Tasting House - Reading

Love this place, it’s tucked away and not easy to find when you don’t know the area but so amazing so worth the effort. I love the control of trying different wines and you can change the sizes as you want. The wine was delicious too! Great atmosphere!

I had no idea that Reading had a wine bar this fun, it’s a very well kept secret. From the outside it looks like a shop, but inside it’s all cosy tables surrounded by walls of wine. We chose to sit upstairs, which is quieter, out of the draught from the front door and felt a lot calmer. It’s candlelit, with piles of board games and a great atmosphere. The idea is that you have a card to put in ‘The Machine’ and then select your chosen wine and the size of the glass you’d like. You then present the card and pay at the end. This worked well for us; I wanted to try a mouthful of all the different wines (red, white, rose and an Orange Wine) and my companion wanted to try a large glass of every red available. We ended up getting through a couple of cards. Originally, we’d planned to have a couple of drinks and then move on to get dinner. But then we saw the menu and the chef. The menu was an array of exciting tapas, put together by the lovely Laura. I’d been to her previous business venture (Nomad Bakery) and it had been amazing, so we stuck in and ordered most of the menu. It didn’t disappoint; in fact it elevated the evening from fun to outstanding. I loved the Halloumi Burek, I was over the moon with the orange infused rice pudding. It was some of the best food I’ve had in Reading. Worth noting that they only do food on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings; I don’t think we would have enjoyed ourselves so much with just nibbles. I’m a bit puzzled as to why some reviewers have been asked to pay up front. We definitely weren’t, we just ran a tab with a card behind the bar for food and drink. I want to give this more than 5 stars. I want to go back again and again and eat and drink and laugh. You need to book because it gets busy, but that’s because it’s so good.

We have walked past this place many times and thought it looked intriguing so ventured in yesterday evening. The request for money up front felt rather impersonal but I understand why this was needed due to the card driving the tasting. The wine advisor was reassuring and pleasant. We ordered some nuts and bread but 25 minutes in still no food. I requested to cancel as we decided to leave. Order couldn’t be found but I was given my money back without fuss. However no apology, no one asked why we wanted to cancel. Combine this with seeing the 2 food colleagues eating as they prepared dishes, a waitress who was very inappropriately dressed for evening service and a possible manger sat on a laptop at the counter means I won’t be returning. Such a shame as I was hoping to invest some personal and company time here.

Super knowledgeable team we had a fantastic evening with friends upstairs eating amazing breads cheeses and cold meats alongside some totally awesome wines. Jack is super and long may this place last and be successful it’s a gem in reading

Lovely fresh, hot coffee. Daughter had a hot chocolate which was lovely also. As it's down a side street it was nice and quiet. We will be back.