Apéritif — Restaurant in Durham

I had a wonderful experience at Aperitif! I came by myself for a little after work, pre-dinner bite, and was very pleased. The space is bright, airy and beautifully decorated with options for indoor and outdoor (covered) seating. I loved that they have various seating options- tables as well as upholstered armchairs and loveseats inside, with outdoor tables and benches with cushions. Very easy to get comfy and hang out for a while with friends! The concept is a great one that Durham doesn't have a lot of (at least at this price point). The food menu includes shareable appetizer/tapas, charcuterie & fromage boards, flatbreads and sandwiches, soup and salad, and an awesome selection of deserts! Vegan and gluten-free options are available across the menu. On the beverage side, there's a huge variety of wine, cocktails, mocktails, beer, non-alcoholic beer, even sangria and dessert cocktails! I had a red sangria, "devilish" eggs (a perfect, traditional rendition of southern-style deviled eggs), and the tiramisu, which was all excellent. Everything is very reasonably priced (think Mateo or similar, but more affordable). To top it off, the service was quick, friendly and answered all the questions I had. They had a perfect balance of attentiveness without being overbearing. University Hill is becoming a destination in itself, and Aperitif is a standout, even amongst a full lineup of other quality spots. I plan to return with...

Came by Aperitif for the second time this past weekend, but did not get the experience we hoped for. On my first visit, months ago, I had good drinks and good food as well - but Aperitif did not stand out as 'great.' Was excited to give it another try, though, especially with how tasty things looked on their fall menu! Unfortunately, we did not get to try any of those things we were hoping for because of the service. Our group of four waited a very long time for the first round of drinks - and even then, two drinks came out about 5-8 minutes before the other two. At that point, one of the last drinks was also incorrect and had to be remade. At this point, it took another 10 minutes for the final drink to be brought out.

After polishing off our drinks, of which I liked well enough, we had hoped to order another round and some canapes. We were not checked in on at all since receiving our drinks and could not even catch the attention of an employee. It felt like it took until the ice melted in our drinks for an employee to finally come over to us, though it was only to ask about how to provide the check.

Was a really disappointing experience - we ended up continuing on to Gizmo's across the street for...

The drinks were very tasty and I felt reasonably priced. However, the service was terrible. Very few guests were there and it was extremely difficult to get our (or any waitresses) attention - they were always turned around facing the bar taking or sitting on their phones. One member of my group ordered a beer that was left on the bar (while our mixed drinks had already been served) - they ended up having to go up to the bar & our waitress still was on her phone, she didn’t even notice the bartender gave us the drink. When it was time to leave we were unable to get any servers attention to pay and had to go towards the bar again when our waitress finally noticed we were ready to leave. Keep in mind there were like 10 guests here total, so not like they were busy. Will likely not be back, which is a shame because the drink...