Tiny Wine Bar & Shop — Restaurant in London

Yikes. I'm a Peruvian working nearby and ordered lunch from here in high hopes of having a cevichito to sort me out. Found this place and got excited as they had a lunch menu, and both 'classic' and 'nikkei' versions of ceviche. Promising - great! My order of a ceviche bowl (with no red chillies) and a chicken empanada went through, however never confirmed past the estimated pick-up time. Not to worry - I rang up, they apologised and asked for a further 20 mins. No problem. Was a nice man over the phone. A few mins later, I collect my food. Red flag - the SIX POUNDS priced empanada is tiny. It's inside good packaging, but it also feels so ridiculously light, that a small gust of wind outside actually blows the package out of my hands immediately after I leave the venue. SIX pounds for an empanada smaller than the palm of my hand (see photo - I have small, child-like, latinamerican hands fyi). Didn't even come with the coriander-wasabi mayo that's mentioned in the website. However, to be fair, the filling does taste good. But £6-worth? Absolutely not. My abuelita would be fuming. The ceviche bowl - la cosa mas seca que he comido en toda mi vida. The driest ceviche I have ever had in my life. I understand that it's a reinterpretation of the classic Peruvian/LATAM dish into a poke bowl, so there is a few 'dry' elements. But, the ceviche is SO dry that I cannot find any taste of lime in there - worrying as the leche de tigre is supposed to be made out of 90% lime juice. Where is the lime?? The fish is meant to be 'cooked' in acidic marinade, and the acidity levels in this is non-existent. So, I am now worried for my stomach as this is raw fish in some white unidentifiable liquid. Also, there were red chillies in there, which I was initially a bit miffed as I stated no chillies in my order - but, they have no heat nor flavour. So, I guess that's fine???? Quinoa has no place in this poke bowl - especially if there is no excess leche de tigre. It's just dry, boiled quinoa accompanied with dry avocado, dry plantain chips (no salt), and dry boiled pieces of sweet potato. So sad to have spent £18 on this, as I've only managed to eat a third of the bowl. Also, sad as this place has insanely...

I genuinely don’t understand why the rating is so high (4.9 until this point). I’m not saying the food and service was bad, instead what they serve was decent. However, I would like to point out a few areas for improvement:

Waiting time. I ordered the tasting menu with 6 courses. Unfortunately, I have to complain that the interval between each course was inconsistent. We were served with the second course only 1 minute after finishing the starter. However, we waited for literally 30 minutes between fourth and fifth course.

Food sharing. Please take note that each course will be served in one plate for sharing. Here I’m not saying that sharing a dish is bad. In fact, I appreciate that in many cultures people share a dish (e.g. sharing a char siu platter in a Cantonese restaurant). HOWEVER, I don’t think the food they serve is suitable for sharing. Imagine three people sharing a chunk of Browne cake… and three people sharing one bowl of rice… Luckily I have my dinner with my best friends. Imagine sharing a piece of sea bass with your workmate… THATS JUST AWKWARD. To be honest, I suppose people only share those easily separable dishes across all cultures. For example it’s just weird for people to share a steak or a bowl of soup…

Inconsistency of food portion. This is definitely the sequela of “food sharing”. For the fourth course, three of us got one piece of fish. However, the two gentlemen sitting next to me also got the same thing. Then what’s the point of ordering tasting menu for 3? We can literally order food for 2 people and get the same dish with the same portion. Again, that’s why your food shouldn’t be served together!

Inconsistency in seasoning. For example, the three pieces of tuna tartar we got have different amounts of avocado… The salt in sea bass was not fully melted…

Well time to sleep… lazy to polish my language and type more. Anyway, for those who wish to...

I walked in on a Saturday, and we were the only customers there. It felt like we were more of a bother than anything, like our presence was just wasting their time. There was only one table occupied on a Saturday evening (by the waiter and a friend), and they only offered us one dish (a starter kept in the fridge). I asked for a preferred seat, but they stuck us at a cold window instead. It’s hard to believe this place stays open or makes any money with how they treat customers in the evening. We were just hoping for a nice glass of wine and some snacks, but instead, we were met with some distant vibes and a sense of annoyance that we dared to show up while the lone worker chatted with a random friend and ate dinner. If you want to close up at 9pm then do so. We can find better wine bars that are happy for our patronage. Signed ~ A...