Grapes Wine Bar & Bistro

4 Reviews on “Grapes Wine Bar & Bistro”

• Nicolas Filteau

  Great staff, great food and great wine. The cheese selection is amazing and super interesting. Tasty meat as well. The drinks were also quite tasty and well prepared, a must place to visit if you are in Banff.

  August 31, 2020, 7:58 am

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• Eat Drink Live

  What a great find at the Banff Springs Hotel! With a great selection of wines by the glass, and amazing charcuterie, Grapes Wine Bar is top notch. Will be back, and can’t hardly wait!

  December 5, 2015, 12:00 am

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• Prince Gastronome

  I prepped a whole slew of bad puns in planning this review, teasing Grapes Wine Bar by saying stuff like, I was so looking forward to getting graped, and, I would totally get graped every week. I decided to avoid that, not because of sensitivity (as I just shared them), but because it would distract readers from the reviews intentionensuring Grapes Wine Bars continued success. Traveling from Courtenay to Banff, looping around Edmonton to Jasper, I had eaten at some of the best restaurants in Western Canada, from Araxi in Whistler to Tojos in Vancouver. Yet the one review I most looked forward to was this one. I passed by Grapes on my first day in Banff, but decided on Samurais sushi instead, telling my girlfriend later that our return would be inevitable. The next evening, after getting blissfully tipsy at the nearby Wines of Canada store, we tumbled into the wine bar for an evening meal (well, I tumbled, she guided). It goes without saying that this place is small, like Seth Rogans acting range small, like Wal-Marts interest in its employees small. It has six tables and a bar. It also has no real kitchen to speak ofeverything is crafted behind the bar. Are there microwaves, blenders, and griddles? No. What you will find are home-cured meats, cheeses, and preserves and pickles still in their jars. But wait, youd ask, what does Grapes serve, other than obviously wine? The answer is cheese fondues and charcuteries. Now, if that doesnt sound totally awesome, then you are not worthy of Grapes Wine Bar. Stop reading now. I mean it; its only going to get better, and I cant be held responsible for the consequences. Soon, you may end up drinking coffee with your pinky raised, changing your Instagram photo daily, and dressing like a hobo from the 1930s. Grapes is fantastic, the kind of place I kept thinking about weeks afterward, the kind I told people about in my hometown. Another restaurant owner asked what kind of restaurant Id like to see in my hometown, and I described this very place. Even he agreed that it was awesome. Oh yeah, and it has wine apparently to. Look, heres the thing, the best way to describe Grapes is that its a sushi bar, replacing sushi with charcuterie. Customers take a seat, enjoy a glass or twoor tenof wine, then sit back and enjoy the pageantry of the chef building your plate in front of you. Like an itamae, he or she (ours was a she) sets down a canvasa wooden board with a stone for texturein which the artist places cheese, preserves, dressings and meats upon. The preparation is akin to watching a lava lamp and the final presentation that of art. She stretched a spoonful of scorpion pepper mustard across one side, then gently placed wedges of cheese at equal points, following that with honey dripped like a Pollock masterpiece. Fruits followed nuts, ground up between the mountains of cheese. Then came the meat, four different kinds. We could hardly see the board by this point, yet she continued. Dollops of jam was spooned over the wedges. Afterwards came the pickles, peppers and peaches, carrots and cauliflower, dried first before placement. Throughout it all, the chef offered casual conversation. At the end, she explained everything, revealing that each placement was made with purpose. The selections closest to one another augmented each other, with the entire plate meant to be enjoyed like a book, left to right. Softest cheeses matched with blackberry jam sided with house-made pancetta. Roasted red pepper tequila jelly matched with cheddar fringed by elk salami. Smoked blue cheese under cold pickled cherries next to double smoked beef sausage. At this point, Ive spend nearly 630 words on foreplay, and youre wondering where the main act is. Like a proper romantic assignation, the food was amazing. They kept offering me bread as it ran out. Each mouthful was an entirely new experience, salty with sweet, spicy with bitter, and with each bite washed with a sample of wine. Past haute French cuisine and excellent sushi, Grapes was one of the most enjoyable culinary experiences Ive ever had, and to think that it barely cost me $50. And that was for two, with my meticulous girlfriend even admitting it was astounding. I need a place like Grapes wine bar in my life. I dont care if I have to move. In Kelowna, I discovered a similar place in The Salted Brick. Now to find Grapes Wine Bar in Banff, this isnt fair. I was asked if a place like this could survive in my hometown. I would make sure it did.Food: 5/5Service: 5/5Presentation: 5/5Value: 5/5Recommendation: 5/5

  November 19, 2015, 3:04 pm

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• Nick Palmer

  PHENOMENAL! The only item i chose was the chef board of assorted meats and cheeses. The waitress paired the perfect bottle of wine. My girlfriend and i had an amazing experience. Well, lets make that 3 bottles of wine and 2 cheese boards to be truthful. loved every minute of it and almost cried over a sandwich for the first time. An unforgettable experience to say the least, first and not the last time visiting.

  September 27, 2015, 10:06 am

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