Sea Smoke Waterfront Grill

The Hudson River is doing most of the heavy lifting here, and honestly, we get it — when your dining room looks out over water like that, the wine list doesn't need to work as hard. But it doesn't even try. What you get is a familiar roster of approachable crowd-pleasers that read more like a mid-tier chain than a contemporary waterfront restaurant charging fine-dining prices.

Fifty to eighty bottles sounds like room to roam, but the list stays firmly inside its comfort zone: California, Pacific Northwest, and New Zealand dominate, with a light nod to Burgundy. The producers named — Mer Soleil, Kim Crawford, Meiomi — are supermarket staples with restaurant markups attached. There's no real adventure here, no small-production finds, nothing that suggests anyone spent serious time curating this. It's a list built to avoid complaints, not to inspire orders.

Eight to fourteen glass pours is a reasonable count, and for a seafood-heavy menu there's at least logic to the lineup — Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay make obvious sense with the kitchen's output. The problem is that the glass program leans on the same recognizable brands you'd find anywhere, with no real rotation or discovery built in. Expect your options to look identical on every visit.