TASTES Wine Bar & Bistro

I never bothered to review because, frankly, I was underwhelmed. Very $$$ and nothing really spectacular (other than being in my hood). When given a choice between this or Caveau, I’d take the latter 100% of the time.
Clearly, others felt the same because not only was Tastes very rarely crowded, I just noticed that it is closed! Sign off the building, paper over the windows. Just checked their website and it looks like it may be getting reno’d and the new place is «Wild Catch»…is this a seafood spot??? Risky move.

This was my second visit to Tastes. This visit was better than the last.
My wonderful lady and I had the Prix-​Fix menu. Which was a bottle of wine, a cheese plate and four tapas plus desert. All of it was delicious.
I’m a fan and will definitely be going back! Crazy flavors–

To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with being turned away after the bartender told my friend and I that he was «completely booked» and «everything was reserved.»
²⁄₃ of the entire place was empty. It was 9:45 pm. And he wouldn’t let us sit at the bar. Listen, I know I’m not a horrendously ugly looking chick and neither is my gorgeous friend. All we wanted was a drink.
Tastes usually has great service, a nice selection of wine (I do love me some good glühwein once in a while), and a decent selection of plates (I recommend the meatballs).
But that turning away business left a soured taste in my mouth. You know, the taste you experience when you realize the white’s been in the fridge for too long and reminds you of vinegar?

Disappointing. For a wine bar that showcases literally hundreds of bottles of wine, you would expect a much larger «by the glass» menu. It literally took us about 20 minutes to finally decide on a glass of wine — and an overpriced glass at that. As for food, I had the fondue which was supposed to be served with fresh fruit and pound cake — all I got was the cake and no pun intended, about a pound of it. The fondue was good but not the best I have had. No plans to return.

A great place with a great atmosphere! We have girls’ night here every month and wouldn’t think of going anywhere else. Insider tip — ask for the mussels and fries. They’re not on the menu but they’re fantastic! Don’t forget the mustard dipping sauce…

The wine selection is amazing and the food delicious. Try the mussels and fries.

The wine list is mediocre — I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been pleasantly surprised with fabulous wines. There are good wines, yes — though nothing amazing.
The food… They try, I’m sure they do but doesn’t come close to where a tapas bat should be. The bartenders/​waiters also act as the ‘chefs’ and I use that term loosely. When food is ‘prepared’ it’s really opened and nuked in the microwave. Safest bet is cheese.
I hear Tapas, I think very trendy, great spots in NYC… this, unfortunately, is very ‘Denver.’ Our expectations should be set higher folks.

This place is walking distance for me and I love tapas generally, so I really really wanted to like this place. But I don’t and won’t be going here again.
Pros — extensive drink list and really good mixed drinks. Cute little (think tiny) seating area and interesting art on the walls. I really did like the drinks, and that’s the only reason I’m giving this two stars instead of one.
Cons — slow as syrup service (fine, I came here with a largish group, but seriously? 20 min or more just to get one appetizer? for every round of food), VERY spendy (even by the standards of tapas restaurants), and the food just wasn’t that good. It was okay, but for the price and the waits, not worth it. Nothing was exceptional and some of the things were actively bad. I wanted to like the bacon-​wrapped dates, but they were so cloyingly sweet I couldn’t eat more than one.
It’s always disappointing to have to cross a local joint off my list, but this one is definitively off.

I don’t know if 2 stars is an accurate rating for this place but 3 would be pretty generous.
Came here last night and sat at the bar with my friend. It was pretty busy so it took a few for the bartender to come over with some menus. After looking at it I was shocked to see the lack of wine my the glass or flights of wine offered. The bottle and non-​wine drinks seems more prevalent, along with all of the tapa style food.
Ordered a glass of wine which was good. Service was ok, nothing extra special but good.
Again, I can’t really complain other than the lack of choices on the menu. It’s a wine bar, not a martini or bar. I guess I just expected a little more wine by the glass or flights. I’ll head to Caveau instead.

This is one of my favorite places to kick back and enjoy some great wine and good bites with my oldest friend in the world. Kelly T’s review was spot on – intimate yet open. The atmosphere is so welcoming and even when you’re seated next to someone, it’s not like you’re on top of them or can even hear their conversation, the setting is just top notch.
The staff is friendly and the food delish. I keep wanting to go back just for the Curry Meatballs… And, I’ll remind you again that I’m a HUGE fan of anywhere I can get a kickass cheese plate and this is one of the best I’ve found in Denver. I’ve never eaten dinner there per say, just piled up on the small plates and shared.
Now, the wine selection! Very nice selection and if you catch happy hour prices, it’s tough to beat. I tend to favor Sauv Blancs and Pino Noirs and their selections are great wines for reasonable prices. Only gripe I have is that after our table of two ordered 5 glasses of wine and 6 small plates, we were charged $ 3 for a club soda. Come on now…
The parking situation can be a bear, but don’t give up or get too frustrated, I’d say it’s worth the agony of finding a spot to hang out at Tastes.

Laid back neighborhood wine bar with a nice patio area and a friendly, helpful server. Wines and food were decent. Was there after happy hour, and that seems to be the time to go, with wines ½ off and some deals on food.
I’m still trying to find a wine bar with excellent wine and small plates at reasonable prices during non-​HH times. Haven’t found one yet, but not giving up. .. not until I’ve gone through every damn wine bar in Denver. .. several times. :-D

I went here last night on an anniversary dinner with le boyfriend and we had an absolutely fabulous time.
Perhaps it was due in part to the company I was keeping, but I found the place wonderful. It’s cute, but not pukey cute. It’s intimate, but very open.
Our server was polite and kind and let us take our time making the selections we wanted on the menu.
Speaking of the menu, um, that was some good food! They recently rolled out a pre fixe menu that I believe is a damned good deal. $ 70 gets you a bottle of wine ($ 27 or under) one taste, one cheese, four tapas and one dessert.
I had been prepared for a dinner over $ 100, based on visits to other tapas restaurants, but I was overjoyed to see the bill was much lower.
I would highly recommend this place for anyone who wants to grab a few fancy drinks with friends or a couple looking for a nice date night spot.
Oh, and, most comfortable restaurant chairs in Denver.

I love this place — so cute — great tapas — great wine selection — and great beer selection. It’s a can’t miss.
Adorable décor — sweet tables and local art. It’s very intimate without being too sexy. Date place or girls night out. It’s almost like a coffee house but with adult beverages.
The bartenders were cool as hell and seemed genuinely friendly. Honestly, I’m kinda pissed I never ventured in here before now. So many bars so little time.
This is definetely a favorite.

We had the Valentine’s Day dinner.
Everything was excellent. From the outside, the place does not look that nice, but inside it is comfortable, cozy and has an artsy décor.
The price was cheap for a holiday dinner, but the food was excellent. I think you have to know what tapas is before you go, because if you expect a typical meal with an entrée you will be let down. However our dinner came with a cheese plate, 4 tapas, and 2 desserts. Everything was excellent. The choice of tapas was very good. The chocolate desserts were outstanding.
The service was fine. There was only one server but the place was not crowded.

Its a Strange place, from the way it looks, it should be this awesome laid back fun neighborhood joint. That is not the case, Wait staff is very stuffy and not welcoming at all! As for the food, It seemed like everything was made with the least amount of cooking possible. Everything we had lacked the flavor of care and love. The tapanade tasted like it was straight out of a jar! But I guess you get what ya pay for!
I won’t be coming back to this place, Sorry Tastes!

I went to Tastes this week for happy hour, after meaning to try it out for a while!
They have a nice happy hour from 4 – 6: $ 15 glasses of wine under $ 10, and half off glasses over $ 10. They also have a few tapas to try for $ 3.
Over the course of the evening, we had: 3 glasses of wine each, the cheese of the day for $ 3 (which was a fig goat cheese — yum!), olive tapanade for $ 3, a cheese plate for $ 23, and brie-​stuffed dates for $ 6.
As a wino… errr…oenophile, I was not very impressed with their wine list. There were some interesting wines, but it was quite limited. There was more variety in the bottle selection, but really, when you’re having tapas, you want to try a few different wines. I recommend they beef up their by-​the-​glass menu in order to compete with other establishments in town. The wine of the night for us was the Corvina — a light bodied, easy drinking Italian red.
The tapas menu was much more extensive, and there were a variety of things I wanted to try. The brie-​stuffed prosciutto-​wrapped dates were the best of what we tried. Many of the cheeses were quite good, but at $ 23 for 5 different cheeses (small servings, at that), it was not a reasonable price.
We had really nice service, so no complaints there!
I think with a few small tweaks, Tastes could be a really great establishment and draw folks in from some of the other nice wine bars in town.

The good:
— The $ 14 wine flights are fun and a good deal if you’d like to have a miniature wine tasting with your friend or significant other.
The bad:
— Our server was decidedly surly and seemed to have limited knowledge, interest, or passion for wine. Unusual for a wine bar, to be sure.
— The tapas were okay, but definitely felt like something you could make very easily or just pick up at the grocery store. They had a homemade air to them you don’t normally find in restaurants, and not in a good way.
The ugly:
— The meatballs with cranberry sauce and sour cream were actually surprisingly good, but they were oddly familiar. I realized later that they are the exact same spiced meatballs you can get at Costco — kind of embarrassing for a restaurant to serve as its own «tapas.»
I’d probably go here again for a wine flight, but probably not for tapas for fear of them being appetizers I could get from Costco instead.

so i’ve been to tastes a few times… and it has gone down each time I’ve been in. My husband and I went this past Friday to meet with clients from out of town, hence the meeting on a Friday night. I suggested Tastes because it’s easy to get to, and I knew it wouldn’t be as crazy as some places on a Fri. (now an understatement! from 6 – 9:30 TWO tables came in… I now know why!)
I agree with other reviews that the wine list is not that impressive… nor the tapas! We ordered the dates, and a few cheeses and we’re sorely disappointed! The stuffed dates were literally a tad larger than a Spanish olive! not even the size of a queen olive! are you kidding me. The four of us looked at them, then each other and then laughed! It was a joke! They are WAY over priced for the quality they provide… oh I forgot the sauce for the dates was put on the plate in the shape of a star (like a 5 yr-​old draws) how cute!
The cheeses were just as bad. I understand tapas and small plates are well… small… but we had to ration them so we could each have one tiny bite… and with one cheese they brought 3 bread slices… for 4 people??? wow!
And one could say, we just have an opinion on portion size, but we’ve been there a few times before and the portions were literally ¹⁄₃ of the portion sizes we’ve gotten before??? I understand the economy and what not, but we’re not idiots and know when the portions are severely smaller!
The service is just as bad… we started with one server and just after our tapas arrived she walked out the front door (right next to our table) with her coat and bag and was gone! There was no «my shift is over so-​and-​so will be taking care of you… do you need anything else right now…» NOTHING!
then the next girl made a rock seem more interesting than she was. I was frankly embarrassed I had chosen to bring clients there… it made me look like a schmuck because in their minds they thought, that I thought, this was a top notch place worth bringing clients to! they do have wi-​fi which is the only reason I gave them 2 instead of one stars. Don’t go unless you want to check your email, don’t care about wine and are trying to lose weight!
Like other reviews… I agree, they should probably know what they are doing quite a bit more to run a wine bar!

I knew I was going to like it here before I even took my first bite. Entranced by the tables that are all painted by various local artists and are for sale, I wandered around the room. I love their wine rack that covers the top part of the east wall, and the fire pit outside looks very cozy and is a spot I intend on enjoying very soon.
The food was creative, tasty, and beautiful. I never had meatballs with bing cherries and sour cream before, or even considered such a crazy combo, but I am a fan! The coffee was so killer, that I didn’t even care that refills were not free (I had three cups).
My fear is this place is going to become a little too artsy fartsy for me to hang out in… but for now I love it.

My bf and I went to Tastes for some laidback «little plates» and a glass or two of wine. The experience was good, not great. We got some cheeses and a few appetizers… the fact that I can’t remember anything specific kind of speaks for itself. I did enjoy picking our own flights for a little wine tasting; always fun to try something new. Prices seemed a bit high… I’m happy to pay for small plates if the flavors/​ingredients/​ideas are exciting, but these were pretty regular.
Service was good… maybe a little too good? Our waiter was almost overly friendly, with a tendency to literally pull up a chair (this happened several times during our meal) and sit down and chat. Love that he was attentive and our orders came on time, didn’t so much love the need to stop our conversations for small talk.
All in all– good, not great.