The Wine Loft

On Saturday night, John and I headed over to the Greene, an outdoor shopping and dining destination here in Dayton. We love the Greene. Lots of shops, TONS of restaurants to choose from with more being added all the time, a movie theatre, comedy club, spa.....the list goes on and on. Oh, for a pretty penny you can live there too. For about a year, a wine bar called The Wine Loft has beckoned us but we didn't answer the call until this weekend. I don't know what we were waiting for!

We walked in and were encouraged to seat ourselves. The whole place had this dark, sexy vibe with fluffy couches and large ottomans throughout. All of the seating areas were separated by sheer curtains to give each setting a more private feel. We didn't choose our seat very wisely. We'll know better next time to pick a loveseat. We were in two chairs on either side of a small table. The menu is full of wine, duh, but they also serve small plates including sliders, flatbread pizzas, and so on. We shared the artisan cheese plate for $13.


It didn't seem like much food but by the time we were done enjoying the smoked gouda, brie, manchego and something unidentifiable but tasty, we were downright full. In fact, we had only planned on going to the Wine Loft for a drink and appetizer and then going elsewhere for dinner. We ended up skipping dinner all together. To be fair, we had both eaten late afternoon salads at home ahead of coming here. Normally, you probably couldn't make a dinner out of this plate. We sipped on a Schlink Haus Riesling for $7/glass. We've only had the Schlink Haus red but the Riesling was quite tasty. We also had a Shiraz by Anthropolgy (Australian) for $8/glass. That was good too. They have flights you can order that include 3 - 1 1/2 oz tastes for somewhere in the range of $11 - $20+ for the flight.

According to the local newspaper, The Wine Loft was just voted the Best Romantic Restaurant in Dayton. That's true, it was romantic. But, we also saw a lot of groups of friends enjoying wine and each other's company. We think it would be a lot of fun to go with our wine club buddies. In addition to the comfy couches, there was also a nice covered patio if you prefer outside seating. Another point of note was the music. It was awesome! A great mix of U2, Jack Johnson, Oasis and the like. Each song was a winner. When's the last time you went somewhere and that happened? Obviously a restaurant's choice in music won't necessarily make or break the experience but in this case, it just capped off a perfectly date night. We'll definitely be back!