Ballaro- A Cozy Neighborhood Place

A cozy neighborhood find. Ballaro (www.ballaronyc.com/) is great for a bite out with your friends, with its warm, comfortable atmosphere you will be happy you chose this place. Though the wine list was reasonably priced, and the bar tender (who was also our server and very helpful) let us try a number to wines until we found one we could all agree on. There was a complementary cheese, meats and bruchetta spread set up across the far end of the bar which was not only presented beautifully but tasted delicious! It included a nice variety of cheeses and we especially enjoyed the selection since we were starving. The salads were light yet very flavorful which quenched our need for greens after the cheese spread. We enjoyed the spinach and artichoke salad and the mesclun. The Tuna crostini was good, but the pasta stole the show. a beef ragu with veggies tucked inside was incredible and i would highly recommend trying it. All of the dishes were prepared perfectly and we will definitely go back! Great for a quick bite out, date, night with your friends

Entwine....

This week we headed to Entwine(www.entwinenyc.com), a new small wine bar in the Meat Packing district. There are 3 separate, dimly lit rooms: The bar when you first walk in, followed by a small study area with a couch, and 3 or 4 small tables and then a garden area. The garden area is very small with only 3 tables and was full when we arrived. We were seated in the second room... the table was extremely short (the only way to possibly cross your legs would be to sit sideways). Though it was a very "cute" setting it seemed almost impossible to actually have our waitress pay attention to us.

There was a decent selection of wines, but a very limited menu consisting of a few small plates and cheese/charchuterie plates. A little pricey considering the limited choices/ small portions. The cheese plate was good, but because the tables were so small we felt a little "crunched" for space.

Definitely more of a place to stop in for a glass of wine.... wouldn't recommend going if you are actually hungry!