Jazz, Clams, and a Decent Pour
Margate City · Atlantic City · Seafood / New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed September 17, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Steve & Cookie's By The Bay’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Steve & Cookie's walks in with exactly the energy you'd expect from a beloved bayside dinner spot with live jazz and a neighborhood following — the wine list is there to serve the room, not steal the show. It leans into France, Argentina, and California, which tells you someone made some considered choices rather than just calling a distributor and saying yes to everything. It's not a destination for wine obsessives, but it's also not an afterthought.
The list draws from three solid pillars — France, Argentina, and California — which gives it enough range to work across the menu without feeling scattershot. You've got old-world structure for the bouillabaisse crowd and new-world fruit for the strip steak table, which is a reasonable way to build a list for a room like this. We don't have granular bottle counts, but the regional spread suggests someone thought about this list rather than just filling slots. The gaps are probably in obscure regions and aged bottles, but that's not what this place is selling.
The by-the-glass situation is the most interesting part of the program here, thanks to a reported bar happy hour running Monday through Thursday from 4 to 6 PM with $6 pours. That's a genuinely good deal in a market where by-the-glass prices can go sideways fast. We don't have confirmed glass selections or counts, but if the pours track the list's regional focus, you should be able to find something worth drinking before dinner.
Monday–Thursday — $6 wine pours at the bar during happy hour, 4–6 PM. Unverified beyond a local happy-hour writeup, so confirm before you plan your night around it.
The Bottom Line
Steve & Cookie's isn't a wine destination, but it's a solid spot to drink reasonably well alongside excellent seafood and a live jazz soundtrack. If you're going Monday through Thursday, get there early and hit the bar before your table.
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