Wakefield Wine Cellar

Unexpectedly located next to a Walgreens in a strip mall, Wakefield Wine Cellar is definitely classier than it’s surroundings. The interior is a rich, deep wood décor with plenty of high top, bar and table seating. There is even a little fireplace with lounge sofas surrounding it.
The name implies that there will be lots of wine so yes, there is lots of wine at Wakefield. I started with the house chardonnay and a friend did the house Merlot. Surprisingly for house fare, both were really good. Props to Wakefield for not using «house» as a substitute for «horrible».
Believe it or not, Wakefield has a pretty decent beer selection both draft and bottle. Better than most places that are of this category.
I would love to tell you about the food but I didn’t eat. It’s a wine bar so I went specifically to drink wine. However, I spied some plated dish going to other tables and the presentation was spot on so hopefully it tasted as good as it looked. Nice place out in the burbs if you want a glass or two of vino.

Great atmosphere. Nice people. Great service. Good wine. Great cheese plate. We had a great time and the live music enhanced our experience. Well done.
We will definitely be back.

Nice place, pretty lousy wine selection. Total of about 16 wines to choose from. All are off-​brands. Each are priced at $ 8.50 a glass. Their «high end» selection is a set of about six other wines that can only be obtained from a dispenser system on a wall of the restaurant. These again are all off-​brands and mediocre that start at about $ 8 for ONE OUNCE. It’s pretty «gimmicky».
This place would probably do pretty well if the owners would drive about two blocks to the supermarket and pick up about 20 bottles of white and red California wines and sell them for $ 5 a glass.
Best bet at this point… it’s place to meet friends over a beer and a salad. Don’t expect wine… or a cellar. I’ve never heard of the winery for the California wine they sell. Had to Google it. It’s way «off-​brand». Don’t know what these guys are thinking.
Pretentious? I just noticed they call themselves a «Tapas Bar». Well, more like snacks, dips and salads. Doesn’t make it a tapas bar.

The wine was delicious and well worth what was being charged. I decided on the Malbec from Argentina and it did not disappoint. The crab dip could have been better but I will definitely go back and try something else. The atmosphere is nice.

I wish this was around when I was still living down there (don’t miss living there) but it was nice to visit Wakefield and see so much popping up. Wine is always a huge plus in any neighborhood so its about time. I probably won’t be back in the neighborhood again but if I ever am, I will def come by here. Older crowd but its still a nice wine list and the food was amazing. Tuna tartar was perfect. The wine selection was nice; not too commercial. A lot to offer so if you are int his area I would definitely check it out for some small bites, live music and of course wine!

So happy we found this place. Nice wine selection and good food in a very comfortable setting. Staff is very friendly and helpful. Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the service is choppy.

Wonderful atmosphere and magnificent management! We attended their Gingerbread House Wine Tasting and had a wonderful time! Family-​friendly event with a great ambiance! The personal attention and warm welcome set the stage for a fabulous evening.

Amazing owner and staff. So friendly and guest oriented. I tried all of the house reds and was more than impressed. I can’t wait to come back for open mic night on Wednesday!!!
Had to edit my previous review of 5 stars. Went in after our first time and was ignored for 10 minutes before finally service. Very disappointing, especially after having such great service previously.

A very pleasant surprise in North Raleigh. Great wine menu. Buy a bottle or buy wine by the glass. They even have a nice small plate food menu. The décor is comfortable. Not sure if it’s chic or swanky, maybe both, but it’s nice. Lots of indoor and outdoor seating. The patio is great. And, if you want, you can buy and smoke your cigar here too. The only sell Bullcity Cigars, which is nice, because they’re great cigars. Which, by the way, are totally hand rolled right in Durham.
They are always having fun events here too so be sure to get on their mailing list.
I loved it when I first visited and I’ve been coming back ever since.
Enjoy.

Went here on a Friday night and it was very crowded but my friend and I were well taken care of by the attentive staff! Didn’t get the sense that you have to know a lot about wine to enjoy the place– you can sample all the wines and beers, which is a plus, and the servers and staff are all very knowledgeable. The interior is beautiful and there is a lovely outside area as well.

WOW! Talk about getting ignored. I went on Friday night and here it is Monday morning and I am still so very unhappy about our experience.
I would like to re-​label the 2 star rating for this one to:
«Meh. I’ve experienced SO MUCH better.»
Yes, they do have good wine and food and the ambiance is great but the horrific service really did overshadow anything good about this place.
We interacted with 4 different servers/​bartenders in our time here and all of them were highly distracted and never truly paid attention to us. Our water glasses were empty all night and we had to track someone down each time we needed something. Thank the lord we purchased a wine card and could help ourselves to the tastes of some wines. The service was so bad that when we wanted a glass of wine to take out to the porch after dinner, we had to go to the bar and request our check.
It took easily 10 minutes to get anyone’s attention and you want to know how that happened? A gentleman standing next to us about 9 minutes into our wait and asked what kind of wine we liked and I said, «get the bartenders attention and I’ll drink anything.» She moved on to him to request what he wanted even though we were standing there for 10 minutes before he approached the bar and he told her to assist us. What a nice customer he was doing the work of the staff. I was so angry that when she told me she was out of Malbec behind the bar (even though their walls are stacked of wines, they are a friggin’ wine shop for gosh sakes) and offered Pinot Noir, I just said sure. And they the bottle that was opened on the bar — she grabbed it and said how about this? Sure lady, whatever gets you back to ignoring us.
Then we asked to add it to our tab and cash out from our table and she inquired what name it was under but our server never asked and he appeared to be gone for the evening. We really could have just walked out and not mentioned our check it was so disorganized. We eventually got a hold of our check and paid and went out to the porch.
The porch at night is pitch black so that was a little weird. We couldn’t see anything so we just sat on the couch and finished our glass and left. No one even approached us while we were out there. Also, keep in mind they do have cigars so a lot of cigar smoking was being done out there. Didn’t bother us but just giving you a heads up.
The only reason I am not giving them one star for service alone is because Mac n cheese and braised beef w polenta plus delicious wine saved them.
Quick overview:
— Don’t expect service
— Order the caprese salad, Mac n cheese and braised beef w polenta.
— Avoid the tacos

I have no clue what to rate this place. I have been wanting to try it out since I live in Wake Forest, and love wine, but never got the chance until this weekend. My Mother in Law and Sister in Law were in for a visit, and we planned for a girls day out and I thought this would be the perfect place to take them. We arrived around 4:15 on a Saturday. We were the only people in there besides a woman sitting at the bar doing paper work. She did not even look up at us to greet us. Weird. I have been to places with the wine machines before, so I knew the concept of buying a card and putting money on it, but honestly, if I hadn’t, I am not sure I would have stayed, because clearly this woman wanted nothing to do with helping us. I walked up to the register which was on the opposite side of the bar she was sitting on, and asked her if I could put money on a card for the machines. She took my debit card, asked how much, and handed me a card. Um, thanks lady, I guess we’ll just go and help ourselves. Good thing I knew what I was doing.
I will say that the inside area is beautiful, as is the outdoor seating area. This would be a great place to enjoy a cool summer night. We decided to sit outside under an umbrella, and a waiter came out to give us water and menus. He was so nice and helpful, and he made the bad taste we had in our mouths from the first lady we encountered go away. We ordered 4 tapas to share — Caprese salad, chicken quesadillas, braised beef sliders, and white pita pizza. ALL food was above average and we all highly enjoyed everything. We agreed the sliders were the best of the 4, and I highly recommend them! One of the wines we tasted from the machine was exceptional, so I asked our waiter if they sold it by the bottle. He found it for me and said if were going to order wine by the glass with our dinner we should just buy the bottle and he would serve it to us, and if we didn’t finish it we could take it home. This is much cheaper than ordering by the glass, so I appreciated this, and we did just that.
So, the atmosphere is beautiful, the food was delicious and very reasonably priced, and our waiter was wonderful. I feel like I have to give 4 stars because of these 3 factors. BUT, my first impression was so bad because of the very unwelcoming woman when we walked in. I am going to try to pretend that brief moment didn’t happen, and stick with the 4 stars. I will most definitely be returning with my husband. This is the perfect place for a date night or a girls night out.

I absolutely love this place! Great wine, food and fantastic service in an incredibly cozy atmosphere. You definitely have to check it out!

Visited last night for their wine tasting & it was great! Excellent wines to taste with a person who was very knowledgable about the wines. Staff were very attentive. Live band was nice. Food was great with the chef also making his rounds with the guests. Owner made her rounds & was serving guests. Recommend this place!

The décor and layout is very nice. This would be a great place if the wine selection included some mainstream choices, if the tapas were either twice the size or half the price or if the self-​serve stations were fully stocked. The one star is due to the total lack of attention from both the owner and the wait staff. The place was not overtly busy so no excuses. I walked out after giving them plenty of opportunity to correct my first impression. First I texted my friends to not go out of their way to meet me there. Do not plan to return.

I’ve only been here once, but I would go back. I enjoy wine, but I am by no means an expert on it, so their self-​service wine bar seems like a great idea to me. You can buy sample portions of any of the wines they have available until you find one you like… or if you’re like me and you’re indecisive, you can just sample them all for the sake of comparison. This is a quick way to expand your wine experience, so you can then stand around with your friends and make insightful comments about «blackberry notes» and «undertones of oak» and other such things that make you sound smart and classy.
An added plus is that you also don’t have to worry about conversing with an overly knowledgable, intimidating sommelier, who will sniff out your true level of wine ignorance within fifteen seconds of talking to you and expose you like the pathetic sham you are.
Ahem. I mean… they have tapas too! Mmmmm, tapas…

Unfortunately I can’t say what the wine, food, or anything else is like at this place. We were planning to try it the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend while we were in town with my in-​laws. I checked the Facebook page, website and called to confirm the hours because we would be driving at least 30 minutes out of our way to get there. The website said that it was Mimosa day and the recording that answered the phone listed normal business hours. When we arrived, there was a piece of paper taped to the door stating that they were closed in observance of Memorial Day — which was the next day. There were several people inside who looked at us through the glass doors as we stood there in confusion. Each of them made eye contact with us and then just walked away. I assume they were employees or owners but they clearly did not care at all. Random closings during normal business hours could be easily posted on Facebook, the website, and the phone message. Ugh. So frustrating.

I was really excited to try this place. I was meeting a date there. I arrived first and was immediately greeted; however, that was the only time I was approached for service. We did the tasting, which was okay. We had to wait a long time in between tastes. My date introduced himself to the owner who said she’d offer us tapas once we got seats and settled in. We grabbed seats. No one approached us to offer tapas or wine. We say there for a good 30 minutes and then left to go elsewhere because the service was so bad. It was also super loud so we had to yell at each other. There was also a drunk woman who kept interrupting my date and the tasting by asking us to answer her fake phone. Rude. Concept is great, but not impressed with the atmosphere or service.

Cozy homelike setting with gourmet appetizers and tapas. Great selection of wines with the added bonus of self serving stations that allow you to sample, get a half glass, or full glasses of a wide variety of wine. Food was fantastic. Owner and service was exceptional and engaging.

Great meeting place with inviting ambience. Small dishes and selection of wines and beer. Hope they keep changing menu.