A long walk through my new-to-me local neighborhood yielded tons of options for wine bars and restaurants- I was sad I wasn’t staying longer to try them all! Maceo looked like an excellent combination of wine bar and restaurant, so it’s where I secured my reservation for one. The restaurant is old school pretty and you can sit in the wine bar (as I did) or the restaurant… though I wasn’t offered a choice for this. Beware, the restaurant is great, but very warm thanks to it’s unopening windows so it makes sense that they look to shut for most of August.

The wine bar area was creatively colorful and kicked off the evening in a playful way.

The view from my table was ripe for people watching and the Japanese-inspired plates solidified its funkiness.

The amuse bouche brought in more brightness as it was a shot of gazpacho!

To start, which really could have been a main, was a generous serving of tuna tartare snuggled among slices of cucumber and also diced cucumber served on a chilled plate. Absolutely refreshing and delicious.

My main brought me a grilled octopus served a bit differently (strangely) on a bed of mozzarella based sauce. Accompanying were grilled and tempura courgettes. While I love all of these components, they were a bit odd all together on a plate.

Finally, as I was committed to the small customized tasting menu I was creating… a vanilla millefeuille with a salted caramel schmear on the plate. While delicious, it was absolutely massive and I could have used a friend to help finish it as I couldn’t myself.

The logo and artwork of Maceo was as charming as its service and lounge. Be sure to come hungry or bring your companion- the dishes were as large as they were unique.