Jump to content

Looking for Wine Discounts in DC-Area Restaurants


William_V

Recommended Posts

My pet peeve about dining in the D.C. area is the high price of enjoying even a simple wine with your meal. So often, I scan the list and discover that the cheapest bottle is 36 or 38 bucks, which means over $50 when tax and tip are added. House wines and carafes are rare. Glasses often start at 10-12 bucks, and you don’t even know how much, or how little, you’re getting (throughout Europe, menus have to include the volume of every drink sold). In all, a real financial deterrent to eating out frequently, unless you want to forego the wine (for me, not an option).

As a result, I am always on the lookout for restuarant wine specials (not bar specials)– usually mid-week or happy hour specials. I would like to compile a definitive list, and hope that some of you can contribute. Many of these specials are known mainly to regulars and are not much advertised. Arlington, and maybe other jurisdictions, prohibits the advertising of drink specials.

I am interested only in wine specials that you can drink with your regular restaurant meal. Please don’t list bar-only happy hour specials. There are zillions of those.

I’ll start out the list with some that I know about. Please correct them if they are out–of- date:

-Floriana (Italian, 17th St.) – Half priced bottles on Monday and Wednesday evenings (good stuff, too).

-Veranda (Mediterranean – 11th St.) – Half priced bottles on Tuesday evenings.

-Brasserie Beck - Selected bottles (expensive ones) half priced on Tuesday evenings.

-Bistro Bistro (Connecticut above Dupont circle) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.

-Café Odeon (Connecticut above Dupont circle) - Happy hour house wines at @3.50/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.

-Whitlow’s on Wilson (Clarendon) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F served with meals.

-Mexicali Blues (Clarendon) – Half-priced bottles on Wednesday evenings.

-Vapiano (Chinatown, M Street, Ballston) - Happy hour house wines at @4.00/glass until 7:00 pm M-F available with meals.

Feel free to mention places that regularly have lower priced options, i.e. bottles for $26 or less. Also, are there any good BYOB venues these days? I don’t know of any.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cafe Pizzaiolo (Alexandria and Crystal City) - Thursday half-price wine night

Bistrot Lafayette (Alexandria) - Monday half-price wine night

Ramparts (Alexandria - Fairlington) - Saturday half-price wine night (with a few exception)

These are all bottle deals - not sure if they apply to by the glass prices.

Jackson 20 (Alexandria) - has a list of 20 wines by the bottle for $20

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great thread idea. I also chafe at exorbitant wine prices.

Argia's: Monday Evenings 1/2 priced bottles of wine - All bottles on the wine list are half off.

A La Lucia: Every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday Save 25% off any bottle when you dine in for Dinner!

Grand Cru: They also have a wine store where you can buy a bottle of wine. There is a $12 on premise service fee for opening bottles *For Members, service fee is $7 for bottles under $20, and $5 for bottles over $20.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other glaring omission on the above list is Ray's the Steaks where Mark Slater offers a number of excellent choices at bargain prices.

Thanks, Zora.

Every night of the week Ray's house wines (20 of them) are $5 to $9.

My current favorite bottle is a bright and tasty Tempranillo from Valencia called Radio Boca 2009 for $19 a bottle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does Lavandou still have free corkage on Mondays?

The other glaring omission on the above list is Ray's the Steaks where Mark Slater offers a number of excellent choices at bargain prices.

My dream come true would be if other restaurants followed Mark Slater's philosophy of selling good wine at good prices in restaurants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record, here at Proof we offer deeply discounted select bottles each night for happy hour, as well we do the wine box grab bag which is 35$ for white and 45$ for red, what ya get is what ya get but there are no slouches. We also discount some of our high end beer list for happy hour, for example the 750 of jolly pumpkin calabaza de Noel which we usually sell for 30 is down to 20. Holler.

Sebastian

Whoops, just read the above posts. The wine box grab bag is available in the dining room, just ask.

S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dino - Wine Madness - 33% off any bottle over $50 on Sunday and Monday, Free Corkage & $18 Wine Special {w/dinner}: Monday ~ Wednesday

and Dino is one of a very few restaurants where I can, if I'm so inclined, simply state my price point and know a good bottle will come my way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the record, here at Proof we offer deeply discounted select bottles each night for happy hour, as well we do the wine box grab bag which is 35$ for white and 45$ for red, what ya get is what ya get but there are no slouches. We also discount some of our high end beer list for happy hour, for example the 750 of jolly pumpkin calabaza de Noel which we usually sell for 30 is down to 20. Holler.

Sebastian

Whoops, just read the above posts. The wine box grab bag is available in the dining room, just ask.

S

I'm sorry, Proof has a happy hour?!?! When is this and how have I never heard of it before?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any recent wine deals? I'm looking for two things when I ask about wine deals - 1) nights when wine is offered at a reduced price from their listed price on the wine list (20% off, 33% off whatever, usually on a specific night of the week) and 2) days where corkage is offered for free or at a reduced price.

Thanks in advance!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Pool Boy said:

Any recent wine deals? I'm looking for two things when I ask about wine deals - 1) nights when wine is offered at a reduced price from their listed price on the wine list (20% off, 33% off whatever, usually on a specific night of the week) and 2) days where corkage is offered for free or at a reduced price.

Thanks in advance!

The Calendar is completely outdated (there's only so much one human can do), but it's better than nothing.

We also have a thread on Half-Priced Wine Nights, and one on Wine Lists.

[I'd certainly appreciate a volunteer who could comb through the nightly discounts - this represents about 1/10th of 1% of the work that I have to do. Actually, less than that.]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...