Pinot Wine Bar & Bistro

Pinot had their liquor license pulled so no alcohol was being served tonight. Even though no alcohol, the service was still poor. Slow servers… ordered a non alcoholic beverage which took 20 minutes to get to my table. Food was good, although a bit on the cool side as if it was sitting out for a while. Server neglected to bring a fork, and had left the front bar area. No one was in attendance at the front bar for about 5 – 10 minutes. One would think without busy cocktails, the food service would have improved. This place has potential, but is understaffed. The «old» Pinot had better management, and more thoughtful employees.

I don’t recommend this place. Favors customers that show their cop badge and doesn’t recognize each individual as a paying customer. Owner is very rude and disrespectful.

There aren’t enough adjectives to describe how horrible this place is. I cannot honestly think of any one reason to give this business my money anymore. Let’s just say that their food, service, and ambiance leave a lot to be desired for.

Wanted to go out and have a great night so I thought. Juan the owner was so rude and out of control i would never go there ever again!!! I saw him yell at a couple customers and myself that night. He has a major anger problem and will not be getting my money ever again. Its sad i have to rate this a 1. Im from LA and I guess he had a guest singer and the guest brought more customers than Juan could handle. (not that its our problem) but Juan made the customers and myself feel very uncomfortable. Poor Service. And then he wants to complain about his guest on Facebook very unprofessional.

Wow! Where should I start?! Worse customer service we’ve received in a while. Came in 8÷15÷14 to enjoy some live music and drinks. Juan the Owner was extremely rude and aggressive! Waited over an hour for drinks and another 45min for food.
He was mad we kept coming up to the bar from our table to order drinks and food. (He was understaffed) so we took it upon ourselves to go up to the bar (like most places) to order.
Blows me away an OWNER of an establishment would treat paying customers like that. We simply were trying to help him out as we could clearly see he was overwhelmed and understaffed. We had no problem walking our happy butts to the bar. Guess that’s not the right thing to do! Total buzz kill! But then again we were barely one drink in!
Juan was so rude and angry he was shaking. He told us he wasn’t hard up for our money and we should take our business elsewhere! Nice first impression! (This was our first time here.) we will definitely take his advice and not go there again!

Great spot to hear live music and the chicken club sandwich was off the chain!

one star for the food and service and cigar smoke.
two stars cause the owner did his best.
I write this reluctantly, cause they really have had issues since the fire happened next door, which took out pinot’s a/​c. so it was hot and they had huge very loud fans going, along with what I understand is always loud music (not live), so we decided to eat on the patio where it might be a bit more quiet with maybe a cooling breeze. they were set up for a «beer tasting», but no one was there yet, and we were just trying to get to the 8:30 filmworks so figured we’d be gone by the time all the beer drinkers arrived.
the waitress was new… I can tolerate that, and she really did try while we were out on the patio.
then the cigar folks arrived. seems they were also have a «cigar tasting» or whatever the hell people do with those stinky things. my friend thought it was illegal to smoke in a restaurant, and we mentioned it to the waitress, but she had no clue.
juan, the owner, did come over and we asked him, since we’d decided to get our food to go to get the hell away from the cigar smoke. he said it’s not illegal outside, so now I’ve learned something (any opinions out there?). he also explained about the a/​c, the fire, the health department, the heat and how bad business had been. he has some troubles, i’ll give him that.
we ordered fish tacos. on the menu (printed out — daily menu?) they offered salmon (for a fish taco??)j. my friend thought she’d try that, I asked the waitress why the fish on the menu on line wasn’t available, and she said she’d go find out. back came juan (he really was trying) and offered me mahi-​mahi, which would be great. and also came up with a sauce we could get since neither my friend or I like heat or cilantro (yea I know that’s not too realistic for fish tacos.)
when we finally got our two to-​go boxes, not knowing where we would «go» to eat them, we went inside where we knew at least we wouldn’t be sucking cigar smoke. it was too loud to talk. so what the heck, let’s drink some more. but no waitress. my friend went to the bar to get two more drinks, and I opened up my box to start on the four tacos. well… i’ll be brief. lots and lots of cabbage, some greenish sauce, and some «mystery fish». we did a «which one do you think is salmon?» contest, and then just gave up and ate. all four tacos had maybe 3 pieces of fish (of some sort), which were maybe 1″ x 1″ in size. so basically, we ate cabbage tacos.
then we needed to leave, and after waving 3 times at a waiter that was staring into space, we finally got our check. that was the only time any wait staff approached our table while we were inside.
because of all the hassle with the smoke, even though we both ordered a half order, they gave us a full order (2 each) for the price of the half. nice gesture.
like I said, they are having problems that I guess is out of the owner’s control. and they only do the cigar thing once a month (unfortunately the same Friday night as filmworks). and he really bent over backwards to be nice. but the service wasn’t so hot, and the menu wasn’t what was on the web site, and the fish tacos weren’t.
will I go back? don’t know. the tower so badly needs good places to eat it saddens me everytime this happens.
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This place has gotten better and better! When they first opened up they were a strict strictly a wine bar however I really appreciate that the management has incorporated the Fresno culture into the restaurant by expanding their alcohol selection into a full bar.
Wine drinking can be a niche market. And although a Fresno is venturing more into the wine market not everybody is on that tasting plane. I believe they were on a downward turn just being limited to wine. They offer an extensive collection of craft beers as well as wines that are made throughout the Central Valley and around the world.
I enjoy going to the wine bar on Saturday night because they have a live band playing jazz ballads, R&B classics and a mixture of the other feel good oldies but goodies type of music. The crowd is a bit older and it’s a great place for couples. If you go you will enjoy the bar staff. The bar is extremely lively especially Juan. He is very knowledgeable about the craft beers and makes a house sangria that is very impressive! The kitchen usually stays open a little bit longer depending on the amount of requests for food. During the week they have various performers playing piano or saxophonist.
Its an all around good vibe jazzy type of place. I highly recommend it!

I have really tried to like this by giving it 4 tries over the past year. Until my last visit the rating would have been 2 stars. They have never had everything that we ordered. There has always been at least one food or beverage that the waitress or bartender had to come back and inform us was out. I should mention that I have been there on different days of the week and at different times.
We did not get food this last time so I cannot speak to the new food menu. In the past the food was fair, not bad but not great.

My server, Katie, was fantastic. Great service, great recommendation. Will keep coming back!

We wanted a nice bottle of wine while enjoying our Friday night in tower, the wine was good the service was far from that! We sat in the patio area and we didn’t get not one person to attend to us, so my husband went to the bar just to be ignored again, finally some one took our order. but for the time we waited we should of just left, What I did notices while waiting forever was the bartender chick with the tattoos on her arm was seating with her friends out in the patio area taking shots after shots, even the other bar guy was attending her! We didn’t know that till we ran into someone whom told us she was on the clock, We won’t be back and it’s a shame because we are wine lovers, I give the wine 4 stars and I know I can find them somewhere else, my one star is for the bad service!

Located on one of Fresno’s trendier streets, this place appears to be a calmer haven from its neighboring drinking establishments. The wine selection was small but not bad (coming from someone who knows nothing about wine). The service was friendly enough and fast enough.
The reason it’s three stars is because nothing stood out. Were I back in the area, I don’t think Id recommend the place, nor would I object to coming back of someone else recommended it.

Menu is small but food has great flavor. For a «wine bar» the selection could use work but the flights are priced well. The burger is amazing get the fried egg on top it’s a must. The only knock is the servers. They have no idea what they are doing if your coming here for drinks don’t, the wait time between drinks makes it near impossible to catch a buz. The appetizers are simple and delicious. They should add curtains as it is tower and there are undesirables about,(hipsters).

What a great spot! Dined out back on the patio with some friends on a Wednesday night. The atmosphere was quiet and romantic with the moonlight and twinkly lights out back, service was great and the drinks were fantastic. Everything on the menu sounded delicious but I finally decided on the Chipotle Cheeseburger with Blue Cheese– it did not disappoint. Had a taste of my friend’s Grilled Peach Panzanella and wished I had ordered one for myself as well. Can’t wait to recreate it at home.
The kitchen closed before we could order dessert for my friend’s birthday but the owner overheard & stepped in and saved the day! He surprised us & brought out a strawberry shortcake dessert on the house (complete with candles!) and put a smile on everyone’s face. :) Looking forward to returning with my husband for date night!

I love Pinot! Great wine and beer selection. The grilled cheese is delicious. Just writing this review makes me hungry for one. The atmosphere is very mellow and kind of dark and quiet. The patio is also nice on days when it’s not a million and seven degrees outside.

When they first opened, I gave this place 5 stars and urged people to go here. I was their «ambassador». I went there twice a week. Then… they got a new partner. He likes night clubs. And deafening music. The staff tries to turn the music back down, but he just cranks it right back up again. Which is fine… if you are a night club. But it isn’t, it’s supposed to be a wine bar. A place to relax after a long day of work. Yeah, it’s not a place to relax if you want to try and talk to anyone anymore. Great place if you want to go deaf and to not meaningfully connect with anyone.
Also of note:
— They know nothing about wine. It’s a wine bar, but they can’t tell you one thing about it. Saul was that guy, and he abandoned ship a long time ago.
— They don’t know their own menu. Tonight I ordered their special cheese plate. Two items were completely missing from it (olives and procuitto). They also can’t keep a kitchen there. They started with their own kitchen. That didn’t work. Then they got the Painted Table in there. That lasted a week. Then Tasting Kitchen moved in. They are now out. So I think they have their own kitchen again, and I think they are just making it up as they go along.
— They apparently don’t even know that red wine is served at room temperature. No kidding, a few weeks ago, my red wine was ice cold. I asked why the red wine was cold and the guy said «oh, because it just came out of the refrigerator.» You refrigerate the red wine… and you’re a wine bar? Don’t you know better?
— It’s ungodly loud… even when you are the only one in there because the music is so loud. Don’t go there to relax with your coworkers after work unless you are looking for a «classy» version of Bobby Salazar’s (with less Bulldogs, I imagine).
I’ll miss the staff. Sorry guys.

I’ll come back for drinks, but not dinner. And the drinks will be at the bar if I want more than one.
Had dinner here– the dining room was practically empty. Food was ok, but the waitress seemed completely uninterested in checking to see if our water glasses and drinks were getting empty. She also brought our check over while we were still drinking, seeming very eager to have us leave. Yet there were a ton of people in the back patio, and the place was nowhere near closing.
I’m disappointed– I had hoped to have a new Tower dinner spot!

Came here for a going away party for the sis in law. Really busy and really loud! Not my kinda scene but hey, I don’t drink so that explains it.
I really liked the tapas, good food! They also have a pastry chef so that’s always a plus! Great grilled cheese with bacon! Get it with the bacon you won’t be disappointed! Also has carmelized onions and its just sooooo good! *drools* Hubby and I split it and were full.
Tons of wine selection, I can compare this with some paso robles establishments/​restaurants/​bars if you like that sort of thing.
Service is good, nice owner, food is great, again it’s loud and not my type of thing but in comparison to the places I’ve been to like this, easily deserves all the stars.

Ok, went back for a second shot at this place on a Wednesday evening btwn the holidays. Still so, so noisy… tough to have a conversation and most people were speaking quite loudly, I noticed.
On a positive note the beet salad was very fresh and beautiful, but the crème brûlée was more like a pudding than a custard. The server, when asked about a style of wine, he defined what each name meant on the listing, but didn’t actually describe the grape or blend at all.
Sorry…still not convinced…

Very impressed. The lady and I went a couple weeks ago before going to a play at Second Space. They were running a special on all wines for $ 6. Generous glasses and the waiter gave some great recommendations.
The food was excellent. We had the polenta with crème fraîche and mushrooms, cheese coquettes, the Mediterranean plate with humus, yogurt, and baba ganoush, and a few other dishes including the crème brûlée. Everything thing was great and the prices seemed reasonable for what we got. The bill was around $ 60 for 5 or so dishes and 4 glasses of wine. I call that a good value!
Big thanks to Chef Martin Franco for coming out personally to greet us!
I also can’t wait to see what they do with the gorgeous patio in the back for summer time.