The Barrel Room — Restaurant in San Francisco

Come for the unique wine tasting experience, stay for the delicious and well prepared food! What a novel concept! A restaurant with a rotating wine list and menu, featuring the wines and accompanying cuisine of a different region of the world four times a year. We heard The Barrel Room was known for its wine list and had won awards for their rarified wine selection and educational experience uncommon beyond the confines of wine country so we had to give it a try.

This was their ‘Basque’ menu so the featured wines were from the South of France - interesting. We were given a blind flight of 3 white wines with the concept that we would decide which we liked best, then scan the QR code presented to us to learn the origin of each of the wines - an interactive and fun experience. The servers were super knowledgeable and proceeded to educate us on each of the wines we’d been served.

The food was equally amazing. The standout for me was probably the mouthwatering Petite Filet Bordelaise - a perfectly cooked prime filet mignon, Hen of the Woods mushroom, and creamy & super savory mashed potatoes in a yummy French style gravy.

Another highlight was the unexpectedly unique Cauliflower Gratin, which was oh so delicious and used multicolored spiral shaped cauliflower drowned in a cheese sauce of Gruyère and manchego, with slivered almonds and herbs - definitely an appetite ruiner.

Always curious to try croquettes so we ordered their Comte and Mushroom Croquettes, which came drizzled in a garlic tarragon aioli with herbs for a starter, pairing well with the flight. To keep it authentically French we opted for the mussels, the Moules Frites, which were served in a bright yellow saffron cream sauce with herbs and a huge side of French fries with aioli. And finally, the Garlic Prawn Provençal Angel hair pasta with green olives was a totally solid pasta with a rich and tangy tomato sauce and perfectly cooked buttery prawns.

We definitely plan to return to take advantage of the rotating wine list and new menu drop each quarter (or as often as we can.) Overall, an elevated dining experience especially tailored to the wino or just those looking to culture themselves in the ways of wine, without having to...

The Barrel Room is one of my favorite bars to go to.

The company I work with held a holiday party here which was how I was introduced to this bar. We had a private party downstairs. The space was pretty cozy, and I would say about 20-30 people was the maximum capacity. We had an open bar with appetizers (Brussell sprouts, calamari, french fries). I can definitely testify that the appetizers here were extremely tasty and flavorful. Surprisingly, my favorite was the Brussell sprouts. I would also recommend getting the calamari and the fries.

For the drinks: the north coast beer with a 9% alcohol got me. I had two of those when we had another happy hour here and it was great. We ordered more appetizers and I was glad we were able to get the Brussell sprouts again. I also had a Resiling which was one of my favorite type of wine.

The bartenders were friendly. They were efficient enough to serve everyone drinks, take away glasses and plates, serve appetizers, and get everyone's tab.

I would definitely suggest coming here for a drink and an appetizer. I would love to come...

Looking for somewhere to get your wine on? This is where you want to go. The Barrel Room is a wine bar specializing in small-production wines from all around the world. BR offers 50 wines by the glass and over 200 by the bottle. The Oakland location has officially begun serving amazing dinners to go with each wonderful wine tasting experience, too. I had a great experience that is guaranteed to quickly quench any girls’ wanderlust and wine craving.

The Barrel Room’s flights and wine selections are ever changing. What’s even more exciting is they have begun the art of curating a tiny little tasty vacation with each guest’s visit simply by taking the concept of Wine Tasting Flights and pairing them with dishes inspired by the wine’s very same country and region.

You can, of course, always order what looks good to you on the menu. But, if you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can select one of their ever changing flights or ask for help, tell them what you generally like and let them select wines to fit your...