Wine Maniacs Wine Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in Oconomowoc

What a pleasant surprise to find! Excellent wines, food and service. We'll be going back again and again. The wine list is extensive with wines from small worldwide wineries. Wine list changes because of limited availability from these wineries. They offered us to try 3 wines of white for my wife and reds for me to taste for selecting which we'd want to drink for our meal. Unusual for a bistro serving food. Their knowledge of wines was incredible. Very nice outside eating as well as beautiful inside decor if you want something more intimate. Their food menu (which changes seasonally) was equally complete and very delicious. We ordered 3 items and all were excellent.. They serve small plate type entrees made up of items purchased from local Wisconsin farmers. Starters: 1.)tenderloin fresh tartare was excellent and different from we normally eat make. Chef put a nice twist on it with a delicious garlic crostini/pickled onions & lemon yogurt. 2.) "Shroomy Duck sliders (2) with delicious tangy mustard and mushroom compote on a brioche bun. We ordered one extra. Absolutely delicious duck burgers. Small plate entree: Peppermill sirloin w/peppercorn crust and red wine glaze served with the best brussel sprouts I've ever eaten (& I hate brussel sprouts!) Compliments to the chef for making them tasty!

M-Thursday Happy hour 3-6pm with half off glasses of wines. If you go Tues through Sat., be sure to ask for Jaime to be your server. She is the epitome of what a server should do for their customers. Her knowledge of the wines and suggestions for wine and food are tremendous. She has a wonderful, pleasant, friendly personality. You can tell she loves her job. Be sure to tip her well because she earns &...

Gem of a wine bar in the center of Oconomowoc! Our experience at Wine Maniacs was stellar from the minute we arrived and were warmly greeted by every staff person there. They treat every person who walks through their door like family, whether it's your first or 100th time there. The food is interesting, well-prepared and amazing. What really elevates the dining experience is that you are given tastings of different wines they choose for you based on what you order to eat...... and they truly know their stuff! All of their wines are from smaller producers from around the world, so you are drinking really interesting wines you cannot easily find elsewhere. After our meal, we spent a lot of time sitting at the bar talking with Jamie and Alan, tasting different wines and having great conversation about wines and food and the philosophy of Wine Maniacs. They get to know many of the producers they purchase from which is really unique and allows them to share much more information about the wine they serve and sell. Did I mention they also sell their wines at retail?? We wish we lived locally so we could take advantage of the Cool Kids wine club! Our experience was magical for so many reasons..... mainly the overall vibe of this special place and the people who make it so. If I could give more than 5 stars I would!! Wine Maniacs should without a doubt be on everyone's list to visit when in the WI Lake Country. I highly recommend the walleye and the schaum torte ... you can't make a bad choice here! We can't wait to return! Thank you for making our first time at Wine Maniacs...

Unfortunately, although I wanted to love this place, I doubt I’ll be back. First off- it took FOREVER to actually place a wine and food order so by the time we got the waiter to actually hang around the table, we ordered drinks, appetizers and entrees right away. It appeared at one point, the waiter may had left…it took so long to get him to come back. At this point we have probably been waiting 30 minutes. The atmosphere and music was lovely however there are no acoustics so the place was SO LOUD- We could barely hear each other. The waiter was very kind and lovely but tried to upsell us on a “case” of 12 bottles. The entrees were good, not great. Shockingly, one of chicken entrees came out literally raw. The waiter was lovely about the issues and it was sent back to the kitchen. Once the entree finally returned after the rest of the table finished, it was the same chicken thigh but just re-fired and came with absolutely nothing else - none of the sides were on the plate. The chicken was literally served on a small appetizer plate. When asked if we could also get the accompaniments as well, we received about 5 small pieces of potatoes on a tiny plate. I’m truly shocked the chef would allow this food to leave the kitchen. We had to ask for silverware about 5 times during the course of the meal due to the wait staff continuing to take our utensils with no return back to the table for several minutes. All and all, the wine list was nice for this area and it was a cute place but the food was below average and the staff seemed to be more concerned about selling us cases of wine we...