Reviews for The Library Wine Bar and Bistro in Wallingford, CT
Dined for the first time at The Library with a party of 9 for a birthday dinner. The restaurant has a very nice ambience and the... building definitely has Library charm. We were seated in the upstairs loft area above the bar. There was plenty of room for usand the other 4 parties that came in after us. The food was great and everyone enjoyed it. There were three orders of the shortrib entree, a rib-eye dinner, scallop plate and a salmon dish. One great commodity was the option to substitute sides withlittle or no extra cost! The kiddos had chicken tenders and fries and there was plenty to take home! Overall a great diningexperience and we will return to try other menu items. Read more
The interior of the Library was early 30s. Ornate railings, staircases and balconies. The columns and the coffered ceilings... were impressive. The menu was diverse and very appealing. The service was outstanding and very attentive, the only draw backwas the noise. From the moment we entered the noise overpowered any conversation we attempted to have. With live music in themain dinning room it was virtually impossible to speak and be understood. If I were to make a recommendation it would be toattempt to tone down the sound vibration and not have live music in between the bar and main dinning area. Read more
The breakfast was good for the price. The salmon was my favorite. I?ve tasted better salmon meat before, but the combination... with other vegetables kicked it up a notch. The key lime pie was too sugary for my taste, but it was well made. The tipping wasgood. They don?t slap 18% gratuity for basically doing nothing; they just round off the change. Read more
I love the character of the building, love the entrance. The food was tasteful. Unfortunately service was worse than any... Applebee's. We had a private event room upstairs. 1 drinking bartender, and 1 MIA server. Empty plates and cups left on thetable for the entire 3 hours. I had to search for the server to get waters refilled for the 4 tables. They were not attentive atall. The funny part was the bartender (guy showing off his tattoos) was taking shots every so often, and constantly on his cellphone, never making eye contact when we would order drinks. Only response was, " yeah, you will have to wait 2 minutes ``.Bartender not professional or presentable. I would not come back for a private party event ever again and probably not foranything more than drinks. Wish this could have been better, I had really high hopes of this place. Read more
This was our 2nd experience at the library recently and it did not go as well as we expected. My wife's medium rare steak was... cold on the inside and my rear steak was crispy/charcoaled on the outside. On a good note our waitress was extremelyprofessional and the management was more than willing to compensate us for all the inconvenience. Read more
Wonderful atmosphere and beautiful decor. Came here for dinner with my family, it wasn?t first time here so I knew what to... expect. The food was delicious everyone enjoyed their dinner, the steaks were overdone but still excellent! Service was good, Iwould have given 5 stars if the steaks weren?t overdone Read more
Updated: Finding a magical place to dine is different for each person and can involve many things - a view, a location, a Chef,... a type of cuisine, whether there is live music - jazz, rock, a solo classical pianist, or a good soundtrack - a favorite table,dish or ambience. This Mediterranean restaurant is now one of mine. Interior design, seating, food, drinks, service and appealare all exceptional. Truly wish I lived closer. Some notes about our dinner: Our house cocktails, "The Librarian" and "Dancingwith the devil," were mixed perfectly and had good pours. My gin martini was filled to the brim with rejuvenating coldcomponents and fresh mint. The waiter walked very carefully to our table to set it down without spilling a drop. The whiskeydrink with amaro and honey plays the bitter liqueur with the sweet nectar in a pleasing way. It's a serious concoction meant tobe savored. We shared an appetizer on the regular tapas menu, steak crostini, which is sublime with its mushroom-gorgonzolacream sauce, balsamic reduction and herbs, tender charred medium rare beef and a robust bread that still gives a crunchy bitedespite its creamy bed. Both entrées were magnificent. Chicken Paillard, a favorite of our waiter's, Ryan, had a good portionsize with two chicken breasts that are breaded and pan fried, with capers, artichoke, garlic and a lemon cream sauce. It'sserved with well-made mashed potatoes and green beans, the latter not being tough and under done which is common these days.Everything was properly seasoned. A special, a braised lamb shank in panko with red wine au jus, carrots, spinach and tomatoserved on parmesan polenta was melt in your mouth tender, warm and inviting with the many flavors melding in every forkful. Onlything that could have been better was if the shank was bigger so there was more of it. Cappuccino with Amaretto came in a nicebig cup with the right amount of foam. The double espresso was smooth and hot served with the traditional le Read more
Very cool interior. They really need some noise damping though, it was hard to hear across our 2 person table. Johnnie, our... waiter, was great. Food was good but there was nothing refined or subtle about it. Huge servings, quite good just not great.Where I really felt it fails though is as a "wine bar". The selection by the glass was not tiny, but pretty much every glass wasincredibly generic / boring / low end (see photo). Absolutely nothing I would actually want to drink with a steak. The Merlot is18/bottle retail. The cabernet is 23. Both very mediocre. By the bottle at least there were a few that I would drink, despiteonly a page and a half long list. But for example - put that Barolo on the by the glass list, and then I would expect somethinghigher end by the bottle! Also, for a "wine bar" - no vintages listed? So - complete fail on the wine aspect. Read more