Mili Wine Bar — Restaurant in San Francisco

Mili wine bar has been my fav place until today. I’ve been here countless times after work and pickle ball sessions for the past 4 years, so I decided to do my birthday here today.

I was made a clown by the manager John in front of my friends by using demeaning words like “sneak around” “get out of restaurant” by sharing my birthday cake and pie. I let my husband to ask for external food price before I shared my birthday cake and pie. Granted that we didn’t “ask” for the service right away because we wanted to do self service, but why would I know it’s 7 dollars per person if I wanted to “sneak around” and why would I “alert” the manager and got caught “sneaking around” 1 min before I did it? Am I an idiot and/or don’t I deserve some basic decent inquiry?

Some info here, we ordered every side dish on the menu so the $35 cake price is nothing. I can’t fathom out why John decided to be derogatory to me on the spot without any politeness and asking first, before ruining my birthday. He even said “you didn’t even ask if you can bring in outside food” well that’s because he said it first thing when we walked it and we said we are celebrating birthday here with a cake.

If Mili wine bar decides to position itself as a high class & high horse place with extractive value proposition and no caring for customers who like it, I think it’s detrimental to its branding as a community hang-out place in the Rincon hill area. Yes we all need to beg to come eat and drink at Mini wine bar. We are not worthy of your service and food. All the 6 people on my birthday table live a few steps away, and we will never come back to this place again.

I will miss the small plates and late night convos here, but this experience has forever ruined my impression of...

My friend and I were deciding between which bottle of wine to get, and we were offered to get a splash to try of two of the wines we were considering. When we asked to try a splash of a third wine, we sensed some attitude from the woman serving us, where she said "okay, I'll give you one last splash" - it definitely was offputting. We are about to purchase a bottle to drink, I think giving one more tiny splash of a wine is completely reasonable. We've been going to wine bars a lot, and never encountered attitude like this :( The wine was good, and the food also good. However, no one explained to us the cheese / charcuterie that were on the plate, so that was...

When we arrived, my friend—who had gotten there earlier—told me they no longer serve food. I wasn’t sure if that included items like the cheese plate, so I asked the host to confirm. His response was, “Oh, your friend didn’t tell you?” I replied that she had, but I just wanted to double-check. He then said, “Oh, you don’t trust her?”

I found this comment completely inappropriate. A simple, professional response such as, “Yes, we no longer serve any food, including snacks,” would have been sufficient. The experience left a very negative impression, and I will not be returning ever again. This is my third time here. But super...