Wine Cellar

WORST wine store in the UNIVERSE!
Literally 20 bottles in a huge cavernous store.
Incredibly rude clerk who refused to acknowledge that something is amiss in this place.

Somebody should close this place. I don’t know how this store stays in business. Is it a front for something else? I can go down the street to Walgreens and get a pint of Smirnoff for $ 5.99. This place charges over $ 10. I can only figure that the owner either has a gambling or drug problem, or knows absolutely zip about running a business for profit. They complain it’s the high rent, but prices at the Charles Street package stores are at least 25% less so thats BS. I was coming from the vet and had my cat in a carrier and decided to stop in. I was told it was against the law to bring the cat in. Animals not allowed. It’s the law, they said. A lie. I’ve seen other stores where people bring their dogs in and even stores who have a store cat mascot. I’ve never been back since.

Welcome to the store with rules about EVERYTHING. I have never seen anything like it. So far we have:
— No out-​of-​state IDs with a zero, and I mean ZERO, tolerance policy. Better luck elsewhere, large nearby student population.
— Due to pricing wars with Frito-​Lay, we have had to pass the increase in cost along to our customers. Sorry! (Except 9 times out of 10 we actually don’t have any foodstuffs stocked, we just leave the sign there to remind you that we’d be fucking you if we had the chance.)
— Do not drink your soda while you are in line paying for it. No, we don’t care that you’re so thirsty that you’re about to collapse. Didn’t you see the nonexistent sign?
— Do not put anything but bags of ice into the ice freezer.
— Do not put trash into the stack of shopping baskets.
— Do not split six-​packs.
I know there’s a lot more I’m missing. Now for the unstated rules:
— Do not expect even remotely cold beverages; we’re too cheap to turn the fridge up.
— Do not expect decent prices; we’re the only game in a one mile radius, we do wha we want!!!1
— Do not expect anything but basic brands of cigarettes; we don’t need your newfangled ways here.
— Do not expect anything but hobo selection of less-​than-​fifth quantities; after all, hobos are a good portion of our customer base, gotta cater to the masses.
I only come here when desperate. Everything is about 25% more expensive than it is anywhere else, and that’s a conservative estimate. Ridiculously short hours for a liquor store too. I’m not in college, not even close, but I’d be pissed if this was the only option nearby. Sorry, Suffolk kiddos. Bet you wish you’d known that before picking this college, huh?
I get why this place is the way it is. Their demographic is predominantly hobos and underage drinkers. Even still, I think they could be doing better.
At least the girl who has been working there for years is relatively chill, albeit a bit rough around the edges upon the first few interactions. You don’t want to cross her though. She’ll tear you apart.

Do not go here unless you are willing to pay for warm beer that’s overpriced. Rude service as well. Its like they dont even care because they know that their location is too good and its downtown crossing and will just take advantage of it. Id like to open up my own liquor store in downtown crossing because I know in about a week I would run that awful place out of business.

The Wine Cellar barely tries. it barely restocks. It barely has any variety. It barely helps its potential customers. Most importantly, it barely seems to care.
They don’t take out of state of id’s… lame. They say it’s because they get a lot of underage age people w/​fake id’s. My response, do what other businesses do and get an ID book…
I can’t confirm, but I also feel like their prices are, on average, higher than other places although that may be due to their location and proximity to DT Boston. (not a justification, just a possible partial explanation?)
Besides the few times a year when it’s too cold to walk the extra 10 minutes to Boston wine exchange or Clarendon I avoid this place and advise you guys too unlesss you have a MA id/​US passport and are just looking for a case of bud light and don’t mind paying a buck or two extra for the convenience.

If you like warm, over-​priced beer and rude cashiers… then this is the place for you!
Honestly, the only reason this place is still in business is because Downtown Crossing doesn’t really call for ‘decent standards’. And it’s the only place in the area that sells beer and wine. The fridges have never worked properly leaving the beer room temperature at best. And don’t even bother telling the employees about it – they simply don’t care.
This place sucks. I’ll be going to Truong Thanh Market in Chinatown from now when I need to buy beer for my office to get through the day.
Someone ought to open up a quality liquor store in Downtown Crossing — there’s surely a market for it and maybe it would end up putting this miserable excuse for a liquor store out of business once-​and-​for-​all.

The place is improving… have been going in there 3 – 4 times a year for 9 years and I can say that recently they have been appreciative of professional clientele and have gone out of their way to be courteous and solicitous (i.e. by ordering upscale items for me that they don’t ordinarily stock;and they did it with a smile) Also, IF you know your wines, you CAN find some nice but reasonably priced bottles in there. I don’t buy beer so I don’t know the current condition of the coolers. I gave it 3 stars for the courtesy they’ve recently demonstrated, some overall improvement in attitude and my comments about their wine selection. I think some of the employess are making an effort.

Yeah, this place is pretty bad. All of the liquor is behind a roped off area making it difficult to browse. Also, this means that should you actually want to buy something, you have to ask an employee. Not very customer friendly, IMO. Also, the prices are ridiculously inflated. Buy your liquor at COSTCO or BJs for better prices or go to a more upscale liquor store in your neighborhood for a nice experience and the ability to browse the liquors at your leisure.

Worst place ever. Disgusting creepy, OVER PRICED RUDE. They do not accept out of state id’s, I will never go there again. $ 30 for pack of bud light… ridiculous, also tons of druggie homeless people wander in… cooool

Working downtown for almost 2 years and purchasing beer and wine here over 20 times for work parties, I had no issues and no problems… until, last week we were having another party after work and when I went down there early in the afternoon to purchase a bunch of booze the lady working the front counter would not except my ID. I have a FL ID and it has never been a problem but this time she was not allowing it. I was the only one in the store and I told her about how we buy stuff from them all the time. Most of the time with company credit card and we even historically get a 10% off discount because of how much stuff we buy throughout the year. We send people down there several times a week on beer runs. I will not be sending them any more business and I am definitely not going back. I can easily walk over to Boylston or take a quick cab ride down to Charles Street. The lady working the front counter that day last week was so rude. I was asking questions politely and was keeping my composure even though she was treating me like I was dirt. It was the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Everything I tried just made it worse. She was not a happy person and did not care at all about my company’s history and I don’t think she realized how much business we normally send them. I told everyone at work and ended up going over to Charles Street to load up for that party. Boycott this place with me! Don’t support this terrible establishment! Look at the other ratings. This is not a one time thing. I guess we were just getting lucky all these years. I never thought to check out their review on Unilocal.Now I can see I am not alone.

The absolute worst Liquor store in all of Boston.
1) They close 30 minutes before «Closing Time.» If you say you close at 9PM on Saturday night, close at 9PM. For people who rely on that, closing at 8:30PM is the ultimate dick move. This has been a consistent problem. Those of us who live downtown don’t have many options when buying beer, so the fact that they consistently close at their own whims is beyond frustrating.
2) The beer is always warm. The glass displays are just used as a mirage to induce people into thinking you have cold beer. It’s nasty.
3) Overpriced. You will not find a more expensive pint of lager in London! Seriously, $ 12 for a four pack can of Guiness? Are you out of your minds?
4) The Staff. Retarded. Oh, sorry, «mentally not there». There is seriously something wrong about the staff here. They look as if they can’t comprehend a single thing like, «Where’s your Merlot?». Also, the difference between plastic and paper is like explaining the political atmosphere before World War II. A dumber group, you never will meet.
Avoid!

This place is TERRIBLE. I would, without question, walk an extra five miles just to go somewhere else.
1. The staff is terrible. There isn’t an ounce of friendliness in the whole place, and god forbid you need help finding something.
2. It’s dark, hot, and hard liquor is behind a gate where an employee has to go get it for you. As mentioned, the employees already hate you, so this makes it even worse. If you don’t know exactly what item you want, enjoy the evil glares while they wait for you to decide so they can go through the apparently oh so strenuous task of picking it up off the shelf and bringing it out for you.
3. They don’t take out of state ID’s. One employee even had the nerve to tell me that it’s «like the law». Apparently MA is not part of the US; I was literally directed by an employee to walk down to the DMV and get a passport if I wanted to buy drinks.
4. After all this, you would hope that at least the prices make it worthwhile. HAHAHA! Good luck with that. A case of beer here is 40 – 50 bucks, and the smallest liquor bottle of cheap shit is still about 30 bucks.
Basically, don’t waste your time even walking in.

Hate this place. Worst. Liquor. Store. Ever
Only reason I still go is because there is only one liquor store every 2 miles apparently in downtown Boston and the only reason it got two stars was one because they sell alcohol and two because it’s convenient to my apartment.
They are over priced and they never have anything stocked, especially hard liquor and the shelves always seem sparse like their delivery trucks get lost or something.
I was craaaving Baileys during the winter once and went there multiple times to no avail and the only thing they had was this tiny bottle slightly bigger than a nip and it was like $ 15, for like 3 oz, really? No thanks buddy.
If I don’t feel like taking the walk down to Clarendon Liquor Store I’ll go here, but only because I’m kinda forced to.
Also agree with the other reviewers that it’s creepy and set up sooo strange. I’ve gotten lost/​stuck in its maze-​like aisles with dead ends multiple times, I think they do it on purpose.
Only recommend as a last resort.

One star for a liquor store, I know hard to believe. It is cooler in the place than it is in their actual coolers. So if you love warm beer this is your place. $ 42 for a case of Heineken, NO THANKS! Also the staff is not the greatest, but from the looks of it they seem to be suffering from the same cheap ass owner that is stingy enough to allow this place to be the worst in Massachusetts. Unfortunately I live nearby and it is one of the only options, but at this point I think I can walk the mile or two elsewhere to save myself the misery.

This place always creeps me out. It’s slightly dimly lit inside, and the person behind the register always looks… questionable…
But still, it’s the only liquor store around so, in a pinch, it’ll do.
The selection of wines is… OK. It doesn’t look like much of a wine store inside. Definitely a liquor store — or beer store. Whatever. The name is misleading. Get beer here. They sell a lot of it. And that’s what I bought today. Then the weirdo behind the counter crumpled and threw out my receipt. Hope the beer is good. And glad I paid cash…

I have tried this place many of time and when they don’t close the gate in your face or revoke your out of state ID, there is the fact they all of the beer and wine is warm even in the cooler. So it might be the only place open at 8 but they suck and don’t take anything other a 20 dollar bill. So if you have a 20 and a mass ID you are good to get your self a warm over priced beer.

The beer selection isn’t that great, primarily focusing on the standards, without anything that would seem to be exciting, and at regular or higher prices than other places with similar selection. Basically, if you want Bud/​Coors/​etc, and are in Downtown Crossing, there you are.
Furthermore, as other reviewers have noted, the layout isn’t too impressive either. It’s just your average liquor store.

This place is a mother fucking labyrinth. I always seem to end up in the dead end aisles. I usually only go here when I am in need of booze really quickly. Ive seen cheaper prices on the hard stuff, but beer is reasonable. Question… are the employees even old enough to drink? They aren’t very smart… or helpful. But i dont really need advice on what can get me drunk the fastest. 3 stars mainly for the convenience factor.

Pros — they offer like 4 different kinds of cider
Cons — the place is dirty and depressing, and I FUCKING HATE THE LAYOUT! It’s got stuff blocking the aisles so you can’t just move around easily. Too tight. Always afraid I’m going to knock something over.
One time I got a 6er of magers, yet one was missing, and they had no more. They acted like they were doing me a favor by charging me the full price of the 6er instead of the price of 5 singles which would’ve been more expensive, so I feel like they owe me a cider. Dips.
Oh and their champagne selection sucks dog balls, despite what they would like you to believe.

When did Gilbert’s Vodka become Top Shelf?
Well according to The Wine Cellar’s pricing, it is…
I received a $ 5 Gift Certificate for this place @ a Yankee Swap kind of thing, and when I finally redeemed it a year later, I may as well have torn it up! I think it made me hate the gift giver.
For $ 5 I think you can get a nip of Absolut and a book of matches, or a disposable corkscrew, or Two 1 liter bottles of tonic water.
The prices were so gross, they almost drove me to SOBRIETY! I think a 750 ml bottle (whatever the street name is for that size, I’m not sure) of Skyy was like $ 16.59!!! their prices make NO SENSE. Gordon’s was starting at about $ 10, and I think I saw COMMAS between numbers on the price tag for a bottle of Belvedere.
It’s cheaper to go to a bar!
I could understand if you live at the Emerson /​Suffolk dorms and it’s close by, but I hope there are other options for you kids!
Thank god I can go to NH every weekend to do laundry at my parents’ house, and stop by the state liquor store. (P.S. the August sale is still in effect. $ 14.99 for all flavors of Stoli, I think.)