Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar

I went to this wine bar on a whim one day when I was passing by. It’s in a sort of strange neighborhood so I’d never heard of it before. But it looked really nice from the outside so I decided to head in. Turns out it’s one of the best wine bars I’ve seen. I was there at a weird time. I got there t 4:30 and they told me I’d have to wait to be able to order food, which was slightly annoying, but I wasn’t that hungry yet so I figured I’d have some wine and wait it out. The waitress was nice but she seemed a little frazzled. She was running all over when there really wan’t any need – there were very few people there. Anyhow, the wine was great when I was able to order food I had a pizza and a some sort of mushroom pita thing and some hummus and both really blew me away. It’s a nice place to go and nice to have something like that in a neighborhood that doesn’t have a whole lot.

I’ve been to a lot of wine bars in New York and this is one of the best. It’s small, cozy, not too loud, and has a nice wine list. The flights of wine are nice because they are a sampling and you get a good amount too.The portions were on the smaller side, but the food was yummy. We got a cheese plate and added from the charcuterie.

I have a list of places I keep on hand for when family and friends come visit me in New York. It’s always a huge deal to me to make sure I take them to some place that will totally wow them, but I also like to stay away from the obvious overrated and touristy ones. I would never have thought to look for places in this neighboghood but a friend asked me to meet her there for dinner one night and I was totally impressed. A pretty wine bar with a great selection of cheeses and the added bonus of chocolates. Totally New York without the fanfare of a place like Nobu or something. This is the real New York, and it skyrocketed to the top of my visitors’ list. I have taken my parents, and two sets of visiting friends, all of whom raved about what a fabulous place it was.

The cheese plate is a must order ut their hummus is great too. Pretty much you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. It can get a little pricely though, so I like to stick with several of the smaller things – that way we get lots of tastes of various things and can still keep down the cost – and of course still have room for dessert. The mousse cake? Oh man is it amazing.

I wasn’t impressed at first. Our waitress had zero personality and didn’t seem to know much about the menu. But the manager suggested wines and was very nice, and the food was amazing. It was one of the best dinners of my life. We got small plates so we could try a bunch of stuff and there was nothing that we didn’t like. All just superb.

Love this spot. I went on a lunch meeting the other day and will definitley be going back. We had these delicious paninis that tasted really fresh and like they were more helathy than most of the gross cafeteria stuff in the area. The staff is really friendly and I even had a glass of wine with lunch because the wine menu was so good.

The place has a pretty cool vibe and it’s a neat concept, but I have to say I wasn’t all that excited by the food. There is a lot to choose from on the menu and it all sounded really good, but when it came out most of it was disappointing, somewhat flavorless, and for a wine bar the wine list is rather limited. The chocolates were tiny and expensive, even though they were pretty to look at. It was really hot in there and it took a long time to get a table too. We couldn’t really figure out why there were so many people there though. The best part about it all was this yummy salad they had with goat cheese and beets.

I have been wanting to go to this place for a very long time.My friends took me out and I ordered White Truffle Pizza.Wow It was crazy good!

Thanks Brigitte Grisanti New York Food Traveler

I was the first of my party to arrive at Ayza and upon the hostess’ suggestion decided to sit at the bar while I waited for more of my friends to arrive. Once more people arrived, I informed the hostess that we were ready for our table and she stared at me blankly, clearly having forgotten that I was even there. Another hostess was kind enough to get us seated within about 10 minutes though.

Since Ayza is a wine and chocolate bar, I would have expected them to have a section on one of the menus that had suggestions for wine and chocolate pairings, but they didn’t. Chocolate can make red wine taste almost rubber-like, so I think a guide to making the right pairing choices should have been a necessity.

We did order some small dishes from the food menu. I had the White Truffle pizza and oh my goodness. It was freaking delicious! My mouth is watering right now even just writing about it.

My suggestions for going to Ayza: go there for the food more than the wine. Make reservations on a busy night. Don’t expect spectacular service.

I’m visiting every wine bar in Manhattan and blogging about my journey. Check out my blog for my complete and unedited review of Ayza.
http://drinkofthevineblog.com

I highly recommend this wonderful restaurant

We shared cheese at first, which was really nice, though I felt the portions could have been a little bigger. I guess that’s what you get at the new hip wine bar though, right? Out salad was nice and refreshing. We had the Mediterranean one. Then we shared the chicken which was really cool. I’ve had paillard before but this was nice because it was stuffed and rolled up. It made it look really pretty and the sause that was on it tasted great. So different. It never would have occurred to me to putb lavender in a sauce! We had a couple glasses of wine and then ended up ordering a bottle at the table, , sommelier’s rec.

My friend and I are obsessed with this place. We come a lot- it’s great for dinner but also great for cheese and dessert. Their cheeses come from Murray’s and are fantastic, and their desserts are pretty amazing as well. This yummy moussecake and a molten cake that’s great…

I have to say I wasn’t all that impressed with the cheese selection.I know it’s from Murray’s and it tasted fine but I guess I expected them to offer more or something. Regardless, there were tons of other things on the menu. We made a whole dinner out of the appetziers and salads. So fun because we got to try lots. They have these chicken skewers that are really yummy, and they do a great job with presentation.