Baroncini

Order the margarita. Seriously. But if someone at the table insists on wine, the Barefoot pours are priced so close to retail that you're not getting hurt — just don't expect anything more than that.

Pagliai's earns its legendary status in Iowa City as a pizza destination — the wine list, however, is an afterthought that nobody on staff or in the kitchen appears to think about much. Order a beer, order a soda, order another slice, and save the wine conversation for somewhere else.

Iowa River Power is a perfectly respectable steakhouse wine list in a genuinely memorable room — but the list plays it too safe and prices too high to be anything more than serviceable. Send a friend here for the ambiance and the prime rib; tell them to pick carefully on the wine.

Bluebird earns serious love for its food, but the wine list is pure filler — seven grocery-store bottles on a set-and-forget program. Order the biscuits and gravy, grab a coffee, and save the wine for somewhere that cares.

Micky's is a great Irish pub — for Guinness, whiskey, and a Reuben at midnight. The wine program is an afterthought dressed up as a menu section, and nobody on either side of the bar is pretending otherwise. Order the beer.

One Twenty Six is an anomaly — a downtown Iowa City gastropub with a wine list that would hold its own in a Chicago neighborhood restaurant. The markups on trophy bottles get steep fast, but there's real depth here if you know where to look, and the French selections alone are worth the reservation.