Went to Vinoteca yesterday for a quick glass of wine and some nibbles. In some ways it was just what my friend and I were after – a nice buzzy wine bar .
We had the cheapest house white – which was pleasant if nothing to write home about. Service was sweet if a bit slow.
However… we ordered a cheese platter to share and our experience would make me worry about eating at this place.
FIrstly, the plate arrived and my friend noticed a dead squashed fruit fly on one piece of (fairly stale looking) cheese. Waitress apologises , takes it away, and a long time later comes back with clearly the same piece scrapped and chopped into segments.
The crackers that came with it looked nice but were incredibly dry and crumbly and tasted of sawdust. The chutney was apricot jam.
Then we noticed the blue cheese was significantly bluer underneath than is normal (we'd eaten most of it by then … uggh)
The brie was alright I supppose
For the first time ever, we seriously debated not paying the service charge… altho' it wasn't the waitresses fault

So … nice enough wine bar in a good location. Would be a bit cautious about eating there. Unlike previous reviews, freshness was NOT a characteristic of the plate we had.

It was also pretty dear for the amount of food (£11 for 5 crackers and 3 smallish bits of cheese)