The Wise Owl

Stopped in for a glass of wine after a dinner near by. I was happy with the ambiance-​seating at a bar to watch a game, couches and high-​tops, and even some outdoor seating too. It was nice and quiet for talking, but not so that it was awkward. Service was attentive given that there was one person working and more patrons coming in. The wine list was extensive and a bit overwhelming for a person like me (not a wine aficionado) but the sommelier was able to help me choose an excellent glass.
The lost a star for me because it’s a Wine Bar and I couldn’t get a flight of wine. This is only available on Thursdays. I get that you can’t open a bottle every time someone wants to add it to their flight, so maybe a short list of options for flights; this would make the experience four stars for sure.
A place I’d suggest to friends or stop in again. They also have a menu of desserts and snacks we didn’t get to try because we came straight from dinner.

I have to say up front I have a hard time paying restaurant prices for wine as I have a solid collection of wines at home. My wife and I stopped here recently and had a very nice time, but our wine was just ok. I am giving it 4 stars as it had live music that was very good and had a nice atmosphere. We did not try the food. At points in the evening it got very loud as there seemed to be a lot of regulars that knew each other. Again a nice place to hang out and have a glass of wine.

Great atmosphere! Good wine list, cold beer, fully stocked bar for cocktails. One of my favorites in the area.

Where to start in on this place?
First: The Music
The live music here, at least tonight, is absolutely horrid. The «pastry chef’s» (more to come on her later) son-​in-​law is up there with a glorified ukulele playing the same 3 chords over and over, yowling songs poorly that all sound exactly the same. Better music anywhere in Cincinnati.
Second: The «Desserts by Holly»
A very drunk aspiring pastry chef trying out for the restaurant named Holly approached our table and offered us dessert. We declined, and she pushed us into carrot cake. The cake was decent, but was mostly whipped cream. When we went to pay the bill, the little slice of cake was $ 9.59! The most expensive dessert I’ve ever had, and certainly not worth the price by a long shot. Holly, ridiculous prices do not make good quality.
The overall atmosphere minus the music was good, but I will not be back. High prices don’t automatically equate to a nice bar. This place has a lot to learn.

Very cool place in the midst of sports bars. Extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff. We had a great experience and will go back!

Great wine, great atmosphere. Eric is attentive and knowledgeable. Never disappointed!

Their wine variety is pretty expansive but I did not get a feeling that the staff was very well trained to offer recommendations. Their menu was quite limited and the food was solid but nothing special. We were one of 4 tables at the time and I constantly had to signal our waitress to order or have water replenished. The concept is right but the execution is lacking. They would benefit from better trained staff and at least one sommelier on duty… Particularly during happy hour. Also a more interesting menu that they can suggest to pair with select wines.

I took my co-​workers here last week for happy hour and we loved it. Great deals on both beer& wine, the servers are awesome and chef Emily makes some of the best food around. The short rib sliders are to die for!

Cute and quaint, missing a little ambiance. But, the Wise Owl dies have a nice patio and attentive staff ready to help you every step of the way. As others have said, date night or girls night, or if you just want a place to have a great conversation catching up with a friend, while not having to shout over people, the Wise Owl is your place.
We went mid week, just missing happy hour specials. This was a little disappointing, but completely our fault. At first we went in, it’s quiet and dimly lit, you can sit wherever you’d like and there’s a bar in the back. Don’t worry if you like beer, you can get that too!
It wasn’t very busy inside and honestly a little intimidating as my friend and I didn’t know much about wine. I thought you may be able to get a wine flight and try several, but I didn’t see any on the menu. We chose to sit outside, it was little less formal, the weather was great and the parking lot the patio faces wasn’t too busy. The server came out asked us our preferences; sweet or dry, red or white, bubbly, really anything and everything to help me most enjoy my experience. I had a hard time choosing which wine, so she brought out two to sample and thought nothing of it. It was great, because occasionally with wine you get really persnickety people and she was the complete opposite, wanting to make sure we enjoyed the experience. Also, there’s plenty of small plates to choose from. We shared the conversation meat and cheese plate. It came with a healthy amount of meat, bread, mustard, savory and sweet cheeses, grapes and olives. We weren’t quite done, but the server took our platter, I really could’ve gone in for more cheese! But she was probably saving me from making that leap from perfectly full to overly, needing a nap ASAP full! Overall a nice experience, I wish it had a little more character. But the service was most helpful and attentive. Don’t be intimidated, go and enjoy a wine night at the Wise Owl!

Unilocal is awesome, because of you I ended up here instead of a familiar chain restaurant. I was in West Chester for a lacrosse tournament with my daughter. The menu selection was small but it all sounded good. She got the spare ribs, I got the shrimp and scalps. Both excellent! Our waiter helped me select a wine to go with the meal, and a second glass to go with our brownie with berry sauce and whipped cream. Atmosphere was elegant and comfortable with live music to add to the ambiance.

Great spot in nice area of West Chester. Plenty of seating indoor and outdoors. The menu is light but the items are tasty. I had the Balsamic Salmon Spinach salad and the Bruschetta. (I was hungry, bro!) Good stuff. People were drinking, laughing, having a great time. Hostesses were very nice. Not down with the desert menu though. Nothing even worth mentioning.

This is a cute date spot, or girls night out option. It has got great ambience and it is very intimate. Ths lights are down low and the seating area is very small, offering tables, a bar, as well as couches. The food and the wine is a bit overpriced but it was a fun little splurge. The folks around us seemed to be enjoying their selections and the live music was a nice touch.

I had high expectations for The Wise Owl, based on reviews I’d read. So I was thrilled to stop by for a few drinks on my birthday with some friends. However, we only stayed for about an hour and a half before heading elsewhere, as we were pretty let down…
Upon arriving, the bartender was immediately attentive and friendly, letting us know what the specials were. We sat at the bar, since there was a band set up near the door, and we weren’t sure how loud things would get. There were several specials in both red and white varieties, as well as a nice little happy hour listing of tapas. Except that they were out of several of the wines and had 86’d several apps I wanted to try. With the list halved, I went with a Riesling option that was not my top choice and changed my appetizer order. Fortunately, they comped one of the tapas, since we couldn’t order the ones we really wanted.
When I go to a wine bar, I expect to have some level of knowledge of wines by the staff. I’m hardly a wine snob, but I like to know a little bit about what I’ll be ordering so I can make an informed choice. After listening to the bartender speak with other customers and taking our order, I realized he had four ways to describe wine: «sweet,» «dry,» «pretty good,» and «okay.» Hardly informative.
The atmosphere itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The seating is comfortable, and the set up is great for small groups, with a nice bar area. However, there are also random wall hangings and owl figurines that leave it feeling a little like someone lost control for a minute at a garage sale or primitives shop.
I wasn’t that impressed with the prices, based on the quality or variety. It just felt like The Wise Own wasn’t quite sure what it is… a classy wine bar or a kitschy, quirky bar. We left before the entertainment even started, so I have no idea how loud it ends up getting. It was, all in all, a rather disappointing experience. In the West Chester area, there’s just too much competition that is more appealing by way of variety, quality, price, and milieu.

Great wine selection. Live music, tonight Matt Schneider is playing and he is fantastic! They have a few snack food choices. Perfect for girls night out.

This review might be a little presumptuous, considering the fact that I only came here to have 1 glass of wine before dinner.
I love the ambiance in this place. The wall of wine is impressive, and the the dim lighting as well. Today we sat on the patio and enjoyed the warm weather! They had plenty of selections of wine, separated by country (exotic). Many of them were offered by the glass.
The servers and manager (owner?) are really sweet. He informed us that there was live music on mondays, wednesdays, and other times throughout the week. A great place to escape on a monday.
I did not try the food, but the table next to us had 2 dishes that looked absolutely delectable.
Can’t wait to go back, try the food, and revise my review accordingly.

From the perspective of a business traveler who stays in the immediate area, this is a great option to have in lieu of the chain places that pepper the area. That said, I feel like there is some untapped potential at the Wise Owl.
The décor is really nice with the low lighting and the dark wood, the lounge areas, high top tables, and a wall dedicated to shelving bottles of wine. The atmosphere is on point.
There is a pretty good happy hour special that includes a selection of wines and tapas. There is also a full bar so if wine isn’t your thing you can still get your drink on. Be advised, the beer selection is poor.
Where this place falls short in my mind is with the food. The focus is on tapas, but there are very few options. The options that they did have were pretty unoriginal. What makes a tapas place good for me is having the opportunity to order up a wide variety of creative things and have a little of this and a little of that. What they had was pretty good, but pretty basic and pretty limited.
If they can expand the menu to give some more diverse and interesting options, I think this place will resonate more with folks like me who are traveling in and looking for a culinary adventure.

Pasta was still crunchy, crab cake tasted like a bucket of mayonnaise. Salad was boring and tasteless. They got 3 stars because they handled it very well and «slimmed the fat» off the bill. I’d rather go next door to Dingle House next time (even fried pub food would beat this). Side note: Great atmosphere! Good place to drink! Could have been an «off night»!?

Sad to have to do it, but I don’t want to mislead people. Wise Owl has changed a lot and not for the better. The decline began with the departure of the original chef/​manager and they’ve really never recovered.
The menu options are very very limited. The standout items are gone, and the quality and quantity of the rest have declined.
As others point out, for a wine bar, there are very few by-​the-​glass choices, and no flights. And the staff is not at all knowledgeable on the subject of wine. Example: when I asked someone to tell me about a particular wine, the best she could come up with was that it was a Spanish red. I could have told you that, too, from reading the list!
I’ve been to a few wine bars and this one no longer makes the cut. Yes, the atmosphere is swanky (unless you happen to walk in when an awkwardly-​placed «private party» is going on) but atmosphere alone doesn’t do it.
You’re a stone’s throw from Bella Vino, where you will have a genuine wine bar experience and a smaller tab.

Nothing brings me greater disappointment than writing this measly 2-​star review. I wanted this place to be amazing, but the fact of the matter is – Unilocal has never steered me wrong until Wise Owl.
I’ll start with the atmosphere. Maybe it’s just my high expectations when it comes to wine bars, but this place lacked some serious character and just screamed West Chester suburbia to me. There were no cozy nooks, no fireplaces, no stone walls, no nothing. But, what it did have was crappy lighting non-​conducive to photos. I guess I should’ve expected no different considering it’s in a strip mall.
Next, the service. Call me old fashioned, but when I order a bottle of wine I expect for it to be served to me – not placed on my table unopened as if I just grabbed it off the shelf. Our server checked in on us a grand total of 3 times within a span of 3 hours, and never once refilled our water glasses.
The only thing Wise Owl has going for them is the live music. We loved singing along to the cover songs of the soothing Matt Schneider, and quite honestly, that was Wise Owl’s saving grace.
As much as I wanted to love it, I learned my lesson and will be sticking to Hyde Park’s Unwind to satisfy my wine bar cravings.

This is a good spot of after work drinks with coworkers. The food is overpriced in regards to variety, taste, and portions. I can see they would like to be an upscale and intimate place, but the execution is poor. If you are unable to venture further out from West Chester, this would be a great place for an intimate dinner or cocktails with friends, however, there are better options. The wine selection is good, and the staff is friendly. The place is adequate for small groups, but larger groups should look elsewhere.
Pasta is actually spaghetti squash, which should be clear on the menu. I was a little disappointed that actual pasta was not on the plate.

Good wine, great music, tapas were really good, maybe a hair on the skimpy side for some of them for the price. Open room to the roof so it tends to get noisy. Three comfy chair (couch and love seat) areas with coffee tables, one was piled high with the cushions from outside because it was raining. A home made bench with storage would solve this little issue.
Service wise, not great. Two people were handed one menu and one wine list, then the server returned quickly to see what we wanted. We weren’t ready. When we were, they both were busy chatting at the bar with the musician of the night (who was rather excellent), and left us waiting. The place was empty at this point. After the first tapas came, I eventually sipped though my wine, and we sat for a good 10 minutes before a server looked our way so I could flag her down for a second choice. They were now pretty busy but no excuse to leave us hanging. More on the wine later.
We had the conversation piece which was mostly store bought charcuterie, with one cup of sorta melted cheese with some roasted garlic. $ 15, 4 thin wedges of ‘mozzarella’, 4 small slices meat, a small cup of olives, 4 small warm and toasty bread sticks, on the small side, needed two more to compliment the amount of food, a pile of dry cranberries, a few pieces of raw bell pepper, and the aforementioned gloop in a cup. Either the cheese wasn’t hot enough for it wasn’t queso style cheese, the melting turned it into a stringy, gooey, greasy mess. Hard to separate for a bite as it cooled. Pricy.
Also ordered garlic shrimp and I asked for and received some more toasty bread. The shrimp was just past perfect, very garlicky, with large chunks of fresh garlic. It was also spicy which wasn’t mentioned on the menu but probably should have been. 5 med shrimp served with 4 large grape tomatoes that were warmed by the heat of the dish, good, but not a $ 15 dish. They said they have a new chef and will have a new menu soon.
For a wine bar, when I asked for a second glass of something different in reds, I was told I had already had the best. I was a bit confused by this, I have been to wine bars where all the wines in a flight were excellent. This place did not have flights in their menu, and I couldn’t see the chalkboard from where we were and the servers didn’t offer them so I guess they don’t sell them. A shame, as I like to try different wines when I am in the mood. No option for that here. Server brought out a second red for me to try, it was awful so I went with the first selection. If this was a tactic intended to sell me another glass of high priced wine, it worked. It didn’t impress me with the apparent small selection of reds by the glass in your wine bar.
All in all not too bad, a decent place to spend an hour or two with a loved one or friends. Two had three glasses wine, two $ 15 tapas and it was $ 60 or so before tip. A pair of regulars came in and were greeted warmly, they should treat all their guests this way. For me, the slow, indifferent service, lack of wine selections by the glass, no flights, food value and selection, I probably won’t be back.

Such a cool spot! This was my first time there and I will DEFINITELY be going back. I want to stay longer and check out more of their bites & wines.
I only had one glass of wine. BUT I was very impressed with their selection. I had just attended a wine sampling of some of the best wines available and they had three of them on their menu.
We went on a Friday and they had an acoustic singer there who was EXCELLENT! I didn’t catch his whole name but his first name was Zane. I can’t wait to hear some of the live music that they have scheduled.

We have been trying to come here forever and finally got the chance a few weekends back and had a wonderful time.
The manager J.T. is super passionate and honestly I couldn’t believe he himself was taking care of us on a Saturday night. As soon as we walked in he greeted us with a smile ear to ear and welcomed us. Without any hesitation my friend (who’s a regular) said, «JT pick us out something awesome, you know what we like!» This is that kind of place. So we followed suit and did the same. What we got was a delicious blend of merlot and tempranillo at a reasonable price that was pleasing to both the bf and I’s palate. The acoustic music was great while it lasted.
The only reason for leaving off the last star, if I am going to be totally honest, I just felt like something was missing décor/​ambiance wise. The space feels kind of generic. Don’t get me wrong the service was absolutely fantastic, I just don’t know if I could see myself driving all the way up here as a destination spot. If I were in the area however, this would be at the top of my list!
Check it out, and keep an eye on their website, because they have themed wine nights and nice specials.