Shade Winery — Attraction in Ohio

Uncomfortable, expensive, and demeaning- our experience. Please read more before planning your evening at this establishment. ((I am writing my review as a once pleased, returning customer.))

My experience with Shade was quite pleasant the first time; I went in the summer and sat outside. I now know this was due to kind staff employed here-- if outside you will only deal with them, and make note they are great. I recently planned a 9 person birthday celebration, but when I called to make reservations the immediate interaction was strange as I was questioned on why I was coming with 9 people. (I let this go). The indoor section is small and our table was ready. When we arrived it wasn't busy and we ordered food and flights-- all was well. About an half hour in, it started getting busier and we were really enjoying our time -- a group that rarely has time to get together so it was pretty special. As time passed we noticed the owner/owners wife staring at us and listening to us. Eventually, the male owner came over, scolded us and asked if we'd like to "move outside (35 degree weather) because he couldn't even hear the bar order." Then, he stormed away. If we were being too loud, it would not have been a problem to ask nicely -- we understand the place is small, but I do not believe we were being outrageous.

In an hour and 45 minutes we were offered 1 drink, as adult women we were publicly scolded, then we waited awkwardly whispering for over 25 minutes on the bill.

We still spent quite a bit as a group and the whole experience was pretty terrible other than the initial greeting. Ultimately, they wanted our tables for some reason even though we were there to spend money and be merry.

I was embarrassed to have brought my friends here. I chose this place and take full blame for that. I did address the owner with these same concerns and left with his insincere apology. It was just really unfortunate as I love wine and local businesses. We spent the remainder of our evening at Pleasant Hill 8 minute away, and it was truly pleasant. Please be advised that if you chose Shade for your evening, you may be met with a sour taste in your mouth-- pretty place,...

Last time we were here service was extremely slow.. Much better at serving and setting this time around. Our food was good. The bread and oil is the best. Server was knowledgeable of food. We ordered salmon, chicken and steak dinners. Chicken is not what you would expect, flavor was mediocre at best, salmon was good, steak was good. Now let’s get to the wine. I would have loved to tried a flight however, I was told that they were too busy to do flight during dinner hours, the owner (who we found out later was the owner) recommended the white wine with the grape grown on site…. The wine was lovely! However, (owner not so much) the billing is something to be determined. The wine bill comes separate, so you pay two seperate bills. The owner personally delivers the wine and the bill for the wine. The food bill comes from the server. We were paying cash and were confused on how to pay for the tip. Owner is rude and neither the owner or the server was able to explain why they bill individually! Basically the owner was rude and just wanted to get the check and said he was too busy , he didn’t care how the tip was left. At this point there was only 6 tables left, maybe he had a long day) (hire someone to serve the wine if you’re too busy) I just wanted to put down the total and be done. I will not recommend this place, Being an owner of multiple companies over years and years I would never be that rude to anyone that spent money at my establishment. Then on our way out we saw that other table had flights of wine… what the heck. Just make time. When you spend almost 300 to eat out, there should be the common edict as an owner to...

We used to frequent Shade a lot about 6 years ago and just recently moved back to Athens so we wanted to try it out again. It is so vastly different and our experience was so uncomfortable and unwelcoming. We were not there for dinner, just looking to try a couple of wines for a nice date night. The girl seating people was very kind but seemed extremely stressed and was hesitant to even let us sit at a table for a glass of wine when there were many tables inside completely open. We were seated inside and it was just us, another couple with their son and the owner - the husband, who gave us a strange look and didn’t speak to us. The couple had a reservation and they made them sit on the couch and were acting very strangely toward them. The wife then came to give us menus and clearly didn’t want to deal with us, she was very inpatient and chastised the girl who sat us because we were just drinking, not eating. We decided to just do a bottle of the Riesling thinking it was the safe option and the prices were pretty high. The whole time it was an extremely uncomfortable, unwelcoming experience while waiting on the wine. We got the wine and it was… not good. At that point we were just wanting to leave so we finished the wine (that we paid $29 for, grocery store reisling is better and cheaper) and no one ever came back to our table so we had to go to the bar to ask for the check. Again, we were met with attitude and they acted like we were an inconvenience just trying to pay for our wine. Unfortunately we will not...