DiVino Wine Bar — Restaurant in Dover

Visiting Sandwich over the bank holiday weekend, my wife and I stumbled across DiVino whilst looking for an after dinnner drink.

Despite all of the tables being fully booked, Jason kindly found us room to sit at the bar, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the drinks menu.

The wine list is very well curated, and has a great selection of local and international wines - including offerings from the excellent Kent winery Balfour. My wife, being Italian, often has some strong opinions about wine quality, but even she was highly complimentary about her glass of primitivo.

Having devoured an amazing portion of homemade tiramisu (sourced by DiVino from a nearby local Italian restaurant, and also good enough to mret my wife's approval) I then switched to the cocktail menu.

Chatting with bartender Jason, I was convinced to try my first Caipirinha, a classic Brazillian cocktail that he made properly from scratch in front of us, with fresh ingredients (not a drop of pre-made cocktail mix in sight) and no small amount of skill.

This was followed by a Hugo Spritz, inspired by my desire to try some St Germain elderflower liquer. Both cocktails were beautifully balanced and presented, and match anything I have had at my usual favourite cocktail spot, Satan's Whiskers.

It is also worth mentioning the vibe of the bar, which is both quirky and relaxed. Housed in a converted Victorian era general store (with many century old fittings and fixtured repurposed to store and display drinks and food), DiVino has a cozy, intimate atmosphere that would suit equally well for a romantic evening as for an after-work destressing tipple.

I must also mention the quality of service, both drinks-wise but also in Jason making time to chat with us, about the area and about drinks in general, despite also running a busy bar.

This review has gone on for far longer than I anticipated, but it is hard to do DiVino justice without talking about all of the things that make it such an amazing bar.

In fact overall, the only thing about DiVino that doesn't scream high-end wine bar is the pricing, which for the extremely high quality, service and atmisphere is incredibly reasonable.

If you are in (or even just near-ish) Sandwich, I would highly recommend a visit-you will not be...

If I could rate higher than 5 stars I would. Came here for a birthday dinner with my boyfriend and it was absolutely fantastic. The food was delicious and so well presented and the cocktails were the best I've had. Jason really tipped the experience over the edge giving outstanding customer service, explaining how he made the cocktails, making sure we felt welcome and at home. He really made the night fun and just all...

What a delightful find. Jason, his brother and the chef made our evening memorable for all the right reasons. Whilst we didn't order much, the food was beautifully presented, with quality ingredients and flavour. Jason and his brother were attentive and friendly. I highly recommend Devino's and we will be back. Ps, make sure you have a cocktail,...