626 Reserve & Gallery

Went there on a Friday nite and it was dead. Nobody. The décor is ok with high ceilings. Try the sangria.

While I dont mind grabbing a drink here, Im a little hesitant to get food.
Its literally 35 feet from the front door of my apt building, and the wine selection and beer selections isnt bad. And as someone else said, a lot of stuff is listed, but they never have it!
The owner/​GM is really friendly, and has tried everything. But the food looks boring — and the cheesecake I tried was definitely frozen, which is really odd for a wine bar. They tried jazzing it up with a bunch of chocolate sauce everywhere and whip cream… but its still the same cheesecake.
Occasionally theres live music, and its a good place to catch a friend, as its not overly loud. I’ll come back for HH and make up my mind then.

This place was simply… great. Barbara was our server and I am not sure if she is the owner or not, but she took very good care of us. We went on a Friday night for happy hour and ordered glasses of wine of course. The happy hour is $ 2 off the glass. I had a great bordeaux blend and Laura has a pinot grigio. Both wines were delicious. We had the mozzarella panini and the chicken panini. Both nice and simple and good. The balsamic vinegarette was excellent. Then we had a party mix thing and hummus with pitas. We even ran out of pitas and they gave us more for free. Barbara kept coming back to make sure everything was ok and if there was anything else that we wanted. She informed us of a wine tasting next Thursday. I believe that is Sept 4^th. Might just have to check that out.
We will be back again!

I was so exited when I heard about this place. A wine bar right in my backyard! But I was in for a let down. I went in with 8 co-​workers and although I made reservations (on a slow week day night) they didn’t seem to be prepared for a large group. There were 2 people working with one other table of 4 at the time. They were slow to great us, forgot a few items that we ordered and generally didn’t seem to know how to deal. I feel bad b/​c I really want to support my local restaurants/​bars but… I’ll probably give it another try. Oh and I don’t remember the seating being all the comfortable either.

I thought this place kinda sucked. I understand that this is going to vary from person to person, though. I personally felt it was way too small inside, not enough seating, and rather boring. The service was slow and a little rude. There is no point of giving you a menu, because every wine I tried to order was not actually available, but was still listed on the menu.
I understand some people love this place, but I honestly can’t figure out how they stay open.

Nice place to enjoy a good choice of wines from around the world. They let you sample what you want which really helps someone without much wine drinking experience. I went on friday night but it wasn’t crowded at all so great for those of you that want some quiet time alone with your date.

I was pleasantly surprised. Three of us from my office went over for happy hour at around 5:30. If we’d waited until 6:00, we could have parked for free on the street. There’s a lot that’s 5 bucks right next door, which is a good alternative.
Inside it’s cute and cozy — red walls, ambient musica and low lighting. There’s some interesting art on the walls as well. But, what really got us happy was that drinks were happy hour prices. I didn’t understand how the pricing worked — I don’t think it was half off or anything, but it was cheaper.
The food, as noted previously, is adequate but nothing special. We had the hummus, the cheese plate and the cheese and tomato toasted sandwich. The wine was really delicious. The cheaper rose was fantastic and fruity — perfect for a warm night.
Really, I liked this place. It’s great to have a mellow spot downtown where you can chat with friends over a glass of wine and hear each other! The staff was really nice and friendly too.

Ken P’s review is spot on. Charles Bibbs, gallery owner and artist came over to me to speak about art, downtown, and LA. and who am i? i’m a nerd. not very social. if you need proof: i’m going for a ph.d. in engineering.
i went to 626 alone late on a tuesday night in order to do some reading over a glass of wine. the hospitality i received from Russell, Virgil, and Charles means this nerd will be returning soon.
note — this place closes early, 11p on weekdays, 1a weekends.
note — check their website calendar — they’ve got a lot of great live music coming thru.

Earlier this year, a friend suggested this place for drinks and dinner, since I have a low tolerance to alcohol; I was hoping to indulge in the latter. Unfortunately, the chefs didn’t show up that night, so it took awhile for them serve our food, which the remaining staff had to prepared and sadly I have to say it wasn’t very amazing, I hope it was because their chefs weren’t there. The staff there was overall nice and apologetic. I may give it another shot for food. Cute place.

A classy little joint tucked in between a bunch of art galleries in the middle of downtown. I had no idea this place existed until I was merrily making my way through Downtown’s Art Walk one especially effervescent early evening. Mixing good wine and art is not like beer after liquor: it’s actually a good thing (in the words of our beloved Martha).
Imagine this, you go from one super-​hip gallery to another, step over a few homeless people, walk past a few hootin’ and hollerin’ construction dudes and voila!!! A warm and welcoming wine bar! I can only speak for the wine and bar portion of the place. The menu looks decent, but I haven’t actually tried any of the victuals. The décor is dark and cozy and the bar itself is very upscale (without the attitude). The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable and they have half-​glasses for tasting. The wine is decently priced for the quality. Definitely a PERFECT place to stop by in the middle of the Art Walk (because all the galleries keep serving 2 buck chuck) or if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

By no means am I a wine connoisseur so admittedly my review is a bit imbalanced. What I can comment without uncertainty is the service and general atmosphere of the establishment. I walked into the 626 reserve after having attended a Nike party a few buildings next to the reserve.
Like many before me have posted, the staff at the reserve are ill prepared to host on busy nights. It took my group about 30 – 45 minutes and a couple go arounds to get our orders straight. The staff seemed a little put off when ever we called them for service. NOt sure if we caught them on an off night, but I completely lost my buzz at this place. After having left early from the kick ass Nike party, just to meet up with some friends here, I wasn’t too happy.
On a side note, its good to see that these type of establishments are making downtown L. A home. Downtown still needs a lot of work, but I’m happy to see business like this here. Lets all try to support these business as much as we can so our downtown can rival those of New York, Chicago, P. A, etc

After forking over $ 20 for two drinks at Windows during happy hour, we headed to 626 Reserve on a slow weeknight this past summer. I couldn’t help but note the bitter irony. a lovely wine bar opening up a couple of months after our office leaves Spring Street for the AT&T Ctr. We didn’t have much time to linger — but just enough to try the owner’s recommendation, the Carmenere from Chile. As Carrie R pointed out, most of the wine selections come in two sizes and the larger glass was a very generous pour. I took off a star, though, because at the time we went, the flight selections were limited — it may be different now.
We too admired the classy interior, a welcome balm to the bland, airport cocktail lounge feel of Windows (the smoggy view is highly overrated), but I was most struck by the industrial awning inside … a web of frosted fiberglass arcing from a series of poles. The owner told us that it had been built by an artist who lived upstairs in the loft. It looks like the sleek and pricey carport I saw on an Italian design website, something to think about if we ever have the funds to replace the aluminum poles in concrete pilings that currently do the job.

As everyone has said… they weren’t prepared for the influx of people and orders they had to field during the Unilocal event… BUT…i’m not going to dock them for that…
Small place…
Friendly and helpful staff…
GREAT wine selection…
Nicely decorated bar area AND restroom (can’t stand crappy… no pun intended… restrooms! My fanny deserves the same style and couture that the rest of me gets in the bar! lol)
Notable cool factor: Not only do they have a large selection of 5oz glasses of wine, 626 ALSO offers up a smaller, 2.5 oz, option for thos who can’t decide on just one! This worked out well for me and I was able to have the pinot grigio AND the cab that I wanted to try…

I think Stephy S. might want to put in a preface (an update of her review) of how 626 stepped up to fill the void of what was originally planned for the 8÷17÷2006 LA Elite event. Only a handful of us know the whole story and since I’m one of them, it’s reflected in my review.
Strange how quiet and intimate a setting can be when you take yourself just a block off the crush of Broadway. Although the Gallery and the Wine Bar are the same establishment, they were contiguous only by location and not in feel. While the gallery was well lit and white walled, it was almost harsh compared to the bar which was soothingly dim and sumptuous in it’s reddish-​earthen tones. Factor in the diversity of the artwork you have two very opposite spaces. It’s rare for places to be able to execute this seamlessly and most settle with the art being in the same space (an exception coming to mind being the Hess Collection in Napa —
).
I had arrived a bit early and circled the neighborhood a bit to see what parking was like. Unfortunately, street parking was fairly non-​existent and I lucked out by parking in a pay lot (by the Empire?) across the street, where the attendant had already left. Being assured by one of the residents of the building as long as I was out by 6:30am, there would be no issues parking there. So if you haven’t been here, free parking from 6:30pm-6:30am as a tip.
The gallery half found me doing a quick once over of the art and concentrating more on meeting all the beautiful LA Unilocalers. I wasn’t too nuts about most of the work (had seen enough of it in art school) but being the highly subjective thing that art is, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the space and event. I’m guessing as most small galleries do, the showings will rotate on a certain time basis. I enjoyed the red wine but didn’t have a chance to sample the food. As more people piled in, things went fast and it was unfortunate that some late arrivals got to sample nothing of either. I did my best to meet and faciliate the meeting of pretty much everyone I could.
As the evening progressed to the bar next door, the mood got a bit less formal as the imbibing began to increase. We definitely packed in the place and just as I thought things were at full tilt, a slow exodus began. Unfortunately, some of you get up at the ass crack of dawn and despite my efforts, I was only able to convince a handful to remain. For those that did stay the wine flowed harder and JayChan’s OhMiBod-​iPod demo was the point where «sophisticated wine bar» became «raucous swilling». Jackie, Nao (maybe my new crush?), and the other employees were stressed earlier in the evening but after someone broke the first glass they too had been broken in. I managed to dole out some Riesling, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Shiraz, plus something else (Steph, what the hell did I buy you a glass of?) and everyone seemed very happy with their selections. Like the art next door, wine is a fixed commodity and as 626 gets in their flow the selections will grow and change. Jackie was nice enough to talk me through the year process she took to taste wine, come up with a list of what to offer, the food to complement, and the finalization in which led to the opening of the bar. She even took down notes on what I’d like for possible suggestions on future offerings. Only at the early stage of a place could you get these tidbits and offer input. So I think there’s a great advantage to be able to help mold 626 into a place that would you love to frequent.
I think the only drawback is that because they serve food, they’re required to close earlier than a normal bar. I know we could have closed them up much much later than we did. So a great showing for a place that has only recently opened (every new biz has its kinks to iron and it’s flow to find) and its survival through the onslaught of the Unilocal Elite.

My first wine bar experience, so I don’t have much to go on, but like I’ve expressed to many of my fellow elitists, my pallet … uhhh, I mean, palate is quite the contrary. Now, don’t you go getting any ideas about what goes down in my romp room! What I really mean is, I accept wines of all shapes, colors and grape sizes.
As a sparkling wine and champagne connoisseur, the Sofia Coppola sparkling wine was only $ 12 and my favorite drink of the night. I also sampled a rose wine and the gewurstrameiner (a dry reisling) all based on the recommendations of Holly T — thanks! I am a reisling fan so I would definitely recommend it. Heed my warnings, I have a sweet tooth, so those of you who like your blood pressure a little higher, try something a little more … dry.
626 is a classy dig … which makes me wonder, what the hell was I doing here?

Classy joint!
So I show up to a high class Downtown wine bistro with an iPod enabled vibrator and no one kicks me out. WTF?
I let a few of my fellow Unilocalers pick my wines and must say I was impressed. I took a quick look-​see at their list and MUST come back (sans the OhMiBod) and give this place a real honest to goodness spin.
Even though the staff was stressed they all kept their cool and delivered a great experience. I hope I didn’t scare them with my big pinkie!
Next time I don’t want to push the limits of «we reserve the right…»
THANK YOU 626 Reserve for being such great host!

This place was great: so much so that any slips they made in getting my drink (s) were overlooked. I blame the Jehan Charm™ for that: or maybe they got distracted by the vibrator we were playing with.
Atmosphere was chill: just what I’m beginning to expect from wine bars. I liked the décor, it was very clean feeling (definitely not downtown LA style) and the lighting was just at the right level. I was not big on the music I had to shout over: that definitely could be improved.
The food was only all right: but all food was appreciated to soak up all the booze.
It was a little on the pricey side (a root beer for $ 2.25?) for the quality of food… the wine, however, was good: they obviously did a bit of research on their selection.
Next time we should experiment with all dressing up as vibrators and see if we get served faster.

Wow on entering the adjacent gallery I mentioned to Stephy, «This does not feel like LA.» We both agreed it felt like a really upscale art gallery in New York’s Lower East Side. The owner was there to greet me and they had the Rolling Stones on que as I walked through the door. Definitely brought out the four Star rating. If you work in downtown you owe yourself a trip down to Spring Street to check this place out. I recommend it as a good place to meet someone after work. Drive there and pay for parking nearby otherwise you are in for a Ridley Scott «Bladerunner» experience through Broadway and 6^th.

You know what I LOVE about Downtown LA, besides biting it on a crack in the sidewalk in a pair of 3 inch heels and a dress at 2 am (yes, this happened last night!), is discovering new little places that make you smile. 626 Reserve is one of those places.
From the moment I walked in it felt like home. The colors, oh the yummy, deep colors. The design, kind of a warm industrial chic (is that even a term?) with a fireplace to boot and then there was the beautiful array of wines lining the walls behind the bar. Just magical.
They also serve food, but the kitchen had closed by the time we arrived, so I’m definitely going back to try these infamous crabcakes. I chatted with one of the owners, Jackie, and what a lovely lady she is. Definitely the kind of warm person that makes you want to come back and sip some wine. Apparently they have only been open for 2 months and are now adding a jazz night and a brazilian music night. And in August they will be featuring Sunday afternoon wine tastings!
Hmm, do I see a possible Unilocal Elite Event coming soon… hmmm ;)
Go check the place out, it’s really quite cool.

I am neither impressed or not impressed, but I am definitely not wowed.
They do some things well and others not so well.
Actually wait, I’m trying to be nice cause the owner/​bartender was very sweet.
But lets just say I’m not impressed. The tuna ceviche tasted canned, the hummus was also not anything beyond store-​bought. (Shout out to Stew B and his AMAZING hummus)
The space is bright and airy owing to tall ceiling and bright red walls, but its anything but warm and homey.
I like my wine bars to be dim, warm, this was light airy, modern.
The wines seemed decent, a couple okay glasses, but nothing overwhelmingly good, and honestly they had a bottle from the San Antonio winery, which put me off, but such is life.
The Beer selection is good, not great and certainly not rounded out (it leans to the Belgian ales, and Macro-​Brews like Stella, Modelo, Amstel, and is conspicuously missing anything like a stout or porter.
All in all I’m underwhelmed, unimpressed, but not averse to another attempt, as I think it might be possible for it to be good.