Camerata — Restaurant in Houston

Sometimes, you just get lucky. Camerata is my neighborhood wine bar. It's four blocks from my apartment, right on my bus route home from work (yes, it's possible to use transit to get around in Houston), and full of delightfully charming bartenders. Talk about a happy hour.

The first time I went to Camerata, I was struck by two things: 1) the friendliness of the bartenders and 2) the interior ambiance. To the first point: I know enough about the types of reds that I like, but the bartenders took me on a (free!) tasting tour of some of their deliciously slate-y whites and surprisingly dry pinks. I was well taken care of. To the second point: the interior is at the fascinating intersection of gemütlichkeit and muted industrial chic. That's likely the most obnoxious thing I'll ever say in a review, but it fits; Gemütlichkeit: coziness, acceptance, unhurried, meets that exposed-brick-and-sealed-concrete vibe that is characteristic of "industrial chic." And it works for Camerata.

And speaking of happy hour, theirs is any open bottles from the by-the-glass offerings from the previous day are half-off by-the-glass for today, until they run out of those bottles. If you can, get there when they open at 4 to take advantage of happy hour.

It probably gets raucous on the weekends (I try to avoid these scenarios), but at opening hour Sunday-Tuesday (ish), you'll get excellent service (and wine!) from very approachable people for extremely...

Like the name suggests, this wine bar is under the same ownership as its neighbor, Paulies. Go ahead, order anything. Well, don't order a Lone Star, but order any wine on the menu and you can't go wrong. Yes, if you're planning on spending an entire evening here, it will get quite expensive. But that's true for any wine bar. I'd actually say the price is reasonable for the service and quality you get. Speaking of service, they'll accommodate you whether you're a mater connoisseur or a redneck hillbilly. If you know what you like, good for you. If you don't, it doesn't really matter.

I should note that the happy hour is really affordable. They take the leftover wine from the evening before and pour it at a discounted price until it runs out. It's a nice way to try a few things and save some dough. Oh, and the small food items they have on the menu are a nice touch as well (and delicious).

The ambiance is great. There's plenty of seating whether you come alone or you go with a large group. It does get crowded, but I've never been in a position where I've had to stand for very long. Normally parking is available, but the street does get crowded and sometimes you have to park a block or two away. Insert drinking and driving PSA here The bathroom is shared - I believe it's left side for men, right side for women. If you can't handle that, you're probably not mature enough to be at wine bar...

I'm not a big wine drinker but a friend of mine wanted to check out this place and I have heard good things about Camerata at Paulie's, so why not? We got there around 7ish on a Friday night and it wasn't packed at all. My guess is that most of the customers are next door still having a nice dinner before coming here for the after dinner wine-ing. We sat at the bar and the bartender introduce himself and we asked for suggestions. I suggested a bottle as my friend wanted something Bubbly and the bartender suggested a bottle that's in a price range that's acceptable and would taste good.

We had good time chatting as it wasn't crowded so we could still hear each other. But as time passes, when there's more people in the bar, it did get a little loud and maybe I was getting a bit tipsy where both of us need to raise our voice level a bit. We did get hungry and decided to try their salami and cheese. I choose 2 meats and asked what cheese would go great with it, and Kelly, one of the employee there, suggested the 2 cheese and we went with that. I wasn't expecting awesome fig jam, olives, homemade pickled cucumber slices, and almonds along with the cheese and meat. The salami and cheese definitely tasted good with the wine and the Common Bond bread was top notch.

Over all I had a good time because this is definitely a good place for dating and meeting with friends who like to...