Kirkland's Backyard Wine Bar With Local Swagger
· Kirkland · American café & wine bar · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · September 4, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Mia Cafe & Wine Bar’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
At first glance, the list reads like a greatest hits of approachable crowd-pleasers — La Marca, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Dark Horse — the kind of names you recognize from every grocery run. But scroll a little further and 425 Cellars shows up, a hyperlocal Kirkland producer, and suddenly this feels less like a café wine list and more like someone's actually paying attention.
The list runs 73 labels deep with a clear two-tier structure: a broad base of reliable, mass-market bottles anchored by Chateau Ste. Michelle, Franciscan, Whitehaven, and Hahn, and then a dedicated 425 Cellars section that earns its keep with four distinct bottlings — a Tempranillo, an Albariño, a Viognier, and a Rosé — all sourced from right here in the greater Kirkland area. The regional focus is unapologetically Pacific Northwest and California, with a Ver Sacrum GSM adding a bit of Argentine flair to the red lineup. Gap-wise, there's no real Old World presence, no Burgundy, no Rioja, no Italian to speak of, so classic wine drinkers may feel the pull. But as a neighborhood café wine bar, the list does exactly what it needs to do and then a little more.
Here's the standout number: 72 of the 73 wines are available by the glass. That's not a typo. Almost the entire list pours by the stem, ranging from $9 to $18, which means you can taste across the whole menu in one sitting without committing to a bottle. The 425 Cellars pours are the ones worth targeting — they're local, they're interesting, and you're not going to find them at the wine shop down the street.
Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon — $30
A Washington state institution at a price that doesn't insult you. Ste. Michelle Cab consistently over-delivers at retail and at $30 a bottle here you're getting solid Columbia Valley fruit without the markup guilt.
425 Cellars Grass Lawn Albariño 2023
Most people skip past Albariño on a list like this, defaulting to Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. That's a mistake. A Washington-grown Albariño is still a novelty, and 425 Cellars is literally making wine in Kirkland — drinking this here feels like the whole point of a neighborhood wine bar.
Canyon Road Malbec
At $34 a bottle, Canyon Road is punching way above its weight class on price. This is a sub-$10 retail bottle that has no business sitting next to anything in the mid-thirties. The Alamos Malbec at $27 is a far better use of your money if you're going Argentine.
425 Cellars Picnic Point Viognier 2023 + Cheese board
Viognier's stone fruit and floral notes cut through creamy, buttery cheeses without getting lost, and a locally made bottle on a laid-back café cheese board is exactly the kind of simple pleasure this place seems built for.
The Bottom Line
Mia is a neighborhood wine bar that earns its stripes by championing a hyperlocal producer alongside an accessible, well-priced lineup — the 425 Cellars section alone makes it worth a stop if you're in Kirkland. The Wild Card badge is there for a reason: on paper this list looks ordinary, but the local angle and nearly unlimited by-the-glass flexibility make it quietly one of the better casual wine spots on the Eastside.
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Como isn't trying to be a wine bar, but it's wine list punches well above its weight for a lakeside Italian in the suburbs — fair pricing, genuine Italian depth, and a few local picks that earn their spot. Yes, send a friend here for wine.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Kirkland · French Brasserie
Le Grand is doing something genuinely thoughtful inside a tight 21-bottle format — the bubbly selection alone beats most full-sized lists in the area, and the pricing stays honest throughout. Send a friend here, tell them to skip the Rombauer, and work their way through the glass pours.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Kirkland · French brasserie with Pacific Northwest influences
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Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Le Grand Bistro Americain is a genuinely lovely spot to watch the sun drop over Lake Washington — but the wine list is coasting hard on that view. Until the markups come down or someone builds a list that actually reflects the French-American ambition of the kitchen, we'd say order a cocktail and save the wine budget for somewhere that earns it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Kirkland · American
The Heathman isn't going to make you rethink your relationship with wine, but it's a genuinely decent hotel list anchored by wines worth drinking — and the Monday/Wednesday half-price bottle deal turns a steep markup into something actually worth your time. Show up on a deal night, order the Col Solare, and you'll leave happy.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
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