Bay Wine Spirits - North Beach

Nice atmosphere. Friendly staff. Great wine selections.

Small, intimate space to sip on a glass of wine. A wide variety of wine to choose.

Was treated poorly at this establishment, I came in interested in the fine wines, but I also had to use the restroom. The sommelier informed me that the public bathroom was across the street, and if I wanted to use the establishment’s restroom , that I’d need to purchase wine FIRST. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life. Buyer beware, as I was not treated with respect nor dignity here. And for the record- I did in fact purchase the wine first, and was not able to take my time reviewing all selections, because I was in dire need to utilize the restroom!

Store clerks give preferential treatment to regulars, treat tourists as just that: tourists. Barely said hi to us and wasn 't interested in a whole lot of chit-chat even though there wasn 't anyone else there and we were going to be buying a few bottles. She started off by saying they 're a small wine boutique and aren 't pretentious, they taste all the wines, and can 't compete with the big box stores. This really means: yes, we 're a little more expensive, and they are pretentious (can 't call yourself a wine boutique without being pretentious). The kicker was this: she even had the wine wrong (told us the wine was a single varietal and after I tasted it I asked her to double check and she said it was a blend). Once I started talking about the blend being similar to other regions of France, did she start talking to us. However, the preferential treatment was clearly toward the regulars who came in. She even announced them to us: see? here are a few regulars . This isn 't isolated, my parents have been there with similar experiences, and if you check on Yelp, you 'll see the same.

We visit Deale from out of town often, and frequently go to North Beach. We have found each time that preferential treatment goes to regulars, barely gave us any attention, even when we said we were buying several wines. She didn't know her wines as well as she said she did: she poured me a French red that was a single varietal. It turns out it was a blend. That said, the atmosphere is tough to beat.