Apres Wine Bar & Bistro

Very torn on my review of this place. As much as I wanted to love Apres, my friend and I decided it would probably be about a 3.5 if Unilocal allowed half numbers.
I didn’t even know this place existed! It’s in a pretty residential area, but there was a lot of street parking. I really enjoy the aesthetic of Apres. The décor was very nice and it had a laid-​back but still very trendy atmosphere. There is indoor and outdoor seating; we sat inside. It reminded me of some of the restaurants my friends and I go to in some of the ‘trendier’ parts of Chicago — definitely different than the downtown scene in Iowa City.
We were there with a pretty large group and were able to get a table right away (6pm on a weekday), but it took a long time to get our orders in and for the food to arrive (over an hour) despite how not busy it was. I think there were only 2 servers for the whole restaurant. Even with smaller groups, it seemed the food moves pretty slowly from the kitchen so keep that in mind if you plan on ordering something to eat.
A friend and I split the poutine and the calamari which was one of the specials that day. The calamari was perfect! Fried and very light. I only wish they served it with some lemon and a different dipping sauce (it comes with sweet chili sauce like the kind you eat with eggrolls.) The poutine, unfortunately, was a huge disappointment. The fries were cold and soggy and reminded me a lot of stale fries from McD’s. They were also covered with a liter of brown gravy that essentially tasted like the kind of gravy powder that comes in an envelope that you add water to, There weren’t very many cheese curds for the amount of fries and the duck was just eh as well. Some of our group ordered the crab tacos which are supposed to be their top seller. Everyone who ordered them said they were good, but at $ 14 for 3 tacos they also felt the dish was a bit overpriced.
The night we went was half off for wine and $ 6 sangrias. There are some really good drink deals, but I think for me the location would make it hard to take advantage of these. Some of the cocktails sounded really good and I definitely would want to try them!
Overall, I think I would give Apres another shot, but it still wouldn’t be my top choice to drink and eat in Iowa City;

Good place for a date night. Can grab a drink and some food. Vegetarian options are limited but everything we have had has been great.

Excellent food and surroundings. Could use more wait staff but otherwise would highly recommend.

I live very close to this place and therefore find it convenient to grab. It’s expensive for what little food you actually get.

A hidden gem in Iowa City, For purely selfish reasons I’d like to keep it hidden, but my conscience got the better of me so listen up world! You need to know about this place and you need to visit. My partner and I visited this place and what a joy it was! The atmosphere as quaint and the décor beautiful. Its a small place so you can’t expect a lot of space for privacy but it adds to the charm. The food is served in small plates so order 4 or 5 for two people. The fondue is fantastic, the tempura fried vegetables are great. Normally tempura fried food has thick batter that over powers the food, but not here! The batter was so light and flaky it melts in your mouth! We also got the Duck, which was wonderfully seasoned and cooked nice and tender. The Chorizo Taco’s are great as well… they are spicy however… so when you server tells you its spicy listen to them. But I love spicy food so I loved it! The honey glazed salmon was cooked to perfection where it was crispy outside and nice and moist inside. I have seen too many places that over cook their salmon and this was not the case here! I can’t wait to go back and try this place again… the only drawback I can think of… if you get the dessert fondue you don’t get enough crackers to to make s’mores with all of the delicious homemade marshmellows you get… but maybe that’s a trick to get you to try the marshmellow by itself… which was also a delight! Anyways… as far as I can tell you can’t go wrong with this place!

Cool atmosphere in this newer spot; never would have found it if it weren’t on Unilocal.Had lunch and the menu is limited but interesting. Two of us had a Bacon Mac and Cheese which was good and a lunch size portion. Seems like it might be more of a place for the locals but we enjoyed it.

Great place, unique menu. The food is delicious and the service is excellent! One of Iowa City’s hidden gems

A hidden gem! Was really looking forward to checking out Apres, and we were not disappointed! Has a fun drink menu with lots of options. Recommend saving room for the s’more fondue. I hope this place makes it, being tucked away in the peninsula it is a little tricky to find.

We’ve been wanting to try this spot for a couple of months since it opened. We finally have the opportunity to go hang out with some friends here and we were excited by what we found.
Apres is situated in the peninsula neighborhood and can be a little bit difficult to find at first. Basically you drive back into the neighborhood and go until you see a center square that has a restaurant in it. Upon entering you find that there is seating for about 20 people, with additional seating for 15 outside. We came here in the winter time, but look forward to coming back when its nice as the outdoor seating looks like it would be very comfortable and inviting.
We came with some friends who are also big food tasters so we basically ordered the left side of the menu plus a couple things from the right! We absolutely found that to be the best way to try all the fun stuff on the menu. It’s a tapas type place so most things were enough for everybody to have one or two bites of things. For four of us we absolutely ordered too much food, but really got to taste everything we were interested in on the menu.
We literally shared something like 10 items so it’s actually very difficult to rehash everything. The highlights were the fondue, the king crab tacos, the meat tray, the duck confit poutine, and the ramen. We were unfortunately disappointed with the chicken and waffles. The waffle was very dry, so this may have been a function of the blue corn from which the waffle was constructed. Either way, it’s not something we’d order again and that made me a little bit sad.
The drink menu here is pretty impressive and the old fashioned that I had was quite good! In addition they have a nice wine list and plenty to keep you busy from a libation standpoint.
Overall this is a spectacular addition to the area and fills a much needed void where Tapas has been absent here too for. It’s not the best restaurant in town, but it’s an excellent one and one that we will be back to on a fairly regular basis. We’re very excited to try it out when the weather is a little bit nicer! Absolutely worth trying and probably a place that you’re really going to like.

While back in Iowa City during homecoming we had a friend of a friend recommend this place and went as a group. Great food!!! The king crab tacos were amazing, as well as the mac and cheese and the steak. Portions are small though. We got many things and tried to share among 5 people, which turned out to be a bit difficult. Would recommend either getting dishes for yourself or to share with one other.
The only down side was their computer system broke down while trying to split the checks, so had to wait for a long time to pay. However, the food and atmosphere made up for this wait. Would highly recommend and once they are past the soft opening, have more staff and get computer glitches figured out this would be a regular for my husband and I whenever we pass through.

I had the pleasure of finding Apres Wine Bar on Unilocal during a recent trip to Iowa City. We were craving an end of day glass of wine and charcuterie board and the outdoor patio at Apres was the calling our name. The plush lawn furniture and three walls that surround the patio give it a private feel. With the cooler months on the horizon, you can rest assured that the interior of the business is as attractive as the outside.
The charcuterie board featured Marcona almonds, honey, three cheeses and fresh fruit. Their cocktail menu seemed as impressive as their wine list — perfect option for those who are less into wine. Next time we’ll have to give the tapas a whirl.

Good cocktails, good food. Creative menu that makes it feel like it should be somewhere like Chicago. You pay a premium, but they put in the effort and its reasonable nevertheless. Great atmosphere at night since the neighborhood is so quiet. Definitely my new favorite Iowa City drink spot.

Still on soft opening, but this place is pretty good! Ordered the lobster corn dip with fresh tortilla chips (decent, a little fishy), veggie tempura (very good), burger duo (delicious), steamed pork buns (my favorite), tempura avocado salad (very good), zeppoles and peach cobbler (which were both delicious).
This place is great for groups or a date night dinner. Fun atmosphere in a developing neighborhood. :)

This is one nice place on top of Iowa city. Great location in the new development, has a very new vibe going on. The inside and outside of the restaurant was very nice, this would be a «date night» place as most would say.
The food is served tapas or sharing style. The fondue was A1, great cheese mix accompanied with the dipping sides. One of the few places you can get fondue in Iowa city as well. The creamed kale was delicious, nice way to get your veggies in. The mini burgers are also a winner, comes in two with a Korean style and a traditional style. The final entrée we got was the chicken and waffles, this was good but I wish it was 1. Bigger 2. The chicken was served bone in. Other than that it was a nice dish.
We did try the s’mores for dessert, they have some great chocolate and delicious marshmallows. It’s done table side so you control your how messy you will get.
Overall this was a great place and look forward coming back.

Ate here for the first time last week. Great location in the peninsula neighborhood. Open restaurant space with lots of natural light and seating options — inside, at the bar, outside… Didn’t feel crowded, even though the inside seating is tight.
Three of us tried a number of dishes. The ones that stood our were the Braveheart angus burgers, the steamed pork buns, the Ramen Jar and the dessert — the Zeppoles (great shareable dessert for 3). I could eat all of these again, but look forward to exploring other items on the menu.
One hope is that they acquire a more selective craft beer list. Lagunitas on tap was great, but would like more variety.
They are still in soft opening mode and service was good, but slow with limited guidance on what to have.

Last weekend, I tried Apres, the new wine bar in the Peninsula neighborhood. I believe they’re still on a soft open, and so we went into the experience with modest expectations.
There are lots of different spaces within the restaurant itself – we sat in the main dining area downstairs, but there is also a wrap-​around bar, upstairs seating, front patio, and even a space in the back with plush couches. Seems like they are trying to make the most of their space; however, I did feel like we were a bit packed in with the other tables in the main dining area.
They have an interesting drinks list, including a variety of artisan cocktails, wines, and beers on tap. I went for the Apres Old-​Fashioned, which was made with, among other things, pecan smoke. It was a solid drink, though I couldn’t really taste the pecan, which would have distinguished the drink from similar libations made less expensively and more distinctively at other IC restaurants. I also tried the Thai One On, with vodka, thai basil, and ginger, which tasted like a Sprite, would have liked a touch more basil.
We tried a variety of small plates, including the lobster mac and cheese, goat cheese & butternut squash dip, grilled corn and lobster dip, vegetable tempura, and tempura avocado salad. The dips were a bit rich, but still tasted good. Overall, the tapas were solid, and the customer service was good.
Overall, this seems like a fine option for casual tapas-​style dining. We thought the food and drinks were good. The different environments in which to eat might allow for a bit of replay value.