I was really excited about the whole wine and chocolate thing -- I mean, New York is full of wine bars and chcoclate places, but to put them together is a great idea. And it totally works too! The food (I guess you'd call it Mediterranean?) was really good, and there is a great variety on the menu: cheeses, of course, and then some great appetizer options that we did as a bunch of small plates. The wine list, definitely fantastic. I totally dug the Summers wine by the glass -- of course it's the most expensive, but well worth it: smooth with a punch. Simply amazing. The chocolate was good, but those truffles are tiny. I guess for a normal person that is enough chocolate (they are really rich) but I am a fiend, so I found myself wanting more. The place is trendy and the decor is great, kind of urban chic. I liked that you could dine at the bar too. There is a lot of space up there (we sat at a table the first time, and I must admit, they are a little on the small side) and it's fun but casual. The food was all very fresh and and the presentation is gorgeous. The chicken skewers (which actually happen to be more Asian than Mediterranean, but work) were by far my favorite item. The only real problme was that our waitress didn't have the best in terms of personality. We had the same girl both times around. She was surely sweet, but just really quiet, and when we asked for suggestions she hesitated. I like to hear what the staff likes and she simply wouldn't tell us, which didn't instill much confidence in the food the first time around (of course, in the end, the food spoke for itself). She also didn't seem to know too much about the wine but was able to send someone else over (the owner?) to help us out. He was really friendly and knowledgeable so I guess it ended up to be a plus anyhow.
