. With the awesome reviews, articles, I had high hopes for this spot. There's nothing great or bad to say about the service or spot. It just was not my type of oyster. It wasn't laid out in a bed of ice and it was summertime so the idea of oyster that.wasn't laid out on ice was not so great for me. The oyster itself was pretty good. All in all, a very neutral experience. If I was passing by and in the mood for oysters, I'd probably step foot again.
A star for each of the following:
1. Daily happy hour til 7pm (including weekends)
2. $1 oysters during said happy hour
3. $15 carafes of wine also during this amazing daily happy hour
4. A dim, romantic, rustic environment in the heart of a bustling LES street
5. A pretty extensive small plate menu aside from the oysters including a very tasty salmon tartare.
Oh, and here's a bonus even though we're maxed out on stars:
6. Friendly, unpretentious service that doesn't have a problem with you lingering over your wine and bites and having a good conversation with friends!
Solid wine bar, with some pretty good HH specials.
The place wasn't too crowded, which was nice, and the inside was decorated The inside of the place is very dimly lit, and not a bad ambiance for a date. Somehow, the place was dark, even though we came during the early evening and the sun will still very much out. We managed to hit their weekend happy hour (5pm-7pm), which consisted of $1 oysters, and $15 wine carafes.
Oysters are good, although there isn't as much variety compared to Jeffrey's or Sel RRose. Wasn't able to try any of the other dishes, but from the looks at other tables, they seemed like your standard small plates. The carafe of red/white/rose for $15 is pretty decent, and the house wines aren't terrible. It's slightly smaller than a wine bottle, but you can make it last pretty long with the small wine glasses they give you.
Yet, with all of that, service wasn't very friendly or attentive at the bar, however, which seems to be a recurring theme among these LES wine bars. The bartenders were so disaffected, although the barbacks were pretty quick with clearing our glasses. I don't quite get it. Anyways, as previously mentioned, the happy hour menu is a pretty good value, although the other parts of the menu seem sort of expensive for standard tapas.
I'd maybe come back if I'm in the area and looking for the chill wine bar vibe, really want oyster HH, and don't want to deal with crazy crowds. Nothing to come out of your way for, but overall, not bad.
If you're into wine, especially natural wine, this is the place to be.
Loads of natural wines by the glass and bottle, happy hour wine and dollar oyster specials, Meet the Winemaker events and education, tasty tapas bites.
Perfection!
The Ten Bells is one of my FAVORITE date spots on the Lower East Side. The setting is intimate, great service with excellent recommendations, a sprawling wine menu and scrumptious tapas offering. I've never been disappointed here, not even on a busy Saturday night. They'll let you taste any wine – just ask! And I'm always so pleased with their cheese selection. A gem!!
Came here for happy hour with some friends and we got both red and white carafes of wine, the meat and cheese platter, and a dozen oysters.
Both carafes of wine were only $15 each which is very affordable but you get what you pay for. I'm usually a fan of white but even I enjoyed their red more than their white and the red wasn't that spectacular either.
The oysters were $1 each until 7pm which was nice but again, you get what you pay for. My friends and I felt like one of them (believe the Massachusetts) was a little too salty and the other two were average.
The meat and cheese platter, however, I did thoroughly enjoy. It was a nice compliment to the wine.