Union Square Wine & Spirits

11/30/09

Good advice

by Hugh531 at Citysearch

I have been here quite a few times and always found their advice to be broad and not judgemental or pushy. For Thanks giving, we needed a bottle of wine to bring as a gift. We were giving a range of choices within our price range and the wine was an excellent match with the turkey ;-)

• Pros: good customer service

02/08/09

Horrible Experience : Poor Customer Service

by alloyds at Citysearch

This review is in reference to a wine delivery issue I had this evening. We purchased over $350 worth of wine at the store this afternoon and accurately filled out a delivery request. We were having ten people over for dinner this evening and our wine never arrived, because no one at your store gave the driver our apartment number. I think that this is poor customer service. When we called the store to address the problem, we did not receive an apology but rather were told it was our issue as "we don't have a doorman" and we "didn't answer our cell phone." As we were busy preparing for our dinner party, we didn't have our cell phone handy. Now, we also have NO WINE FOR OUR PARTY.

We have been loyal customers for many years and are appalled at this experience. We will not be returning to your store and I plan on telling all of my friends about this experience.

• Pros: Nice Store
• Cons: Horrible Customer Service

07/03/06

Great wine selection, some good deals, LOVE the new tasting machines

by nanagirl at Citysearch

I have to agree with some of the reviews that the staff can be a little pretentious and distant, but some of the other staff is quite helpful and nice. The wine selection at this store is fantastic, you can find wine from all over the world, some from smaller wineries, and there are so many different options. The staff picks in the front are also very nice. I like this store b/c I've learned so much about wine just from going to the tastings and from the staff that is helpful and approachable.

This Saturday I wandered into their new space and I love it. It's much airier and more space between the aisles than their last location. And I love the new wine tasting machines, though I would agree that signs above the bottles saying the varietals, and notes about the wine would be helpful, especially with esoteric Italian labels. But it's so much fun to just walk around and taste. I like this place better than Broadway wines b/c the staff is generally much more helpful and polite and USQ's stock is of much more quality and you'll get more interesting finds.

06/24/06

Positively Horrible!! Avoid this terrible, rude, over-pretentious shop at all costs!

by talise at Citysearch

This once was a lovely, charming wine store. The regular tasting events brought new customers out and helped many learn more about new wines. You actually got to meet reps. from the winerys and such. It was all so interesting and unique. Then, they moved to a new location and the place has gone to bloody Hell!

Union Square Wines and Spirits is now like an Old Navy store. It has no charm, nor atmosphere whatsoever. Gone are all positive vibes my favorite wine store once had.

The fact that the staff is rude and unhelpful is only the beginning! We were trying out their new tasting "machines". They are so like an ATM! You slide in your smart card and it "pees" you a little taste of wine. There is no information on the wines available beyond the label on the bottle. It is so very impersonal.

My group of affectionados had been out visting other wine stores that afternoon. We had our other purchases in bags as we came in to browse and taste from their "machine". Immediately some little, hairy man came over and started complaining that we had some nerve coming into his store with wines purchased somewhere else! He asked us who we were and why we were in his store! He was being extremely rude and condescending.

Bothered by all this, I still walked over to take a sample from the "machine". When the wine I tried to sample was empty (but the 30-points was still taken from my smart card!) I told the nasty man about it. He gave me a shrugged shoulder and said, " So, that's not my problem!". At the point, we all got up, threw our smart cards into the trash and vowed never to return. None of us could immediately believe that someone reffering to themselves as the owner would be so terribly hostile and rude to potential customers! How dare they!! This store rightly deserves to go bankrupt.

• Pros: None - Their new location is a waste of good retail space.
• Cons: It is very impersonal and cold now. The staff is overtly rude and even hostile.

11/24/05

Pretentious! I was ignored by one of the owners.

by petejack at Citysearch

I recently stopped in on a Friday evening and there was a tasting going on. I went upstairs where one of the owners gave a short speech and started pouring wines. When I went to try some wines the owner pretty much ignored me while he was chatting up others and giving free tickets out to future tastings. That's fine, I don't need to spend my money at this place. Too bad for them as I sometimes spend over $200 in a month on wine. On a positive note, one of the sales people on the main floor was pretty helpful.

• Pros: excellent selection
• Cons: snobby atmosphere