Village Martini and Wine Bar

I had kind of a crappy birthday this year. It was just days after the 1-year anniversary of my dad passing, I was in NYC for a work conference and had to travel back very late at night on the actual day of my birthday, I had caught a terrible upper respiratory infection during the trip and was still feverish, and then I was still very under the weather once we got to the weekend celebrations planned with my friends. *cue the tiny violin*

Even Mr. H must have been feeling badly for how my birthday went down (because I'm also a BIG birthday celebration person for myself and anyone I love), because he decided to plan a surprise "birthday do-over" this past weekend.

All I knew was that I needed to be ready at 6PM. An Uber came to whisk us away, and the driver immediately said, "You're headed to Chagrin Falls?" and my mind started spinning with restaurants we hadn't dined at yet in one of my favorite quaint, east-side towns.

What Mr. H had up his sleeve was a pre-dinner drinks spot, the Village Martini and Wine Bar.

Had never heard of it!

Located outside of the center of town, this cozy restaurant and bar was tucked away in a small business complex. We settled in at the bar, and immediately I saw several delicious-sounding cocktails on their list.

Turns out, they do a lot of their own infusions (as you can see behind the bar) and the cocktail menu was really interesting. The name and ingredients of my first drink escapes me (having too much fun with my hubby!), but I think it was something like The Bohemian (??) and it had blackberry(??)-infused gin and some tropical juices.

Mr. H declared this Manhattan with Peanut and Chocolate Chip-infused Bourbon as one of the best drinks he's had in a while.

Which says a lot, because we were just in NYC at some great cocktail bars, Mr. H makes some dreamy ones at home, and we have several favorite cocktail bars around Northeast Ohio.

I enjoyed both of my cocktails from the Seasonal Cocktails section. The Winter Paloma was just as good.

We didn't try any of the food because Mr. H had a dinner stop scheduled too (more on that in the next blog post), but it looked really decent coming out of the kitchen. Charcuterie and cheese board, stuffed mushrooms, ahi tuna, pasta, big salads...it all looked above what you'd find at an average wine bar.

I'd like to go back in the warmer weather to try the food and enjoy some more cocktails (I'm sure the wine list is good too and they had a few craft beers on tap), because there was a patio out front of the restaurant.

It was twinkling in the fresh snow.

I love finding gems like this spot! You could tell that they have a lot of regulars based on how people were interacting with the bartender and servers. Plenty of free parking in the lot too.

Village Martini and Wine Bar
516 E Washington Street
Chagrin Falls, OH 44022
(440) 893-9463