Grocery Store Bottles, Brasserie Prices
Lincoln Highway East · Lancaster · French / Continental · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 18, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Brasserie Bar and Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The room has real brasserie energy — busy bar, good noise level, the kind of place you want a solid glass of wine with your steak frites. Then you open the list and find yourself staring at Kendall-Jackson and Josh Cellars, which is less brasserie and more airport terminal.
The list is essentially a greatest hits of grocery store California staples — Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, Meiomi Pinot Noir, Josh Cellars Cab, Cavit Pinot Grigio. There's a nod to Italy and a vague international presence, but no real depth, no interesting producers, and nothing that reflects the French brasserie concept the restaurant is built around. You'd expect at least a Côtes du Rhône or a simple Muscadet to anchor the theme, but that connection between concept and cellar just isn't there. It's a list built for zero friction, which also means zero excitement.
Around 10 to 15 pours by the glass, ranging $8 to $14, which sounds reasonable until you realize you're paying $14 for wines that retail under $15 a bottle. The selection doesn't rotate in any meaningful way — what's on the menu is what's been on the menu. There's no sign of a by-the-glass program that someone actually curated with intention.
Meiomi Pinot Noir — $38
Relative to the rest of the list, Meiomi's markup clocks in at 111% — the least aggressive on offer. It's still a mass-market wine, but at least it's approachable and crowd-pleasing enough to hold its own with the French onion soup or a lighter protein. If you're stuck here, this is your move.
Cavit Pinot Grigio
We're not calling this a gem in any serious wine sense, but if you're eating crab cakes on a warm night and want something cold and neutral that won't fight the food, Cavit does exactly that. Nobody orders it, which means it's probably the freshest bottle at the bar.
Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
A 162% markup on a $13 retail bottle is hard to stomach. Josh Cellars Cab is fine — fine being the operative word — but paying $34 for it in a restaurant when you can grab it at any grocery store for a third of that price is exactly the kind of transaction you should refuse.
Meiomi Pinot Noir + Steak Frites
Meiomi is soft, fruit-forward, and low enough in tannin that it doesn't fight the char on a steak. With frites in the mix soaking up the fat, you want something that stays in its lane — and this does. Not a profound combination, but a functional one.
Wednesday — Multiple older sources reference a Wednesday half-price wine bottle night at the bar. Status is unconfirmed and may have changed — call ahead before you plan your evening around it.
❌ The Bottom Line
Brasserie Bar has the atmosphere and the food concept to support a genuinely interesting wine list, but what's here is a phoned-in collection of supermarket names at steep markups. Come for the steak frites and the scene — just don't come expecting anyone to have thought hard about what's in your glass.
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Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Lancaster · Lancaster · Fine Dining / New American
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Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Bainbridge / Greater Lancaster · Lancaster · Winery
Nissley is a Wild Card in the best sense: you're not getting a canonical wine list, you're getting a third-generation Pennsylvania winery doing its own thing with grapes most restaurants wouldn't touch. If you're open to that, the prices alone make it worth the trip out to Bainbridge.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
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