Windsor Restaurant Review - Wineology: An experiment in something different

Date night is becoming increasingly popular, as our lives can get busy and hectic. Whether you have a job that keeps you on the road a lot (try dating a performer!), you have a handful of kids to take care of, or one of many other responsibilities, connecting with your partner is essential.

For us, heading out to eat for a few hours just feels good. It allows us to laugh, vent, and enjoy one of life's greatest pleasures; eating good food! It's like putting on clothes that came straight out of the dryer!

Our choice this time for date night was Wineology Bar & Restaurant, located at 1646 Wyandotte St. East here in Windsor, Ontario. A bonus was that I won a gift certificate for responding correctly to a trivia question on their Facebook, so it was a great incentive to use that towards a nice meal for us.

Walking in, the dark wood, dim lighting and exotic art pieces reminded in some ways of a mix between Spago's and Mazaar (when Mazaar first opened here in the city).  It was a very inviting atmosphere. One thing I didn't care for was the faux (maybe it was real, not sure!) fluffy cowhide-type benches that were torn up in spots. Wearing black pants, they were pretty much covered in hair by the time we left. Ugh! I will sit on a chair next time around.

Sitting down at Wineology
Photo by Melissa F. Arditti

Obviously, going to a place called Wineology, wine is going to be at the forefront. There were pages upon pages of choices that included local and world wines.  Sweet, dry, red, white, blush, you name it, they'd probably have it. I'll supply you with their wine list here: Menu

Onto the food!

To start with, the menu was a bit sparse, which was disappointing, although it seems they change things up on a regular basis. Seafood was a big highlight in many of the appetizers/entrees, which would have worked great for me because the smoked salmon pizza looked so good, but Bill doesn't like seafood one iota. Noting the $16 + price on most of the pizza choices, we weren't going to be getting separate ones.

As an appetizer, we tried one of their salads. It had mixed greens, with cucumbers, pecans, dried fruit and topped with crumbled goat cheese.  Very nicely presented, a good starter to the meal and large enough to share!

Starter salad
Photo by Melissa F. Arditti

Perusing the menu a few times over to find something that we'd both enjoy, we decided on the Chicken Pizza (Pesto Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Grilled Chicken, Zucchini & Onions). Mmmm...baked in a wood-fired oven too, I couldn't wait to get it onto our table. It was very light, thin and crispy, plus they offered white/whole wheat or a gluten-free crust. Hurray for choices! We always love a whole wheat crust. Only complaint, a little on the salty side.

Chicken Pizza time!
Photo by Melissa F. Arditti

After digesting, it was time to figure out dessert. Initially, we were going to try the Reese Pizza because if there is one thing to know about my boyfriend, Bill, that chocolate and peanut butter combo makes him melt! However, Tiramisu won out this time, which happens to be my favourite dessert ever.  So what did I think of it? Rich and creamy, light and wonderful!  It was one of the best Tiramisu's I have had in a long time. It may look small, but it was perfect to share.

A beautiful presentation of Tiramisu
Photo by Melissa F. Arditti

Service was OK. Our waiter was really soft-spoken, so at times it was difficult to hear him. However, he was polite and came back at the appropriate times to fill our glasses and ask how the meal was going.

I will say honestly that Wineology is not cheap, as they use high quality ingredients (often which are local) in many of their dishes. You can easily spend close to $100, especially if you're going to be extra thirsty. You may scoff at that amount, but keep in mind, not everyone finds that doable for their financial situation. So I would budget appropriately for the night out.  It's a nice treat for a romantic night out, if you want to gather a group of friends, or even book for a business meeting (can anyone say expense account?) but not a place we'd actually go to on a regular basis, unless they had some really awesome specials going on.

The restaurant is known to get pretty packed, so we ended up going early for dinner and as we were leaving, more groups were piling in.  Also on certain nights, it seems they have local musicians playing. Perhaps we'll come by another time for some jazz and tapas!

You can visit the Wineology website and be sure to "like" them on Facebook