Wink & Nod

Went to Wink & Nod last night to try out their new pop-​up Pelekasis. It was a 5 star experience, excellent service, the food was mouth watering and the cocktails were dangerously delicious. Greek cuisine is not an easy find in the city and great Greek food is even harder to come by. Well, for at least the next few months us Bostonians can be spoiled by truly succulent lamb, feta, spinakopita and other delicious Mediterranean cuisine with a twist. We tried nearly everything on the menu and everything was superb. I cannot wait to go back.

Wink & Nod is a great, speakeasy-​style bar with a very good selection of drinks. While a little pricey, the service was great and the bartender even gave a great scotch recommendation. If you are looking for a nice place to go out for drinks, this is a superb option.

I had dinner and drinks with two friends at Wink & Nod a few nights ago. The food is currently brought to you by Chef Brendan Pelley of «Pelekasis.» It’s Greek food that has been kicked up a notch. We got a bunch of plates to share, and some of my favorite things were the spanakopita (light, fluffy, and most delicious I’ve ever had), the sundried tomato fritters, scallop krio, and the lamb tartare. I highly recommend checking out this pop up restaurant while it is still available! Also loved my Indian Summer cocktail. The ambiance is like a speakeasy which was cool, but a little too dark!

Loved it! Me and hubby came to Boston as a gate away from the kids and to have fun. I started looking for bars and restaurants near the hotel we were staying at. After having dinner we decided to keep the party by going to a craft cocktail bar. This place atmosphere is amazing, the server was so friendly and I liked the under ground concept. The drinks were delicious the had special menu for Tiki night and we decided to try those. Can’t wait for my trip back to Boston and come visit this place again for a full course experience.

Fantastic — original, excellent cuisine — gracious, friendly and informed hosts and servers who have sampled the menu and can advise — delicious cocktails — beautiful, stylish noir design. We were there for the chef before this current one, so the cuisine was Asian inspired. We ordered six small plates, and the food was delicious — we were told that chef is opening a restaurant next door, so we’ll be going there as well. But Wink and Nod is at the top of the Boston chow list for us now, along with Doretta’s Tavern.
Only issue, which was covered by another reviewer, is that for the price, the drinks are small. Excellent and original, but for the price, there’s precious little liquid in the glass. I do wish they would consider adding a wee bit more. Can’t wait to go back.

Foremost, a rich speakeasy-​style ambiance. The place is stylish, no doubt – down to the engraved tumblers. A buddy and I had several cocktails at the bar, leaving every round to the bartenders’ creativity. They were affable and capable, and the barback was also attentive, constantly filling waters and watching the drink-​making. A great choice for a date or reconnecting with good friends.
As a caution, I’ll say this: there is a touch of pretension that prevails in the space; if a very (very) fine line exists between high quality and bloated sense of self, W&N – on this night, at least – leans to the latter.

Newest Greek inspired menu was incredible, authentic with a modern twist. We did a mix of small and medium plates to share throughout the night and didn’t find a less than excellent dish. Our bartender was an artist behind the bar, and the drinks were just as tasty as the food. A cool speakeasy environment… it was perfect

A gem in the south end, good cocktails and a rotating kitchen. The Greek food right now is amazing!

I’d definitely come back and would recommend this beautiful cocktail bar/​lounge for special occasions, drinks after work or even a slower night out. Classy décor, plush chairs, dim lit goodness — check plus on my account. The food was nothing mind blowing, but still enjoyable. The drinks though are as good as everyone says. Citrus and grapefruit flavors in a perfect combination for the Indian Summer.

I gave Wink & Nod another try and man, I am super impressed with the drinks here. I’m upset at myself for giving Wink & Nod only a three star rating last time.
The bar was much more manageable tonight and the crowd was so friendly – people that were sitting passed menus back to us and made sure we could order our drinks. Another couple even gave up a chair to me so one person of our pair could have a seat.
The bartender killed it with the drinks and I had great conversation with random people we just met. I would say the drinks this time around were indeed mindblowing, whereas last time I felt they were just okay. My friend got the After Midnight and loved it, I got a Love #14, and then a long island (so delicious). The couple next to us asked the bartender to surprise him each time and he got some really impressive and beautiful drinks. Seriously – one was even lit on fire.
I highly recommend Wink & Nod for casual drinks, especially if you can get seated at the couches. The nights that are packed are definitely more rough, but tonight’s experience was the best bar experience I’ve had in awhile!

I can’t believe I hadn’t been here before as I used to live around the corner. I came on Thanksgiving weekend, so the place was much less crowded than what I assume is the usual crowd level, but that was great for me. Sat at a table in the bar area and had some cocktails and small plates. The menu rotates with new chefs often, but this time the food was an asian fusion. We got peanut long beans, a beef dish and the shumai. Everything was delicious! I tried two different cocktails, the Love 14 (hint of chocolate but not overwhelming since I don’t like my drinks too sweet) and an Indian summer, which was very cool and refreshing. The décor is great, felt like I wasn’t even in the South end. I will definitely be back soon!

Dined here tonight with a party of 4 for a work outing. None of my colleagues nor I had tried wink and nod before and we’re all excited to give it a go.
Upon arrival, there’s a man outside to greet you. He didn’t check id’s but I suspect this is done on a weekend night. You then walk downstairs and into a dimly lit room with a lot of lounge type seating, tables, booths, and a bar. My party sat in a corner booth. The vibe of the place definitely felt like a library/​study/​speakeasy feel.
Unfortunately upon sitting, the waitress did not acknowledge my party for around 30 minutes. It wasn’t particularly crowded either on a Tuesday evening so maybe it was confusion between shifts– not sure. No drink order, water, or explanation of the menu for a solid 30 minutes. Once we got her attention, we got water and placed a drink order. She said bread would be brought out shortly, but this took another 30 minutes to come and by that time we knew we needed to place a dinner order. We got the pork belly small plate appetizer to split. Once this was ordered, it was almost like the waitress ran away and didn’t take our dinner order. Reservation for 8pm but did not order dinner until 9:15−30pm. We asked for more bread before our food came out since we had waited a while and the waitress said it would be an additional charge, we were a bit surprised but this winded up being comped anyway for the inconvenience.
Side note– when the drinks were brought out (2 cans of beers, a glass of wine, and pineapple juice), one glass for the beer was dirty :(
We had two orders of the fruits de mer– squid ink noodles with scallops, mussels, clams, shrimp, crispy soft shell crab and Chinese sausage. This was fantastic. Two other colleagues were very happy with the swordfish belly as well as the chicken with bone marrow fried rice.
To finish off for a birthday, we ordered the banana fritter and had the birthday boy blow out a candle. For the long wait upon ordering, we got prosecco comped on the house.
When the bill came, a new software system was being used so I signed the bill and had a card swiped on an iPad device. However, I asked for a printed receipt and there were no printers that existed. There was no email receipt available either. Hopefully they work out the kinks for this on a busy weekend night.
Overall, fantastic food and a great vibe but poor service. Would come back to order drinks and food and test if the service was just off on this one occasion.

Loved this place from the second we stepped up to the door and the doorman let us in. It’s so cozy and comfortable and definitely emulates the Speakeasy vibe that they’re going for. We had the pleasure of being waited on by Zoe, who was perfectly attentive without being too involved in our experience.
So, for the food and drink. They had some really interesting cocktails on the menu. At Zoe’s recommendation I went for the Love #14. It was delicious. I followed that with a couple of glasses of a really nice Rioja. As per usual, we ordered a bunch of dishes to share. Fried Okra (I think this was my favorite), Crispy Eggplant, Scallop Pad Thai, Soft Shell Crab Bao Tacos, Long Beans with Peanut Sauce. The food was really good, although it didn’t seem to fit in with the Speakeasy concept.
The new kitchen crew comes in January 4^th. We’re looking forward to trying the new menu!

Came here on whim on a Friday night and got seated right away!
Great environment, great service, and great food.
Ordered the swordfish belly and fruits de mere. Portion size for the swordfish belly could have been bigger ;) so good tho!
Dark enough to take a first date hahaha

I have been to Wink & Nod a few times now and I can now say I am totally unimpressed with this place. It feels like it is trying too hard and the drinks are incredibly overpriced. I have ordered a few different cocktails and they were just okay– I wasn’t blown away by any of them except for when I saw the prices on the menu. This is the type of bar where you are definitely going to pay for the environment and the food & drink are secondary. I also find the service here to be pretty sub par, servers and bartenders are inattentive in my experience. If you are willing to pay north of 15 bucks for an average drink in a novelty tiki mug then Wink & Nod might be for you, otherwise stick with one of the other quality bars in the South End for a much better time.

Been here several times and it’s held up to its name in terms of a fantastic speakeasy bar/​lounge. If you’re looking for a comfortable place for drinks and conversation and want to avoid the loud noises and long lines, this is it… at least within the general South End/​Back Bay area.
The only possible thing that can make this place even better? A nice roaring fireplace. Now that’s a thought.

Pricy, but solid drinks. I got the Indian Summer, which was delish — tasted like a little tart and gingery, which I love. Most importantly, I didn’t taste any alcohol! After failing to get into two other bars prior because everything seemed to be crowded that night, we successfully found seating here.
You’ll get greeted by a man in suit who scans your ID… so hint, those of ya’ll who have fakes/​are underaged, do not come here…
We also ordered the fried eggplants with banana ketchup. We initially asked for normal ‘ol ketchup, but they didn’t have any! What is banana ketchup, you ask? It sounds repulsive, but it was quite good.
So banana ketchup is just really spicy ketchup… they apparently use bananas in it as well, but didn’t taste of that. Banana ketchup was actually created during World War II due to a tomato shortage (thanks, Wikipedia). I actually recommend this snack.
Would I come back? Methinks so. I definitely want to try their punches! Also, this is a good date spot :)

1. Patric, the chef, made the most delicious dishes I’ve had in months (maybe even years).
2. Go here within the next 3 months before Patric leaves. The restaurant uses the ‘pop-​up’ model, where a chef comes in for 6 months and then moves on to the next restaurant.
3. The environment is pretty good too. It’s classy, but not over the top.
4. Jilian, our server, was great. She was friendly and we had her running all over the place for our table of eight.

I’ve been to Wink and Nod a few times– once for dinner when they first opened, once for late night drinks, and the other night for dinner when Akinto was testing the kitchen. I really love the speakeasy vibe and the cocktail and scotch selection is amazing.
The other night I had actually checked the menu online prior to making a reservation, and when we got there we found out it was this new Asian menu which was a completely different genre from what I’d seen online. I was definitely disappointed because the other menu looked so good, but I came around.
The squid ink Lo mein with prawns was amazing! I’m not usually a fan of coconut based curries but this was subtle and all the flavors were perfection. Our table shared pork wontons and ordered a second order because they were so good.
The tiki drinks are delicious and come in fun tiki cups, but they are dangerous!

I went early (5pm) on a Monday to catch up with a friend so I can’t really comment on the atmosphere created by guests when this place is moving — but the design was nice. Very dark and moody. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple drinks and a variety of dishes. The food was good, as was the «Dirty» cocktail I tried. I ordered another, a Martinez which wasn’t on the menu, and didn’t love that but could just be the drink itself. Nothing special about the interaction with the staff for me – the bartender was knowledgeable and clearly interested in his mixology but there was nothing that really made me crazy about the place.
I would return someday at a more lively time and feel the place out then. It’s a 3+ place but I didn’t see enough going on to fall for the vibe.