The wine list nobody asked for
Ming Avenue · Bakersfield · Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed June 23, 2026
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Texas Roadhouse Bakersfield is exactly what you'd expect to find next to a bucket of peanuts and a breadbasket: a laminated afterthought. This place is built around cold beer and loud country music, and the wine program knows it — or rather, doesn't care to know anything at all.
Ten to twenty wines, almost entirely from California, and the 'notable' producers are Sutter Home, Barefoot, Woodbridge, and Cupcake — brands you'll find stacked at any gas station with a liquor license. There's no regional exploration, no vintage curiosity, nothing that suggests anyone spent more than fifteen minutes curating this list. The menu skews heavily toward sweet and mass-produced, which tells you everything about who this list is designed for: people who want something red or white and don't particularly care beyond that. If you're eating a ribeye and hoping for even a passable Cab to go with it, temper expectations hard.
Six to ten pours by the glass, priced between $7 and $12 — which sounds reasonable until you realize you're paying chain-restaurant margins on grocery-store wine. There's no rotation, no seasonal swap-in, no sense that the glass list has been touched since the menu was printed. What you see is what you get, forever.
Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon — $9
It's the least offensive red on a very short list, and at under $10 a glass it's at least not going to ruin your night the way a $12 Cupcake Chardonnay might. If you're eating a Ribeye and want something in the red family, this is the move by default.
Barefoot Moscato
Nobody comes to Texas Roadhouse for a wine revelation, but if you're splitting a rack of ribs with someone who loves sweet wines, the Barefoot Moscato actually plays — the sugary fruit softens the BBQ heat, and at this price point you're not overthinking it.
Cupcake Chardonnay
You can buy a full bottle of Cupcake Chardonnay at the grocery store for $8. Paying $10–12 per glass here is a hard no. There's no value story, no ambiance premium worth chasing, and the wine itself is aggressively mediocre.
Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon + Ribeye Steak
The Woodbridge Cab is soft and fruit-forward enough that it won't fight the butter and char on a Ribeye — it's a low-stakes red that at least has enough body to hold its own next to red meat. Not a pairing anyone will write home about, but it works.
❌ The Bottom Line
Texas Roadhouse is not a wine destination, and its Bakersfield location makes zero effort to pretend otherwise. Order the beer, enjoy the peanuts, and save your wine ambitions for somewhere that has any.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.