Bloodlust Winebar — Restaurant in Baja California

I was a fan of this place but my most recent experience unfortunately ruined it for me. The drinks and food here are actually great, with locally sourced, creative, fresh food, and of course plenty of drink options. Sadly, it's not enough to outweigh the poor customer service.

The vibe here is definitely more on the bougie side and it's priced to match. The house bottle of wine we got was near $40 USD and we paid a $10 cover each to get in too because there was a live band. Because of this, and the fact that Valle has amazing service everywhere else, I was expecting good service.

Our party asked the server (not sure of her name but she had glasses and an attitude) about some of the house wine we ordered in a past visit because we wanted to order it again. She said she wasn't sure if it was available but she would check. She came back and said she had one more available so we ordered it. Well, the wine she came back with was a house pet nat, white not red. She opened it immediately without explaining anything to us. When we questioned which house wine that was, because we had wanted a red, she immediately got defensive. Keep in mind, their menu only says "Bloodlust wine" (no mention of the varieties) and none of us heard her say it was a white pet nat that was available, nor did she explain the varieties even though we were looking for a specific wine. She said she would have to charge us anyway because she already opened it and doubled down that we said yes to ordering it, so basically the misunderstanding was totally our fault. She was pretty rude and aggressive and didn't take even partial accountability or offer a solution. I was very surprised because at any other vineyard they would have replaced the wine no problem. My boyfriend ended up purchasing the bottle on a separate tab in an effort to keep the peace with our group and save our night because we were hungry after waiting for an hour to be seated. She ended up pushing our table to another server, who was much nicer. In my opinion, it was unclear what we were ordering because she did not explain the house wines, nor did the menu, they should have explained it table side to make sure it was okay (it's customary) prior to opening and offered an apology for the misunderstanding, recommended a different bottle, and not charged us for that one.

Despite this experience we still tipped and all the other employees we encountered were at least courteous. We were originally planning to buy some bottles to take home and make a video on social media about the location because it looks so unique, but we did neither and won't be back. I wouldn't want my friends (or anyone) to have the same experience we did, which is why I took the time to write this...

Pheww, where to begin. Concept 10/10, execution 5.5 out of 10 and that's being generous. Google maps will take you right to the parking lot. Big parking lot, plenty of free parking assuming you don't go during Instagram days. When we were there it was cold and rainy. Rainy pathway, No big deal, of course no outdoor seating. Walked inside and it is gorgeous, that gorgeous is short lived. 1. the place is cold borderline freezing if you don't go during warm days, "We have heaters" never saw one, was never brought one, no other mitigation for the cold. 2. Get ready to sit on hard wooden chairs with no cushion for 2 hours if you're sat at the tables or bar. Center of the place has their point of sale system hanging glaring bright light right at you if you sit near the center post (not sure why it's there to begin with). Kudos to the employee that noticed the bright screen light and made an attempt at changing the background wallpaper to black to cut out the glare. Also get comfortable with 30 handbag stands that are placed in the middle of the room for some reason (no storage space?). Also get comfortable with staff doing whatever, that includes eating on break the next table over, and/or laptop work. My impression was that this place was created for Instagram by Instagram, so more or less a money grab because prices are elevated. Also be prepared for influencers to constantly take videos and pictures the whole time you're there. If you're expecting an incredibly immersive experience, this place is not it, keep expectations realistic. For what we had, food was great (hummus), drinks are great our server was kind and polite. Onto the good: the music playlist. Please keep expectations realistic, although this place has every opportunity to be quite nice. If new management is brought in with stronger detailed eyes, this place has a great opportunity. Would...

I came here on 9/28/2024 with a group of 8 to celebrate a birthday party. We had reservations for indoors but we had to pay a $200 pesos cover to enter due to a special artist performing. Once we were seating we received a QR code for the menu. There is no reception at this place. So we asked for the wifi password. Once we received the QR for the wifi the wifi didn't work. During this process of trying to connect to the wifi to look at the menu the server came about 5 times to take the order. We kept letting her know that the wifi wasn't working so we could see the menu. So finally after 20 min of trying to connect and no success so brought 1 paper menu for a party of 8. So then that took another 20 min for everyone to pass the menu around and make our selection. Once the food came out 6 people got their food and the other two had to wait another 20 min for their food. Not sure what happened if they forgot to fire it in the kitchen. The food was ok. We ordered a bottle of wine and the server told us if we didn't like the wine we could not return it. We took the risk and the bottle was actually good. The restrooms are off to a corner of the property but smell badly of urine. There was alot of people posing all over the building taking selfies. It makes for great photo opportunities but thats about it. The music was not great. At the end we ending up spending $4,000 pesos for our group. I would have rather gone to King and Queen which has better food and excellent customer service. Maybe just go here for the pictures and go eat...